Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "八" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 八 in Japanese?

八 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ha.tɕi/. It means “eight.” ha-chi, two short beats, with a soft breathy h and a light forward ch.

ha-chi, two short beats, with a soft breathy h and a light forward ch.

八 /ha.tɕi/

hachi

Two morae with the pitch falling from the first to the second. This is a good number to drill alongside 一 (ichi), because they share the chi mora but place it differently: one begins with it, the other ends with it, and in both cases the chi occupies exactly one beat.

Listen: 八

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Sound it out

ha A gentle exhalation of h — much less forceful than the h in English "hat" — flowing into an open bright a.

chi One affricate, formed with the blade of the tongue against the palate, lighter than English ch. The i stays short and tense, and at the end of an utterance it often devoices into a soft hiss.

Hear it in a sentence

毎朝八時に家を出ます。

Maiasa hachi-ji ni ie o demasu.

I leave home at eight every morning.

Listen: 毎朝八時に家を出ます。

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毎朝八時に家を出ます gives you 八時 (ha-chi-ji), where the chi sits before a voiced ji and stays fully voiced. Earlier in the sentence, 毎朝 (ma-i-a-sa) is four morae with three vowels in a row — a-i-a — none of which may fuse. English speakers routinely turn "mai" into the diphthong of "my" and lose a beat.

Where English speakers slip

Beginners usually say "HAH-chee," stretching both vowels and stressing the first. The h should be softer than English, both vowels should be short, and the ch is made further forward with less friction. If your hachi sounds like the first half of "hatchet" with extra length, trim it down — two brisk, equal beats.