Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "橋" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 橋 in Japanese?

橋 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ha.ɕi̥/. It means “bridge.” ha-shi, two beats — and the pitch rises, which is what separates it from 箸 "chopsticks."

ha-shi, two beats — and the pitch rises, which is what separates it from 箸 "chopsticks."

橋 /ha.ɕi̥/

hashi

Two matched beats, and the most famous pitch-accent trio in the language. 箸 "chopsticks" starts high and falls; 橋 "bridge" starts low and rises, with the drop landing on a following particle; 端 "edge" rises and stays up. All three are ha-shi, two beats, identical in every segment — only the melody differs.

Listen: 橋

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Sound it out

ha A mild puff of breath into a bright short a. Nothing like the forceful English version.

shi A delicate palatal sh with an i that devoices at the end of a word, so the noun trails off on friction rather than voice.

Hear it in a sentence

橋を渡って町に入ります。

Hashi o watatte machi ni hairimasu.

I cross the bridge to get into the town.

Listen: 橋を渡って町に入ります。

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橋を渡って町に入ります uses 渡って with a geminate — wa-ta-t-te, four morae including a beat of held silence — and 入ります with a vowel pair at the start. So the final sentence of the course asks for a pitch distinction, a silent beat and a vowel junction all at once.

Where English speakers slip

The default rendering is "HA-shee" with stress on the first beat and a long voiced final vowel — which, unluckily, is close to the melodic shape of 箸 rather than 橋. Keep both beats short, let the final i devoice, and let the pitch rise rather than fall. Volume is not the tool here; tone is.