Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "本当" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 本当 in Japanese?

本当 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /hon.toː/. It means “true / real.” ho-n-to-o, four beats — a nasal beat in the middle and a long o at the end.

ho-n-to-o, four beats — a nasal beat in the middle and a long o at the end.

本当 /hon.toː/

hontou

Four morae from what English reads as two syllables, and both of the extra beats come from things English doesn't count — a vowel-less nasal and a lengthened vowel. Standard speech puts the accent early, so the pitch falls across the word, but the length is what makes it recognisable.

Listen: 本当

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Sound it out

ho A soft breath of h into a short stationary o. The h is gentler than English — more shaped exhalation than friction.

n Nasal resonance filling an entire beat, with the tongue tip at the teeth-ridge because a t follows. Hold the hum for a genuine beat rather than just closing off the o.

tou The dental t releases into an o sustained for two morae. The u in the romaji marks length only; there is no "oo" sound in this word.

Hear it in a sentence

それは本当ではありません。

Sore wa hontou de wa arimasen.

That's not true.

Listen: それは本当ではありません。

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それは本当ではありません uses the formal negative ではありません, which is six morae of its own with a moraic ん at the end. The sentence therefore contains three separate nasal beats. Delivering all of them at full length is what separates a natural-sounding negation from a rushed one.

Where English speakers slip

"HON-toe" in two syllables halves the word: the n becomes a syllable-closing consonant instead of a beat, and the long o shrinks to a short one. Hum the nasal for its own count, then hold the final o for two. English speakers also aspirate the t heavily — soften it, and put the tongue on the teeth rather than the ridge.