Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "今" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 今 in Japanese?

今 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /i.ma/. It means “now.” i-ma, two short beats, with the pitch high on the first and dropping on the second.

i-ma, two short beats, with the pitch high on the first and dropping on the second.

今 /i.ma/

ima

The pitch is high on i and falls onto ma, a pattern that stays audible even when the word is buried in a sentence. Both beats are short and equal in length; the fall is melody only, and it should not be accompanied by any reduction in the second vowel.

Listen: 今

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Sound it out

i A short tense high front vowel starting the word cleanly, roughly half the length of English "ee."

ma The lips close for the m and release into a bright short a. Brief — this is one beat, not the drawn-out "mah" English would give it.

Hear it in a sentence

今から出かけます。

Ima kara dekakemasu.

I'm heading out now.

Listen: 今から出かけます。

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今から出かけます glues から straight onto the word: i-ma-ka-ra, four continuous morae with no pause. Then 出かけます adds five more. English speakers habitually break at the particle boundary as if it were a preposition; Japanese runs the whole phrase together as one rhythmic unit.

Where English speakers slip

The English default is "EE-mah" — a long first vowel and a stretched second one, essentially the name "Imah." Both beats should be short and equal. And be careful not to convert the pitch fall into loudness: Japanese drops the tone, English speakers drop the volume and the vowel quality along with it.