LingoDrop iconLingoDrop
Download on the App StoreDownload on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "彼女" in Japanese?

ka-no-jo, three even beats, and the "jo" is one mora — a soft palatal j straight into a pure o.

彼女 /ka.no.dʑo/

kanojo

Where English would promote one syllable in a three-syllable word, Japanese promotes none: the pitch steps up after ka and runs level to the end. Because the word is built from 彼 plus a second element, learners sometimes pause at the seam; don't. It's one continuous three-beat run.

Listen: 彼女

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

ka A gentle k, no puff of air, into a short open a.
no Tongue tip at the teeth-ridge, then a fixed mid-back o. Identical in length to the beat before it.
jo A voiced affricate made with the tongue blade against the palate — softer and further forward than the j of English "joke" — combined with the o in a single mora. Not "ji-yo": one beat, one gesture.

Hear it in a sentence

彼女は英語が上手です。

Kanojo wa eigo ga jouzu desu.

She speaks English well.

Listen: 彼女は英語が上手です。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

彼女は英語が上手です contains 英語 (e-e-go, with a long first vowel written "ei" but pronounced as a held e) and 上手 (jo-o-zu, another long vowel plus an unrounded zu). So the sentence gives you three different long-vowel situations after the plain three beats of 彼女 — a good demonstration of how much of Japanese timing is about duration rather than emphasis.

Where English speakers slip

The common mangling is "ka-NO-jo" with English stress in the middle and a hard English j at the end. Level the three beats and soften the j — the tongue blade should be broad against the palate rather than the tip poking the ridge. Also keep the final o short: it has no length mark, so it gets exactly one count.