Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "覚える" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 覚える in Japanese?

覚える is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /o.bo.e.ɾɯ/. It means “to remember / memorize.” o-bo-e-ru, four beats — three vowels in a row through the middle, none of which may merge.

o-bo-e-ru, four beats — three vowels in a row through the middle, none of which may merge.

覚える /o.bo.e.ɾɯ/

oboeru

Four equal slots, with the melody peaking on bo. The o-e junction in the middle is the danger zone: English hears a diphthong and delivers one beat where Japanese wants two. Say the four morae as four deliberate pulses before letting the word run at speed.

Listen: 覚える

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Sound it out

o A short fixed mid-back vowel with no glide, opening the word.

bo A crisp b into an o of exactly the same quality as the first. Two identical vowels two beats apart — a useful consistency check.

e A bare short front e standing alone as a mora. Coming off an o, English wants to insert a w-glide here; Japanese inserts nothing.

ru One flick of the tongue tip, then the flat-lipped u of the dictionary ending.

Hear it in a sentence

彼の名前を覚えていません。

Kare no namae o oboete imasen.

I don't remember his name.

Listen: 彼の名前を覚えていません。

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彼の名前を覚えていません uses 覚えて and ends with いません, five morae finishing on a moraic nasal. 名前 (na-ma-e) in the middle has its own vowel sequence — a-e again, exactly the pattern that trips people in the verb. The sentence essentially asks the same question twice.

Where English speakers slip

"o-BOW-eh-roo" or "oh-BOY-roo" are both common, and both fuse vowels that should be separate. The b is easy; the vowels aren't. Give the o, the second o, and the e their own beats, keep them all short, and finish with a single tap and unrounded lips. Four counts, not three.