Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "お金" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce お金 in Japanese?

お金 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /o.ka.ne/. It means “money.” o-ka-ne, three even beats — the polite お is a full beat and the final e is flat.

o-ka-ne, three even beats — the polite お is a full beat and the final e is flat.

お金 /o.ka.ne/

okane

Every unit here is the same length. The prefix counts as a full beat, which is the point learners most often miss — お is not an ornament attached to かね but a mora with the same weight as any other in the word.

Listen: お金

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Sound it out

o The polite prefix, and a complete mora in its own right. Short, stationary, and not to be rushed just because it carries no lexical meaning.

ka There is no burst behind this k, and the vowel after it is a bright short a.

ne The n is made at the teeth-ridge, and after it a short front e anchored in one position. English wants to glide this toward "nay"; don't let it.

Hear it in a sentence

お金が足りません。

Okane ga tarimasen.

I don't have enough money.

Listen: お金が足りません。

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お金が足りません ends with 足りません, five morae with a tap in the middle and a moraic ん at the close. So the sentence finishes on a full beat of hum, and the ため of the negative gives you three unstressed morae in a row before it.

Where English speakers slip

"oh-KAH-nay" glides the prefix, stresses the middle, and diphthongises the final vowel. Freeze the o, level the beats, and anchor the e. Learners in a hurry also drop the prefix's beat entirely, saying "kane" with an o barely audible in front — that's two beats where there should be three.