Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "食べる" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 食べる in Japanese?

食べる is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ta.be.ɾɯ/. It means “to eat.” ta-be-ru, three even beats, with a flapped r and short pure vowels throughout.

ta-be-ru, three even beats, with a flapped r and short pure vowels throughout.

食べる /ta.be.ɾɯ/

taberu

Tap three times — ta, be, ru — and put one tap on each; the accent sits on the first, so ta begins high and be-ru step down. Even with that fall, the durations stay identical; the pitch drop is not a stress beat and shouldn't come with extra loudness or length.

Listen: 食べる

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Sound it out

ta Dental t — tongue tip touching the upper teeth rather than the ridge behind them — released without the puff of air English puts on "tah."

be A clean b into a short e as in "bet." No glide toward "ay"; Japanese e stays where it starts.

ru One quick upward tap of the tongue tip, then an unrounded u. This is the verb ending that will change constantly as you conjugate, so getting the flap comfortable now pays off across hundreds of verbs.

Hear it in a sentence

今日はピザを食べたいです。

Kyou wa piza o tabetai desu.

I want to eat pizza today.

Listen: 今日はピザを食べたいです。

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

今日はピザを食べたいです turns the verb into 食べたい, which adds two more morae (ta-i) that must stay separate rather than fusing into "tie." 今日 at the front is also two morae with a long o (kyo-o), so the sentence opens with something held and closes with something that must not be run together — a useful pairing.

Where English speakers slip

Beginners produce "ta-BAY-roo": a stressed middle syllable with an English "ay" diphthong, a curled English r, and a rounded oo at the end. The Japanese version has a short flat e, a single tongue tap, and flat lips on the u. Say the three beats at the same volume, and if you can hear yourself building toward the middle, start over more monotonously.