Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "大変" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 大変 in Japanese?

大変 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ta.i.heɴ/. It means “tough / difficult; very.” ta-i-he-n, four beats — separate opening vowels and a closing beat of hum.

ta-i-he-n, four beats — separate opening vowels and a closing beat of hum.

大変 /ta.i.heɴ/

taihen

Four beats, and English delivers the word in two syllables — one because it fuses the opening vowels, one because it treats the nasal as a consonant. Fixing both roughly doubles the length.

Listen: 大変

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Sound it out

ta The tongue meets the upper teeth for the t and releases quietly into a bright short a.

i A brief, tense i as its own beat. English fuses this with the a into the vowel of "tie"; Japanese keeps two.

he A soft breath of air into a short front e anchored in one position.

n The moraic nasal closing the word, a full beat made far back with the mouth still open.

Hear it in a sentence

今日の仕事は大変でした。

Kyou no shigoto wa taihen deshita.

Work was tough today.

Listen: 今日の仕事は大変でした。

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今日の仕事は大変でした ends with でした, where the shi devoices between voiceless sounds so the ending sounds close to "desh-ta." Before that, 仕事 gives three even beats. The sentence closes on whispered vowels after 大変's clear ones.

Where English speakers slip

"tie-HEN" collapses the first two morae and the last one. Separate ta and i into distinct pulses, and hum the ん for a full count. The h also needs softening — English pushes far more air, which makes the middle of the word sound emphatic.