Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "テーブル" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce テーブル in Japanese?

テーブル is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /teː.bɯ.ɾɯ/. It means “table.” te-e-bu-ru, four beats — a long e at the front and two flat-lipped u's at the back.

te-e-bu-ru, four beats — a long e at the front and two flat-lipped u's at the back.

テーブル /teː.bɯ.ɾɯ/

teeburu

Four slots for a word English delivers in two syllables. The long e accounts for one extra beat and the broken-up consonant cluster for the other, which makes the loanword twice the length of its source — a pattern that repeats across hundreds of borrowings.

Listen: テーブル

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Sound it out

tee Dental t opening onto an e that runs for two full counts. The katakana ー mark is the length sign; there's no glide toward "tay" at any point.

bu A clean b into the unrounded u — the lips close and then spread rather than staying pursed.

ru One tap of the tongue tip on the ridge, then a second flat-lipped u. English "-ble" has no vowel here at all; Japanese requires two full morae.

Hear it in a sentence

テーブルにお皿を置いてください。

Teeburu ni osara o oite kudasai.

Please put the plates on the table.

Listen: テーブルにお皿を置いてください。

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テーブルにお皿を置いてください includes お皿 (o-sa-ra) with its polite prefix as a full beat, and 置いて with two adjacent vowels. So the sentence asks for a long vowel, a prefix beat and a vowel pair — three different reasons to slow down and count.

Where English speakers slip

Saying English "table" with a Japanese accent produces two beats where there should be four. Hold the opening e for two counts, then give bu and ru their own full beats with flat lips and a single tongue tap. The final ru in particular tends to vanish, since English hears the word as ending in a consonant.