Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "取る" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 取る in Japanese?

取る is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /to.ɾɯ/. It means “to take.” to-ru, two short beats — a dental t, one tap, and no lip rounding anywhere.

to-ru, two short beats — a dental t, one tap, and no lip rounding anywhere.

取る /to.ɾɯ/

toru

Equal slots, falling pitch — to high, ru low. It's worth drilling against 撮る and 通る, which share this shape; the point is that Japanese verbs of this type are uniformly two clipped beats, and any lengthening you add will sound like emphasis you didn't intend.

Listen: 取る

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Sound it out

to Contact for this t is dental — the back of the upper teeth, not the ridge — and the release carries no puff of air. The o stays in one place for its whole duration.

ru A single quick strike of the tongue tip. Because a t precedes it, the tongue is already nearby — the temptation is to let the two blur together, so make the vowel between them fully audible.

Hear it in a sentence

塩を取ってください。

Shio o totte kudasai.

Please pass me the salt.

Listen: 塩を取ってください。

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塩を取ってください uses 取って, the geminate te-form: to-t-te, three morae with a full silent beat while the tongue holds the t position. Set that against the plain two-beat 取る and you can hear exactly what the small っ adds — not a harder consonant, but extra time.

Where English speakers slip

"TOE-roo" is the standard English version: an aspirated t, a diphthongised o, a curled r and rounded lips. Every one of those is a separate correction. The most audible fix is the r — one tap, no lip rounding — followed closely by unrounding the final u so it doesn't ring out as an English "oo."