Japanese pitch accent: first contrasts

The idea

In Tokyo Japanese, pitch accent concerns a drop in pitch, not English-style stress. With が, 箸はしが has high–low–low pitch, while 橋はしが has low–high–low pitch. H means high and L low in the table. 飴あめが has L–H–H, with no drop.

Read the text

Examples

• 橋はしを歩あるいて渡わたります。I walk across the bridge.
• 箸はしでご飯はんを食たべます。I eat rice with chopsticks.
• 橋はしが見みえます。I can see a bridge.
• 箸はしがここにあります。There are chopsticks here.
• 雨あめが降ふります。It rains.
• 飴あめが好すきです。I like sweets.

Watch out

Pitch varies by region, speaker and sentence context; not all words have a drop. A device voice may not reproduce these patterns reliably.

Try it yourself

1. 「箸はしが」の高たかい拍はくはどれですか。（は／し）

   Show answer or example answer

   は

   The comparison is: 箸はしが → H・L・L。 H is high and L is low.

2. 「橋はしが」の高たかい拍はくはどれですか。（は／し）

   Show answer or example answer

   し

   The comparison is: 橋はしが → L・H・L。 H is high and L is low.

3. 「橋はしが」は「し」の後あとに下さがりますか。（はい／いいえ）

   Show answer or example answer

   はい

   The comparison is: 橋はしが → L・H・L。 H is high and L is low.

4. 「飴あめが」は「め」の後あとに下さがりますか。（はい／いいえ）

   Show answer or example answer

   いいえ

   The comparison is: 飴あめが → L・H・H。 H is high and L is low.

Use it today

Read the transcript aloud, then cover the table and reproduce its patterns. A device voice can help, but its pronunciation may vary.