How to type ん

The Japanese character ん

ん is a special character in Japanese. Where most Japanese characters are a combination of a consonant and a vowel, ん is only a consonant. Thus when typing it there are a few pitfalls to look out for.

https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/

Typing ん by itself: nn

When typing ん by itself you will type nn. If you only type n then it will show as only n.

こんにちは not こんいちは

In roman characters, you type konnichiha ( pronounced as konnichiwa). Here you can see there are two n. However, if you type it like that above you get こんいちは which is kon-ichiha which is incorrect. Instead you have to type and extra n. The first two n are for ん. The last n is for the n in に (ni).

If you would like to learn more about how to pronounce small ん I have a whole post in “The Correct Way to Say ん

You can type ん with one n in most words

As long as the following sound is not a vowel, then if you type n in a word then it will become ん. For example, the word number-three below:

三番
ばん
san-ban

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