えーと How do you say um in Japanese

There are several ways to say um in Japanese. You can say ano, eeto, nanka, and so on.

あの

Ano(あの) is probably the most common way to say um. When you need a moment to think about what you are saying, you would say ano.

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

When you are trying to get someone’s attention you would also say ano. Usually, the ‘o‘ is lengthened making it anō.

あのー、すみません。佐藤さとうさんはいますか？
um, Excuse me. Is Sato-san available?

ええと

Eeto (ええと) is probably the first word that textbooks will teach you for um in Japanese.

ええと、ちょっと待まってね
um, just a moment
It is used much in the same way that ano is used. It has a somewhat more formal sound to it than ano does but I think it is still more common to say ano.

Real-life examples from Twitter

なんか

Nanka is close to kind of or like in English. It is short for nanika (何か) in Japanese which means something. Nanka also is used after nouns in a slight derogatory way to say things such as.

昨日きのう出でかけていた時ときにある人が、なんか、よくわからない青あおくて大きい箱はこを運はこんでいた。
When I went out yesterday there was someone who, uh, was carrying a big blue box

あー、いー、うー、えー、おー

You will not find this in a dictionary. This is not so much of a word but how people say um when they are trying to avoid saying um. When people are speaking and get stuck on what to say next often they will repeat and draw out the last vowel.

ねえ

Nee (ねえ) is a lengthened form of the sentence-final particle ne (ね). It is used when talking directly to someone to get there attention or focus. It is close to saying something like, hey or so.

Nee is also used when drawing out what you are trying to say. Almost like saying you see when you are trying to set up the listener for what you are going to say next.

それがねえ…
That is you see…

まあ

Maa is closest to well in English. When you are talking about something or someone and you stop to think or reconsider, you could use Maa. Here it would mean something close to I guess.

まあ、そうかもしれないね 
I guess, maybe so

Real-life examples from Twitter

If you want to know more about the Japanese language, check out more on Speaking & Listening in Japanese.