ん is a character in the
Japanese hiragana alphabet, written in
Romaji (
Roman alphabet) as an
n or sometimes as an
m. It is a comparatively new addition the Japanese
syllabary, introduced as part of
Meiji era reforms to the education system.
ん is the only character in Japanese that is a solitary consonant; all other characters are pronounced as vowels or consonant-vowels. Therefore, it is the only consonant that a Japanese syllable (or word for that matter) can finish with (remember this fact, it appears as a Trivial Pursuit question). Examples include Nissan, Aum Shinri Kyo, Kirin Beer, and of course Japan.
It is (almost) pronounced like an N, or to be technical, as a syllabic voiced dental nasal. Yet there are subtle exceptions:
if the next sound is a bilabial (p, b) or m, then you should pronounce ん as a voiced bilabial nasal (m). For example, bimbo (adj poor)
if the next sound is a velar plosive (k, g), then it should be pronounced as a voiced nasal velar (ng). For example, Manga (n comic strip thingy)
ん can also appear by itself in a question as some kind of semantic nuance not found in the blunter English language. It basically turns a simple yes/no question into a statement that requires confirmation, and the speaker is sufficiently confident the fact will be confirmed because of the obvious presence of some evidence that suggests the fact is true. An example is perhaps more helpful:
Umi ni ikimasu ka ? : Are you going to the beach ?
Umi ni iku n desu ka: You are going to the beach aren't you ? (I guess you are because you are wearing swimming trunks)
So people speaking with a hidden agenda will use this shadowy marker. Like when sussing out your partner who comes home late smellin’ like perfume, all you can think of are things that make you go ん
groan !