It’s “れんあい” which is not the same as “れない” which might be why it sounds different than how you might expect.
Your confusion is understandable but that’s exactly why we recommend new learners to use hiraganas instead of rômaji.
“renai” implies the kanas れない, the “n” being the start of the second syllable. But it’s actually the final ん in 恋(れん). So the correct rômaji for れんあい would be ren’ai.
The pronunciation of ん is very dependant on context. Before a vowel like here, it’s a nasalisation of the previous vowel, which sounds more like “reng”. You barely hear a consonant. Depending on your native language, it’s a tough one to hear and say but basically, try to move the back of your tongue to (kinda) block the air and make it move through your nose. And then you add “ai”.
basically, the “n” sound is _way_ softer (i think a nasalized approximate or vowel, altho i’m not sure which specific sound) and isn’t attatched to the “a”. it should be at the end of the syllable before. so there are 2 differences between “renai” and ren’ai.
1 of the differences is that “renai” has the “n” sound in the same syllable as the “a”, but ren’ai has the “n” sound in the same syllable as “n”. think about saying “hard-hat”. here, the “d” is in _coda_ position, which means it’s at the end of a syllable. the “n” in ren’ai is in coda position too, while the “n” in “renai” would be in onset position.
the other difference is how the sound is made. in a normal japanese “n” sound (like in “na”, “nu”, “ne”, and “no”), the n sound is made quite similar to how it is in english, but in “n’a” ンア the n sound is made like “w” or “y” in english, where your tounge isn’t firmly pushed against anything. you can feel this difference if you compare the english “r” sound to the “s” in “measure” or “pleasure”. the difference between the english “r” and this “zh” sound is that in an english “r” sound, your tounge isn’t pushing, but in a “zh” sound like the “s” in “measure” or “pleasure”, your tounge is pushing.
note: this word contains 4 mora. here, the “n” counts as a mora, just like in れんせつ (rensetu) or other words with the moriac nasal.
another note about these sounds: in the sequences n’i, n’u, n’e, and n’o, this can turn them into something more like n’yi, n’wu, n’ye, and n’wo, in addition to being in coda position.
You find it strange because you are using Romaji instead of Hiragana.
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It is.
It’s “れんあい” which is not the same as “れない” which might be why it sounds different than how you might expect.
Your confusion is understandable but that’s exactly why we recommend new learners to use hiraganas instead of rômaji.
“renai” implies the kanas れない, the “n” being the start of the second syllable. But it’s actually the final ん in 恋(れん). So the correct rômaji for れんあい would be ren’ai.
The pronunciation of ん is very dependant on context. Before a vowel like here, it’s a nasalisation of the previous vowel, which sounds more like “reng”. You barely hear a consonant. Depending on your native language, it’s a tough one to hear and say but basically, try to move the back of your tongue to (kinda) block the air and make it move through your nose. And then you add “ai”.
Hope that makes sense !
Click the ‘Play audio’ link for the word – [here](https://jisho.org/search/%E6%81%8B%E6%84%9B).
it is not “renai”. it is ren’ai. big difference.
basically, the “n” sound is _way_ softer (i think a nasalized approximate or vowel, altho i’m not sure which specific sound) and isn’t attatched to the “a”. it should be at the end of the syllable before. so there are 2 differences between “renai” and ren’ai.
1 of the differences is that “renai” has the “n” sound in the same syllable as the “a”, but ren’ai has the “n” sound in the same syllable as “n”. think about saying “hard-hat”. here, the “d” is in _coda_ position, which means it’s at the end of a syllable. the “n” in ren’ai is in coda position too, while the “n” in “renai” would be in onset position.
the other difference is how the sound is made. in a normal japanese “n” sound (like in “na”, “nu”, “ne”, and “no”), the n sound is made quite similar to how it is in english, but in “n’a” ンア the n sound is made like “w” or “y” in english, where your tounge isn’t firmly pushed against anything. you can feel this difference if you compare the english “r” sound to the “s” in “measure” or “pleasure”. the difference between the english “r” and this “zh” sound is that in an english “r” sound, your tounge isn’t pushing, but in a “zh” sound like the “s” in “measure” or “pleasure”, your tounge is pushing.
note: this word contains 4 mora. here, the “n” counts as a mora, just like in れんせつ (rensetu) or other words with the moriac nasal.
another note about these sounds: in the sequences n’i, n’u, n’e, and n’o, this can turn them into something more like n’yi, n’wu, n’ye, and n’wo, in addition to being in coda position.
You find it strange because you are using Romaji instead of Hiragana.