Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "小さい" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 小さい in Japanese?

小さい is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕiː.sa.i/. It means “small.” chii-sa-i, four beats — a long i after the ch, then two short beats that must not fuse.

chii-sa-i, four beats — a long i after the ch, then two short beats that must not fuse.

小さい /tɕiː.sa.i/

chiisai

Four morae with the length concentrated at the front: two beats of long i, then two short ones. The word is a nice mirror of 大きい, which puts its length at both ends — comparing the two is the fastest way to internalise that Japanese adjectives get their shape from duration rather than from stress.

Listen: 小さい

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Sound it out

chii One affricate made with the tongue blade, lighter than English ch, followed by an i held for two full morae. The length is the word's identity.

sa Crisp s, short bright a. After the long vowel, this beat should feel noticeably brief by comparison.

i The last beat is a naked i. It follows the a directly, and the two must stay separate rather than merging into the English vowel of "sigh."

Hear it in a sentence

小さい犬を飼っています。

Chiisai inu o katte imasu.

I have a small dog.

Listen: 小さい犬を飼っています。

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小さい犬を飼っています uses 飼って with its geminate silent beat, and 犬 (i-nu) with two short vowels. Between the long i of 小さい, the two short vowels of 犬 and the held silence of 飼って, the sentence demonstrates three completely different ways Japanese fills rhythmic space.

Where English speakers slip

The standard error is "CHEE-sigh" — two beats, with the long i shortened and the final sa-i fused into an English diphthong. That's half the word gone. Hold the first i for two counts, then articulate sa and i as separate short pulses. If your 小さい and 大きい take the same time, at least one of them is wrong.