Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "誰" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 誰 in Japanese?

誰 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /da.ɾe/. It means “who.” da-re, two short beats — a dental d, one tap, and a flat final "eh."

da-re, two short beats — a dental d, one tap, and a flat final "eh."

誰 /da.ɾe/

dare

Equal lengths, with the pitch high on the first. It's worth drilling this against それ (sore) and どれ (dore), which share the same second mora and the same two-beat template — the family behaves identically, so getting one right gets several right.

Listen: 誰

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Sound it out

da The tongue tip touches the back of the upper teeth rather than the ridge behind them, releasing quietly into a bright short a.

re A single tap of the tongue tip on the ridge — one contact, never a trill — then a short front e held in one position.

Hear it in a sentence

あの人は誰ですか。

Ano hito wa dare desu ka?

Who is that person?

Listen: あの人は誰ですか。

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あの人は誰ですか ends with ですか, where the su devoices, so the tail of the sentence comes out close to "dess ka." 人 (hi-to) before it has a palatal h. Between them, the sentence has a whispered vowel and a hissed h in the space of four beats.

Where English speakers slip

"DAH-ray" combines every standard error: a stretched stressed first syllable, an English r, and a diphthong on the e. Shorten the a, tap once instead of curling the tongue, and freeze the e. The d also belongs on the teeth — English places it further back and adds a small puff of air.