How to Pronounce '古い': Japanese Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce 古い in Japanese?

古い is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɸɯ.ɾɯ.i/. It means “old (things).” fu-ru-i, three beats — and the "fu" is made with both lips, like blowing out a candle, not with teeth on lip.

How do you pronounce "古い" in Japanese?

fu-ru-i, three beats — and the "fu" is made with both lips, like blowing out a candle, not with teeth on lip.

古い /ɸɯ.ɾɯ.i/

furui

Three beats, none louder than another, with the pitch cresting on ru. The word is mostly back vowels with a bright i at the end, which gives it a distinctive shape — but no beat should be longer or louder than another, and the final i in particular tends to get stretched by learners who treat adjective endings as emphatic.

Listen: 古い

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Sound it out

fu This is not the English f. There's no contact between the upper teeth and the lower lip at all: the two lips come close together and air passes between them, like a very gentle candle-blow. The u that follows is unrounded.

ru A single strike of the tongue tip against the ridge, then another flat-lipped u. Two identical vowels in consecutive morae, so keep them matched.

i An unsupported i closes the word, arriving directly off the u with no glide. It's a full beat, not a tail.

Hear it in a sentence

あの建物はとても古いです。

Ano tatemono wa totemo furui desu.

That building is very old.

Listen: あの建物はとても古いです。

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あの建物はとても古いです has 建物 (ta-te-mo-no), four crisp short morae with no length anywhere, before the adjective arrives. It's a good tempo-setter: if you can deliver those four evenly, the three beats of 古い should follow at the same pace rather than slowing down for the tricky ふ.

Where English speakers slip

Almost every English speaker substitutes their own f — teeth on the lower lip — producing "FOO-roo-ee." That, plus rounded u's and an English r, makes the word unrecognisable. Take the teeth out of it entirely: bring the lips near each other and blow softly. Then flatten those two u vowels and tap once instead of curling the tongue.