Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "いる" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce いる in Japanese?

いる is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /i.ɾɯ/. It means “to be / there is (people, animals).” ee-roo, but with both vowels short and the r a single quick tap of the tongue.

ee-roo, but with both vowels short and the r a single quick tap of the tongue.

いる /i.ɾɯ/

iru

Just two morae, both short, both the same length. Since this verb is almost always used in a conjugated form, the useful habit is keeping the base even so that the endings you attach later (います, いた) inherit the same steady beat rather than a lopsided one.

Listen: いる

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Sound it out

i A short, tense i — the vowel of "machine" clipped to half its length. English "ill" is too lax and "eel" is too long; aim between them but brief.

ru One upward flick: the tip touches the ridge behind the upper teeth exactly once, then drops. There is no curling back as in English r and no held contact as in l. The u that follows is unrounded — keep the lips flat and slightly spread.

Hear it in a sentence

家に犬がいます。

Ie ni inu ga imasu.

There is a dog at my house.

Listen: 家に犬がいます。

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家に犬がいます uses the polite form います, and the sentence conveniently front-loads two more short vowels: 家 (i-e, two separate beats, not "yay") and 犬 (i-nu). Three words in a row starting with a short i is a good check on whether you're stretching that vowel — if the sentence sounds like "ee-yay nee ee-noo," everything is too long.

Where English speakers slip

The r is where this word lives or dies. English speakers substitute their own r, producing a rounded, retroflex "roo" that a Japanese listener may hear as closer to a w-ish blur; others overcorrect into a clear l. Neither is it. Touch the tongue tip once — the same motion as the d-sound in American "ladder" — and get out. Also keep the u unrounded: no lip pucker.