Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "一緒に" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 一緒に in Japanese?

一緒に is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /iɕ.ɕo.ɲi/. It means “together.” i-s-sho-ni, four beats — the doubled s is a full beat of sustained hiss before the sho releases.

i-s-sho-ni, four beats — the doubled s is a full beat of sustained hiss before the sho releases.

一緒に /iɕ.ɕo.ɲi/

issho ni

Four slots, one of which is pure sustained friction. English writes doubled letters without doubling duration, so "issho" reads as two syllables and gets two beats; Japanese measures four including the に. Hold the hiss until a listener could count it.

Listen: 一緒に

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Sound it out

i A short tense high front vowel opening the word.

s (small っ) The geminate before a fricative behaves slightly differently from one before a stop: instead of silence, you get an extended hiss. Start the sh sound at the end of the i and hold it for a full beat before the vowel arrives.

sho The release: the same palatal hiss now opening onto a stationary o, all in one mora. Not "shi-yo."

ni A palatalised n, tongue blade flat against the hard palate, with a short tense i.

Hear it in a sentence

一緒に行きましょう。

Issho ni ikimashou.

Let's go together.

Listen: 一緒に行きましょう。

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一緒に行きましょう ends in ましょう, which carries a long o — two more beats of held vowel. So the sentence contains a lengthened consonant at the start and a lengthened vowel at the end, the two main ways Japanese adds duration, bracketing four ordinary short morae in between.

Where English speakers slip

"ee-SHO-nee" collapses the geminate entirely and stresses the middle, losing a beat and adding emphasis. Lengthen the sh audibly — it should feel like you're holding the sound rather than passing through it — and keep the final i short. Learners also tend to say "shi-yo" for しょ, which adds a beat that isn't there.