Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "いす" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce いす in Japanese?

いす is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /i.sɯ̥/. It means “chair.” i-su, two beats — the second vowel usually devoices, so the word ends on a hiss.

i-su, two beats — the second vowel usually devoices, so the word ends on a hiss.

いす /i.sɯ̥/

isu

Two slots, both short, with the crest on the first. Because the second beat is often nothing but friction, English speakers hear one syllable and give one beat — but the timing slot is still there, which is why the word sounds truncated when rushed.

Listen: いす

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

i A tight, forward i opens the word, with no glottal catch.

su Crisp s with an unrounded u that devoices at the end of a word after a voiceless consonant — leaving essentially a sustained hiss.

Hear it in a sentence

このいすに座ってください。

Kono isu ni suwatte kudasai.

Please sit on this chair.

Listen: このいすに座ってください。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

このいすに座ってください contains 座って with its geminate: su-wa-t-te, four morae including a beat of held silence. So a word whose second beat is nearly inaudible is followed by one with a beat of actual silence — two different kinds of "nothing" that both take time.

Where English speakers slip

"EE-soo" stretches the first vowel, stresses it, and rounds the second. Halve the i, spread the lips, and let the u devoice. Learners who voice it fully also tend to add length, making a very short two-beat word sound like a substantial three-syllable one.