LingoDrop
Japanese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "言う" in Japanese?
i-u, two vowel beats and no consonant at all — though in fast speech it often comes out closer to "yuu."
iu
Two morae with nothing but vowels in them, which makes the count unusually slippery. In careful speech you hear two distinct vowels; in ordinary conversation the pair frequently fuses into a long "yuu," which is still two morae. Either way the word occupies two beats — what changes is how the two are voiced, not how long they take.
Listen: 言う
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
もう一度言ってください。
Mou ichido itte kudasai.
Please say it one more time.
Listen: もう一度言ってください。
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もう一度言ってください conjugates it to 言って, a geminate form: i-t-te, three morae with a silent held beat. Notice how the vowel-only base turns into something with a real consonant hold. もう at the head of the sentence is also two morae, a long o, so the line begins and continues with length that English would simply skip.
Where English speakers slip
The nearest English shape is "you" — one syllable with rounded lips — and that is exactly what learners reach for. The lips must stay flat — Japanese u has no rounding — and the word must take two counts, not one. If you prefer the careful pronunciation, articulate i and u separately; if you imitate the fast fused version, make sure it stays long enough to be two beats.