Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "来る" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 来る in Japanese?

来る is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kɯ.ɾɯ/. It means “to come.” ku-ru, two short beats with two identical unrounded u's and one quick tap between them.

ku-ru, two short beats with two identical unrounded u's and one quick tap between them.

来る /kɯ.ɾɯ/

kuru

Two short slots of matching size, with the pitch sliding down from the first to the second. This verb is irregular in its conjugation but perfectly regular in rhythm, and keeping the base tight helps when it mutates into きます and こない later — those forms inherit the same clipped tempo.

Listen: 来る

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Sound it out

ku A soft k, no aspiration, into the flat-lipped u. Because a voiced r follows, this vowel keeps its voicing.

ru One strike on the ridge and away, then the same u again. Two identical vowels back to back make this a good self-test: if they don't sound the same, English vowel reduction is at work.

Hear it in a sentence

一緒に来ますか。

Issho ni kimasu ka?

Are you coming with us?

Listen: 一緒に来ますか。

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一緒に来ますか opens with 一緒に (i-s-sho-ni), which contains a geminate: a full silent beat with the tongue positioned for sh before it releases. Four morae for what English reads as two syllables. Then 来ますか arrives with nothing held at all, which throws the earlier silence into relief.

Where English speakers slip

"KOO-roo" is the near-universal English rendering, with rounded lips and an English r. The rounding is the more damaging error — Japanese u is made with the lips flat and slightly spread, and rounding it changes the vowel's entire character. Add a single tap instead of the sustained r and shorten both beats.