Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "靴" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 靴 in Japanese?

靴 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kɯ̥.tsɯ̥/. It means “shoes.” ku-tsu, two beats — both vowels typically devoice, so the word is nearly all friction.

ku-tsu, two beats — both vowels typically devoice, so the word is nearly all friction.

靴 /kɯ̥.tsɯ̥/

kutsu

Two beats and almost no voicing in either. Like 好き and 靴下, this is a word where the timing is entirely internal — the speaker measures two counts even though a listener hears little more than consonants.

Listen: 靴

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Sound it out

ku A quiet k with a u trapped between two voiceless consonants, which devoices it almost entirely.

tsu One indivisible affricate, with another devoicing-prone u after it. The result is a word made largely of a k-release followed by a sustained "ts."

Hear it in a sentence

この靴は小さすぎます。

Kono kutsu wa chiisasugimasu.

These shoes are too small.

Listen: この靴は小さすぎます。

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

この靴は小さすぎます ends with 小さすぎます, where 小さ carries a long i at its front and すぎます adds four more morae. So a nearly voiceless two-beat noun is followed by a long, fully-voiced verb phrase — maximum contrast in texture.

Where English speakers slip

"KOO-tsoo" rounds and voices both vowels and stresses the first. Spread the lips, let both devoice, and keep the affricate as a single release. Beginners who voice everything make this two-beat word sound as long as a four-beat one.