Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "起きる" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 起きる in Japanese?

起きる is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /o.ki.ɾɯ/. It means “to get up / to wake up.” o-ki-ru, three even beats — a short pure o, a light k, and one tap at the end.

o-ki-ru, three even beats — a short pure o, a light k, and one tap at the end.

起きる /o.ki.ɾɯ/

okiru

The peak lands on ki, though every slot is measured the same. It contrasts usefully with 置く (oku), which is only two beats: same opening vowel, same k, but a different verb class and a different rhythm. Keeping them distinct in length is what keeps them distinct as words.

Listen: 起きる

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Sound it out

o A fixed mid-back vowel opening the word. Short, and with no lip movement during it.

ki The k takes on a slight palatal colour before the i, and the vowel is short and tense. Between the o and the r it stays voiced.

ru A single quick contact of the tongue tip with the ridge, then the unrounded u. The tap should be so brief it barely interrupts the airflow.

Hear it in a sentence

今日は早く起きました。

Kyou wa hayaku okimashita.

I got up early today.

Listen: 今日は早く起きました。

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今日は早く起きました pairs the past form 起きました with 早く (ha-ya-ku), whose final u devoices before the following k. So the sentence has a whispered mora immediately before a fully voiced one — a clean demonstration that devoicing is triggered by the neighbourhood, not by the vowel itself.

Where English speakers slip

"oh-KEE-roo" carries all the standard faults: a glided first vowel, stress and length on the middle, an English r and rounded lips at the end. Level everything out. The i in particular gets over-lengthened because English "key" is long; halve it, and the three beats will start to sound genuinely equal.