Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "寒い" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 寒い in Japanese?

寒い is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sa.mɯ.i/. It means “cold (weather).” sa-mu-i, three beats — the u is unrounded and the final i is a beat of its own.

sa-mu-i, three beats — the u is unrounded and the final i is a beat of its own.

寒い /sa.mɯ.i/

samui

The mirror of 暑い in shape as well as sense: three even beats, this time with the crest on mu. This is the mirror image of 暑い in both meaning and shape: same number of beats, same bare final i, different middle. Drilling the pair together makes both rhythms stick.

Listen: 寒い

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Sound it out

sa Straightforward s, then a bright short a. No lengthening despite starting the word.

mu The lips close for the m and then spread immediately for the unrounded u. Keeping them rounded turns this into English "moo," which is the most audible error in the word.

i A consonant-free final beat: short i. It arrives directly off the u — two high vowels in a row — so make each one's quality distinct.

Hear it in a sentence

今日は寒いですね。

Kyou wa samui desu ne.

It's cold today, isn't it?

Listen: 今日は寒いですね。

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今日は寒いですね closes with ですね, a devoiced su plus a short ね — and the pitch on that final particle does the work of the English tag "isn't it?" The rest of the sentence has no length in it at all, so the whole line is short, even beats with one whispered vowel near the end.

Where English speakers slip

"sa-MOO-ee" rounds the u, stresses it, and stretches the final vowel. Flatten the lips — check in a mirror that they don't push forward after the m — level the three beats, and cut the closing i short. Learners often treat adjective-final i as an emphatic ending; it's just a mora like any other.