Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "閉まる" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 閉まる in Japanese?

閉まる is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕi.ma.ɾɯ/. It means “to close / to be closed (intransitive).” shi-ma-ru, three even beats — a thin hiss, an open a, and a single tap.

shi-ma-ru, three even beats — a thin hiss, an open a, and a single tap.

閉まる /ɕi.ma.ɾɯ/

shimaru

Peak on ma, and three slots of matching size. This intransitive verb pairs with 閉める (shimeru); both are three beats, and the only audible difference is a single vowel in the middle. That makes clean vowel quality more than a cosmetic matter here.

Listen: 閉まる

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Sound it out

shi A hiss made with the tongue blade near the hard palate, thinner and higher than English sh, with a short tense i. Voiced throughout, since an m follows.

ma A lip closure for the m, then a bright short a — the word's only open vowel.

ru The tongue tip strikes the ridge once and is gone, then the flat-lipped u. No curling, no rounding.

Hear it in a sentence

博物館は今日閉まっています。

Hakubutsukan wa kyou shimatte imasu.

The museum is closed today.

Listen: 博物館は今日閉まっています。

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博物館は今日閉まっています uses 閉まって, where the ru becomes a geminate: shi-ma-t-te, four morae with a beat of held silence. 博物館 at the front is five morae (ha-ku-bu-tsu-ka-n — six, in fact) with a devoicing-prone ku and an affricate. The sentence is a long one, and the silence in the middle of the verb is easy to skip.

Where English speakers slip

First attempts land on "shee-MA-roo": a long first vowel, English stress in the middle, and a rounded rhotic ending. Cut the i short, level the beats, tap once, and spread the lips for the u. The sh also needs lightening — English pushes far more air through it than Japanese does.