Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "知る" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 知る in Japanese?

知る is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕi.ɾɯ/. It means “to know.” shi-ru, two brisk beats: a soft hiss, one tongue-tap, and flat lips throughout.

shi-ru, two brisk beats: a soft hiss, one tongue-tap, and flat lips throughout.

知る /ɕi.ɾɯ/

shiru

Both beats are measured the same, with a high-then-low melody laid over them. This verb is worth drilling next to する: they differ only in the first mora, and hearing them as equally short, equally even pairs helps stop the English instinct to stretch whichever one carries the meaning.

Listen: 知る

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Sound it out

shi The Japanese sh is made with the tongue blade near the hard palate, giving a thinner, higher hiss than English "she." The i is short and tense; here it stays voiced because an r follows.

ru There is a single fleeting contact with the ridge before the tongue drops away — the same motion as the tt in American "butter," not the sustained r of English "rue." The u afterwards has no lip rounding.

Hear it in a sentence

すみません、知りません。

Sumimasen, shirimasen.

Sorry, I don't know.

Listen: すみません、知りません。

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すみません、知りません uses the negative 知りません, five morae ending in a moraic ん. Notice that the す of すみません and the し of 知りません sit in different environments: the first devoices readily, the second doesn't. Same kind of vowel, different treatment, purely because of what's next door.

Where English speakers slip

"SHEE-roo" is the version English mouths default to — long first vowel, rounded second, English r between. Cut the i to half its English length, replace the r with one tap, and spread the lips slightly for the u instead of pursing them. A rounded u is the single most audible foreign accent marker in a word this short.