Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "好き" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 好き in Japanese?

好き is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sɯ̥.ki̥/. It means “to like (na-adjective).” Both vowels devoice, so this comes out sounding almost exactly like the English word "ski" — but with two beats, not one.

Both vowels devoice, so this comes out sounding almost exactly like the English word "ski" — but with two beats, not one.

好き /sɯ̥.ki̥/

suki

Two morae — and this is the crucial thing — even though a native pronunciation can sound like the single English syllable "ski." The vowels lose their voicing, not their time. Say "ski" too fast and you have one beat; hold the s slightly and let the k arrive on the second beat and you have Japanese.

Listen: 好き

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Sound it out

su The u sits between a voiceless s and a voiceless k, which is the textbook environment for devoicing. What survives is the s hiss with a whisper of vowel shape inside it.

ki A lightly palatalised k, and its i is also a strong devoicing candidate at the end of a word. In ordinary speech both vowels go, leaving a word made almost entirely of voiceless friction.

Hear it in a sentence

この場所が好きです。

Kono basho ga suki desu.

I like this place.

Listen: この場所が好きです。

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

この場所が好きです stacks 好き directly before です, whose u also devoices. The sentence therefore ends with three consecutive whispered vowels: su-ki-de-su, with only the de fully voiced. That run of breath is exactly what makes fluent Japanese sound quicker and lighter than a beginner's careful rendition.

Where English speakers slip

Learners who haven't met devoicing say "SOO-kee" with two full rounded and stretched vowels, which sounds laboured. Learners who have met it often overcorrect into a one-beat "ski." The target is between: two beats' worth of timing with almost no voicing in them. Whisper it, but whisper it in two.