Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "トイレ" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce トイレ in Japanese?

トイレ is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /to.i.ɾe/. It means “toilet / restroom.” to-i-re, three beats — the to and i are separate, and the r is a single tap.

to-i-re, three beats — the to and i are separate, and the r is a single tap.

トイレ /to.i.ɾe/

toire

All three units take the same time. The word is borrowed from English "toilet," but Japanese has reshaped it completely: the final t is gone, the diphthong has become two separate beats, and the r is a tap — so the loanword's rhythm has nothing in common with its source.

Listen: トイレ

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Sound it out

to The t is dental — tongue on the upper teeth — and releases into a stationary short o.

i A short tense i as its own beat, straight off the o with no glide. English hears a diphthong here; Japanese counts two morae.

re One strike of the tongue tip on the ridge, then a short front e held in one position.

Hear it in a sentence

すみません、トイレはどこですか。

Sumimasen, toire wa doko desu ka?

Excuse me, where is the restroom?

Listen: すみません、トイレはどこですか。

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すみません、トイレはどこですか opens with すみません, five morae including a devoiced su and a closing nasal, and ends with ですか. The whole line is a very common request, and it runs to about thirteen beats — considerably longer than the English equivalent.

Where English speakers slip

Saying "TOY-leh" imports the English diphthong and an l. There is no l in Japanese and no diphthong here: to, i and re are three separate beats, and the third begins with a single tongue tap. Learners also stress the first beat heavily, which the word doesn't want.