Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "若い" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 若い in Japanese?

若い is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /wa.ka.i/. It means “young.” wa-ka-i, three beats — the ka and i are separate morae, so it doesn't end like English "sky."

wa-ka-i, three beats — the ka and i are separate morae, so it doesn't end like English "sky."

若い /wa.ka.i/

wakai

A crest on ka and three units of the same length — that is the whole rhythmic description. Two identical a vowels followed by a bare i is a very common adjective shape (compare 高い, 長い), and in every case the final i is a full beat rather than a diphthong's tail.

Listen: 若い

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Sound it out

wa Lips compressed sideways rather than protruded, opening into a short bright a. Lighter than the w of English "wag."

ka Soft k, no aspiration, then a second a identical to the first.

i Just the vowel, holding a beat by itself. Coming off an a with nothing between, it's exactly the configuration English fuses automatically — so give it a deliberate pulse.

Hear it in a sentence

彼はまだ若いです。

Kare wa mada wakai desu.

He's still young.

Listen: 彼はまだ若いです。

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彼はまだ若いです pairs it with まだ, two short beats, and ends with the devoiced です. Notice how little length there is anywhere in this sentence: no long vowels, no geminates, no nasals. That makes it a pure evenness drill — eight or so short morae in a row at a constant tempo.

Where English speakers slip

"wa-KIGH" is the standard collapse: the second and third morae fused into the English vowel of "eye," and a stress peak on it. That's two beats where Japanese wants three. Say ka and i as separate pulses until the three-count sticks, and keep the initial w light — English rounds the lips forward, Japanese just squeezes them.