Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "安い" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 安い in Japanese?

安い is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ja.sɯ.i/. It means “cheap / inexpensive.” ya-su-i, three beats — the u is unrounded and the final i stands alone.

ya-su-i, three beats — the u is unrounded and the final i stands alone.

安い /ja.sɯ.i/

yasui

The crest sits on su, with nothing favoured over anything else. The u-to-i transition at the end is subtle because both are high vowels; the way to keep the count honest is to make the u genuinely unrounded and back, so it contrasts audibly with the front i that follows.

Listen: 安い

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Sound it out

ya One mora, with the y-glide and the a produced as a single gesture rather than as "ee-ya."

su Crisp s, then the flat-lipped u. Because a vowel follows, this u generally keeps its voicing rather than whispering away.

i A lone i taking the final beat, straight off the u. Two high vowels in a row, so each needs its own clear quality.

Hear it in a sentence

この店は安いです。

Kono mise wa yasui desu.

This shop is cheap.

Listen: この店は安いです。

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この店は安いです has 店 (mi-se) before it, two crisp short beats, and closes with the devoiced です. There's nothing long anywhere in the sentence, which makes it a clean tempo test — around eight short morae delivered at one unvarying speed.

Where English speakers slip

The English default is "ya-SOO-ee," with rounded lips, a stressed middle, and a stretched final vowel. Flatten the lips so the u loses its "oo" quality, level the three beats, and clip the closing i. Learners also frequently split ya into two beats — it's one.