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TYJ Hiragana for s/z + vowels

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2.3. Hiragana for s/z + vowels

s + vowels:
HiraganaRomanizationPronunciationDescription
さsa[ sa ] ListenEnglish "s" + Japanese "a".
しsi (shi)[ ɕi ] Listen Similar to English "sh" + Japanese "i". You shouldn't round your lips when you pronounce [ɕ], unlike the [ʃ] in she [ʃi:].
すsu[ sɯ ] Listen English "s" + Japanese "u".
せse[ se ] ListenEnglish "s" + Japanese "e".
そso[ so ] ListenEnglish "s" + Japanese "o".

z + vowels:
HiraganaRomanizationPronunciationDescription
ざza[ dɕa ] ListenEnglish "dɕ" + Japanese "a".
じzi (ji)[ dɕi ] Listen Similar to English "j" + Japanese "i". You shouldn't round your lips when you pronounce [dɕ], unlike the [dɕ] in jeep [dɕi: p]
ずzu[ dɕɯ ] Listen English "dɕ" + Japanese "u".
ぜze[ dɕe ] ListenEnglish "dɕ" + Japanese "e".
ぞzo[ dɕo ] ListenEnglish "dɕ" + Japanese "o".

Note that "si" and "zi" have different consonants from others because of palatalisation.

The "z" in the middle of a word is commonly pronounced as [z] instead of [dɕ]. Similarly, "zi" can be pronounced as [ʒ] (as in azure [æʒə]) instead of [dɕ]. Since Japanese speakers don't distinguish [dɕ] and [z] actually, you can pronounce "z" as the latter, which is easier for English speakers.


Hiragana examples:

Hiragana:すし
Pitch:H L
Romanization:su si
Meaning:sushi (noun)

For your interest: Sushi is a popular food in Japan. It is made of raw seafood (!) and rice. It tastes good, so give it a try if you have a chance. Some people expect Japanese foods to be hot like Thai and Korean foods, but Japanese foods have delicate and elegant tastes. Japanese foods boast of being low-fat and healthful, which is one of the reasons why the Japanese have the longest life expectancy in the world.

Hiragana:さじ
Pitch:H L
Romanization:sa zi
Meaning:spoon (noun)

Hiragana:すず
Pitch:H L
Romanization:su zu
Meaning:small bell (noun)

Hiragana:せかい
Pitch:H L L
Romanization:se ka i
Meaning:world (noun)

Hiragana:そうぞう
Pitch:L H H H
Romanization:sô zô
Meaning:imagination (noun)

Hiragana:ぞう
Pitch:H L
Romanization:zô
Meaning:elephant (noun)

Hiragana:せいじ
Pitch:L H H
Romanization:se i zi
Meaning:politics (noun)
Next article in the series 'Teach Yourself Japanese': Hiragana for t/d + vowels
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About author
Takasugi
Takasugi
My name is TAKASUGI Shinji. TAKASUGI is my family name, and Shinji is my given name; a family name is placed before a given name in Japan, as in other Asian nations. My family name is capitalized to avoid misunderstanding.

I have been living in Yokohama since I was born. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan, which is just 30 kilometers away from the biggest city Tôkyô. It takes 30 minutes to go by train from home to Shibuya, which is the hottest town now in Tôkyô.

I work as a display engineer.

One of my hobbies is creating things with computers; creating programs, computer graphics and web pages is the thing I spent a lot of time doing. I am also interested in a wide range of sciences, and linguistics is my favorite. I like English and I like using it, but my focus is mainly on Japanese, which is my native language. I'm proud of knowing the language, and the difference between English and Japanese has been fascinating me. I have been thinking whether I can introduce it to people outside of Japan. My attempt of introducing Japanese with some Java applets has had more than 1 million visitors.

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Series table of contents

Teach Yourself Japanese Introduction to Japanese Romanization, phonemes, and morae Japanese grammatical terms Hiragana for vowels Hiragana for k/g + vowels Hiragana for s/z + vowels Hiragana for t/d + vowels Hiragana for n + vowels Hiragana for h/b/p + vowels Hiragana for m + vowels Hiragana for y + vowels Hiragana for r + vowels Hiragana for w + vowels Hiragana for /N/, /Q/, and /H/ Double hiragana for consonants + y + vowels Double hiragana used only for imported words Romanised Japanese in English Hiragana table Hiragana shapes Katakana table Katakana shapes Punctuation in Japanese Small numbers in Japanese Large numbers in Japanese Japanese counters Decimals and fractions in Japanese The months and the days in Japanese Greetings in Japanese Cases and postpositions in Japanese Topics and focuses in Japanese Japanese verbs Japanese copula Japanese adjectives Relative clauses in Japanese Negative forms in Japanese Emotion markers in Japanese Questions in Japanese Japanese pronouns Demonstratives in Japanese Body parts in Japanese Kinship expressions in Japanese Colors in Japanese Space-time in Japanese Vertebrates in Japanese Invertebrates in Japanese Plants in Japanese Dialogue 1 Dialogue 2 The Number System of Ancient Japanese The Number System of the Ainu

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