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pronunciation nasai

why do i hear ppl pronounce sai in 1 syllable, is that allowed? they pronounced as <s+eye>
 
さい, sai is one syllable, comprised of two mora. Japanese cadence is moraic, not syllabic.
 
hi all, one more question. why is the ai in hai pronounced as "eye" but the ai in gozaimasu pronounced as "aye"?
 
I'm not sure what you mean, they are the same.

If you are interested in pronunciation, you might want to learn about the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), it'll help you ask more specific questions and understand the answers (as opposed to trying to find English equivalents; you might pronounce "aye" differently from other English speakers)


IPA Charts
these flash charts have all the IPA characters, describes their articulation, and lets you hear them. the consonants and vowel charts cover just about all the sounds you need to know for Japanese and English.

Redirect
This site has the same chart, but when you click on them they show up in a text box you can copy from.
 
I think because 'aye' lends lends itself to -masu more. I mean, image saying gozaimasu, with the stress on ai. Would sound a bit odd.
 
I'm not sure what you're saying, Japanese isn't a stress accent language, and stress affects inflection, not pronunciation.
 
I think because 'aye' lends lends itself to -masu more. I mean, image saying gozaimasu, with the stress on ai. Would sound a bit odd.
goZAIMAsu (normal pitch/tonal accent)

goZAImasu (I use on occasion for effect or emotion)


All caps for high pitch, lower-case for the lower ptich.
 
hi all, one more question. why is the ai in hai pronounced as "eye" but the ai in gozaimasu pronounced as "aye"?

As in the post related to "gomennasai," "gozaimasu" is read "go-za-i-ma-su" as you see in the hiragana rendition of it.
"Hai" is "ha-i." Although "za-i" and "ha-i" may sound monosyllabic when spoken fast, they are two syllables in the mind of the native speaker. So, "eye" and "aye" do not apply.

As nice gaijin said, they are basically the same, and I also strongly recommend getting to hear native pronunciation and don't judge pronunciation from the written language. If you want easy access, join JREF's weekly Paltalk session. Ashikaga (a native speaker) is the mod of that chatroom, and you can ask him to pronounce them for you.
You'll find details of this session at the bottom of this forum's toppage.
 
As in the post related to "gomennasai," "gozaimasu" is read "go-za-i-ma-su" as you see in the hiragana rendition of it.
"Hai" is "ha-i." Although "za-i" and "ha-i" may sound monosyllabic when spoken fast, they are two syllables in the mind of the native speaker. So, "eye" and "aye" do not apply.
I don't mean to nitpick, but in order to prevent confusion, I should point out that the base unit of sound in Japanese is the mora (モーラ), and not the syllable. When native speakers count 'syllables,' they're actually counting mora, which is why ん and the sokuon (促音、っ) are counted, yet they are not actual syllables (the ん is always found at the end of a syllable, which is why it's an automatic lose in shiritori, and the sokuon becomes a pronounced つ in "ばびぶ")

[ha] and are syllables when pronounced by themselves, but [hai] is also a single syllable made of two mora. [sain] would also be one syllable, made from three mora.

This is all just a technicality; however important it may be to the rhythm of the language, most native speakers will go their entire lives without knowing about mora and the role they play in their language.
 
I thought learning Hiragana and Katakana makes this MUCH easier... at least that's how I learned.

They have two letters; ex. ka ki ku ke ko and just add a, i, e, u or o to make ka+x and so on.

Anime and J-Songs do have a habit of making it sound like one or separate words often :3

Try go-men-na-sa-i, but the "i" has voiced VERY quickly almost making the illusion that sai is ONE word only when it is not :)
Sometimes, you just need to pay attention to other factors other than just play guessing games lol

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend studying conjugation :3
 
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