Japanese Vowels: How to Pronounce い

Description of the Japanese Pronunciation い

The pronunciations of Japanese vowels are determined by 3 factors; two of which are the position of your tongue, high or low (1) and front or back (2), and the final factor is the form of your mouth (3). When you pronounce い, you are going to open both sides of your mouth wide (like an open-mouthed smile) and raise your tongue almost to the front part of the roof of your mouth (at the high and the front position).

Does it make sense to you? Let's try to pronounce [i] い after the tutor on the video!

Wasabi Japanese Pronunciation Lessons

Words Exercise with the Pronunciation [i] い

Please repeat the following words after the tutor on the video.

Words	Roman Letters	Meanings
いま	i ma	now
いえ	i e	house
いく	i ku	to go
入いれる	i re ru	to put in
いくつ	i ku tsu	how many, how old?
いくら	i ku ra	how much?
いろいろ	i ro i ro	various
はい	ha i	yes (agreeable)
えいが	e i ga	movie
おいしい	o i shi i	delicious

Sentences Exercise with the Pronunciation [i] い

Please repeat the following sentences after the tutor in the video.

Japanese Sentences	English Translations
今いまから家いえに行いきます。	From now I’ll go to the house.
お兄にいさんと映えい画がに行いきました。	I went to a movie with my older brother.
この時と計けいはいくらですか？	How much is this watch?

Tongue Twister Exercise with the Pronunciation [i] い

Please repeat the following tongue twisters after the tutor on the video. Also, please focus on the pronunciation practice, not the meaning, because they were made only for the sake of practice.

Japanese Tongue Twisters	Vocabulary
「相合傘あいあいがさでもいいですか」なんていちいち言いわなくてもいいじゃない。	相合傘あいあいがさ: sharing the same umbrella, いちいち: every time (*negative meaning)
石いし井いさんがいちいち異い論ろんを挟はさむので、居い合あわせた人ひとはいい気持きもちではなかった。	石いし井いさん: person’s name, 異い論ろん: different opinion, 挟はさむ: to put in, 居い合あわせる: to happen to be at~
やいやい言いわれ、いやいやながら、いよいよ家いえを用よう意いした。	いやいや: unwillingly, いよいよ: at last, 用よう意いする: to prepare

Conclusion