Learn why 'desu' and 'masu' sound like 'dess' and 'mass'
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| Hi everybody! Hiroko here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher where I’ll answer some of *your* most common Japanese questions. |
| The question for this lesson is… |
| Why do DESU and MASU sound like DESS and MASS? |
| You’ll often hear the word ‘desu’ as in ‘Hiroko desu.’ or ‘masu’ as in ‘yoroshiku onegai shimasu’. They’re both spelled as two syllables but the actual pronunciation sounds like “dess” or "-mass," without the “う” sound. |
| So what’s going on with this? |
| The last ‘う’ sounds are often left off in spoken Japanese. |
| This happens when the "う" sound follows voiceless consonants such as ku, su, tsu, or fu at the end of a phrase or between voiceless consonants. For example, masu, desu, or suki. When you say these words, you actually pronounce the vowel ‘う," but the vocal chords don’t vibrate enough, and you just can’t hear it very well. |
| This rule also applies to masu form of verbs, such as ‘tabemasu’ meaning “to eat,” ‘mimasu’ meaning “to watch”. |
| Another example word with the voiceless “う” in the middle is ‘sukiyaki,’ which is a name of famous Japanese food. This ‘う’ comes between voiceless consonants, ‘s’ and ‘k’ and becomes ‘Skiyaki.’ |
| So, what do you say when you say “Good morning.” politely? ...Don’t say ‘Ohayo gozaimasU’. Just ‘Ohayo gozaimass’ |
| One more example: |
| What do you say when you say “I like Japanese anime.”? ...You’d say "Nihon no anime ga ski dess.” because the ‘su’ sounds as in ‘suki’ and ‘desu’ become “ski” and “dess.” |
| I hope this makes sense to you and you can use this tip to make your pronunciation even more natural! |
| Do you have any more questions? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll try to answer them! |
| またね！ |
Comments
HideWhat Japanese learning question do you have?
Hello Robert,
Thank you for your valuable feedback and suggestions! We always appreciate hearing from our students and your ideas can help us improve the learning experience.
Regarding your questions:
1. The "Lessons Completed" feature you're suggesting sounds like a great idea for quickly accessing completed lessons and their respective pathways. We'll definitely consider this for future updates.
2. The Word Bank is a place where you can store new words that you encounter during your lessons. Currently, adding words to your Word Bank does not automatically add them to your Flashcards. However, you can manually add them to your Flashcards for review. We understand the convenience of having this process automated and will take your suggestion into account.
3. Sorting pathways by completion status is a great idea to help learners focus on their progress. We'll definitely consider this for future updates.
Please continue to share your thoughts and questions with us. We are here to support you in your Japanese learning journey.
どうもありがとうございます！
Kazuya
Team JapanesePod101.com
On the dashboard, it would be great if I could click on "lessons completed," and I could instantly find those lessons on the next page and maybe the pathways they are part of.
I've been adding words to my word bank (unsure exactly what that is). It would be great if that meant those would be added to my flash cards, instead of having a deck I haven't started yet.
When viewing all pathways, I would like to sort them by completion. I finished Introduction to Japanese, but I remember it being part of a much larger pathway. My dashboard only shows the pathway I was recommended, but I was working through two of them, and going back and forth between them at my own choosing. I think this change would help learners focus on learning and less on getting a hang of navigating the website.
こんにちは、Richardさん！
You've made an excellent observation! In Japanese, the word "suki" (好き), which means "like" or "love," is indeed pronounced more like "ski" than "suki". This is due to a characteristic of Japanese pronunciation called "devoicing."
In Japanese, when the vowels "i" and "u" come between voiceless consonants (like "k" in "suki") or at the end of a word, they often become voiceless, especially in casual and fast speech. This means that they're pronounced softly, almost as if they're whispered or not pronounced at all. So "suki" sounds like "ski", and "Natsuki" sounds like "Natski".
However, in songs or poems, sometimes these vowels are voiced for rhythm or emphasis, which might be why you heard Jun Togawa sing "suki" more clearly in "Suki Suki Daisuki."
I hope this answers your question! Keep up the great work in noticing these details – they're very important for mastering pronunciation.
ありがとうございます！
Kazuya
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi Hiroko. I first came across "suki" from Jun Togawa song "Suki Suki Daisuki" and she seems to be singing "suki" rather than "ski", but I may be wrong. Is this just a way of making the words flow better?
I notice also that the name "Natsuki" is pronounced "Natski". Is the same thing happening here?
Ernest Brenneckeさん
Thank you so much for your comment😄
Nope, つき (tsuki) and すき (suki) are different.
This lesson should help you😉
https://www.japanesepod101.com/lesson/ultimate-japanese-pronunciation-guide-4-perfect-pronunciation-of-japanese-consonants-group-1/?lp=171
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
りょうま（Ryoma）
Team JapanesePod101.com
How to say the word tsuki (punch) vs. suki (like) in order to differentiate - or is it the same sounding, but understood in context?
Reneさん
Thank you so much for your kind comment😄
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
りょうま（Ryoma）
Team JapanesePod101.com
Very informative and short lessons you can rewatch at any time. These are really helpful.
Rushiiさん
Thank you so much for your comment😄
I'm glad to hear that😇
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
りょうま（Ryoma）
Team JapanesePod101.com
This is awesome! I finally understood why desu and masu is pronounced like dess and mass. Thank you so much! :3
Pablo Ignacio Scalettaさん
Thank you so much for your comment😄
It's not necessarily wrong, but people would find it weird.
And yes, people can still understand what you're saying😉
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
りょうま（Ryoma）
Team JapanesePod101.com
Would it be wrong if we pronounced the U sound, or at least would the other person understand what we are saying to them?
Claudiaさん
Thank you so much for your kind comment😄
We're so happy to hear that this video has helped you a lot.
Please keep up the great work!!
いっしょに がんばりましょう😇
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
おはようございます｡
This video was very straight forward, short and to the point. It thoroughly cleared up a question I was meaning to ask.❤️️ I searched everything until I found the answer this Ultimate Guide for Brand New Japanese Learners. 😁
ありがとうございます。
Iulianさん
コメントありがとうございます😄
Please let us know if you have any question :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
👍
こんにちは Louie,
You're welcome. Great that now you understand it. Keep up the good work!! 😇
Wishing you good luck with your Japanese,
レヴェンテ (Levente)
Team JapanesePod101.com
Thanks. I kept holding my phone up to my ear, or turning the volume on my computer up because I wasn't hearing the う sound. This for clarifying this for me.
Hi Ruth Moen,
Thank you very much for the nice comment and sorry for our late reply.
Thank you for studying with us! Keep up the good work!
Regards,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Konbanwa,Hiroko-san!??
watashiwa kono ressungasuki desu.?
Eng.translation:(I like this lesson.)
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!?❤?