108 Comments
543
So is the "u" not pronounced or underpronounced for this word? Or is the speaker just saying it fast? Because it sounds like she is saying "ski"
The "u" sound in words like this tends to be very weak. Same with です. It usually sounds more like "dess" than "desu."
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This is a dialectal/accent thing. The Tokyo dialect is the national standard; earlier in Japanese history, the Kyoto dialect was standard. There is at least one dialect per prefecture in Japan, and some of them (e.g. Kansai) pronounce the "u" part of す more clearly than in the Tokyo dialect.
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Devoicing of vowels is a pretty complex topic and varies by regional dialect. Kansai speakers will often pronounce the う sound in すき and です while Tokyo speakers will not.
This is called a ten-ten, and it marks impure sounds. For て for example, adding a tenten (で) will change the sound from te, to de. The change in sound depends on which sound (ka, ga, ma, etc.) you do. For example, any ka sound with tenten turns it into ga, sa is za, and so on.
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This is, well it's also a tenten, but usually the word dakuten is used. It makes the consonant voiced. (voiced means that you use your vocal chords while pronouncing it, think of the difference between s and z, they are the same except for the vibrations in your throat, some other unvoiced-voiced pairs are: t d, p b, k g, s z, sh zh (j in japanese), ch j, ts dz)
Though What "likes" does すき actually mean? Is it the conjugated likes in "she likes idk apples" or is it more likley the plural of the noun of somebody liking sth?
好き「すき」is actually an adjective. Rather than the verb "like" in english, think of すき as "likeable" or "desirable" describing a noun.
Is there any chance you know what are the dialecatl thing is Kyushu ? I will travel to Nagasaki to study next year ;)
yeah that's whatmy Japanese tacher at school said its very weird the Japanese language
My friend started learning Japanese before me and told me that a "u" after a "s" is unpronounced.
I took japanese is high school. It depends on the word usually. Even if "su" isn't normally pronounced, it's not wrong to pronounce it.
It seems as though pronouncing the full letter should rarely if ever be "wrong." The issue however is with whether or not native Japanese speakers tend to fully pronounce certain sounds fully or "skip" over them. In English, there are countless cases where some people "skip" syllables in a word even when they shouldn't "really" be skipped, simply because it is what they are used to hearing and/or speaking. As somebody who is attempting to learn Japanese however, it is frustrating to see a lot of sounds on this site not pronounced when we're attempting to learn what sounds each character is supposed to make.
It's just a way to get used to how words/phrases are naturally pronounced in Japanese (though the issue with fully pronouncing or not also seems to be connected to regional differences when it comes to Japanese).
I relate to that and it confuses me how some syllables are heard and others are not. It's just kinda confusin' Have a good day ya'll
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the rule is: drop u and i between two voiceless consonants (in japanese: k, s, h, t, sh, ch, ts, not sure if p is considered voiceless), the i rule only applies if it's a special consonant like sh or ch
That's voiceless vowels for you. :) In Japanese, a vowel occurring between two voiceless consonants tends to be devoiced. The 'u' in "suki" is sandwiched between the voiceless consonants: /s/ (voiceless alveolar fricative) and /k/ (voiceless velar stop) and hence ends up being voiceless. The interesting this is that voiceless vowels aren't an alien thing at all. They are precisely what occur in place of normal vowels when we whisper. So to pronounce "suki" with a devoiced 'u', all you need to do is say the "suk" part as if you were whispering. :)
I'm looking at some examples and it seems to be mainly sandwiches with "k" and "s"? Yes?
The first one. However, 好き (すき) is not a verb, but an adjective (or a noun). So if you want to say " I like this book" you will say 「この本が好きです」. Which literally is more like " this book is likeable" .
(sorry for using romaji) If you want to say "I like mochi", you would say "Mochi wa suki (pronounced "ski") desu". literally "mochi is pleasing to me".
Sorry, there is a mistake in my above comment . It should be "Mochi ga ..." not "wa".
Fun facts: すき/好き/suki = like. きらい/嫌い/kirai = dislike. You can make them stronger by adding だい/大/dai. With that you get 大好き/だいすき/daisuki = love and 大嫌い/だいきらい/daikirai = hate.
The "u" in "su" is weak and sounds almost silent. Much like Sasuke and Akatsuki sounds like Saske and Akatski.
I thought suki meant moon? Is it a different spelling that I'm thinking of, or simply an alternate definition?
It's just a pronunciation thing in Japan. They don't really have to emphasize the U and just glide over it. Kind of like how in English we don't always pronounce the "d" in "and" when we talk.
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The topic of devoicing vowels is complex, and the tendencies vary by dialect/prefrecture. Tokyo (standard) devoices the "i" and "u" vowels when between voiceless consonants (e.g. すき) or following a voiceless consonant at the end of a word (e.g. です), but does not devoice vowels of consecutive phones, which is why the "i" of すき is pronounced. Kansai dialect pronounces the "u" sound of です.
Dr-Pen, you heard it correctly. They skip the "u" in pronouncing "suki". The first time I heard this was in the word "sukiyaki", it is normally pronounced "skiyaki".
The meaning of Japanese sentences very strongly depend on the context. You can really yell to your boy/girlfriend "(だい)すき！" to express "I like you (very much)!" even this sentence has no subjects or objects. If your friend asks you "Do you like it?" he may uses "すきですか" (か=question marker), and you can even just simply answer "すきです。" to mean "Yes, I like it."
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It is used as an adjective instead. "好き" (すき) Literally means "(You) are liked (by me)" instead of "(I) like (you)" (Terms in parenthesis are implied and can change with context)
My teacher told me that litterally "suki" means lovely, we translate "suki des" with I like, but they say that like "...it's lovely for me"
I do not want you all to get confused but when someone says 'suki' to you. even without subject, it means the person likes you. Similar goes to you pointing something and ask 'suki?' to your friend, then it means you are asking the friend if she/he likes the thing.
Nihongo ga suki desu i like japanese
sushi ga suki desu i like sushi
anime to manga ga suki desu i like anime and manga
and also
kare ga suki desu i like him
kanojou ga suki desu i like her
anata ga suki desu i like you
I speak portuguese, so this "like" is "I like cake" or "Pokémon is like Digimon".
If I understand the other comments correctly, it's used in a way that's similar to 'gostar' ('gustar' in Spanish): things that you like are really things that are pleasing to you.
Doesn't it mean ''love'' in some translations? Or is that just a Google Translate error?
The term is somewhat ambiguous depending on the situation, but as a rule of thumb, I would say, to think of it as "love" when referring to a person and "like" when referring to objects.
I remember this because it sorta sounds like "tsukki" and tsukki is a character from Haikyuu that I LIKE so now I remember that it means like
Sorry I need someone's help to clarify this for me. isnt this hiragana used for "Tsuki" as in moon and no "suki" as in "like/love"?
I recognize the Kanji for "big"-- 大 --there. That is simultaneously funny and convenient. Like it transliterates to "Big Likeable" or something.
So it seems like they pronounce words slightly differently in the different regions of Japan, but will they still be able to understand what you're saying wherever you are in Japan even if you say these words a little differently?
It is a translation or a pronunciation? I hear something like ski, nothing like "like" or "lik". I am confused.
suki (with the vowel unvoiced) is the pronunciation; “likes” is the translation of its meaning.
the "u" sound tends to not be pronounced. i thought she was saying "ski"
The kanji form is acceptable on most all of the questions at this point (even though this is in the hiragana section)
The only ones that don't accept kanji and can't be reported are the listening questions which are currently incapable of having multiple acceptable answers added to them.
This question here specifically is asking for the english translation for the answer though so of course the kanji isn't accepted...
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Homonyms are very different across languages, especially if they are 0% related. So no, this is just "like" as in the verb. (well actually this is an adjective so it translates more to "likeable" but some words just don't have a good translation)
Suki also means moon right? As far as I know like and moon are both すき but they have different kanji
愛してる is very strong and is more of a love used for things like deathbed confessions; you'll rarely hear it used in real life. 大好き is far more common
So, is it a verb "to like"? Why does it read as "likes" (3rd person, singular)
In Japanese it is actually used as an adjective, similar to "likeable, favorable"
The translation used to say "like" without the s; I suspect the s was added to help clear confusion between the verb/adjective "X likes Y" (correct) and the comparison "X is like Y" (incorrect)
Why does the English alphabet of Suki say Likes?? They dont sound the same.
"suki" in Japanese means "likes" in English
好き・すき・suki・likes
kanji・hiragana・romaji transliteration・english translation
usage example:
寿司が好きです・すしがすきです・sushi ga suki desu・"I like sushi"
野菜はお酒を飲む・やさいはおさけをのむ・yasai wa osake o nomu・vegetable (topic) alcohol (object) drink・"(the/a) vegetable(s) drink alcohol"
Why is this in the sentence discussion for すき "like" though :P
When writing it in romanji "suki", it won't accept it. I sent many tines the request to be accepted but it still isn't fixed. I can't move on with this level. Any one has the same issue?
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好き is actually an adjective that means "likeable". If something is likeable (好きです), that means you (or someone else) likes it. (あの人が好きです = (someone) likes that person) You can also use it as an adjective: 好きな人 = a person whom (someone) likes.
The thing that likes is given by the topic. 私は日本が好きです。 = I like Japan. Of course, you can leave out anything that's obvious.
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Come potrei sapere che cosa? Se la うè presente? Se i consonanti sono muti (p, t, s, k, ...) o è il finale di parola, è possibile che non suona. Ma è POSSIBILE, sentimento è importante. Scusa il mio basico italiano.
Yes, how could I know that the vowel was mute? It seems to me a lack of precision in the duolingo explanation. Sorry for my english, your italian is good! "Vado a sentimento" is an italian way of saying that means I follow my instinct.
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Thanks for the compliment. However, I will repeat myself in English if something is not clear enough. If a u or i is pronounced next to a sonorant consonant or at the beginning of the word, it's not dropped. If that vowel is pronounced between two mute consonants or at the end, then it COULD be dropped. But as it's only a possibility, then you still have to be guided by your guts.
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You can always pronounce it and you won't be wrong. Choosing to pronounce it is more personal preference than a rule. When hearing other people omit the "u" vowel you can always tell because there is no way to write the syllable without a vowel in the Japanese writing system.
