JJapanese

Why is it -su す when the -u is not audible?

  • October 17, 2025

I know languages are weird that way (I am German, there is a word that depending on the article is either a jaw or a pine tree!)

For example わかります but it sounds like "wakarimas", same for です "des"

Is there a specific reason? Is the "u" swallowed or is it some kind of historical shift, like the German word "Pfeffer" and the English word "pepper" have the same root in proto-Germanic?

by DJDoena

6 comments

  1. u and i sounds at the end of words after a de voiced consonant that have a voiced counterpart (k-, s-, t-, h-) are devoiced as well. This rule also applies if both the preceding and proceeding consonants are devoiced.

  2. You’ll still hear some people, especially in polite or sarcastic settings, voice the “u” part… but like the other comment said “u” sounds are often not said. In fact, the sign of a Japanese language beginner is when they hit that su very hard like “arigato gozaimaSU” which typically isn’t so common.

  3. It’s still there much of the time, just deemphasized.

    Written Japanese is not alphabetic, it is syllabic. It’s what’s known as a “syllabary”. This means the basic building blocks of the language, the atomic units if you will, preclude having a consonant sound on its own—with the exception of ん, and even then it’s often vocalized more as “Nn” rather than “n”.

    This is why it’s recommended that students graduate from using romaji as soon as possible. It can bias how you interpret pronunciation and spelling.

  5. Its funny because the first lessons i watched online were like “its easy because everything sounds exactly like its spelled”, and then immediately su and wa as ha come up in every sentence.

  6. there is a similar thing like を(wo but sometimes can be pronounced as o like お/オ(which is pronounced as o) and へ(he but sometimes can be pronounced as e like え/エ (which is pronounced as e) you can mix those syllables because they both sound same but you can understand the difference by context

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