JJapanese

Is the い in いる pronounced in a sentence?

I’ve been learning Japanese for an embarrassingly long time, but I guess I’d never bothered with this question before. I usually hear each individual character pronounced fully in my lessons on Duolingo, but often I hear people who speak Japanese say it without the い sound (ex. おばあさんが愛してる). Is it just a matter of a person’s accent or is there a correct way to do this?

6 comments

  1. I think without the い is used more in spoken conversations bc it’s quicker to say. It could possibly be a bit less formal though

  2. a lot of sounds disappear or change slightly when you speak quickly and casually

    also ておく –> とく and many others

  3. Isn’t it just like contractions in English?

    It is > it’s

    している > してる

    “I” sounds tend to be weak and disappear between contstinents.

  4. It depends on context. When using the verb いる the い is always pronounced. However, when referring to the いる which comes after a て form conjugation, many native speakers will drop the い when speaking more casually.

    歩いている becomes 歩いてる and so on.

    In my experience, when someone is speaking more slowly or wishes to clearly enunciate themselves or is speaking to a superior, the い will usually be pronounced.

    When texting Japanese friends they’ll often omit the い.

    Hope this helps

  5. If it’s a verb いる (to exist) it is pronounced as いる, but in case of ている it is casually shortened to てる.
    So, 愛している -> 愛してる.

    That also happens with いく
    消えていく -> 消えてく

    Japanese often shortens words

  6. Either. It’s grammatically speaking it’s supposed to be said/there, but as others have said here it’s “contracted” out frequently in spoken (and often written) language.

    Do not. = don’t

    You can think of it as the same kinda thing, basically. It’s not wrong. It’s just…how it’s done.

    So, pick your poison. Ideally you’d be aware that it’s there from a grammatically standpoint but speak like the natives do and drop as appropriate.

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