Nuki kotoba [い抜き言葉] - Removing the [い] and [ら] from casual Japanese

In this article, I will share a very important tip for you to make your Japanese sound more natural. Japanese people casually drop the letter i [い] from some verbs, and this is called I nuki kotoba [い抜き言葉] or ra nuki kotoba [ら抜き言葉].

The omission of the letter i [い] or ra [ら] occurs in various grammatical constructions, especially at the end of them. It is a way to shorten words and is probably related to language habits, which is why it is treated as something informal.

Japanese people omit these noble words when they want to create a solid atmosphere with close friends through email, messages, social media, and blogs. The same thing happens sometimes when the particles [は] and [を] are omitted.

I Nuki Kotoba [い抜き言葉] and RA NUKI KOTOBA [ら抜き言葉]

In I Nuki Kotoba [い抜き言葉], you should remove the letter i [い] from expressions and verbs. You can follow the patterns and examples below. Basically, [teiru] becomes [teru] and [deiru] becomes [deru].

• 「ている」→ 「てる」
• 「でいる」→ 「でる」
• 「しています」→「してます」
• 「いました」→「ました」
• 「いられなかった」→「られなかった」
• 「している」→「してる」
• 「きている」→「きてる」
• 「いきます」→「きます」

In the case of “ra” [ら], it is omitted in potential verbs that end in rareru [られる], becoming just reru [れる]. See the examples below:

• 「食べられる」 → 「食べれる」
• 「喋られる」 → 「喋れる」
• 「教えられる」→ 「教えれる」
• 「見られる」→「見れる」

Japanese words being omitted from sentences

To complement the article, we will show in practice how Japanese people usually omit words in their sentences using some examples below. I hope you enjoyed the tips from the article. We appreciate your comments and shares.

First, we have the sentence written in a standard and formal way, below we have the sentence casually spoken among Japanese people in an informal manner. Notice that not only the i [い] or [ら] are hidden, but even some words and particles.

1 – In the first example, we have someone saying they are on the phone with a friend.

今、友達と電話をしています。
Ima, tomodachi to denwa o shite imasu;

BECOMES

友達と電話してます。
Tomodachi to denwa shitemasu;

2 – In the second example, we have someone who was watching TV earlier.

さっきはテレビを見ていました。
Sakki wa terebi o mite imashita.

BECOMES

さっきテレビ見てました。
Sakki terebi mitemashita.