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Learn Hardcore Japanese: utagoe ga kirei da. - Your singing voice is beautiful.

Hardcore Japanese
/Singing karaoke with friends
/utagoe ga kirei da.

utagoe ga kirei da.

Word

歌声うたごえ　が　きれい　だ。utagoe ga kirei da.

Meaning

Your singing voice is beautiful.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Japanese

Lesson

Singing karaoke with friends

Breakdown of utagoe ga kirei da.

subject particle

歌声うたごえutagoe

a singing voice

Questions & Answers about utagoe ga kirei da.

How do you read 歌声?

歌声 is read うたごえ.

It is made from:

歌 = song, singing
声 = voice

So 歌声 means singing voice or voice while singing.

What is the difference between 歌声, 歌, and 声?

They are related, but not the same:

歌 = a song, or singing
声 = voice
歌声 = singing voice

So 歌声がきれいだ means the voice itself is beautiful when singing, not necessarily that the song is beautiful.

For example:

歌がきれいだ would sound odd in most situations, because songs are usually described with words more like いい, すてき, or 美しい
声がきれいだ means the voice is beautiful
歌声がきれいだ specifically focuses on the person’s singing voice

Why is the particle が used here?

Nihon-shiki romanizationwatasi ha tyuugoku kara kimasita

Hepburn romanizationwatashi wa chuugoku kara kimashita

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In 歌声がきれいだ, が marks 歌声 as the thing being described.

So the structure is basically:

歌声 = singing voice
が = marks what is being talked about as the subject of the description
きれいだ = is beautiful / is pretty / is clean, depending on context

Here, が tells you that the singing voice is what is beautiful.

A very natural translation is:

The singing voice is beautiful.

Why not use は instead of が?

Both are possible, but they give a slightly different feel.

歌声がきれいだ = focuses on the fact that the singing voice is beautiful
歌声はきれいだ = as for the singing voice, it is beautiful

A simple way to think about it:

が often presents or identifies the thing with the quality
は marks the topic and can sound more contrastive or more like a general statement about that topic

So:

歌声がきれいだ can sound more like What is beautiful? The singing voice is.
歌声はきれいだ can sound more like As for the singing voice, it is beautiful—possibly implying comparison with something else

In isolation, が is very natural here.

Is きれい an -i adjective because it ends in い?

No. きれい is not an -i adjective. It is a na-adjective.

This is a very common point of confusion, because it ends in い. But grammatically, it behaves like a na-adjective:

きれいだ = is beautiful / is clean
きれいな声 = a beautiful voice
きれいではない = is not beautiful / is not clean

So in this sentence, きれいだ is the correct plain form.

Why is there a だ at the end?

The だ is the plain-form copula. It makes the sentence complete.

So:

歌声がきれいだ = plain style
歌声がきれいです = polite style

You can think of だ here as the plain-style equivalent of です.

In casual conversation, Japanese sometimes drops だ, especially in certain contexts, so you may also hear:

歌声がきれい

But in textbook-style grammar, きれいだ is the full plain form.

Does きれい mean beautiful or clean here?

Here it means beautiful or pretty.

きれい can mean both:

clean
beautiful / pretty

The context tells you which meaning is intended.

With 歌声 meaning singing voice, the natural meaning is clearly:

beautiful
lovely
pretty

A clean singing voice would not usually be the first interpretation unless the context strongly suggested something technical about sound.

Whose singing voice is it? Why doesn’t the sentence say?

Japanese often leaves out information that is understood from context.

So 歌声がきれいだ by itself just says:

The singing voice is beautiful.

In real conversation, the listener usually already knows whose singing voice is being discussed.

For example, it could mean:

Her singing voice is beautiful.
Your singing voice is beautiful.
That singer’s singing voice is beautiful.

If you want to say it explicitly, you can add it:

彼女の歌声がきれいだ = Her singing voice is beautiful
あなたの歌声はきれいです = Your singing voice is beautiful

Can this sentence be translated as Someone sings beautifully?

Not exactly.

歌声がきれいだ describes the voice, not the action of singing.

So it is closer to:

The singing voice is beautiful
He/She has a beautiful singing voice

If you want to say someone sings beautifully, Japanese would more naturally use a verb or adverb, such as:

歌い方がきれいだ = the way of singing is beautiful
きれいに歌う = sing beautifully

So 歌声がきれいだ focuses on the quality of the voice itself.

How would this sentence change in polite speech?

The polite version is:

歌声がきれいです。

That is the most straightforward polite equivalent.

Compare:

歌声がきれいだ。 = plain
歌声がきれいです。 = polite

Both mean the same thing. The difference is just speech level.

How do you use きれい before a noun?

Because きれい is a na-adjective, you use な before a noun.

So:

きれいな歌声 = a beautiful singing voice

This matches the sentence:

歌声がきれいだ = The singing voice is beautiful

These are related patterns:

Noun + が + きれいだ
きれいな + Noun

For example:

歌声がきれいだ = The singing voice is beautiful
きれいな歌声だ = It is a beautiful singing voice

How would you make this sentence negative or past?

Since きれい is a na-adjective, its forms work like this:

Plain forms:

歌声がきれいだ = The singing voice is beautiful
歌声がきれいではない = The singing voice is not beautiful
歌声がきれいだった = The singing voice was beautiful
歌声がきれいではなかった = The singing voice was not beautiful

Polite forms:

歌声がきれいです
歌声がきれいではありません
歌声がきれいでした
歌声がきれいではありませんでした

This is useful because きれい does not conjugate like a true -i adjective such as 高い.

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