B 06HIRAGANA NO.2

Not in the HIRAGANA chart?Looks a bit different?

“Special” ひらがなにんじゃ とうきょう にっさん

Index

• “Typed/Printed” VS “Hand-written”

• Small ゃ ゅ ょ (combination sounds)

• Small っ• ゛てんてん (Ten Ten) and ゜まる (Maru)

• Let’s read the “special” Hiragana!

“Special” Hiragana WebsitesHiragana Chart & Sounds

with てんてん , まる & small ゃ ゅ ょGenki Nihongo

YY Nihongo

Some explanation of Special HiraganaYY Nihongo

“Special” Hiragana WebsitesHiragana Games

with てんてん , まる , small ゃ ゅ ょ

H Typing Game

Kana Invaders

“Special” ひらがなNow you can use the Hiragana chart and sound out all Hiragana characters in the chart.

However, when reading words in Hiragana, you sometimes see “special” Hiragana characters. They are not exactly the same as the characters in the chart.

ひらがな What are that two dots?

ぽんぽこ What is that small circle?W R Y M H N T S K

わ ら や ま は な た さ か あ a

り み ひ に ち し き い I

ん る ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く う u

れ め へ ね て せ け え e

を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お o

やった Isn’t the つ a bit smaller?

きょう Isn’t the よ a bit smaller?

さかな Is it “Sa” or “Chi”?

゛てんてん & ゜まるFirst, we look at the two extra dots. They are called てんてん (ten ten). Check how Hiragana sound changes with てんてん .K

line かka

きki

くku

けke

こko + ゛

=

G line が

gaぎgi

ぐgu

げge

ごgo

S line さ

saしshi

すsu

せse

そso + ゛

=

Z line ざ

zaじ

jiずzu

ぜze

ぞzo

T line た

taちchi

つtsu

てte

とto + ゛

=

D line だ

daぢ

jiづzu

でde

どdo

H line は

haひhi

ふfu

へhe

ほho + ゛

=

B line ば

baびbi

ぶbu

べbe

ぼbo

゛てんてん & ゜まるSo, you might have picked up a few things about てんてん .

First, てんてん is used with the 4 lines only - K, S, T & H lines (not with vows, N, M, Y & W lines).

てんてん , the two dots, are placed on the top-right corner.

だい゛ げ

How てんてん changes sounds is actually phonetically logical. てんてん changes sounds into “voiced”.

K + ゛⇒ GS + ゛⇒ ZT + ゛⇒ DH + ゛⇒ B

So when a Hiragana is with てんてん , only thing that changes is to vibrate your throat (voiced). Try to make “K” sound with your throat vibrating - yes, it’s “G”now!

し shi becomes じ ji with てんてん not zi.ぢ ji & づ zu sound same as じ ji & ずzu. ぢ & づ are rarely used.

゛てんてん & ゜まるNext, we look at the small circle. It is called まる (maru). Check how Hiragana sound changes with まる .

H line は

haひhi

ふfu

へhe

ほho + ゜

=

P line ぱ

paぴpi

ぷpu

ぺpe

ぽpo

So, the way まる works is the same as てんてん .

まる is used only with H line.

まる , the small circle, is placed on the top-right corner. ぱ ぴSo H line can have てんてん or まる . Can you find the connection between three sounds?

は ば ぱ ha ba pa

QuizzesWhat are the two dots sometimes placed with a Hiragana? What are they called? てんてん ten ten

What are the small circle sometimes placed with a Hiragana? What are they called? まる maru

Can you pair up the following Hiragana sounds up as “non てんてん – with てんてん” ?K, G, B, S, Z, T, D, H

K – G S – ZT – D H – B

Which four sound lines can have てんてん with them?

K, S, T, H

Which sound line can have まる with them?Which sound line does it become with まる ?

H line + ゜ = P line

Small っCompare the following two words. しっ

けしつ

けThese two words have different meanings (“humidity” and “discipline”).

They also have different readings/pronunciations.

shikke shitsuke

So what’s the difference in spelling?

Well, the つ is in the first word is smaller than the つ in the second word.In fact, the first つ is smaller than any other Hiragana here.つ can be smaller. The small version of つ is called “small つ” . The sound of small つ is the same as normal つ (tsu) except small つ sound is so subtle that you don’t really hear it.

However, small つ sound is definitely there! In another word, small つ creates a short stop. When you read a Hiragana after small つ , prepare to do so but have a short stop/ little hesitation of 0.1 second (a very quick clap).

Small っやった ya tta

VS“hurray”

After all, the pronunciation of small つ may not be so easy to explain but super easy to pronounce. This is most important.

Note how small つ sound is spelled in Roma-ji (English characters). It appears as “double consonant”, which is an extra consonant of the Hiragana straight after the small つ . See the red consonants (e.g. t, k, p). This is also how to type small つ .

Compare the sounds of each pair to see how the small つ is read.

やつた ya tsu ta

かっこ ka kko

VS“brackets” かつこ ka tsu ko

にっぽん ni ppo n

VS“Japan” につぽん ni tsu po n

The words on the right side are made-up words (don’t have a meaning)

Small っきった ki tta

VS“cut”

Let’s try a little more practice on small つ . This time, compare the words with small つ and without.

You can now see kinds of trouble you could get into if you don’t catch or say small つ right! (In fact, most of time it can just be funny and even create jokes!) There are many words that can mean something totally different with a small つ in the word.

きた ki ta

かっこ ka kko

VS“brackets” かこ ka ko

“past”

“came”

ねっこ ne kko

VS“root” ねこ ne ko

“cat”

Small ゃ ゅ ょOther than つ , there are three more Hiragana characters that can be smaller. にん

じゃとう

きょうじゅう

どうThey are や ya, ゆ yu, よ yo. So the three in Y line can be smaller.

“ninja” “Tokyo” “judo”

When や ゆ よ are smaller, their original sounds (ya, yu, yo) get smaller. They become so small that they get combined/ squeezed/ crushed into the preceding Hiragana.

Again, to understand how small や ゆ よ works, it’s so much easier to see examples than explanation. So let’s see some examples.

Small ゃ ゅ ょきki

+ ゃya

= きゃkya

きki

+ ゅyu

= きゅkyu

きki

+ ょyo

= きょkyoし

shi

+ ゃya

= しゃsha

しshi

+ ゅyu

= しゅshu

しshi

+ ょyo

= しょshoち

chi

+ ゃya

= ちゃcha

ちchi

+ ゅyu

= ちゅchu

ちchi

+ ょyo

= ちょcho

にni

+ ゃya

= にゃnya

にni

+ ゅyu

= にゅnyu

にni

+ ょyo

= にょnyo

Do you get how small や ゆ よ get combined/ squeezed/ crushed into their preceding Hiragana?

Small ゃ ゅ ょSo, you may have noticed a few things about small や ゆ よ .

First, only い line Hiraganas preceed small や ゆ よ .

W R Y M H N T S K

わ ら や ま は な た さ か あ a

り み ひ に ち し き い I

ん る ゆ む ふ ぬ つ す く う u

れ め へ ね て せ け え e

を ろ よ も ほ の と そ こ お o

+ small や ゆ よ

Second, how small are small や ゆ よ ? Well, no set rule but about 25% of normal Hiragana size.

“Printed” vs “Hand-written”

a VS

printed

In English, two characters/ letters appear quite differently when printed and when hand-written. Do you know which ones?

hand-written

ag VS g

VS

printedIn Japanese, the same happens. Check out the three majour Hiraganas that appear differently when printed and hand-written (but their sounds are still the same). How different are these?

hand-written

VS

VS

Well, basically when these three are printed, some strokes get jointed. That’s all! When you write, make sure to write the hand-written versions.

QuizzesWhich of the four Hiragana characters can become smaller? つ、や、ゆ、

よtsu ya yu yo

What happened when つ becomes smaller? small つ makes a “short stop”

What happened when や ゆ よ become smaller?

the ya yu yo sound get crushed/combined/squeezed into/with the preceeding Hiragana

Which word has small つ ?1. つきみ 2. かつて 3. まって 3. まって

How does small つ appear when written in Roma-ji? How do you type small つ ?

“double consonant”= an extra consonant of the following Hiragana

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana!

が GA

By using a Hiragana chart, see if you can read (sound out) the following Hiragana characters.

LEVEL 1

ずぐ

だぞべ

ZU

DO

GU

ZO

BE

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana!

じ JI

LEVEL 2

ごぶ

ぱなぴ゙

GO

PA

BU

not possible!

PI

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana!

たって

tatte

LEVEL 3

まって

matte

もっと

motto いっこ

ikko

いっぽ

ippo みっか mikka

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana!

きゃ

kya

LEVEL 4

きゅ

しゃ

ちゃ

しゅにょ

kyu

cha

sha

shu

nyo

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana!

りゅ

ryu

LEVEL 5

ひゃ

りょ

じょ

ひょぴゃ

hya

jo

ryo

hyo

pya

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana!

ちょっと chotto

LEVEL 6

しゃっくりきゅっと

shakkuri

kyutto

Let’s Read Hiragana!

にんじゃ

ninja

Now, read the following WORDS and see if you can get their MEANINGS.

ni n ja

とうきょう

Tokyoto u kyo u

じゅうどう

judoju u do u