Hiragana-Katakana (Miscellaneous)

In this last section, we will focus on the extra necessities and rules that will be needed to learn the language. I will be using hiragana for my explanations but do note that the same rules apply for katakana.

Adding U after O

Adding 'u' after an 'o' lengthens the ‘aw’ sound (ie. ‘awwww’). You do not pronounce the 'u'. This is also written with a horizontal line above the 'o'.

kou	kō	こう		mou	mō	もう
gou	gō	ごう		nou	nō	のう
sou	sō	そう		hou	hō	ほう
zou	zō	ぞう		bou	bō	ぼう
tou	tō	とう		pou	pō	ぽう
dou	dō	どう		rou	rō	ろう

Y’s as Lower Subscript

The Y’s are unique in their use. As lower subscripts they are used to subtly meld the two pronunciations together into one sound.

Eg. きや(kiya) is different from きゃ(kya). To pronounce きや, you articulate the two syllables, ‘ki’ and ‘ya’. This is different from きゃwhich melds them into one. Imagine pronouncing ‘ya’ with a very quick, soft ‘k’ sound in front.

Lower subscript や きゃkya ぎゃgya しゃsha じゃjya/ja ちゃtya ぢゃdya みゃmya みゃnya みゃhya びゃbya ぴゃpya

Lower subscript ゆ きゅkyu ぎゅgyu しゅshu じゅjyu/ju ちゅchu ぢゅdyu みゅmyu にゅmyu ひゅhyu びゅbyu ぴゅpyu

Lower subscript よ きょkyo ぎょgyo しょsho じょjyo/jo ちょtyo ぢょdyo みょmyo にょnyo ひょhyo びょbyo ぴょpyo

Tsu as Lower Subscript

つ(tsu) as a lower subscript causes the doubling of the neighbouring consonant. To put it simply, it is like consonant hiccup.

Eg. なっと(na-_tsu-to) is pronounced ‘nat-to’. It is like you are sounding out the t’s twice.

Here are a few examples with their pronunciations.

なっと(nat-to)

がっこう(gak-kou)

ひっと(hit-to)

まっだ (mad-da)

ろっく (rok-ku)

PS. Phew! It’s finally done. Time to check off hiragana and katakana from the list. I’ll be taking a break from Japanese for a while so take your time to make sure you learn your alphabets, and revise by going through the exercises. Next time, we’re jumping straight into learning words (which is definitely a lot more interesting). So until then, さよなら (goodbye!)  ~ Ren