B 06 HIRAGANA NO.2 Not in the HIRAGANA chart? Looks a bit different? 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 ゃ ゅ ょ (combination sounds) Small っ Small っ ゛てんてん (Ten Ten) and ゜まる (Maru) ゛てんてん (Ten Ten) and ゜まる (Maru) Let’s read the “special” Hiragana!

“Special” Hiragana Websites Hiragana Chart & Sounds with てんてん, まる & small ゃ ゅ ょ Genki Nihongo YY Nihongo Some explanation of Special Hiragana YY Nihongo

“Special” Hiragana Websites Hiragana 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. WRYMHNTSK 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

゛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.

゛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. How てんてん changes sounds is actually phonetically logical. てんてん changes sounds into “voiced”. 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. 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. So H line can have てんてん or まる. Can you find the connection between three sounds?

Quizzes

Small っ Compare the following two words. These two words have different meanings (“humidity” and “discipline”). They also have different readings/pronunciations. 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 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. The words on the right side are made- up words (don’t have a meaning)

Small っ 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.

Small ゃ ゅ ょ Other than つ, there are three more Hiragana characters that can be smaller. They are や ya, ゆ yu, よ yo. So the three in Y line can be smaller. 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 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. WRYMHNTSK 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 Second, how small are small や ゆ よ ? Well, no set rule but about 25% of normal Hiragana size.

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

Quizzes

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! By using a Hiragana chart, see if you can read (sound out) the following Hiragana characters. LEVEL 1

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 2

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 3

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 4

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 5

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 6

Let’s Read Hiragana! Now, read the following WORDS and see if you can get their MEANINGS.