Not in the HIRAGANA chart? Looks a bit different? B 06 HIRAGANA NO.2 にんじゃ とうきょう にっさん “Special” ひらがな Not in the HIRAGANA chart? Looks a bit different?

Index Small っ Small ゃ ゅ ょ (combination sounds) ゛てんてん (Ten Ten) and ゜まる (Maru) Small っ Small ゃ ゅ ょ (combination sounds) “Typed/Printed” VS “Hand-written” Let’s read the “special” Hiragana!

Hiragana Chart & Sounds Hiragana Websites Hiragana Chart & Sounds with てんてん, まる & small ゃ ゅ ょ Genki Nihongo

Hiragana Websites Hiragana Games with てんてん, まる, small ゃ ゅ ょ Kana Invaders H Typing Game

“Special” ひらがな ひらがな ぽんぽこ やった きょう さかな 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? 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 ぽんぽこ What is that small circle? 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 K G + ゛ = S Z + ゛ = T D + ゛ = H B + ゛ = ゛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 G line かka きki くku けke こko がga ぎgi ぐgu げge ごgo + ゛ = S line Z line さsa しshi すsu せse そso ざza じji ずzu ぜze ぞzo + ゛ = T line D line たta ちchi つtsu てte とto だda ぢji づzu でde どdo + ゛ = H line B line はha ひhi ふfu へhe ほho ばba びbi ぶbu べbe ぼbo + ゛ =

゛てんてん & ゜まる い゛ だ げ K + ゛⇒ G S + ゛⇒ Z T + ゛⇒ D H + ゛⇒ B ゛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). い゛ だ げ 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”. K + ゛⇒ G S + ゛⇒ Z T + ゛⇒ D H + ゛⇒ 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 P line はha ひhi ふfu へhe ほho 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. ぱ ぴ 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? は ば ぱ ha ba pa

Quizzes てんてん ten ten K, S, T, H K – G S – Z T – D H – B What are the two dots sometimes placed with a Hiragana? What are they called? てんてん ten ten Which four sound lines can have てんてん with them? K, S, T, H 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 – Z T – D H – B What are the small circle sometimes placed with a Hiragana? What are they called? まる maru Which sound line can have まる with them? Which sound line does it become with まる? H line + ゜ = P line

Small っ しっけ しつけ Compare the following two words. These two words have different meanings (“humidity” and “discipline”). shikke shitsuke 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 やった やつた かっこ かつこ にっぽん につぽん After all, the pronunciation of small つ may not be so easy to explain but super easy to pronounce. This is most important. Compare the sounds of each pair to see how the small つ is read. やった ya tta やつた ya tsu ta VS “hurray” The words on the right side are made-up words (don’t have a meaning) かっこ ka kko かつこ ka tsu ko VS “brackets” にっぽん ni ppo n につぽん ni tsu po n VS “Japan” 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.

Small っ きった きた かっこ かこ ねっこ ねこ Let’s try a little more practice on small つ. This time, compare the words with small つ and without. きった ki tta きた ki ta VS “cut” “came” かっこ ka kko かこ ka ko VS “brackets” “past” ねっこ ne kko ねこ ne ko VS “root” “cat” 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 にんじゃ とうきょう じゅうどう 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 “ninja” “Tokyo” “judo” 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 き ゃ きゃ き ゅ きゅ き ょ きょ し ゃ しゃ し ゅ しゅ し ょ しょ ち ゃ ちゃ ち ゅ ちゅ ち 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” In English, two characters/ letters appear quite differently when printed and when hand-written. Do you know which ones? a a VS g g VS printed hand-written 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? 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. VS

Quizzes つ、や、ゆ、よ tsu ya yu yo Which of the four Hiragana characters can become smaller? Which word has small つ? 1. つきみ 2. かつて 3. まって 3. まって small つ makes a “short stop” What happened when つ becomes smaller? “double consonant” = an extra consonant of the following Hiragana How does small つ appear when written in Roma-ji? How do you type small つ? the ya yu yo sound get crushed/combined/squeezed into/with the preceeding Hiragana What happened when や ゆ よ become smaller?

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! By using a Hiragana chart, see if you can read (sound out) the following Hiragana characters. LEVEL 1 が ぐ GA GU ず ぞ ZO ZU だ べ BE DO

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 2 じ ぶ JI BU ご な゛ not possible! GO ぱ ぴ PI PA

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 3 たって まって tatte matte もっと いっこ motto ikko いっぽ みっか ippo mikka

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 4 きゃ しゃ kya sha きゅ しゅ shu kyu ちゃ にょ nyo cha

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 5 りゅ りょ ryu ryo ひゃ ひょ hyo hya じょ ぴゃ pya jo

Let’s Read the “special” Hiragana! LEVEL 6 ちょっと chotto しゃっくり shakkuri きゅっと kyutto

Let’s Read Hiragana! にんじゃ とうきょう じゅうどう ninja Tokyo judo Now, read the following WORDS and see if you can get their MEANINGS. にんじゃ ninja ni n ja とうきょう Tokyo to u kyo u じゅうどう judo ju u do u