Quote:
Originally Posted by ShinJon
Mira, I just am confused about the rules of the small size hiragana and the large ones like how I can know when to use them and say them correctly  |
ok well first of all the small
っ is placed next to any other Hiragana character to double it. For example
がっこう which is
Gakkou. If it were
がこう without the small
っ it would just be
Gakou. So whichever letter comes after it, it double the first sound. However when a small
っ is added it counts as another syllable even though it is silent. So you would say it like
GA-(small pause)KO-U. I hope this makes sense. You will get it if you read and hear a lot of Japanese. You just have to be careful not to mistake it for the regular
つ/tsu. Pay attention to the size and practice pronouncing words that have a small っ.
About the small
ゃ, ゅ, ょ they are placed beside words that have an
"i" sound.
き、し、ち, に, ひ, み, り, ぎ, じ, ぢ, び, and
ぴ and it gives it a
-ya -yu- -yo sound.
みゃ, for example, is
み/MI and a small
ゃ/-ya so instead of
MI by itself
みゃ makes it
MYA. Similar to the sound in
"Cute" how it's pronounced like
"kyute" that kind of sound. It's important to know that it is only one syllable when a small
ゃ, ゅ, ょ is next to an
"i" sounding Hiragana character. If you have the regular
や, ゆ, よ next to anything it is just as it normally would be. きょ (small ょ) is
KYO and
きよ (regular
よ) is KI-YO. So just pay attention to the size and practice!
I hope I didn't make it sound too confusing but good luck and practice! Just don't give up, it's really really easy once you get it.