Questions on double K
 

Hi All,

Quick question... in Hiragana, does everything with a double K (Gakko, Hakko) always use a "tsu" before the ko? Or is it only limited to ko?

be careful. there is a difference in pronunciation between the normal sized tsu and the small tsu. つvs.っ. the big one is pronounced "tsu" and the wee one indicates the presence of a stop. and yes, it's identified in romanji by a double consonant. it will appear in front of some consonant sounds and not others, but is not limited to ko. ie- sessuru, gakkari, hokkaido, nattsu, handobaggu etc.

not so much a hiragana thing as it's a japanese thing

Yup, i do know of the difference of the size is an indication of how its prononuced (not TSU when its small)

That said, is it safe to say that everytime i see a double (as you have outlined), i will use the "TSU" character if I am to write in in hiragana (Smaller of course)

So what I mean is, when it the case of sse, kke, ｂｂe, these will all end up with in writing っせ　っけ　っべ etc etc etc...??

Or is there another character to display double consonant?

Yes, it will be the small っ unless it is a katakana word, then it is ッ.

Thanks MMM, that helps....

it feels hypocritical for me to say, but it's a given that you learn katakana along with hiragana

Hmm.... not for the programs here, we don't learn katakana until level 4...

I know.. funny how I never understand double consonant and still manager to finish the first 3 :)

what program is this? how does it work?

just a regular Japanese language program from local colleges.... we started Katakana in level 3, but level 4 is where we really use it...

From what I recall when I was a kid in Japan, Katakana was actually easier to learn (given the similarities to Chinese) .. but I don't remember what we learn and how :)