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WRITING WORDS
If you can write all of the HIRAGANA characters, along with their voiced and biiabialized counterparts and combination characters, you have only a short way to go before you can read and write words, phrases, and sentences.
This section will teach you how double consonants and long vowels are made, and give you some practice at writing words. Words in this section were selected for writing practice only, not for vocabulary study. We advise that you NOT waste time looking up their meanings,
DOUBLE CONSONANTS
There are certain consonant sounds in the Japanese sound system that may be doubled, specifically IK/, IS/ (including /SH/), 111 (including /CH/), and /PI. Note that only voiceless consonants may be doubled.
In each case the double consonant is represented in HIRAGANA by a small TSU { O ) placed immediately BEFORE the consonant sound to be doubled, as in the examples below.
HAKKIRi
MASSUGU
NESSHIN
HA K	Kl Rl
a ->	
MATTA KU	
MA T	TA KU
5 ->	hi
MA	S	SU GU
i		tc
KETCH IN		
KE	T	CHI N
It		
NE S	SHI N
ft ->	L/C
IPPIKI	
1 P	PI Kl
	
Notice that the TSU { ~~) ) character is smaller than it would normally be written. Compare the following pairs:
as DOUBLE
O as DOUBLE
CONSONANT	vs.	~~) as TSU		CONSONANT	vs.	O as TSU
NEKKI	NETSUK!			KATTE	KATSUTE	
"hot air"		"sleepfulness"		"kitchen"		"formerly"
IME      K Kl		NE     TSU Kl		KA     T TE		KA    TSU TE
						
KUSSHIN "flex"
KUTSUSHITA
"socks"
TASSE/
"achievement"
TA TSUSE
"[solid] position"
KU     S    SHI N
KU    TSU    SHI TA
< ^ It"
TA
SE I
TA    TSU SE
Writing Words
page za
Practice writing the following words that have double consonants. First, TRACE the H1RAGANA characters as shown, being careful to follow correct stroke order and direction as learned previously. Then write the words, character for character, in the blank spaces. These words were selected for writing practice only. We advise that you NOT waste time looking up their meanings.)
ASS AR I
■k
BASSAI
^ Í U
HASSEN
/SSOKU
HASSHA
ti ^ u*
JiSSHIN
C<LX
OSSHARU
ZASSHI
L
TOTTSUKI
MITTSU
OTTSUKE
SHITTSUI
&-Ott
ZETTA!
KUTTAKU
MUTTO
ETCHAN
KITCHIRI
SATCHI
SOTCHOKU
KEKKYOKU
SEKKEN
MÄKKA
F UK K A TSU
EPPE!
CHOPPIRI
TEPPEN
GEPPU
Writing Words
page 30
NOTE: Don't be confused when you see words that are romanized with double N, such as ZANNEN, KONNiCHI, MINNA, etc. These are not treated as double consonants in HiRAGANA, since the first N is represented by the character A, , as follows:
ZANNEN
KONNICH!
MINNA
ZA N
NE
N
X, to £
KO     N     Nl CHI
JL ■(* 'h
Ml     N NA
The character for TSU { o ) is NEVER used to double the consonant N.
LONG VOWELS
Long vowels are usually represented in ROMAJI by a vowel with a line over it, as in OKASAN, SENSHU, ONESANr OSAKA. The vowel I (and in some other forms of romanization, A, 0, E, and U as well, may be romanized by repeating the vowel, as in ONIISAN and CH//SAI.
In HIRAGANA long vowels are usually represented by placing      (A), V? W,  P (U), \,(E),or
(0) immediately after the character that has the corresponding vowel sound. In other words, as follows;
OKASAN				ONIISAN			SENSHU		
O KA	A	SA IM		0      Nl 1		SA N		SE	N     SHU U
n ^		$ L		mix					
	ON ES AN					OSAKA			
		0     NE E		SA N		0    0 SA		KA	
		& fa £ $ ^							
The exception to this rule is that the vowel 0 is often elongated by use of the character 7 instead of       (0). _Ordinarily, ~jrf is used to elongate an 0 that BEGINS a word, as in OSAKA l$f      £ #0 and OKU (fr p} %     ). When the long 0 is in the MIDDLE of a word or at the END of a word, the character ^ is more often used, as in
GAKKO
RYOSHIN
GA K
KO
U
1
RYO U
SHI
N
Rare exceptions to this rule should be memorized as you come across them. (Appendix B includes a brief list of common exceptions.)
Writing Words
page 31
Mow practice writing the following words that have long vowels. First, TRACE the HiRAGANA, then write each word, character for character, in the space provided. Always be careful to follow the appropriate stroke order as learned previously.
BAY A
0 KASAN
MA
OGYA
ATA RASH I i
OJilSAN
CHH HE
KUKI
RAISHU
TSUSHIN
SEIYU
< 71	<o ^ ln> 7	o ? L/C	l* ^ 7
			
ONESA N
ETO
HE
Li.
OKU
OSAKA
OJO
01
1o U<t
u
RYOKO
SHOKAI
SHACHO
H1KOK1
l)k Z 7		U 7 ^ U		It*^ 7	
					
OBASAN		ON IISAN		FÜTÖ	SÜ
w" & 2 X
i> 7 V. 7
■#9