Small つ

We’ve talked about the pronunciation of the つ character before. We’ve also talked about how the small version of the やゆよ characters can change the pronunciation of some other characters. Well guess what? There is also a small version of the つ character! In this post, let’s talk about what happens when it shows up.

Let’s get into it!

What Does It Do?

Very simply put, a small つ tells you to double the consonant of the following character.

Certain Characters

As it turns out, small つ can only appear in front of certain characters. Because it serves to double the consonant of the next character, of course it can’t come before the あいうえお characters*.

You might think that with the exception of あいうえお, small つ can come before any other hiragana character… NOPE (luckily for you!)

As it turns out, small つ only comes before characters in the かきくけこ、さしすせそ、たちつてと and ぱぴぷぺぽ groups.

1) かきくけこ Group

2) さしすせそ Group

3) たちつてと Group

4) ぱぴぷぺぽ Group

Conclusion

There you have it!