Yōon Combinations

Now that you know dakuten and handakuten, the next extensions blend kana together and mark length. This page covers yōon (拗音), long vowels, and the small っ (促音).

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Yōon 拗音 — combination characters

拗音(ようおん) (yōon) combine an い-column kana with a small や, ゆ, or よ to create blended syllables. The small kana is written at normal size here for clarity — in real text it is roughly half size.

Yōon combinations are genuinely tricky to hear at first. They compress two kana into one beat, and that takes practice to catch in fast speech.

Pattern: [i-column kana] + [small ya/yu/yo] = one beat

Full size (for learning)	Actual written form	Romaji
き + や	きゃ	kya
き + ゆ	きゅ	kyu
き + よ	きょ	kyo

▶Listen ▶Listen ▶Listen ▶Listen ▶Listen

How many mora (beats) does きゃ (kya) count as?

A. One moraB. Two moraC. Three moraD. Zero — it is silent

き・ぎ・し・じ・ち行 combinations

Base	+ ya	+ yu	+ yo
き	きゃkya	きゅkyu	きょkyo
ぎ	ぎゃgya	ぎゅgyu	ぎょgyo
し	しゃsha	しゅshu	しょsho
じ	じゃja	じゅju	じょjo
ち	ちゃcha	ちゅchu	ちょcho

に・び・ぴ・み行 combinations

Base	+ ya	+ yu	+ yo
に	にゃnya	にゅnyu	にょnyo
び	びゃbya	びゅbyu	びょbyo
ぴ	ぴゃpya	ぴゅpyu	ぴょpyo
ひ	ひゃhya	ひゅhyu	ひょhyo
み	みゃmya	みゅmyu	みょmyo

り行 combinations

Base	+ ya	+ yu	+ yo
り	りゃrya	りゅryu	りょryo

Memory Trick 記憶のコツ

Yōon is one beat, not two. きゃ is “kya” (one syllable), not “ki-ya” (two). Compare:

• か + や = かや (kaya), two beats, two mora
• き + ゃ = きゃ (kya), one beat, one mora

The small や/ゆ/よ merges into the previous character. This is similar to Mandarin, where 儿 (ér) attaches to the previous syllable rather than standing as a separate full beat.

Mandarin Bridge 中文橋

Many yōon syllables map to Mandarin sounds you already know:

• しゃ (sha) → 沙 (shā)
• ちゅう (chū) → 中 (zhōng) in 中国
• りょ (ryo) → close to 良 (liáng) in compounds

When you see しゃかい (society), think 社会 (shèhuì). The しゃ and かい are phonetic building blocks for kanji you already read.

Which small kana combines with き to make きゃ (kya)?

A. ゃ (small ya)B. あ (a)C. や (full-size ya)D. っ (small tsu)

きゃClick to reveal

kyakyaき + small ゃ — one beat

← Prev1 / 8Next →Shuffle

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Long vowels — stretching a sound

Japanese distinguishes short and long vowels — and the difference changes meaning. Telling them apart by ear is hard at first, especially the distinction between short and long vowels when native speakers talk at normal speed. おばさん (aunt) and おばあさん (grandmother) differ by a held vowel that is easy to miss until you train your ear.

Short	Long	Meaning difference
こめ (kome)	こうめ (kōme)	rice vs. a type of plum tree
おばさん (obasan)	おばあさん (obāsan)	aunt vs. grandmother
びょういん (byōin)	—	hospital (びょ is yōon + long う)

How to write long vowels in hiragana

Vowel being lengthened	Method	Example
あ	add あ	おかあさん (okāsan), mother
い	add い	おにいさん (onīsan), older brother
う	add う	くうき (kūki), air
え	add え or い	せんせい (sensei), teacher
お	add う or お	とうきょう (Tōkyō), Tokyo

False Friend 偽りの友

Long え is often written with い (せんせい), and long お is often written with う (とうきょう). The spelling does not always match the vowel being lengthened. Read enough words and the patterns stick — せんせい always means “teacher,” とうきょう always means “Tokyo.”

Hold a long vowel for two metronome beats instead of one. If you are counting mora, a long vowel = 2 counts. おはよ (3 beats) vs おはよう (4 beats). That extra う is the difference between a nonsense word and “good morning.”

How many mora does the long vowel in おはよう (ohayō) add compared to おはよ?

A. One extra mora from the うB. No differenceC. Three extra moraD. It removes a mora

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Small っ — the double consonant

The small っ (called 促音(そくおん), sokuon) creates a geminate, a brief pause that doubles the following consonant. It is not pronounced “tsu”; it is a silence that makes the next consonant sharper.

Without っ	With っ	Romaji
ここ (koko)	こっこ (kokko)	here vs. (archaic, rare)
がくせい (gakusei)	がっこう (gakkō)	student vs. school
きて (kite)	きって (kitte)	come vs. stamp/postage
いち (ichi)	いっしょ (issho)	one vs. together

Small っ means stop the air. Before saying the next consonant, hold your breath for a split second. Say “gak-kou” (school): that tiny gap between “gak” and “kou” is the っ. Compare with “gakusei” (student), where there is no gap.

Deep Dive 深掘り

The small っ evolved from a cursive form of つ (tsu) used as a repetition marker in classical Japanese. Scribes wrote つ small before a consonant to indicate “hold here.” Over time, the つ itself disappeared, leaving only the pause — a silent remnant telling you to stop.

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Putting it all together

Here is a single word using every concept on this page:

学校(がっこう) (gakkō, school)

Part	What it is	Explanation
が	Dakuten	か + voicing
っ	Small tsu	Geminate, pause before こ
こう	Long vowel	こ + う = “kō” (two beats)

Three beats total: ga-k-kou (がっこう).

And a yōon example:

中国(ちゅうごく) (Chūgoku, China)

Part	What it is	Explanation
ちゅう	Yōon + long vowel	ち + small ゅ + う = “chū”
ごく	Dakuten	こ + dakuten = “goku”

If you know 中国 (Zhōngguó) from Mandarin, you already have the meaning — the Japanese reading ちゅうごく uses yōon (ちゅ) and dakuten (ご) to reconstruct the same two kanji.

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Quick reference: what changes what

Mark	Name	Effect	Applies to
゛	Dakuten (濁点)	Voice the consonant (k→g, s→z, t→d, h→b)	か, さ, た, は rows
゜	Handakuten (半濁点)	Add P-sound (h→p)	は row only
ゃ, ゅ, ょ	Small ya/yu/yo	Create yōon blends (ki+ya=kya)	After い-column kana
っ	Small tsu (促音)	Double the next consonant	Before any consonant
あ, い, う, え, お	Vowel extension	Lengthen the previous vowel	After same or related vowel

That covers every hiragana modifier — dakuten, handakuten, yōon, long vowels, and sokuon. Reading them smoothly still takes repetition. The next page walks through common words and short sentences so you can practice these patterns in context rather than from tables alone.

Key takeaways

• Yōon combines an い-column kana with small ゃ/ゅ/ょ — き + ゃ = きゃ (kya)
• Yōon counts as one mora, not two — do not pronounce it as separate syllables
• Long vowels double the beat count; small っ creates a brief pause before the next consonant
• These patterns appear constantly in daily words like 学校, 中国, and おはよう

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