Small Tsu and Long Vowels in Japanese

What small tsu does

Write つ at half size and it stops being a syllable of its own. The small tsu, called 促音 (そくおん, sokuon), tells you to close off the sound for one beat before the next consonant, so that consonant is held or doubled. It is written っ in hiragana and ッ in katakana, and you can see both on the hiragana chart and katakana chart.

• きて (kite, come) vs きって (kitte, postage stamp)
• さか (saka, slope) vs さっか (sakka, writer)
• かた (kata, shoulder) vs かった (katta, bought)
• がっこう (gakkou, school), written 学校 with the kanji 学 and 校
• ちょっと (chotto, a little) and ざっし (zasshi, magazine)

The small tsu never starts a word and never comes before a vowel. In everyday words it appears mostly before k, s, t and p sounds, which is why you meet it so often in words like いっぱい (ippai, full) and in counter forms such as いっぽん, covered in the Japanese counters guide. In katakana it shows up in loanwords like カップ (cup) and チケット (ticket).

Size matters in writing. A full-size つ is read tsu, so つ in つくえ (desk) is a real syllable, while the small っ in きって is a silent beat. When you write by hand, make the small tsu clearly smaller and place it low in its square.

Small tsu in romaji and at the end of words

In romaji the small tsu is shown by doubling the next consonant: きって is kitte, がっこう is gakkou, and ざっし is zasshi. Hepburn romanization has one quirk: before ch, it writes tch instead of cch, so こっち (over here) is kotchi and まっちゃ is matcha. This is also how you type it on a romaji keyboard: double the consonant and the small tsu appears. The romaji to kana converter shows the result as you type.

At the end of a word or sentence, a small tsu marks a sudden stop in the throat rather than a doubled consonant. You see it in exclamations such as あっ (ah!) and in manga, where it shows surprise or a cut-off cry. There is no standard way to write it in romaji.

Long vowels in hiragana

A long vowel is held for twice the length of a short one. The difference is real, not a matter of accent: おばさん (obasan) means aunt, while おばあさん (obaasan) means grandmother. Japan's official kana spelling rules, 現代仮名遣い, set out how each long vowel is written in hiragana:

The two tricky rows are e and o. Most long e sounds are spelled with い, so 先生 is せんせい even though it usually sounds like sensee. Only a few words such as ええ and ねえさん use え. Most long o sounds are spelled with う, as in おとうさん and きょう (today), but a fixed list of words uses お instead, including おおきい (big), おおい (many), とおい (far), とお (ten), とおる (to pass), こおり (ice) and おおかみ (wolf). The rules note that these words had a ほ or を in older spelling, which is why they keep お today. You do not need the history, just learn these common words as they are.

The long vowel mark ー in katakana

Katakana has a simpler system. A long vowel is written with the long vowel mark ー, called 長音符 (ちょうおんぷ, chouonpu), after the kana:

• コーヒー (koohii, coffee)
• ラーメン (raamen, ramen)
• タクシー (takushii, taxi)
• ケーキ (keeki, cake)
• ビール (biiru, beer), not to be confused with ビル (biru, building)

English words with an r after a vowel are usually written with ー too, so torch becomes トーチ and the er at the end of computer becomes the ー in コンピューター. The mark follows the direction of the text: it is a horizontal line in horizontal writing and a vertical line in vertical writing. Standard spelling does not use ー in hiragana, although you will see it on informal signs such as らーめん and in expressions like おーい (hey!).

If katakana is still new, the hiragana, katakana and kanji guide explains when each script is used, which is why loanwords get the ー and native words get an extra vowel.

Why beats matter: counting morae

Japanese rhythm is built on beats called morae. Each kana is one beat, and so are the small tsu, the ん, and the second half of a long vowel. 日本 read にっぽん (Nippon) has four beats, に, っ, ぽ, ん, even though an English speaker hears two syllables. とり (tori, bird) has two beats, while とおり (toori, street) has three.

This is why small tsu and long vowels are easy to see but hard to hear. In English, vowel and consonant length rarely change meaning, so the ear ignores them. In Japanese, dropping a beat can turn a stamp into a verb or a grandmother into an aunt. Long vowels also matter for kanji readings: 大 is read おお in おおきい and たい or だい in other words, and the onyomi vs kunyomi guide explains where those readings come from.

Listening and speaking tips

1. Count the beats. Tap a finger for each mora as you say a word. きって gets three taps, きて gets two. Saying words in even beats is the quickest fix for both small tsu and long vowels.
2. Practice minimal pairs. Say pairs like おばさん and おばあさん, ビル and ビール, or さか and さっか aloud, then listen to a native recording and check which one you heard.
3. Feel the pause. For small tsu, get your mouth ready for the next consonant and hold it for a beat before releasing. In がっこう your tongue is already in place for the k before you say it.
4. Read the spelling, not the romaji. Romaji often drops long vowel marks, as in Tokyo for とうきょう (Toukyou). Learning words in kana shows you every beat, which is one reason to learn hiragana before relying on romaji.
5. Test yourself. A kana quiz builds fast recognition of っ, ッ and ー alongside the rest of the chart, and reviewing new words on a schedule in an app such as Moji or Anki keeps the beats in memory.

Small tsu and long vowels take a little practice to hear, but the spelling rules are short. Once you start counting beats, words like きって, おばあさん and コーヒー sound as different as they look.