Reference sheet
Yōon — the small ゃ ゅ ょ
All thirty-three contracted sounds in both scripts, the rule that generates them, the four pairs where size alone decides the word, and forty-five words they unlock — in Japanese, English and Modern Standard Arabic. Made to print.
1.The rule, in three lines
- Only a kana ending in -i takes a small ゃ ゅ ょ. Eleven do: き し ち に ひ み り and ぎ じ び ぴ. Eleven times three is thirty-three.
- The small kana replaces the i, it does not add a syllable. ki → ky + a = kya.
- The result is one beat, not two. きゃ is one mora; きや is two.
い is excluded because it is a bare vowel with no consonant to bend. ぢゃ ぢゅ ぢょ exist and are never written, exactly as ぢ is not.
2.The thirty-three
Read across for a vowel, down for a consonant. Tap a cell to hear it. The word under each cell is one common word the sound appears in; a dashed cell has no such word written wholly in the kana this course has taught, and shows what would have gone there.
This chart is rendered from assets/yoon-data.js and needs
JavaScript.
The same thirty-three, in katakana
Identical rule, identical arithmetic — and different holes. Five of the six cells the hiragana chart above could not fill are filled here (ヒュ ミュ ビュ ピュ ピョ), because those sounds arrived in Japanese as loanwords and loanwords are written in katakana. The nine dashed cells below are the reverse case: native words, which are written in hiragana. Between the two charts every cell is used except ぴゃ/ピャ, which has no common word in either script.
Rendered from assets/yoon-katakana-data.js; needs
JavaScript.
3.The three rows that lose the y
し, ち and じ are already shi, chi and ji — the y is inside them, so it is not written twice.
| Base | Predicted | Written |
|---|---|---|
| し shi |
shya shyu shyo | しゃ しゅ しょ sha shu sho |
| ち chi |
chya chyu chyo | ちゃ ちゅ ちょ cha chu cho |
| じ ji |
jya jyu jyo | じゃ じゅ じょ ja ju jo |
4.Where size decides the word
All eight are common words. The only difference is one character's size, and it is worth a whole beat.
| Small | Beats | Full-size | Beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| びょういん byōinhospital |
4 | びよういん biyōinbeauty salon |
5 |
| じゅう jūten |
2 | じゆう jiyūfreedom |
3 |
| ひゃく hyakua hundred |
2 | ひやく hiyakua leap |
3 |
| きゃく kyakua guest |
2 | きやく kiyakurules, terms |
3 |
5.Long vowels, which are also beats
A う after a yōon lengthens the vowel rather than adding a syllable — but it is still a full beat of its own.
| Word | Beats | Means |
|---|---|---|
| きょう kyō | kyo · o = 2 | today |
| じゅぎょう jugyō | ju · gyo · o = 3 | a class |
| ぎゅうにゅう gyūnyū | gyu · u · nyu · u = 4 | milk |
| りょこう ryokō | ryo · ko · o = 3 | a trip |
6.The six with no word yet
| Sound | Where it actually lives | Missing piece |
|---|---|---|
| ひゅ みゅ びゅ hyu myu byu |
ヒューズ · ミュージック · インタビュー fuse · music · interview |
Katakana — imported words only. |
| ぴゃ ぴゅ ぴょ pya pyu pyo |
はっぴゃく · はっぴょう eight hundred · an announcement |
The small っ. A maru kana lives only after ん or っ — the same rule that emptied the ぱ row in lesson 5. |
7.Forty-five words
Every word contains at least one yōon and uses only characters taught in lessons 1, 2, 5 and 7. Grouped by meaning; tap any word to hear it.
These cards are rendered from assets/vocab7-data.js and
need JavaScript.
8.Six sentences
| Japanese | English | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| きょうは なんようびですか。 kyō wa nan'yōbi desu ka | What day is it today? | أَيُّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ الْيَوْمُ؟ |
| しゅみは なんですか。 shumi wa nan desu ka | What is your hobby? | مَا هِيَ هِوَايَتُكَ؟ |
| びょういんは どこですか。 byōin wa doko desu ka | Where is the hospital? | أَيْنَ الْمُسْتَشْفَى؟ |
| これは ぎゅうにゅうですか。 kore wa gyūnyū desu ka | Is this milk? | هَلْ هٰذَا حَلِيبٌ؟ |
| じゅぎょうは なんじですか。 jugyō wa nanji desu ka | What time is the class? | فِي أَيِّ سَاعَةٍ الْحِصَّةُ؟ |
| これは だれの しゃしんですか。 kore wa dare no shashin desu ka | Whose photograph is this? | صُورَةُ مَنْ هٰذِهِ؟ |