Video:Learn Japanese: How to Write Hiragana Part 11: Extended Sounds
with TukiJapanese extended sounds are compound syllables that combine two Hiragana. Learn Japanese extended sounds with this helpful language tutorial.See Transcript
Transcript:Learn Japanese: How to Write Hiragana Part 11: Extended Sounds
Hello! My name is Yuki for About.com. Today I am going to talk about how you write and pronounce extended sounds in Hiragana.
Pronunciation of Japanese Extended Sounds:
Extended sounds in Hiragana are compound syllables which always combine two Hiragana:
Kya Kyo Ko
Nya Nyu Nyo
Hya Hyu Hyo
Mya Myu Myo
Rya Ryu Ryo
Sha She She Sho
Cha Chu Che Cho
Gya Gyu Gyo
Bya Byu Byo
Ja Ju Je Jo
Pa Pyu Pyo
Extended Sounds in Japanese Writing
Extended sounds are very easy to recognize in writing: let me show you some examples.This is "ju.". As you can see there is a big Hiragana first and there is a little Hiragana right next to that. Those two together are extended sounds. "ju" means "ten".This is another one: "ocha." There's a bigger Hiragana and a smaller Hiragana next to that. "ocha" means "tea." This is "kyo" - means "today."
That was a quick lesson on how to write and pronounce extended sounds in Hiragana. For more information, please visit About.com.