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Day 5 Small ゃ, ゅ, And ょ Yo On

3 minute read · Sun 5 December

Day 5 Small ゃ, ゅ, And ょ Yo On

Welcome to the fifth lesson in the series and the last lesson to review Hiragana! We're looking at Yo-on today. This is where you can attach a smaller ゃ, ゅ, or ょ to other kana to create an elongated sound. There's a-lot of them but as you will know by now, all follow the same pattern. This lesson you will be adding a 'ya', 'yu' or 'yo' after the consonant, usually using the i column (except for sa).

き (ki) → きゃ (kya) and ぎ (gi) → ぎゃ (gya)
き (ki) → きゅ (kyu) and ぎ (gi) → ぎゅ (gyu)
き (ki) → きょ (kyo) and ぎ (gi) → ぎょ (gyo)
し (shi) → しゃ (sya) and じ (ji) → じゃ (jya)
し (shi) → しゅ (syu) and じ (ji) → じゅ (jyu)
し (shi) → しょ (syo) and じ (ji) → じょ (jyo)
ち (sa) → ちゃ (sya)
ち (sa) → ちゅ (syu)
ち (sa) → ちょ (syo)
に (ni) → にゃ (nya)
に (ni) → にゅ (nyu)
に (ni) → にょ (nyo)
ひ (hi) → ひゃ (hya) and び (bi) → びゃ (bya) and ぴ (pi) → ぴゃ (pya)
ひ (hi) → ひゅ (hyu) and び (bi) → びゅ (byu) and ぴ (pi) → ぴゅ (pyu)
ひ (hi) → ひょ (hyo) and び (bi) → びょ (byo) and ぴ (pi) → ぴょ (pyo)
み (mi) → みゃ (mya)
み (mi) → みゅ (myu)
み (mi) → みょ (myo)
り (ri) → りゃ (rya)
り (ri) → りゅ (ryu)
り (ri) → りょ (ryo)

Phew! By the way, you can make ぢゃ, ぢゅ, or ぢょ with ぢ in theory to sound exactly the same as じゃ, じゅ, or じょ, but they are not commonly used.

And here's today's homework:

  • • Watch the video, and match the shape with its sound. You can see the next lines of kana on the chart
  • • Follow the stroke order and write it on your own on a piece of paper 10× times or more. Gridded paper can help you get the proportions correct which you can download and print here.
  • • Then, write it down again without looking at anything.
  • • Come back in 3 days to repeat Task 3. Set a reminder on your calendar while you remember!
  • It's time to review the ma, ya, ra and wa kana again to refresh your memory. The ya line will be helpful now you know how powerful it is.

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