In order to make a sound equivalent to KYA rather than have a character for this sound, the character KI is used followed by a small YA. This pattern is used for:

R	M	P	B	H	N	CH	J	SH	G	K
											YA
											YU
											YO

Often in Japanese writing, the small YA, YU, and YO may not easily be discernable from the normal sized YA, YU, and YO.
When writing these characters, they are drawn the same as the normal versions of each, first the *I character followed by the YA, YU, or YO, which is just drawn smaller than usual.
Note that for row with JI, the row CHI, and the row with SHI, do not pronounce these as JI-YA, JI-YU, or JI-YO. Pronounce them as JA, JU, and JO. For CHI, do not pronounce them CHI-YA, CHI-YU, or CHI-YO, but as CHA, CHU, and CHO. For SHI, do not pronounce them SHI-YA, SHI-YU, or SHI-YO, but as SHA, SHU, and SHO.
To hear the sounds, click on any character from each group.

Previous Lesson

| |

Next Lesson