Often, it is necessary to have a double consonant in the Japanese language. There are no
single consonant characters in Japanese other than N.
The system for writing double consonants then, is to write a small TSU before the character
whose consonant needs to be doubled. However, in the case of a character that has an N or M
sound being doubled, a small TSU is not use, but rather just an N:
(click on the words with double consonants to hear BOTH the word without the double consonant and with the double consonant)
| ITE: |   |
ITTE: |  |
| MAKI: |   |
MAKKI: | |
| NISHI: |   |
NISSHI: | |
| KONA: |   |
KONNA: |  |
| AMARI: |   |
AMMARI: | |
Also, the difference between a double consonant and single consonant can affect a large change
in meaning:
| KONO-BOOSHI: | (this hat) |    |
| KONNO-BOOSHI: | (navy-blue hat) | |
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