Lesson 14 · Hiragana
きゃ きゅ きょ
しゃ ちゃ にゃ ひゃ みゃ りゃ
Two characters, one beat. The last rule in the syllabary.
Take any kana from the i column — き, し, ち — and put a shrunken や, ゆ or よ after it. The pair is read as a single syllable. Twenty-one of them here, twelve more next lesson.
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Warm up
The p row and the held beat, from last lesson.
The rule
き + ゃ → きゃ
Two characters, one beat — kya, not ki-ya. The small character is written at roughly half size and sits low; that size difference is the only thing telling you to read the pair as one sound.
きや vs きゃ
Full-size や is two beats. Small ゃ is one. Listen twice.
One beat or two
Only the i column
The rule applies to the i column and nowhere else. There is no かゃ or こゃ — the combination exists precisely because ki and ya want to run together, and that only happens after an i.
Seven characters take it in this lesson: き し ち に ひ み り. Three small characters each, so twenty-one.
The two that break the pattern
し and ち have bent every rule they have met, and they bend this one too. The grid would predict sya and tya.
- しゃ sha
- ちゃ cha
sha as in shark, cha as in charge. Exactly what し and ち already sounded like, with the vowel changed.
Read them cold
Twenty-one, twice each.
Tea
Tea. Three characters, and the last two are read as one.
Today
Today. A combination, then a long O written with う.
Words
Every one unique.
Spell every word
Worth knowing
Ninety-two sounds now. The small characters are the same や ゆ よ you learned in lesson 8, just written smaller — which means there is nothing new to draw here either.
A practical note. When a combination is followed by う, that う lengthens the vowel rather than adding a syllable: きょう is two beats, kyo-o, not three. Half the vocabulary in this lesson does it.
Next: the voiced twelve — ぎゃ, じゃ, びゃ, ぴゃ — and then hiragana is complete.