Japanese Long vowels

The Long vowels

I don’t know the rules in long vowels. All I know is that in Hiragana, long vowels mean longer sounds or double the length of pronouncing the vowel letters. Unlike in small ‘tsu’ which is the double of consonants, long vowels focuses on doubling the five vowel letters, あ,い,う,え,お.

Others define the long vowels by adding a line above the vowel of a word in Hiragana, except for い as it is written twice when they write the words in Romaji or its English term. I don’t usually put a line above the vowel when I use Romaji because, for me, it's quite confusing. That’s why I spelled the words on how it is written and type on the keyboard so it will not confuse me when I write the correct Kanji.

Example:

             

Japanese words	How others write the Romaji	How I write the Romaji	English
おかあさん	Okāsan	Okaasan	Mother
おとうさん	Otōsan	Otousan	Father
おねえさん	Onēsan	Oneesan	Elder Sister
おとうと	Otōto	Otouto	Younger Brother

 

While the long vowel for Katakana represents only a hyphen or dash line (―). In Katakana, you don’t need to worry whether the vowels will be double or not. I also don’t use the line above the vowel when I put the Romaji of each word in order not to spell it wrongly. 

 

Japanese words	How others write the Romaji	How I write the Romaji	English
ブレースレット	burēsuretto	bureーsuretto	Bracelet
サッカー	sakkā	sakkaー	Soccer
クローゼット	kurōzetto	kuroーzetto	Closet
パーティー	pātii	paーtiー	Party

 

For all the examples I will be using in all my posts, I will not use the line above the vowel when writing the Romaji, so it is easy to spell the words.

 

More examples will be posted soon as we already finish the basic Hiragana and Katakana. Please look forward to it.

See you soon.

If you want to learn about Hiragana and Katakana again, just click the link below. 

<< The Hiragana Characters                                         The Katakana Characters >>

You can also check other lessons:

• Combined Characters
  
• The small tsu
  
• Ten-Ten and Maru
• Examples of Hiragana
  
• Examples of Katakana
  

I also started studying the Spanish Language. You can check the link below for details:

• 【Spanish Lesson #1】Survival Expressions

Latest Update March 29, 2024

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