To be more clear, when the original word for the loan word ends in a consonant, is there any pattern to which sound starting with that consonant gets chosen?
For example:
“Beer -> “ビール” (rather than, for example, “ビーロ”),
“Bus” -> “バス”, rather than “バソ”
“Size” -> “サイズ”, rather than “サイゾ”
4 comments
Words that end with a t/d often end with an ‘o’ vowel, most others end with a ‘u’ vowel.
It’s usually the “u” version, except in the case of “t” since the sound is “tsu” and there is no “tu” sound, for example, flat —> フラット
In the examples you gave, they all follow this rule, but I will say, there are some exceptions
For example: suit —> スーツ instead of スート (only in the case of like a suit you wear, the playing cards one is actually スート)
Most of the time pick u and you’ll be right, for t ending words pick to, and you’ll usually be right. You’ll learn the exceptions as you go and get a feel for it!
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2015522924
Side note: ビール was borrowed from Dutch “bier”, not from English.