i know that it doubles the consonant but i wasn’t able to find any info on why is it used, if it depends on grammatics or maybe because it just sound right…
it’s either added grammatically for many conjugations, or it comes into play in some words with patterns that would otherwise have two consonants next to each other in a way that’s hard to pronounce otherwise (like つ+か)
other patterns also exist for words with consonants and vowels in other patterns: [https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/rendaku/](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/rendaku/)
In addition to what was stated by the other commenter, it is often used in writing casual speech or sound effects to create a sudden stop or impact to the sound/speech. For example, the monkey sound ウキッ (*uki*) goes from “ooky” to something that more closely resembles the archetypical “ook”. Also, ドカ (*doka*) is a sound effect indicating a heavy walk or kick. Using ドカッ makes the sound all-the-more impactful. You will see this use very often if you’re reading manga or playing video games.
Wait is the question why is it っ specifically for all? Or just why do they have a sign for double consonants and other things?
Like why is it らっかせい and not らくかせい with a subscript ku? I.e why do they use tsu as the default and not a X-u character that matches the doubles consonant?
That would be an interesting answer.
You mean why is it small tsu and not small something else? Pretty much for sound reasons.
Small versions of other consonants (ク,ス, etc) are used in the katakana orthography of Ainu to indicate coda consonants. By that logic, っ is -t. You can think of it like a glottal stop or something.
I can not tell if you learned basic grammar yet, but to start from the basic level, your example のって(乗って) is a conjugated form = the te- form of のる (to ride, get on). のる is a member of the verb class whose te- form is って. Another example of this verb class is とる, whose te-form is とって.
Whenever a word has a double consonant pronunciation small tsu is used. For example, ちょっと ‘a little’ and さっか’writer’, which are not verbs.
thanks everyone for the help
in some cases it repeats the letter
「つ」and「っ」are clearly distinguished in modern Japanese.
To avoid misunderstandings, school grammar classes call them 大きなつ (Ookina-tsu = Big tsu) and 小さなつ (Chiisana-tsu = Small tsu), respectively.
It is useful for beginners of Japanese to know that 小さなつ comes from the phonetic shift in modern Japanese. Classic Japanese (ie., Japanese spoken before Meiji Restoration in CE1869) did not use any 小さなつ.
Let me clarify with some examples.
Data 1: Verb 走る
Writing Hiragana Romaji Conjugation
走る はしる Hashiru Dictionary-form
走りて はしりて Hashirite Te-form in classic Japenese
走って はしって Hashitte Te-form in modern Japenese
Commentary 1: Verb 走る
走る (はしる Hashiru) is a basic verb meaning “run,” and its dictionary-form is 走る. When we conjugate 走る into te-form, 走る changes into 走って (はしって Hashitte). This is a standard explanation I found on several textbooks written in English.
That explanation is a shortcut for beginners.
Te-form of 走る was 走りて (はしりて Hashirite) in classic Japanese. 走りて (はしりて Hashirite) has gradually changed into 走って (はしって Hashitte) because it was not easy to pronounce.
When pronouncing 走りて, we close our mouths twice. Closing the mouth with “し (shi)” sound, and closing the mouth once more with “り (ri)” sound.
Here, we get the basic idea of where and why 小さなつ appears. 小さなつ appears where mouth-closing is repeated. 小さなつ appears as a marker of sound-omission just like Apostrophe (‘) in the English language.
The same rule applies to the verb 行く.
Data 2: Verb 行く
Writing Hiragana Romaji Conjugation
行く いく Iku Dictionary-form
行きて いきて Ikite Te-form in classic Japenese
行って いって Itte Te-form in modern Japenese
Commentary 2: Verb 行く
行く (いく Iku) is a basic verb meaning “go,” and its dictionary-form is 行く.
Te-form of 行く was 行きて (いきて Ikite) in classic Japanese. 行きて (いきて Ikite) has gradually changed into 行って (いって Itte) because it was not easy to pronounce.
When pronouncing 行きて, we close our mouths twice. Closing the mouth with “い (i)” sound, and closing the mouth once more with “き (ki)” sound.
Glossary:
促音便(そくおんびん Soku-onnbin) means changing the original sound into 小さなつ. 促音便 is a grammar term used in Japanese formal education. Kanji 促 means “to promote” and kanji compound 音便 means “sound efficient.”
小さなつ (ちいさなつ Ｃhiisana-tsu) means “small tsu” and is used in grammar lectures because 「っ」 alone is hard to pronounce.
8 comments
it’s called a [sokuon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokuon) and it’s basically a [glottal stop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop) character
it’s either added grammatically for many conjugations, or it comes into play in some words with patterns that would otherwise have two consonants next to each other in a way that’s hard to pronounce otherwise (like つ+か)
[http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-8/](http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-8/)
other patterns also exist for words with consonants and vowels in other patterns: [https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/rendaku/](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/rendaku/)
In addition to what was stated by the other commenter, it is often used in writing casual speech or sound effects to create a sudden stop or impact to the sound/speech. For example, the monkey sound ウキッ (*uki*) goes from “ooky” to something that more closely resembles the archetypical “ook”. Also, ドカ (*doka*) is a sound effect indicating a heavy walk or kick. Using ドカッ makes the sound all-the-more impactful. You will see this use very often if you’re reading manga or playing video games.
Wait is the question why is it っ specifically for all? Or just why do they have a sign for double consonants and other things?
Like why is it らっかせい and not らくかせい with a subscript ku? I.e why do they use tsu as the default and not a X-u character that matches the doubles consonant?
That would be an interesting answer.
You mean why is it small tsu and not small something else? Pretty much for sound reasons.
Small versions of other consonants (ク,ス, etc) are used in the katakana orthography of Ainu to indicate coda consonants. By that logic, っ is -t. You can think of it like a glottal stop or something.
I can not tell if you learned basic grammar yet, but to start from the basic level, your example のって(乗って) is a conjugated form = the te- form of のる (to ride, get on). のる is a member of the verb class whose te- form is って. Another example of this verb class is とる, whose te-form is とって.
Whenever a word has a double consonant pronunciation small tsu is used. For example, ちょっと ‘a little’ and さっか’writer’, which are not verbs.
thanks everyone for the help
in some cases it repeats the letter
「つ」and「っ」are clearly distinguished in modern Japanese.
To avoid misunderstandings, school grammar classes call them 大きなつ (Ookina-tsu = Big tsu) and 小さなつ (Chiisana-tsu = Small tsu), respectively.
It is useful for beginners of Japanese to know that 小さなつ comes from the phonetic shift in modern Japanese. Classic Japanese (ie., Japanese spoken before Meiji Restoration in CE1869) did not use any 小さなつ.
Let me clarify with some examples.
Data 1: Verb 走る
Writing Hiragana Romaji Conjugation
走る はしる Hashiru Dictionary-form
走りて はしりて Hashirite Te-form in classic Japenese
走って はしって Hashitte Te-form in modern Japenese
Commentary 1: Verb 走る
走る (はしる Hashiru) is a basic verb meaning “run,” and its dictionary-form is 走る. When we conjugate 走る into te-form, 走る changes into 走って (はしって Hashitte). This is a standard explanation I found on several textbooks written in English.
That explanation is a shortcut for beginners.
Te-form of 走る was 走りて (はしりて Hashirite) in classic Japanese. 走りて (はしりて Hashirite) has gradually changed into 走って (はしって Hashitte) because it was not easy to pronounce.
When pronouncing 走りて, we close our mouths twice. Closing the mouth with “し (shi)” sound, and closing the mouth once more with “り (ri)” sound.
Here, we get the basic idea of where and why 小さなつ appears. 小さなつ appears where mouth-closing is repeated. 小さなつ appears as a marker of sound-omission just like Apostrophe (‘) in the English language.
The same rule applies to the verb 行く.
Data 2: Verb 行く
Writing Hiragana Romaji Conjugation
行く いく Iku Dictionary-form
行きて いきて Ikite Te-form in classic Japenese
行って いって Itte Te-form in modern Japenese
Commentary 2: Verb 行く
行く (いく Iku) is a basic verb meaning “go,” and its dictionary-form is 行く.
Te-form of 行く was 行きて (いきて Ikite) in classic Japanese. 行きて (いきて Ikite) has gradually changed into 行って (いって Itte) because it was not easy to pronounce.
When pronouncing 行きて, we close our mouths twice. Closing the mouth with “い (i)” sound, and closing the mouth once more with “き (ki)” sound.
Glossary:
促音便(そくおんびん Soku-onnbin) means changing the original sound into 小さなつ. 促音便 is a grammar term used in Japanese formal education. Kanji 促 means “to promote” and kanji compound 音便 means “sound efficient.”
小さなつ (ちいさなつ Ｃhiisana-tsu) means “small tsu” and is used in grammar lectures because 「っ」 alone is hard to pronounce.