Smaller あ, い, う, え, お, や, ゆ, and よ modify the preceding kana. For example, きよ is Kiyo, and きょ is Kyo. As you can see in the image, the や is smaller than the rest of the kana.
Ah, still learning, thanks though! Any other ways to learn japanese other than using just charts? That's...kinda the only way I'm learning at the moment...
Go-chan16 said: Ah, still learning, thanks though! Any other ways to learn japanese other than using just charts? That's...kinda the only way I'm learning at the moment...
That's what I've been doing too, basically. It's easy for yukkuri-centric stuff since they mainly seem to speak in kana. Problem is, once I've read out the kana I'm stuck, haven't found a good resource for actual translation.
Yeah that would be the problem I've been running into. The last website I tried for translation had her calling her babies little buggers and made no sense..
I started out just stuffing the words I didn't know into Wiktionary. It usually did a good job of pointing me in the right direction for the grammar and conjugations, and once you've got all that, the reading itself teaches you the rest.
Go-chan16 said: Ah, still learning, thanks though! Any other ways to learn japanese other than using just charts? That's...kinda the only way I'm learning at the moment...
Using hiragana and katakana charts is a good way to start. I was taught to use hiragana first and include katakana when necessary. Of course, learn some more of common words and phrases. You will also need to learn Japanese grammar to translate effectively.
Another brief lesson: small つ
This indicates a blunt pause. When a small つ is followed by a "consonant" kana, so to speak, the following kana, in romaji, will have the consonant doubled. "Yukkuri" (ゆっくり) is a perfect example.