The small tsu in Japanese: っ (sokuon)
The small tsu, っ (ッ in katakana), is called sokuon (促音). It is not a sound of its own: it holds the next consonant for one extra beat, which romaji writes as a doubled consonant (for ch, as tch), as in the word for a postage stamp, 切手 (きって, kitte).
It looks like the full-size つ (ツ in katakana), only smaller and set lower on the line. But it is not read "tsu" at all: you hold the beat. If you are new to kana, start with What is Hiragana?.
| Written | Romaji | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| きって | kitte | Say ki, hold the closed mouth for one beat, then te |
| ざっし | zasshi | Say za, keep the hiss going for one extra beat, then shi |
| まっちゃ | matcha | Say ma, hold the t for one beat, then cha |
How to pronounce the small tsu
Think of it as a held beat, not a "tsu" sound. Japanese is counted in beats (linguists call them morae), and っ takes one whole beat of its own. English Wikipedia's example is 日本 read as にっぽん (Nippon): two syllables, but four beats, ni-p-po-n. The usual reading, にほん (Nihon), has no small tsu.
What your mouth does depends on the consonant that follows:
- Before k, t, p or ch: close your mouth or tongue for the consonant (for ch, the t part), but don't release it yet. Hold for a beat, then let go. きって is ki, a held t, then te, and 抹茶 (まっちゃ, matcha) is ma, a held t, then cha.
- Before s or sh: keep making the hiss for longer. ざっし is za, a long ssh, then shi.
- At the very end of a word: stop the breath at once, as in the exclamation あっ (a). English Wikipedia calls it a glottal stop that can suggest angry or surprised speech, and says it is often written as a dash, t or an apostrophe, with no single standard. In plain romaji it is often lost, so あっ looks like "a".
A common mistake is to say "tsu" out loud, as if きって were ki-tsu-te. A teacher on teach-nihongo.com warns that leaving out the held beat can change the word completely.
What a small tsu means: it changes the word
The small tsu has no meaning of its own, but it can turn one word into another. Here are pairs that differ only by っ:
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 坂 | さか | saka | slope; incline; hill | Without っ: さか |
| 作家 | さっか | sakka | author; writer; novelist | With っ: さっか |
| 音 | おと | oto | sound; noise | Without っ: おと |
| 夫 | おっと | otto | husband | With っ: おっと |
| 猫 | ねこ | neko | cat (esp. the domestic cat, Felis catus); feline | Without っ: ねこ |
| 根っこ | ねっこ | nekko | root (of a plant) | With っ: ねっこ |
The classic pair is 来て (kite, a form of 来る (くる, kuru)) and 切手 (kitte, the stamp). To an English ear the difference is small. To a Japanese ear, kitte has a whole extra beat.
Where the small tsu can appear
In ordinary Japanese words, the small tsu sits between two kana, and it almost always comes before an unvoiced consonant: the k, s, sh, t, ch, ts and p sounds. That helps when you read.
- It almost never starts a word, and it never comes before a vowel. It can end a word only in exclamations like あっ.
- It does not usually come before the voiced sounds g, z, d and b, or before h. 学校 (がっこう, gakkō) and 雑誌 (ざっし, zasshi) follow the pattern.
- It rarely comes before n, m, r, w or y in native words.
- Loanwords break these rules, and so do some stylised words.
You will meet it early in common words:
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ちょっと | ちょっと | chotto | a little; a bit; slightly | A bit, just a moment: constant in speech |
| ずっと | ずっと | zutto | continuously; the whole time; all the way | The whole time; much more |
| きっと | きっと | kitto | surely; undoubtedly; almost certainly | Most likely, I'm sure |
The small ッ in katakana and loanwords
In katakana the small tsu is ッ, and it does the same job. Katakana writes loanwords, and English words with a short vowel and a stopped consonant often become a ッ plus a syllable. Japanese Wikipedia gives ビット (bit) and カップ (cup) as examples.
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ベッド | ベッド | beddo | bed | Bed: the d is voiced, and loanwords allow that |
| カップ | カップ | kappu | cup (drinking vessel, measure, brassiere, prize, etc.) | Cup |
| ビッグ | ビッグ | biggu | big | Big: also a voiced g |
| サッカー | サッカー | sakkā | soccer; (association) football | Football, as the Japanese call soccer |
Here the rule about voiced consonants bends: ベッド and ビッグ put a ッ before d and g, which native words didn't traditionally do. Japanese Wikipedia notes that, because that combination wasn't normal, bag is sometimes written バック instead of バッグ.
For more on the script, read What is Katakana? and Hiragana vs Katakana: Key Differences Explained.
How to type a small tsu (and write it in romaji)
In romaji you double the consonant: きって is kitte, にっぽん is nippon. Before sh the s doubles (zasshi), before ts the t doubles (mittsu), and before ch Hepburn writes tch, so まっちゃ is matcha (mat + cha) and こっち is kotchi.
Typing works the same way. Tofugu's typing guide gives yatta for やった and kitto for きっと.
- On a computer keyboard: double the next consonant: kitte gives きって. In katakana mode the same keys give ッ.
- On its own (for example after あ to make あっ): type xtu or ltu. English Wikipedia lists xtu, ltu and ltsu.
- On a phone: on a romaji keyboard, double the consonant as above. On the kana (flick) keyboard, type つ and press the key that converts a kana to its small form; a Y!mobile phone manual lists it as 大文字⇔小文字変換／゛゜入力. Layouts differ, so look for that key.
The mistake to avoid is typing a single t: kite gives きて, a different word from きって.
Big つ vs small っ: how to write and tell them apart
The small tsu is the same shape as つ, written smaller. Japanese Wikipedia says small kana are written tucked against the kana before them: low in horizontal text, and to the right and slightly up in vertical text.
Japan's rules for modern kana usage (現代仮名遣い), published by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, say the つ used for 促音 should be written small where possible (なるべく小書きにする). Japanese Wikipedia adds that in legal texts a full-size つ was the custom until the Shōwa era, so you may still see a big one in older official documents. Context tells you the reading.
A full-size つ stays "tsu". You will see it next to a small one in the numbers one to nine, which count things with the general counter つ:
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 一つ | ひとつ | hitotsu | one | One thing: a full つ only |
| 三つ | みっつ | mittsu | three | Three things: a small っ, then a full つ |
| 四つ | よっつ | yottsu | four; 4 | Four things: the same pattern |
In みっつ, the small っ gives the held t and the full つ gives the final "tsu": three beats, mi, t, tsu. For all the counters, see Japanese Counters.
How to tell ツ (tsu) from シ (shi)
The two katakana look almost the same. The difference is the direction of the strokes.
- ツ (tsu): two short strokes that stand almost upright, side by side, and a long stroke that is written from the top right, going down.
- シ (shi): two short strokes laid more flat, and a long stroke that starts at the bottom left and sweeps up to the right.
A mnemonic from The Japanese Page: S is for side and T is for top, so シ (shi) is on the side and ツ (tsu) is on the top. The hiragana help too: シ follows the path of し, and ツ follows the path of つ. Stroke order matters here, so practise writing, not only reading (see How to Memorize Hiragana and Katakana). See the pages for シ and ツ. The small ッ is just a smaller ツ, so the same rule holds.
Practise the small tsu
Hear the pairs with and without っ, like さか and さっか, and pick the one you hear.
Questions about the small tsu in Japanese
How do I type a small tsu?
Type the next consonant twice: kitte gives きって. On its own, type xtu or ltu. On a phone's kana keyboard, type つ and press the small-kana key.
Why is it tsu and not tu?
Hepburn romaji writes つ as tsu because that is how it sounds, while Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki write it tu, which reflects the underlying sound pattern more directly. MIT's kana course page gives the reading as "tu/tsu". Japanese Wikipedia adds that the old sound was tu, which became tsu by the late Muromachi period.
What does the Japanese name tsu mean?
The kana つ has no meaning by itself, but Tsu is also a place name and a word. 津 can mean a harbour or port, and Tsu is a city in Mie Prefecture. As a personal name, the meaning depends on the kanji it is written with.
How to differentiate Shi and tsu?
ツ (tsu) has nearly upright short strokes and a long stroke running down from the top right, while シ (shi) has flatter short strokes and a long stroke sweeping up from the bottom left.
Should I say Yon or Shi?
Both are used: よん (yon) is very common today, and し (shi) appears in fixed words such as 四月 (しがつ, shigatsu). Japanese Wikipedia says よん is thought to have spread partly because し sounds like 死 (し, shi) and can be confused with 七 (shichi). See Japanese Numbers 1 to 100 and Beyond.
Is Shi polite or impolite in Japanese?
Shi (し) is neither polite nor impolite: it is a sound, and a reading of the number 4. Because it sounds like 死, some apartments and hospitals skip the number 4, according to English Wikipedia.
What does a small tsu mean?
A small tsu means "hold the next consonant for one beat". It has no meaning of its own, but it changes the word: さか is a slope and さっか is an author.
What does this ツ mean?
ツ is the katakana for tsu, the same sound as hiragana つ. It also turns up in the shrug emoticon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, where it reads as a smiling face.
How do you pronounce the small tsu?
You don't say tsu: you hold the next consonant for one beat, so きって is ki, a held t, then te.
What does tsu mean in Japanese?
Tsu is the sound of the kana つ, and on its own it means nothing. As a word it has uses: つ (tsu, “general-purpose counter”) is the general counter for things one to nine, as in ひとつ, and 津 means harbour. The small tsu is a different job: it marks a held consonant.
Sources
- Readings and meanings: JMdict (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), including the entries for 津, 四 and the general counter つ.
- What the sokuon is, the sounds it comes before, the mora count of Nippon, the tch spelling, sentence-final use and typing with xtu and ltu: English Wikipedia, Sokuon; Japanese Wikipedia, 促音, also for held stops and fricatives, loanwords, rare word-initial use, and the big つ in legal texts.
- Written small where possible: Agency for Cultural Affairs, 現代仮名遣い 本文 第1.
- Placement of small kana: Japanese Wikipedia, 捨て仮名.
- A held beat, and the cost of leaving it out: Teach Nihongo, How to pronounce small tsu.
- Typing by doubling the consonant: Tofugu, How to type in Japanese.
- The small-kana key on a phone: Y!mobile, スマートフォン取扱説明書, 文字入力.
- The sound of つ, the romanisation systems and the shrug emoticon: English Wikipedia, Tsu (kana); Japanese Wikipedia, ツ; MIT OpenCourseWare, Hiragana tu/tsu.
- Telling シ from ツ: Living Language, How to write katakana シ, ツ, ソ, ン; The Japanese Page, Katakana ソ, ン and シ, ツ: how to tell them apart.
- The number 4 and death: English Wikipedia, Tetraphobia; Japanese Wikipedia, 4.
- The general counter つ: Speakable Japanese, Counters.
- Reviewed independently; the points about the held beat before each consonant, the glottal stop, the old big-つ habit, yon and shi, and the names are waiting for a native speaker's check.