Long vowels
おう・えい・ー
Long vowel = two beats. In hiragana, add a vowel (おう, えい are read ō, ē); in katakana, use ー.
In short
A long vowel lasts twice as long, and it changes the meaning: おばさん (aunt) isn't おばあさん (grandmother). In hiragana, you add a vowel: おう and えい are pronounced “ō” and “ē”. In katakana, you use the dash ー: コーヒー (kōhī).
- おばあさんobāsangrandmother (not おばさん, aunt)
- がっこうgakkōschool: こう is said “kō”
- コーヒーkōhīcoffee: the dash ー lengthens the vowel
The basics
In Japanese, a vowel can be short or long, and the length changes the meaning. おばさん (aunt) and おばあさん (grandmother) differ only in how long the “a” lasts. A long vowel simply takes two beats instead of one.
- おばさん／おばあさんobasan / obāsanaunt / grandmother
- ゆき／ゆうきyuki / yūkisnow / courage
In hiragana: you add a vowel
To lengthen a vowel in hiragana, you write a vowel after it. Two cases are surprising: a long “o” is almost always written おう, and a long “e” is often written えい. Yet you read “ō” and “ē”, not “o-u” or “e-i”.
| Spelling | Read as | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ああ | ā | おかあさん (mother) |
| いい | ī | おにいさん (big brother) |
| うう | ū | くうき (air) |
| えい・ええ | ē | せんせい (teacher) |
| おう・おお | ō | がっこう (school), おおきい (big) |
In katakana: the dash ー
In katakana, you lengthen with a dash: ー. Horizontal in text written left to right, vertical in vertical text. It's the mark of foreign words: コーヒー, ケーキ, スーパー.
- コーヒーkōhīcoffee
- ケーキkēkicake
In romaji
A long vowel is written with a line over it (ō, ū), or by doubling the letter (oo, uu), or with ou and ei (Tōkyō, Tokyo, Toukyou). On Kotojutsu, in the exercises, “gakkou” and “gakkoo” are both accepted.
Common mistakes
- Reading せんせい as “sen-se-i”: you say “sensē”, two beats on the e.
- Writing こーひー in hiragana: the dash ー is only for katakana.
- Ignoring length when speaking: おばさん and おばあさん aren't the same person.
5 exercises on this point
Particles to choose, sentences to put back in order, translations: marked straight away, then reviewed at the right time. This JLPT N5 point is on the Marunouchi Line (Hiragana, part two) of the Tokyo subway.