Double vowels double the length of a regular vowel and are written by adding an extra vowel character after a hiragana (e.g., あ ⇒ ああ /aa/, ま /ma/ ⇒ まあ /maa/, し /shi/ ⇒ しい /shii/, く /ku/ ⇒ くう /kuu/, etc.). The /-ee/ sound may be written with either え or い depending on the words (e.g., Both へえ and へい are pronounced as /hee/). Similarly, the /-oo/ sound may be written with either お or う depending on the words (e.g., Both こお and こう are pronounced as /koo/ like call, NOT like cool). Even though the pronunciations are the same, these represent different words and are NOT interchangeable. When pronouncing each double vowel sound, do not separate it into two regular-length vowels (e.g., はあ should be pronounced continuously as /haa/, not as /ha-a/). Caution to native English speakers: /oo/ combinations sound like awe, call, talk, etc. NOT like woo, tool, took, etc.

+あ /-aa/	+い /-ii/	+う /-uu/	+え or +い /-ee/	+お or +う /-oo/
ああ	いい	うう	ええ or えい	おお or おう
かあ	きい	くう	けえ or けい	こお or こう
があ	ぎい	ぐう	げえ or げい	ごお or ごう
さあ	しい	すう	せえ or せい	そお or そう
ざあ	じい	ずう	ぜえ or ぜい	ぞお or ぞう
たあ	ちい	つう	てえ or てい	とお or とう
だあ	ぢい	づう	でえ or でい	どお or どう
なあ	にい	ぬう	ねえ or ねい	のお or のう
はあ	ひい	ふう	へえ or へい	ほお or ほう
ばあ	びい	ぶう	べえ or べい	ぼお or ぼう
ぱあ	ぴい	ぷう	ぺえ or ぺい	ぽお or ぽう
まあ	みい	むう	めえ or めい	もお or もう
やあ		ゆう		よお or よう
らあ	りい	るう	れえ or れい	ろお or ろう
わあ

Examples:

►	まあ	well...		incorrect	correct
►	いいです	it's good	►	ええご	えいご	English
►	つうきん	commuting to work	►	きれえ	きれい	pretty
►	ねえ	interjection to get attention	►	おはよお	おはよう	Good morning.
►	おおきい	large	►	きのお	きのう	yesterday

1.	おばさん	►	aunt
2.	おばあさん	►	grandmother
3.	いえ	►	house
4.	いいえ	►	No.
5.	くき	►	plant stem	(Note: The short く sound is devoiced here.)
6.	くうき	►	air
7.	え	►	picture
8.	ええ	►	yes
9.	おい	►	nephew
10.	おおい	►	numerous

1.	きれい	►	pretty
2.	えいが	►	movie
3.	けいたい	►	cell phone
4.	とけい	►	clock, watch
5.	おはよう	►	good morning
6.	ありがとう	►	Thank you
7.	ぎんこう	►	bank
8.	どうも	►	Thanks

Double consonants represent a momentary pause in air flow. This is written by a small (half-height) hiragana as shown below. Listen to the following words.

	1	2	3
►	き ki	た ta		came
►	き ki	っ t	た ta	cut
►	き ki	い i	た ta	asked, listened

We refer to this pause in air flow as double consonants due to the fact that when these are written in romaji, we use two consonant characters like /kk/, /ss/, /tt/, /pp/ and so on (きった is written in romaji as "kitta" and きいた as "kiita"). The Japanese perceive each pause as having the same length as one "syllable." This means both きった and きいた are perceived as having three syllables and the same length.

Note that a small hiragana and a full-size hiragana are pronounced differently as shown below.

	1	2	3
►	さ sa	き ki
►	さ sa	っ k	き ki	a while ago
►	さ sa	つ tsu	き ki	azalea

Exception: The romaji sequence /nn/ is NOT double consonants (it is a syllabic ん), so a small is not used to write /nn/. See how the word こんな (3 syllables) is spelled in romaji and compare it to the word こな (2 syllables) below.

	1	2	3
►	こ ko	ん nn	な na	this kind of
►	こ ko	な na		powder

A.	Click on the audio icons below and compare the pronunciation. Double consonants /ss/ (as in /issho/) sound like a prolonged /s/ sound (/i-sss-sho/) rather than as a pause (/i [pause] sho/).

1.	かこ /kako/	►	past
2.	かっこ /kakko/	►	parenthesis
3.	いしょ /isho/	►	will
4.	いっしょ /issho/	►	together
5.	いち /iti/ or /ichi/	►	one
6.	いっち /itti/ or /icchi/ or /itchi/	►	agreement