Double Vowels and Double Consonants

1: Double Vowels

Double vowels (e.g., -aa-, -ii-, -uu-, -ee- and -oo-) in katakana are written with a vowel extender symbol . For example, ああ is usually written as アー, not as アア. Click the audio icons below to hear the pronunciation of katakana words.

►	カード	card
►	キー	key
►	スーパー	supermarket
►	ケーキ	cake
►	コーヒー	coffee

2: Double Consonants (Pause in Air Flow)

Double consonants in katakana are written in the similar way as those in hiragana. That is, double consonants represent a pause in air flow (e.g., -kk-, -dd-, -pp-, -tt-, etc.). This is written by a small (half-height) katakana ッ つ as shown below. For the double consonant -ss-, instead of a pause in air flow, a continuous fricative sound -sss- is usually used (See below).

►	ホッケー	hockey
►	グッドラック	good luck
►	ハッピーエンド	happy end
►	バスケットボール	basket ball
►	ハッスル	hustle

Exception: Like the hiragana character ん, the katakana ン represents a syllabic -nn- sound and is NOT a double consonant. As a result, ッ つ is not used to transcribe this sound. See below.

►	アンナ	Anna
►	ランニング	running