Guide · 5 min read
How to Type Small Tsu (っ) and ん on a Japanese Keyboard
To type the small tsu っ on a Japanese keyboard, double the first consonant of the next syllable — type kitte for きって and gakkou for がっこう. To type ん, type nn. Those are the two rules; the rest of this guide explains why and shows the mistakes to avoid.
These two characters cause more typing confusion than the other 44 combined: the small tsu っ and the standalone n ん. Neither has its own key, and both follow rules that no one tells you up front. This guide fixes that in five minutes.
What っ (small tsu) actually is
The small tsu — officially the sokuon — isn't pronounced like つ at all. It marks a brief stop, a doubled consonant: the difference between きて (kite, "come") and きって(kitte, "stamp"). In English terms it's like the tiny pause in "bookcase" between the k sounds.
How to type っ: double the next consonant
You almost never type the small tsu directly. Instead, type the consonant of the next syllable twice, and the IME inserts っ for you:
| Word | Meaning | You type |
|---|---|---|
| きって | stamp | kitte |
| がっこう | school | gakkou |
| ざっし | magazine | zasshi |
| ちょっと | a little | chotto |
| いっぱい | full / one cup | ippai |
| けっこん | marriage | kekkonn |
The doubled letter is always the first consonant of what follows: t before て, k before こ, s before し. For ちょっと-type words, double the t of to — chotto, not "choっto" gymnastics.
On the rare occasion you need a small tsu by itself, type ltu or xtu → っ. (The l/x prefix makes any kana small: lya → ゃ.)
How to type ん: always nn
The character んis the only kana that's a bare consonant, and that creates an ambiguity problem. If you type n and then a, did you mean な — or ん followed by あ? The IME can't read your mind, so it assumes な.
The fix is simple: type nn for ん, every time.
| Word | Meaning | You type | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| こんにちは | hello | konnnichiha | ん before に needs nn, or you get こんいちは wrong splits |
| おんな | woman | onnna | ん + な = nn + na |
| せんせい | teacher | sennsei | nn is never wrong |
| にほん | Japan | nihonn | word-final ん needs nn (or n + Enter) |
Technically, a single n works when the next letter is a consonant other than n or y (sensei does produce せんせい). But the exceptions are exactly where beginners get burned — before vowels, before な row sounds, before や row sounds, and at the end of a word. nn always works, costs one extra keystroke, and removes a whole category of typos. Build the habit.
Bonus: the other small kana (ゃ ゅ ょ)
While we're on small characters: the small ゃ ゅ ょ work differently from the small tsu. They combine with the previous character into one blended syllable, and you type them as a unit: きょう (today) is kyou, しゅみ (hobby) is shumi, ちょっと is chotto — the small ょ comes from cho, and the small っ from the doubled t. Once you see that last example as cho + tto, every combination word in Japanese becomes typeable.
The two mistakes everyone makes
- Typing tsu for っ: typing
kitsutegives きつて, a different (non-)word. Small tsu = doubled consonant, nevertsu. - Trusting single n: typing
konnichihawith two n's total gives こんいちは… missing the second ん sound. Count it out: ko-n-ni-chi-ha needsko + nn + ni + chi + ha.
One more habit worth stealing from experienced typists: when a word looks wrong on screen, don't hunt for the typo letter by letter — re-say the word in your head, syllable by syllable, and retype it. Nine times out of ten the bug is a missing double consonant or a single n that should have been two, and sounding the word out finds it instantly.
Drill it until it's automatic
These two rules only become natural through repetition — and they show up constantly in beginner vocabulary (こんにちは, がんばれ, いただきます…). Type real words and the rules install themselves. Start with the basics in our hiragana typing guide, then drill these patterns on real words in the free first words course — or see where they fit in the full typing practice roadmap.
FAQ
- How do you type the small tsu っ on a Japanese keyboard?
- Double the first consonant of the next syllable. The IME inserts っ automatically — for example, type kitte for きって (stamp) and gakkou for がっこう (school). You almost never type the small tsu on its own.
- How do you type っ by itself?
- When you need a standalone small tsu, type ltu or xtu and the IME produces っ. The l or x prefix makes any kana small, so lya gives ゃ, for instance.
- How do you type ん on a Japanese keyboard?
- Type nn. A single n is ambiguous before vowels, な-row sounds, や-row sounds, and at the end of a word, so the IME can guess wrong. Typing nn for every ん always works and avoids those typos.
- Why does my ん turn into the wrong character?
- If you type a single n followed by a vowel, the IME reads it as a na-row kana — n + a becomes な, not んあ. Type nn for the ん sound (for example konnnichiha for こんにちは) and it converts correctly.
- Is the small tsu っ the same as typing tsu?
- No. Typing tsu produces the full-size つ. The small tsu っ is a doubled-consonant marker (the sokuon) and is created by doubling the next consonant, never by typing tsu.
- How do I type small ゃ ゅ ょ?
- Unlike the small tsu, these combine with the previous sound into one syllable, so you type them as a unit: きょう (today) is kyou, しゅみ (hobby) is shumi. You can also force a small kana with the l or x prefix, e.g. lyo → ょ.
- How do you type double consonants (sokuon) in Japanese?
- A doubled consonant in romaji is exactly how you make the small tsu: type the next consonant twice and the IME inserts っ. So kk gives っこ in がっこう (gakkou), tt gives って in きって (kitte), and pp gives っぱ in いっぱい (ippai).
- Why is がっこう typed gakkou and not gakou?
- The small tsu before こ is written by doubling the k, so がっこう is gakkou. A single k (gakou) would give がこう, with no pause. Whenever a word has a small っ, double the consonant of the syllable that follows it.
- How do you type ちょっと (chotto)?
- Type chotto. The ちょ comes from cho, and the small っ doubles the t of to — so cho + tto. Reading the word as cho-tto makes every small-tsu combination word straightforward to type.