I hope this makes sense, but for a word like okotteimasu, it’s spelled " おこっています" instead of "おこつています”。That is, _tsu_つ is shrunk. If I even try to type it the second way, it’ll get marked wrong. Same with the word choushi–ちょうし instead of ちようし. There’s no explanation in the course so far, so I’m wondering why this is and if it’s actually used in day-to-day typing?
Sorry in advance if this is the wrong place to ask…
Hi @iridi, even though it’s a phonetic alphabet there are some basic rules.
The small っ is used to make double consonants. To take your example:
おこっています = okotteimasu
おこつています = okotsuteimasu
a small ゃ, ゅ and ょ are used to create new sounds. To take your example:
ちょうし = choushi
ちようし = chiyoushi
The following looks like a good Memrise course to learn Hiragana:
Here’s an article I stumbled across
Combination Hiragana (ゃ、ゅ、ょ) http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/japanese-pronunciation/3-10/
Small Tsu (っ） http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-8/
Happy Learning 