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About ろうそく, れいぞうこ and ようせい。 I was wondering about the spelling. If it's said/pronounced as ろそく why add the う to make it "candle"? Same for れいぞこ (れいぞうこ) "refrigerator" and よせい (ようせい) "elf/fairy". As just some example words. Please and thank you in advanced. (^-^)

Answers · 8

1
In these cases, adding the "う" to the end of an "O" vowel character, expresses that you hold the vowel sound when speaking. So, it isn't Reizoku, it is Reizouku (re-i-zooh-ku), with an extended "o" sound coming from the "zo" character. :D Similarly, it isn't Yosei, its Yousei (yooh-se-i), with an extended "o" sound coming from the "yo" character. I hope that's helpful. :]!
0
What do you mean it's pronounced ろそく、れいぞこ 、よせい? It's pronounced ろうそく、れいぞうこ、ようせい う marks a long vowel... for example ろう is pronounced twice longer than ろ if you don't pronounce う in ようせい you'll get something like 余生(よせい)"One's remaining years, the rest of one's life" Consider such examples as ここ ”here”, and こうこう(高校) ”high school”

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