What does つ mean at the end of a sentence?

[ziesecharles7040]

Hello, I have been trying to translate a light novel or two and keep noticing つ/tsu at the end of some sentences, any help with what this is supposed to mean?

[mmmason8967]

Is it actually っ rather than つ? The small tsu indicates that the speaker stops speaking very suddenly, or is cut off. It's the sudden stop you get if you say ちょっと without the と at the end: ちょっ. If the sentence ending with small tsu is complete and not actually cut off, the small tsu is roughly equivalent to an exclamation mark.

マイケル

[ziesecharles7040]

Thank you, I got the big and small tsus mixed up.

[community.japanese]

ziesecharles7040-san, マイケルsan,
kon'nichiwa
Again the brilliant explanation, マイケルsan; thank you!!

Tsu at the end of sentences....if it's a large "tsu", the sentence might not be properly finished (i.e. omitted)
or....it's "old Japanese"?

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[ziesecharles7040]

I am unsure if it's old Japanese, but the book came out in 1992.

[mmmason8967]

I am unsure if it's old Japanese, but the book came out in 1992.

I don't know if I'd recognise old Japanese if I was confronted with it. I guess the complete absence of small kana (ゃ, ゅ, ょ, and っ) would be a bit of a clue. Old Japanese is different enough that I'm sure I wouldn't be able to read most of the words, but I'm not sure I'd realise why I was having so much trouble.

I don't know much about it really, except that the particles は, へ and を are survivors from the spelling used in old Japanese, and that they didn't have the small kana and used the full-size ones instead (so ちょっと would be ちよつと).

マイケル

[community.japanese]

ziesecharles7040-san, マイケルsan,
1992 is not old, so probably the final つ was either a part of noun or it was a small one, like マイケルsan explained
in the previous comment.

When I wrote "old Japanese", I meant "classical" or "antient" Japanese.
I'm sure you both will recognise it's not comtemporary Japanese if you see one.
It's a completely different language to me, like a foreign language

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com