Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have hundreds of Japanese lessons and thousands of exercises.
Questions & Answers about sumi o katta.
How do you read 炭を買った?
It is read すみをかった (sumi o katta).
- 炭 = すみ (sumi) = charcoal
- を = object marker, pronounced お (o)
- 買った = かった (katta) = bought
Why is を used here?
を marks the direct object of the verb.
In this sentence, 炭 is the thing being bought, so it takes を:
- 炭を買った = [charcoal] [object marker] [bought]
With 買う (to buy), the thing you buy is normally marked by を.
How is を pronounced? Is it wo?
In modern Japanese, を is usually pronounced o, even though it is historically associated with wo.
So:
- 炭を買った sounds like sumi o katta
You may still see it romanized as wo in some learning materials, but in normal speech it is basically o.