Hiragana and
Katakana
Introduction 4
If your understanding remains unclear so far, a
knowledge of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji will help it.
Hiragana/Katakana chart is the bellow. The left letter is Hirragana and
the right letter is Katakana.
You must be careful about the usage of red letters.
Sound 1 [a,i,u,e,o/ka,ki,ku,ke,ko/sa,shi,su,se,so/ta,chi,tsu,te,to]
Sound 2 [na,ni,nu,ne,no/ha,hi,fu,he,ho/ma,mi,mu,me,mo/ya,yu,yo]
Sound 3 [ra,ri,ru,re,ro/wa/n]
a | i | u | e | o | + ya | + yu | + yo | |
a | あ ア | い イ | う ウ | え エ | お オ | |||
k | か カ | き キ | く ク | け ケ | こ コ | きゃ キャ | きゅ キュ | きょ キョ |
s | さ サ | し シ | す ス | せ セ | そ ソ | しゃ シャ | しゅ シュ | しょ ショ |
t | た タ | ち チ | つ ツ | て テ | と ト | ちゃ チャ | ちゅ チュ | ちょ チョ |
n | な ナ | に ニ | ぬ ヌ | ね ネ | の ノ | にゃ ニャ | にゅ ニュ | にょ ニョ |
h | は ハ | ひ ヒ | ふ フ | へ ヘ | ほ ホ | ひゃ ヒャ | ひゅ ヒュ | ひょ ヒョ |
m | ま マ | み ミ | む ム | め メ | も モ | みゃ ミャ | みゅ ミュ | みょ ミョ |
y | や ヤ | ゆ ユ | よ ヨ | |||||
r | ら ラ | り リ | る ル | れ レ | ろ ロ | りゃ リャ | りゅ リュ | りょ リョ |
w | わ ワ | を ヲ | ||||||
n | ん ン |
* ヲ is not used in modern Japanese.
This is the copy of the sentence #1and #2 in Step 1.
#1 私はインドへ行きます。 ”I am going to India.”
#2 Watashi wa Indo
e i kimasu..
(私 は インド へ 行きます)
black:
a noun represented in Kanji (私 行)
green:
a particle
Particles are always written in Hiragana.
A topic marker, "wa" is wrriten "は". Please
do not pronounce "ha".
A direction marker, "e" is wrriten "へ". Please do not pronounce "he".
(Also, a direct object marker "o" is wrriten "を").
red:
a noun represented in Katakana
Katakana words are incresing year by year.
Katakana is used for the country name, the place name in abroad, and many words which origin are not Japanese.
The name of animals or flower is represented in Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji
purple:
the part of conjugation in verbs and the part of inflection of adjectives.
A part of adverb and some of conjunctions are also represented by Hiragana.
Verbal inflection chart
Let's take a look at verbal chart roughly here.
Thepart of stem or root that is not changed would be "i"
in Japanese, however
”ik" is treated as a stem in order to give attention to the sound
change in this chart.
You will notice that the sound of just behind "k"changes to[
a i u e o] in order.
stem | Hiragana writing | Kanji writing | |
nai forn (negative form) | |||
ik | anai | いかない | 行かない (don't go) |
masu form | |||
ik | imasu | いきます | 行きます (go) |
dictionary form | |||
ik | u | いく | 行く (go) |
meireikei (imperative form) | |||
ik | e | いけ | 行け (Go!) |
ikou kei (Let's form) | |||
ik | ou | いこう | 行こう (Let's go) |
The verbal conjugation is one of the key in Japanese learning.
The more you achieve basic matter, which is the chart of Hiragana, the
more you understand well the verbal conjugation later.
Please repeat a-line; a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa, + n
Then, a-i-u-e-o, ka-ki-ku-ke-ko, sa-shi-su-se-so......
すこし やすみましょう
Let's sum up main points of Introduction 1 through 3.
1. The first step of learning Japanese is that you study Japanese syllabic
sound through Romaji
(Romanized Japanese or Roman letters).
measure of representing Japanese sound for foreigners or
a measure of typing, in short.
2. You have to be careful when you pronounce or read/write the sound in the
chart below.
a | i | u | e | o | + ya | + yu | + yo | |
a | ||||||||
k | ||||||||
s | shi | |||||||
t | chi | tsu | ||||||
n | ||||||||
h | fu | |||||||
m | ||||||||
y | ||||||||
r | ||||||||
w | ||||||||
n | syllabic nasal | |||||||
g | ||||||||
z | ji | ja | ju | jo | ||||
d | ||||||||
b | ||||||||
p |
g | が ガ | ぎ ギ | ぐ グ | げ ゲ | ご ゴ | ぎゃ ギャ | ぎゅ ギュ | ぎょ ギョ |
z | ざ ザ | じ ジ | ず ズ | ぜ ゼ | ぞ ゾ | じゃ ジャ | じゅ ジュ | じょ ジョ |
d | だ ダ | ぢ ジ | づ ヅ | で デ | ど ド | |||
b | ば バ | び ビ | ぶ ブ | べ ベ | ぼ ボ | びゃ ビャ | びゅ ビュ | びょ ビョ |
p | ぱ パ | ぴ ピ | ぷ プ | ぺ ペ | ぽ ポ | ぴゃ ピャ | ぴゅ ピュ | ぴょ ピョ |
It is better to understand the sound of Japanese with your ears and mouth. Listen and pronounce repeatedly.
See you! (Mata ne!/Ja mata!)