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Hiragana - ひらがな
The first step to learning the Japanese language is to learn the Japanese alphabet. Or, at least, to learn the sounds that exist in the Japanese language. There are absolutely no "tones" in Japanese like in many other asian languages and there are only 2 exceptions within the Japanese alphabet which will be explained later. The Japanese alphabet does not contain letters but, instead, contains characters and, technically, they are not alphabets but character sets. The characters in the chart below are called Hiragana. Hiragana is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. In addition to Hiragana, the Japanese language also consists of two other character sets - Kanji (Chinese characters), which we will get into later, and another alphabet/character set, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered in Lesson 2.
There are 5 vowels in the Japanese language. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u), pronounced like "oo" in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana characters end with one of these vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not resemble that of English is the Japanese "r". It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r", and "l".
Combinations
Click Here for a printable Hiragana chart (PDF - get Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Exceptions:
1. The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. This Hiragana character is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
2. The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.
In the classic Japanese language the "h" sound was pronounced like "w", "h", and "f" all put together. The sound for the "ha", "hi", "fu", "he", "ho" evolved one way and the particles, which sounded closer to "wa" and "we", went a different route. They finally ended up taking sounds slightly different then the hiragana was normally pronounced which were also sounds already found in the Japanese language so these two exceptions are often very confusing to outsiders.
Note: You probably noticed in the chart above that there are 2 Hiragana characters pronounced "zu" and 2 Hiragana characters pronounced "ji". The Hiragana characters づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that has a reading which starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for the Hiragana ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much. I will let you know whenever we come upon a word in which they are used.
The first step to learning the Japanese language is to learn the Japanese alphabet. Or, at least, to learn the sounds that exist in the Japanese language. There are absolutely no "tones" in Japanese like in many other asian languages and there are only 2 exceptions within the Japanese alphabet which will be explained later. The Japanese alphabet does not contain letters but, instead, contains characters and, technically, they are not alphabets but character sets. The characters in the chart below are called Hiragana. Hiragana is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. In addition to Hiragana, the Japanese language also consists of two other character sets - Kanji (Chinese characters), which we will get into later, and another alphabet/character set, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered in Lesson 2.
There are 5 vowels in the Japanese language. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u), pronounced like "oo" in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana characters end with one of these vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not resemble that of English is the Japanese "r". It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r", and "l".
| あ a | い i | う u | え e | お o |
| か ka | き ki | く ku | け ke | こ ko |
| が ga | ぎ gi | ぐ gu | げ ge | ご go |
| さ sa | し shi | す su | せ se | そ so |
| ざ za | じ ji | ず zu | ぜ ze | ぞ zo |
| た ta | ち chi | つ tsu | て te | と to |
| だ da | ぢ ji | づ zu | で de | ど do |
| な na | に ni | ぬ nu | ね ne | の no |
| は ha | ひ hi | ふ fu | へ he | ほ ho |
| ば ba | び bi | ぶ bu | べ be | ぼ bo |
| ぱ pa | ぴ pi | ぷ pu | ぺ pe | ぽ po |
| ま ma | み mi | む mu | め me | も mo |
| や ya | ゆ yu | よ yo | ||
| ら ra | り ri | る ru | れ re | ろ ro |
| わ wa | を wo | |||
| ん n |
Combinations
| きゃ kya | きゅ kyu | きょ kyo |
| ぎゃ gya | ぎゅ gyu | ぎょ gyo |
| しゃ sha | しゅ shu | しょ sho |
| じゃ ja | じゅ ju | じょ jo |
| ちゃ cha | ちゅ chu | ちょ cho |
| にゃ nya | にゅ nyu | にょ nyo |
| ひゃ hya | ひゅ hyu | ひょ hyo |
| びゃ bya | びゅ byu | びょ byo |
| ぴゃ pya | ぴゅ pyu | ぴょ pyo |
| みゃ mya | みゅ myu | みょ myo |
| りゃ rya | りゅ ryu | りょ ryo |
Click Here for a printable Hiragana chart (PDF - get Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Exceptions:
1. The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. This Hiragana character is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
2. The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.
In the classic Japanese language the "h" sound was pronounced like "w", "h", and "f" all put together. The sound for the "ha", "hi", "fu", "he", "ho" evolved one way and the particles, which sounded closer to "wa" and "we", went a different route. They finally ended up taking sounds slightly different then the hiragana was normally pronounced which were also sounds already found in the Japanese language so these two exceptions are often very confusing to outsiders.
Note: You probably noticed in the chart above that there are 2 Hiragana characters pronounced "zu" and 2 Hiragana characters pronounced "ji". The Hiragana characters づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that has a reading which starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for the Hiragana ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much. I will let you know whenever we come upon a word in which they are used.
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