Japanese Hiragana

Japanese - Lesson One

there's probably only gonna be like 3 lessons cause i barely know any japanese.

Duolingo

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A good website for learning more (if you want) then you can use duolingo for japanese or some other languages.

HIRAGANA

Hiragana is an alphabet in the Japanese language.

It is made up of simple characters.

Unlike Kanji, the pronunciations of hiragana characters never change.

First Set:

• A = あ - Pronounced 'ah'

• I = い - Pronounced 'ee'

• U = う - Pronounced 'oo'

• E = え - Pronounced 'eh'

• O = お - Pronounced 'oh'

Those 5 letters are the base sounds for all other letters in the Japanese language.

Every other letter is some letter + one of the 5 main sounds.

Second Set:

• KA = か - kah

• KI = き - kee

• KU = く - koo

• KE = け = keh

• KO = こ - koh

Set 3-8 (order: A-I-U-E-O)

• M - まみむめも

• N - なにぬねの

• R - らりるれろ

• H - はひふへほ

The ふ can also be pronounced as FOO (written as FU)

The S Set:

• さしすせそ

• The し character is pronounced as SHEE and written as SHI.

The T Set:

• たちつてと

• The ち is pronounced CHEE and written as CHI.

• The つ is pronounced TSOO and written as TSU.

• Also, つ can be used as a silent character to add emphasis on the previous character.

• EX: えんりっく = ENRIKKU

Others:

• わを - WA and WO

• やゆよ - YA, YU, and YO

• ん - N

there are more characters.

If you put two lines or a circle on the top right of some characters, it changes the consonant sound of the characters.

Set 10 - (order = A-I-U-E-O)

• G - がぎぐげご (previously K)

• B - ばびぶべぼ (previously H)

• P - ぱぴぷぺぽ (previously H)

The ぶ and ぷ are BU and PU instead of being different like the H's.

The Z and the J

• ざずぜぞ = ZA-ZU-ZE-ZO

• じ, instead of being ZI, is JI.

The D, DJI, and DZU

• だでど = DA-DE-DO

• ぢ = DJI

• づ = DZU

The V

Also, if you put ゔ with a small vowel character, it creates a V sound.

EX: ゔぁ = VA

However, this is usually only used in Katakana (another alphabet) when spelling out foreign words.

You can also add a small Y character to the end of another character to create a new sound.

For Example:

• きゃ きゅ きょ = KYA, KYU, and KYO

• りゃ りゅ りょ = RYA, RYU, and RYO

• にゃ にゅ にょ = NYA, NYU, and NYO

• みゃ みゅ みょ = MYA, MYU, and MYO

• しゃ しゅ しょ = SHA, SHU, and SHO

• ちゃ ちゅ ちょ = CHA, CHU, and CHO

You should study these characters and remember them.

A good thing to do is write them down.

Thank you.