Hiragana: The japanese phonetic alphabet

Welcome to your first major step in reading and writing Japanese. The Japanese writing system is composed of three different scripts: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.

Hiragana is the foundation of the language. It is a phonetic alphabet (specifically, a syllabary), meaning each character represents one distinct sound or syllable. Every single word in the Japanese language can be written entirely in Hiragana. It is used primarily for native Japanese words, grammatical particles, and verb endings.

By the end of this lesson, you will understand the structure of the Hiragana alphabet and be ready to begin memorizing the characters.

1. The Basic Chart (Gojūon)

There are 46 basic Hiragana characters. The chart is organized by vowels across the top (a, i, u, e, o) and consonant sounds down the side (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w).

When reading, you combine the consonant row with the vowel column. For example, the "k" row and the "a" column give you "ka" (か). Here are the basic characters grouped by their consonant rows:

• Vowels Only: あ (a), い (i), う (u), え (e), お (o)
• K-Row: か (ka), き (ki), く (ku), け (ke), こ (ko)
• S-Row: さ (sa), し (shi)*, す (su), せ (se), そ (so)
• T-Row: た (ta), ち (chi), つ (tsu), て (te), と (to)
• N-Row: な (na), に (ni), ぬ (nu), ね (ne), の (no)
• H-Row: は (ha), ひ (hi), ふ (fu)*, へ (he), ほ (ho)
• M-Row: ま (ma), み (mi), む (mu), め (me), も (mo)
• Y-Row: や (ya), ゆ (yu), よ (yo)
• R-Row: ら (ra), り (ri), る (ru), れ (re), ろ (ro)
• W-Row: わ (wa), を (wo)
• Singular Consonant: ん (n)

Notes on Pronunciation:

• Notice the exceptions marked with an asterisk (*). Instead of "si", we say "shi". Instead of "ti" and "tu", we say "chi" and "tsu". The "h" and "u" combination is pronounced "fu".
• ** を (wo)** is primarily used as a grammatical particle linking words, and is often pronounced simply as "o".
• ** ん (n)** is the only consonant in Japanese that can stand alone without a vowel.

2. Modifiers: Dakuten and Handakuten

Once you know the basic 46 characters, you can form additional sounds using two simple diacritical marks:

• Dakuten ( ゛): Two small lines that change unvoiced consonants to voiced consonants (e.g., K becomes G).
• Handakuten ( ゜): A small circle used exclusively on the "h" row to change the sound to "p".
• K becomes G (Dakuten): が (ga), ぎ (gi), ぐ (gu), げ (ge), ご (go)
• S becomes Z (Dakuten): ざ (za), じ (ji), ず (zu), ぜ (ze), ぞ (zo)
• T becomes D (Dakuten): だ (da), ぢ (ji), づ (zu), で (de), ど (do)
• H becomes B (Dakuten): ば (ba), び (bi), ぶ (bu), べ (be), ぼ (bo)
• H becomes P (Handakuten): ぱ (pa), ぴ (pi), ぷ (pu), ぺ (pe), ぽ (po)

3. Combined Sounds (Yōon)

You can blend sounds together by taking any character ending in an "i" sound (like ki, shi, chi, ni) and adding a small-sized ya (ゃ), yu (ゅ), or yo (ょ).

This creates a single, swift syllable. For example, き (ki) + ゃ (small ya) becomes きゃ (kya).

• From き (ki): きゃ (kya), きゅ (kyu), きょ (kyo)
• From し (shi): しゃ (sha), しゅ (shu), しょ (sho)
• From ち (chi): ちゃ (cha), ちゅ (chu), ちょ (cho)
• From に (ni): にゃ (nya), にゅ (nyu), にょ (nyo)
• From ひ (hi): ひゃ (hya), ひゅ (hyu), ひょ (hyo)
• From み (mi): みゃ (mya), みゅ (myu), みょ (myo)
• From り (ri): りゃ (rya), りゅ (ryu), りょ (ryo)

(Note: You can also apply this rule to the modified dakuten/handakuten characters, such as ぎゃ (gya), じゃ (ja), or ぴゃ (pya).)

4. Special Rules: Double Consonants and Long Vowels

The Small Tsu (っ) When you see a miniaturized "tsu" (っ) in a word, it indicates a momentary pause that doubles the consonant of the character directly following it.

• Example: 待って (matte / wait). You hold the "t" sound for a split second longer.

Long Vowels To elongate a vowel sound in Hiragana, you simply add the corresponding vowel character immediately after it.

• Example: おかあさん (okaasan / mother). The "a" sound is held for two beats instead of one.

Tips for Studying Hiragana

1. Write it out: Use grid paper to practice your characters. In Japanese, stroke order matters immensely. Always follow standard top-to-bottom, left-to-right stroke rules. This ensures your handwriting is legible and balanced.
2. Learn in sets of five: Do not try to memorize all 46 characters at once. Start with the vowels (a, i, u, e, o), master them, and then move to the K-row.
3. Mnemonics: Connect the shape of the character to a picture in your mind. For example,き (ki) looks like a key, and む (mu) looks like a cow (which says moo).
4. Read everything aloud: Whenever you practice reading, speak the sounds out loud. This helps wire the visual shape to the phonetic sound in your brain.