Meguro Language Center

There are three types of letters in Japanese.

1. Hiragana (phonetic sounds) are basically used for particles, words and parts
of words.
2. Katakana (phonetic sounds) are basically used for foreign/loan words.
3. Kanji (Chinese characters) are used for the stem of words and convey the
meaning as well as sound.

Hiragana is basically used to express 46 different sounds used in the Japanese

language. We suggest you start learning Hiragana, then Katakana and then
Kanji. If you learn Hiragana first, it will be easier to learn Katakana next.
Hiragana will help you learn Japanese pronunciation properly, read Japanese
beginners' textbooks and write sentences in Japanese. Japanese will become a
lot easier to study after having learned Hiragana. Also, as you will be able to
write sentences in Japanese, you will be able to write E-mails in Hiragana.
Katakana will help you read Japanese menus at restaurants. Hiragana and
Katakana will be a good help to your Japanese study and comfortable living in
Japan.

To master Hiragana, it is important to practice writing Hiragana. Revision is

also very important - please go over what you have learned several times.

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 Meguro Language Center
＿
Roma-ji, Hiragana and Katakana
A I U E O
- a あ ア i い イ u う ウ e え エ o お オ
K ka か カ kｉ き キ ku く ク ke け ケ ko こ コ
S sa さ サ shｉ し シ su す ス se せ セ so そ ソ
T ta た タ chｉ ち チ tsu つ ツ te て テ to と ト
N na な ナ nｉ に ニ nu ぬ ヌ ne ね ネ no の ノ
H ha は ハ hｉ ひ ヒ fu ふ フ he へ ヘ ho ほ ホ
M ma ま マ mｉ み ミ mu む ム me め メ mo も モ
Y ya や ヤ yu ゆ ユ yo よ ヨ
R ra ら ラ ri り リ ru る ル re れ レ ro ろ ロ
W wa わ ワ o を ヲ
- n,m ん ン
“n” before b, m and p becomes “m” which is pronounced like “m” in “sample”.
n m

Ｇ ga が ガ gi ぎ ギ gu ぐ グ ge げ ゲ go ご ゴ
Ｚ za ざ ザ ji じ ジ zu ず ズ ze ぜ ゼ zo ぞ ゾ
Ｄ da だ ダ ji ぢ ヂ zu づ ヅ de で デ do ど ド
Ｂ ba ば バ bｉ び ビ bu ぶ ブ be べ ベ bo ぼ ボ
P pa ぱ パ pｉ ぴ ピ pu ぷ プ pe ぺ ペ po ぽ ポ

kya きゃ キャ kyu きゅ キュ kyo きょ キョ

sha しゃ シャ shu しゅ シュ sho しょ ショ
cha ちゃ チャ chu ちゅ チュ cho ちょ チョ
nya にゃ ニャ nyu にゅ ニュ nyo にょ ニョ
hya ひゃ ヒャ hyu ひゅ ヒュ hyo ひょ ヒョ
mya みゃ ミャ myu みゅ ミュ myo みょ ミョ
rya りゃ リャ ryu りゅ リュ ryo りょ リョ
gya ぎゃ ギャ gyu ぎゅ ギュ gyo ぎょ ギョ
ja じゃ ジャ ju じゅ ジュ jo じょ ジョ
bya びゃ ビャ byu びゅ ビュ byo びょ ビョ
pya ぴゃ ピャ pyu ぴゅ ピュ pyo ぴょ ピョ
Foreign words representation by Katakana
she シェ che チェ je ジェ
tsa ツァ tse ツェ tso ツォ
fa ファ fi フィ fe フェ fo フォ
ti ティ dhi ディ dyu デュ
wi ウィ we ウェ wo ウォ quo クォ
va ヴァ vi ヴィ ve ヴェ vo ヴォ

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 Meguro Language Center

The rules in Hiragana

(1) Long vowels

＿
① a is represented by adding あ.
＿ ＿ ＿
okasan (mother) おかあさん、 mama (so-so)
＿
② ii and i are represented by adding い.
＿
oniisan (older brother) おにいさん、 ojiisan/oj i san (grandfather)
＿
③ u is represented by adding う.
＿ ＿
yugata (early evening) ゆうがた、 chugoku (China)
＿
taifu (typhoon)
＿
④ e is represented by adding え in the words of Japanese origin.
＿
onesan (older sister) おねえさん

⑤ ei is written in えい in the words of Chinese origin.

＿
Eigo (English) えいご、 yumei (famous)
sensei (teacher) 、 gakusei (student)
＿
⑥ o is represented by adding う.
＿ ＿ ＿
sayonara さようなら、 byoin (hospital) 、 kyo (today)
＿ ＿
Domo arigatogozaimasu.

⑦ Ｉn some words it is traditionally written in お.

＿ ＿ ＿
oki おおきい、 to (ten) 、 tori (street)

(2) Double consonants

Double consonants (kk, pp, ss, and tt) are represented by small っ. As small っ indicates
a one-syllable pause, the mouth prepares for the pronunciation of the next syllable.
＿
gakko (school) がっこう、 kippu (ticket) 、 kitte (stamp)
Chotto matte kudasai. (Just moment, please.)
Gambatte kudasai. (Go for it. Good luck.)

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 Meguro Language Center

(3) ji and zu are usually written in じ and ず. In few cases, they are traditionally written in
ぢ and づ.

sanji (3:00) 、 jisho (dictionary)

chizu (map) 、 mizu (water)

(4) wa using as a particle is written in は, not わ.

＿ ＿
Kyo wa doyobi desu. (Today is Saturday.) きょうは どようびです。
Watashi wa nihonjin desu. (I’m Japanese.)

Watashi wa nihonjin dewa arimasen. (I’m not Japanese.)

(5) o using as a particle is written in を, not お.

Osake o nomimasu. (I drink sake.) おさけを のみます。

Sore o misete kudasai. (Please show me that.)

Kore o kudasai. (Please give me this one.)

(6) e using as a particle is written in へ, not え.

Shibuya e ikimasu. (I’m going to Shibuya.) しぶやへ いきます。

Doko e ikimasuka. (Where are you going?)
＿ ＿
Kyoto e ikimasu. (I’m going to Kyoto.)

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Intro to Hiragana ( ) and Katakana ( )

When you first start learning Japanese, Hiragana and Katakana might

seem very intimidating. At Coto Japanese Academy, we believe that if you
learn how to write Japanese at your own pace in a relaxed atmosphere, you
will soon realize how fun it is to write with Hiragana and Katakana!

Origins of Characters
Do you know about the history and the origin of Hiragana and Katakana?
Originally, the Japanese ancestors did not have a writing system. Around the fifth century, they
starting using kanji, ideograms that were adopted from China and Korea. They only used the
phonetic reading of the kanji, regardless of their meaning. At that time, the ideograms were
called manyogana ( ).

However, kanji’s characters are composed of many strokes. They take longer to write, as we
are sure you have noticed by now! Due to their difficulty, those ideograms were slowly
simplified into kana alphabets, namely Hiragana and Katakana. They are called syllabograms,
as each character corresponds to one sound in the Japanese language. According to
historians, the change was initiated by Buddhist priests who thought kanji was unable to
accurately represent the Japanese language, and that a phonetic alphabet would be better.
 
Examples of Change
On the left is the manyogana, and on the right are simplified hiragana and katakana forms.


• (a)
• (i)
• (u)
• (e)
• (o)


This change is thought to have taken place between the eighth and ninth century.  Hiragana
can be considered a simplified calligraphy form of the kanji’s strokes. On the other hand,
katakana is taken from a single element of a kanji. In some cases, the Hiragana and
Katakana are created from different ideograms.

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Among Hiragana and Katakana, some express the same sound and have similar shapes,
such as and . However, some can be dissimilar, such as and .  Hiragana is said to be
cursive while katakana is more angular. Do take note that one sound can have more than one
hiragana. In 1900 the two kana scripts, hiragana, and katakana were codified. This led to the
clear establishment of rules for the Japanese system in 1946.

Difference between Hiragana and Katakana

Why is there 2 syllabic Japanese scripts? In the event that the difference is stylistic, you will
learn that hiragana is used to write native Japanese words. Those words will have no kanji
representation or the ideogram is too ancient or too difficult to write. This kana script is also the
one used to write grammatical elements such as particles: (wo) (ni) (he, also read
e) (ga) (ha)…
On the contrary, Japanese use katakana to write words of foreign origin and foreign names. If
you like to read manga in Japanese, you will have certainly noticed that katakana is also used
to represent onomatopoeia and emphasis.
Have you heard of the word “furigana”? Furigana is Hiragana and Katakana characters
written in small forms above kanji in order to show pronunciation. Furigana is used in kids’
books and Japanese language textbooks for learners, in order to teach the reading of unknown
kanji.

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 Long vowels, little tsu 

There are long vowels such as ā, ī, ū, ē and ō in Japanese.


The column
Long vowels such as ā, kā, sā, and tā (those of the first column), are represented by adding
(a) to the first syllable: ā, kā, sā, etc.


The column
Long vowels such as ī, kī, chī (those of the second column), are represented by adding 

(i) to the first syllable: ī, kī, mī, etc.



The column
Long vowels such as ū, sū, yū (those of the third column), are represented by adding 

(u) to the first syllable: ū, sū, yū, etc.



The column 

Long vowels such as rē, kē, sē, tē (those of the fourth column), are represented by adding
(i) and not (e) to the first syllable: rē, kē, sē, etc.
But there are exceptions like the following: ē (yes), nē (I say), onēsan
(an elder sister).


The column

Long vowels such as ō, kō, sō, tō (those of the fifth column), are represented by adding
(u) and not (o) to the first syllable: ō, kō, sō, etc.
But there are exceptions like the following: Ōsaka, ōkii (big), tōi
(far), ōi (numerous), tōri (street), tōru (to pass through).

Little tsu (double consonant, i.e.: kk, pp, ss, tt)

When two consonants (except for "n") are in a row, the first consonant is represented by a
little tsu written in the bottom half of the line when written horizontally, or to the right if written
vertically. E.g.: ippai, mittsu, katta.

17
    
kōkō
 
kōen
 
imōto
 
ginkō
 
sōko
 
bōshi
 
sensē
 
tokē
 
gakusē
 
ēgo
 
kippu
 
zutto
 
ikkai
 
annai
 
tannin
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 Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo


When a small “ya”, “yu”, “yo" is added to a syllables in the “i” column - except for vowel “i” itself
- we get a contracted sound. Although contracted sounds are written with two hiragana
characters, they are pronounced as a single syllable. The “i” sound in the first syllable decays
and the consonant is followed by the “y” sound and the vowel.

ya

yu

yo
(ki) (ya) (kya)

(ki) (yu) (kyu)

(ki) (yo) (kyo)

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 Particles wa, e and (w)o


The three particles (grammatical markers) in Japanese, wa (topic maker), e (direction maker),
and wo (direct object maker), are represented respectively by the Hiragana characters of
(ha), (he), and (wo), due to historical circumstances.

While we write , and , the pronunciation respectively is wa, e, and o.
Therefore: 

o when used as a particle is written (wo), not (o).
e when used as a particle is written (he), not (e).
wa when used as a particle is written (ha), not (wa). 


E.g: 

Watashi wa hon wo yomimasu.




Tōkyō e ikimasu.

wa tashi wa nihonjin desu. (I am Japanese)

o kashi wo tabemasu. (I eat sweets)

he ijitsu ni shibuya e ikimasu.


(I go to Shibuya on weekdays)

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 Punctuation marks


Kutōten (puntuation marks) is a generic term that refers both to full stops (maru, ) and
commas (ten, )
Punctuation marks can make a huge difference in the meaning of a sentence depending on
where they are placed. Just like in English, adding a punctuation mark can change the meaning
of a sentence.
For example : "Eats, shoots and leaves" versus "Eats shoots and leaves."
In Japanese, it is not customary to separate words with spaces, which makes it easier for
misunderstandings to arise. Several punctuation marks may be used in order to prevent these
kinds of misunderstandings.

1.
Koko de, hakimono o nuide kudasai.
( )
Please take your shoes off here.


2.
Koko de wa, kimono o nuide kudasai .
( )
Please take your kimono (clothes) off here.

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