Want to speak real Japanese from your first lesson? Sign up for your free lifetime account at JapanesePod101.com. Hi everyone, I'm Risa. Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing.
In this series, I'm going to teach you how to master the Japanese alphabet in the fastest, easiest, and most fun way. Did you know? Written Japanese actually uses three different scripts. ひらがな katakana and kanji.
Hiragana is the basic Japanese alphabet. Contrary to the English alphabet however, each character represents one syllable sound. So every time you see one specific character, you know that it will always sound the same way.
The second script used in Japanese is katakana. Each katakana character represents the same syllable as its hiragana counterpart. However, It is written a bit differently and is used mostly for foreign words. These two make up the Japanese alphabet and they will be the focus of this series.
On the other hand, kanji characters represent a word or a concept, and unlike hiragana and katakana, there are thousands of them. Plus, there are also different readings for each of them. This makes kanji characters harder to master.
However, it's important to learn them as well. because they are essential in understanding Japanese. To learn more about kanji, check out our kanji series at JapanesePod101.com, which I also host with Alisha. In this first lesson, we'll be diving into hiragana, and you'll be learning your first five characters.
Hiragana characters are the most common of the three scripts because it's used to write functional words like grammatical particles, and are also commonly found at the end of adjectives and verbs. There are also a lot of words that are more commonly written in hiragana rather than kanji. Technically, hiragana characters could also be used to substitute kanji characters that you don't know how to write.
But don't use this as an excuse not to learn kanji. There are 46 hiragana characters and they are commonly arranged in this order. Take notes!
that when Japanese is written vertically, you read it from right to left. So we'll be starting with this column. These five characters are the five vowel sounds in Japanese. The rest of the characters are made up of a consonant sound and one of these vowel sounds, except for the ん character.
Okay, are you ready to learn your first hiragana? Here we go! This is the hiragana character, あ.
To remember this character, try comparing it with an apple. Do you see it? Next up is the hiragana character, i. Think of this character as two eyes side by side, i.
You can actually see i a lot in writing as it acts. like a suffix to most adjectives in Japanese. The third one is the hiragana, ウ. To remember this character, imagine a boxer getting punched in the stomach saying ウ. This is the hiragana character, エ.
It looks like a... energetic ninja. Whoosh! Now, our final character for this lesson. The hiragana, o.
O. To remember o. Try to think of it as a UFO.
Take a look at these two characters. Do you remember this character on the left? That's right.
It's the hiragana, あ. In order to differentiate hiragana お from あ, just remember that お has a floating stroke on the side. を is also often used in writing, but unlike い, を is commonly found at the beginning of words.
It is used to imply politeness. Let's see all the characters again. あ、い、う、え、お Now, let's review what you've learned.
I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready? え Remember the energetic ninja?
い Believe it or not, it's actually a word. い means stomach. う Which one is the hiragana?
あ It's the one that looks like an apple. and doesn't have a floating stroke, this one. Ai, it means love.
Ue, this one means up or above. Ie, ie means no. Aoi, this means blue.
Great job! Do you remember when I said hiragana characters are used to spell out the pronunciation of a kanji? They are placed above or beside a kanji and written smaller.
This use of hiragana is called furigana. OK, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. In this lesson, you've learned the five hiragana vowels, A, I, U, E, and O.
よくできました! You've now mastered your first five characters. Hi everyone!
Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet. You've learned these five hiragana characters from the previous lesson. In this lesson, you'll learn five new characters and ten new sounds.
How is that possible? Stay tuned to find out. The first hiragana character for this lesson is ka.
Ka. Need help remembering this one? Just imagine it as a blade cutting a stick. Ka is actually a hiragana character that is used a lot since it is the question marking particle in Japanese.
So if you see a sentence ending in か, it is most probably a question. The hiragana か also has another reading. Once we add this mark, this mark is called dakuten or ten-ten.
It is made up of two lines that look like a quotation mark symbol, and it's put on the upper right corner of the character. The dakuten makes the consonant of the syllable voiced. So, カ with a dakuten will be pronounced as ガ.
Voicing a consonant simply means that you create a vibration in your vocal cords when you say it. ガ ガ Notice the difference? カ ガ カ ガ Okay, next up is the hiragana character. キ キ キ looks like ガ. キ just like the hiragana カ.
All of the characters in this column can be altered by a dakusen. キ with a dakusen is pronounced as ギ. The third one is the hiragana ク.
To remember this character, think of it as a ku-ku speak. Ku-ku. Let's add a dakuten to ku as well.
How do you think it will sound like? It's pronounced as gu-ku-gu-ku-gu. This is the hiragana character. Ke-ke-ke looks like a keg, doesn't it? Just like the first three characters, 毛 can be modified by a dakuten.
毛 with a dakuten is pronounced as 毛 And our final character for this lesson is the hiragana, コ Imagine this character as two koi fish swimming around each other. Now, can you go and say what ko sounds like with a dakuten? It will be go, ko, go, ko, go. Let's see all the characters again. ka, ga, ki, gi, ku, gu, ke, ge, ko, go.
Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready?
木 just like a key, remember? カ, カ actually means a mosquito. Do you remember this one?
It's え, い, こ. ウク 書く This means to write. 影 影 means shadow. 聞く This means to listen. Try not to mix this up with 書く.
声 声 is Voice 鍵 kagi means key. Don't forget it. 記憶 kiyoku this means memory. Make sure not to forget this one as well. 映画 eiga is movie.
大きい ookii this means big. Great job! Are you wondering how do I identify between a dakden mark and a quotation mark?
Don't worry! In Japanese, we use corner brackets to signify quotes and titles instead of quotation marks. Okay, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned.
In this lesson, you learned ka and ga, ki and gi, ku and gu, ke and ge, and ko. and go. You've now mastered 10 characters and 15 Japanese syllable sounds.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet. You've learned these 10 hiragana characters from the previous lessons.
In this lesson, you'll learn 5 new characters in a game. 10 new sounds. The first hiragana character for this lesson is ささ. This one looks like a sad, signed face. Do you notice that さ and き look similar?
A good tip to remember the difference is that さ is so sad that it gets one less line. All of the characters in this column can also be altered by a zakuten. Can you try and guess what the new sound will be?
It will be za. Do you notice the difference? sa, za, sa, za Okay, next up is the hiragana character, shi, shi.
It looks like a fishing hook. Let's add a dakuten to シ. How do you think it will sound like now?
Did you think it was ザ? Actually, シ with a dakuten is pronounced as ジ. シ ジ シ ジ The third one is the hiragana ス ス.
ス looks like a ス, pirate's straw. in a glass. Let's add a dakuten to su as well. What do you think it will sound like? It's pronounced as zu, su, zu, su, zu.
This is the hiragana character se, se. Imagine se. As a mouse facing sideways It's about to say something.
Let's modify せ with the dakusen. It is now pronounced as ぜ. And our final character for this lesson is the hiragana, そ.
To remember そ, Just imagine a zigzag sewing stitch. Now, can you go and say what SO sounds like with a daczen? It will be ZO, SO, ZO, SO, ZO.
Let's see all the characters again. SA, ZA, SHI, JI, SU, ZU, SE, ZE, SO, ZO. Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or group of characters and give you time to say them. Ready?
せ se Which one is the hiragana, sa? It's this one with one less horizontal line. ず zu The word zu actually means Diagram.
Did you remember this one? It's お. This one is け. すし is the famous Japanese dish. じこ.
This means accident. すき. means like.
Saku. This means to bloom. Zou. Zou is elephant. Okashi.
This means sweets. Osake. Osake means alcohol.
最後 saigo It means last. 想像 souzou 想像 means imagination. Try saying this long one. 高校生 kōkōsei A kōkōsei is a high school student.
Great job! Do you want to get better at pronunciation? Try listening to Japanese blogs and podcasts.
If you don't know where to look, We have a huge library at JapanesePod101.com. Remember, mnemonics help you associate English words with the characters, so they do not necessarily teach you the right pronunciation. Okay, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned.
In this lesson, you learned さ and the, し and 지, す andず, せ andぜ, and そう andそう. よくできました! You've now mastered 15 characters and 25 Japanese syllable sounds. Did you know that Japanese has a word for the day after tomorrow? You'll get to know it in the next lesson when we tackle the T column.
Before you go, practice writing the following words on your own. And to learn more Japanese, go to JapanesePod101.com. Hey guys, what's your number one reason for learning a language? We asked our other listeners this question and compiled a list from their answers.
You might be surprised to hear what a few of them said. Check out the list in the link below. You'll even learn a little Japanese while you're at it. See you in the next lesson!
mata ne! Hi everyone, welcome to Basic Japanese Writing. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet. You've learned these 15 hiragana characters from the previous lessons.
In this lesson, you'll learn 5 new characters, 10 new syllable sounds, and an extra character function. Curious? Stay tuned to learn all about them. The first hiragana character for this lesson is… 多 Ta.
タ actually looks like a タ, like a small letter T and A. All of the hiragana in this column can be altered by a zakuten as well. Can you guess what the new sound will be after adding a zakuten to タ? It will be ダ, タ, ダ, タ, ダ. Okay, next up is the hiragana character シ.
知 Does 知 remind you of another character? It looks like the mirror image of さ, doesn't it? Just think of 知 as a cheerleader, angry at さ for copying her.
Now, let's add a dakuten to 知. How do you think it will sound like now? Is it り? Actually, 知 with a dakuten is pronounced as じ.
It's just like a シ with a dakuten. ジ チ ジ チ ジ The third hiragana for this lesson is つ つ This hiragana is very easy to remember. つ looks like a tsunami wave.
Let's add a dakuten to つ as well. How do you think it will sound like? It's actually pronounced as zu.
It's similar to su with a dakuten. zu Listen carefully. zu zu zu zu Actually, zu has a special version that looks like this and it's called chi-sai-tsu literally small-tsu It's actually just a smaller size zu. So what do we use it for? The 小さいつ is used to prolong the consonant after it.
Take a look at the following examples and listen to how I say them. かっこいい、じっか、かった To compare, here are some words without it. かこ、じかん、かた Now, listen as I say them side by side.
かこ、かっこいい、じかん 実家 katta When found at the end of the word, the 小さいつ acts like a glottal stop. For example, Ah! Next is a hiragana character, 手 te Hiragana TE looks like a dog's tail.
Let's modify TE. with a dakuten. It is now pronounced as de, te, de, te, de.
Our final character for this lesson is the hiragana, to, to. To looks like a tornado. What does to sound like with a dakuten? To with a dakuten is pronounced do. トドトド Let's see all the characters again.
ただちじつずちいさいつてでトド Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a group of characters and give you time to say them. Ready? って as a word actually means hand.
This is ず. Which one is the hiragana 血? It's this one. The one that looks like the angry cheerleader. ご This means shoes.
地図 is map. 弟子 means apprentice. This means to stand. 遠い tooi means far. 続く tsuzuku It means to continue.
If you've ever watched Japanese TV dramas or anime, I think you have seen this one. どっち docchi It means which. 大学 daigaku 大学 means university.
Literally, it means big school. あさって This means the day after tomorrow. おちつく おちつく means to calm down.
Great job! You might ask if ち and し sound very similar with the dakuten, then how will I know which one to use? Most of the time, we use 字.
字 is very rarely used in Japanese. It is only used for compound kanji which have 字 as their original sound. For example, blood in Japanese is 血 but nosebleed becomes 鼻血.
Okay, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. In this lesson, you learned た and だ, 血 and 字, 数, 図. and 小さいつ te and de and と and ど. よくできました。 You've now mastered 20 characters and 35 Japanese syllable sounds.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet. You've learned these 20 hiragana characters in the previous lessons.
In this lesson, you'll learn five new hiragana characters. The first hiragana character for this lesson is なな Think of な as a complicated not. Are you confused between た and な? Just remember that な looks more complicated, so it gets mixed up in a not. Also, remember that the left side of た is taller.
Do you remember that hiragana i is used as the suffix for most adjectives? These are called i-adjectives. The other kind of adjectives are the na-adjectives.
These use the hiragana na as the particle to connect two nouns. Okay, next up is the hiragana character, に. に looks like a knee.
Easy to remember, right? The third one is the hiragana, ぬ. To remember this character, think of a pair of chopsticks holding a bunch of noodles. This is the hiragana character, ね.
Think of ね as a snail hiding behind a nail. ね looks similar to ぬ, doesn't it? Well, just remember that you need a pair of chopsticks to be able to hold your noodles.
So ぬ has two lines sticking out on top of the curve and ね just has one. And our final character for this lesson is the hiragana, の. の.
It's easy to remember this one. It's like a no sign. の is also widely used hiragana.
It is the particle used to denote possession. Let's see all the characters again. なにぬねの Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready?
に just like に, remember? Which one is the hiragana た? It's this one. It does look like a た, doesn't it? 字 this also means letter.
Remember this one? It's se- ククー It's a ク. ヌ 何?
This means what? 犬 This means dog. ニャー Nyaa.
ネコ is cat. ニジ Niji. Niji means rainbow.
Okane means money. Senaka, it refers to your upper back. Natto.
Natto is fermented soybeans. It's known to be very smelly, but it's very good for you. Onegai.
お願い means please. As a noun, it also means a request. Great job!
Are you wondering why there's no dakuten version of 何の音の? This is because the N sound is already voiced. Try to feel your throat.
Hmm, there's a vibration, right? Okay, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. In this lesson, you learned the hiragana characters, now に、ぬ、ね、and の よくできました! You've now mastered 25 characters and 40 Japanese syllable sounds.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet. You've learned these 25 hiragana characters from the previous lessons.
In this lesson, You'll learn 5 new characters and 16 new sounds. I promise it will be easy, so stay tuned to learn all about them. The first Hiragana character for this lesson is は to remember は. Imagine this part is a capital letter H, and then there's a small a in front of it.
は は might look similar to け, so it may be confusing to tell the difference between them. Remember that は has a hoop. Did you miss the ZAKUTEN last lesson? Well, this column can be modified by adding a ZAKUTEN as well. Can you guess what the new sound will be after adding a ZAKUTEN to は?
It will be ば、は、ば、は、ば。 But wait! There's one more mark that can modify the H column.
It's the 半濁点 or 丸 mark. It looks like a small circle and it's placed in the same position as the 濁点. This mark makes the consonant of the syllable.
It's prosive and it's unique to this column. は with the 半濁点 is pronounced パ ハ A consonant is plosive when there's a big blast of air coming out of your mouth when you say it. パ パ Try to feel the difference. ハ バ パ パ は is also a popular hiragana. It's a topic marking particle in Japanese.
So the word or phrase that comes before it is the topic of the sentence. But be careful. は is pronounced differently when it's used as a topic marking particle.
It will be pronounced as は. For example, これは箸です。 箱は大きいです。 母は花が好き。
Many native speakers actually find it hard to read this last example if it's written just in hiragana. This is where kanji is very useful. Knowing which part is a word and which part is a particle makes it easy to read Japanese.
Okay, next up is the hiragana character, ひ. Can you see a smiling mouth going he he he he he? Now, let's add a dakuten to ひ. ひ with a dakuten is pronounced as bi hi bi, hi, bi And how will it sound like with a handakuten? It's going to be pi, hi, pi, hi, pi The third hiragana for this lesson is fu.
It's not fu or fu, but somewhere in between, fu, fu. It's a sound unique to Japanese, so let's remember it with something unique to Japan. Mount Fuji. Let's try adding a dakuten to fu as well. How do you think it will sound?
It's pronounced as bu. Listen carefully. fu bu fu bu Now let's try it with a handakuten.
It becomes 舟. Next is the Hiragana character へ. It looks like it's pointing up to heaven where the sky is.
Let's modify へ with the dakuten. It's now pronounced as べ. べ、へ、べ。 And when へ is modified with a hand accent, it will be pronounced as ぺ、へ、ぺ、へ、ぺ。 へ is the particle used to indicate the place towards which something is moving.
Just like は、へ also changes pronunciation when used as a particle. In this case, We pronounce it as え just like the hiragana え. Listen to some examples. 学校へ行く.駅へ行く.
Our final character for this lesson is the hiragana ほほ. Try imagining a horse's face with its mane on the left side to remember this character. Does ほ remind you of は? They both have a hoop. So, how do you remember them?
Well, ほ has two horizontal lines, and は only has one. So this means は has only half the lines and ほ has the whole lot. What does ほ sound like with a dakuten?
ほ with a dakuten is pronounced ぼほぼほ. and with a handakuten, it will be Let's see all the galaxies again. or if it's used as a particle, or If it is used as a particle, え,べ,ぺ,ほ,ぼ,ぽ Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready?
ぷ Remember that it's like Mount Fuji. び It has the handakuten which makes it plosive so it's pe. Na. Remember, it's the complicated na, right?
Which one is the hiragana ha? It's this one with the hoop and half the horizontal lines as ho. Go.
血 花 This means flower. 膝 It's your knee. This could be 箸 meaning chopsticks or 箸 which means bridge.
不思議 不思議 不思議 means strange. Hanabi, this is Japanese for fireworks. Literally, it means fire flowers.
Fukuzatsu, this means complicated. Hikidashi, hikidashi is a drawer. Keppeki, it means perfectionist. Great job!
As you learn more characters, you'll notice that some of them look similar. Try making a chart of your own, grouping similar characters and list down a unique feature you can find for each so that, when you see it, you can identify that specific character easily. Okay, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned.
In this lesson, you learned はば and ぱひび and ぴふ. bu and pu he be and pe and ho bo and po. よくできました!
You've now mastered 30 characters and 56 Japanese syllable sounds. Hi everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet.
You've learned these 30 hiragana characters from the previous lessons. In this lesson, you'll learn 5 new hiragana characters. The first hiragana character for this lesson is...
ま。 ま。 Try looking at it as a man in a mask, and you'll remember ま。
Okay! Next up is the hiragana character, mi. Mi.
Think of it as a musical note, mi. Do, Re, Mi. The third one is the hiragana, mu. Mu.
Mu looks like a cow, and what do cows say? Moo! This is the hiragana character, me. me.
Does me remind you of this character? The one where the chopsticks are holding some noodles. But look!
This part is now missing. This means that the chopsticks dropped some noodles and made a mess. And our final character for this lesson is the hiragana, mo. mo. To remember mo, just imagine it as a monitor lizard.
This part is its huge long tail. Ma and mo might be confusing because they look similar, but just remember that ma is the one with the mouth. Let's see all the characters again. ma, mi, mu, me もう Now, let's review what you've learned.
I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready? 目 me actually means eye.
無 mu Which one is a hiragana? ぬ nu It's this one, holding more noodles. ka, tsu, just like a tsunami.
zo, sa, remember not to mistake it for chi. machi, this means town or This could be 雨 which means rain. 雨 which means candy. 頭 It's an important part of your body.
It means head. This is 着物. It literally means something you wear. ためいき it means サイ まいにち まいにち means everyday Speaking of which, I hope you're practicing everyday.
Try saying this long one. Was it difficult? Yes, it is. むずかしい means difficult. Great job!
Do you have other mnemonic suggestions to make remembering hiragana easier? Share them in the comments below. OK, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. In this lesson, you learned hiragana characters ま、み、む、め and も. よくできました!
You've now mastered 35 characters and 61 Japanese syllable sounds. Hi everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet. You've learned these 35 hiragana characters from the previous lessons.
In this lesson, you'll learn 5 new hiragana characters. The first hiragana character for this lesson is ら. Think of ら as a rabbit sitting on its hind legs.
Is it hard to tell between ら and ち? Just remember that ち has the top part crossing over. Okay, next up is the hiragana character り. り looks like a river.
Easy to remember, right? イ and リ look very similar, especially when written. One way to remember the difference is that the right stroke of リ is longer and it flows like a river. The third one is the hiragana ル. To remember this character, think of it as a hand holding a ruby.
This is the hiragana character, le, le. Think of le as a reindeer looking up. And our final character for this lesson is hiragana ro, ro. Remember lu?
It looks very similar, right? But where's the ruby? The hand was holding. It's gone now so you got loved. Let's see all the characters again.
ら り る れ ろ Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready? れ ろ Which one is the hiragana?
り It's this one with the flowing last stroke, just like a river. ね Remember not to confuse it with れ. そらく Remember the cuckoo's beak? シ サル This means monkey.
ハレ It means sunny or clear weather. ラク ラク means convenient or comfortable. Ofuro means bath and it's an important part of Japanese culture. Kusuri, this means medicine. Onigiri is a famous Japanese dish and you eat it with just your hands.
Nugurumi, this means stuffed toy. Great job! Are there still other similar letters you are confused about?
Post them in the comments and we'll try to help you out! OK, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. In this lesson, you learned ら, り, る, れ and ろ.
Please note that we skipped the Y column this time so that we could discuss all the Japanese diagraphs in the next lesson. よくできました! You've now mastered 40 characters and 66 Japanese syllable sounds.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet.
You've learned these 40 hiragana characters from the previous lessons. In this lesson, you'll learn 3 new characters and 33 new syllable sounds. Yes, 33!
11 times 3, 33 new sounds. Got to learn them all. The first hiragana character for this lesson is ややや Actually looks like a yak.
The two horns are protruding on top. This is the hiragana character ゆゆ There's a magical way to remember 湯. Just think of a unicorn. 湯 is also a popular hiragana character, but not because of how it's used in a sentence, but because it is used as a mark for onsen or hot spring bath. 湯 actually stands for お湯 meaning hot water.
Our final character for this lesson is the hiragana よ. To remember よ, imagine a yoyo dangling from a finger. There's another set of syllables in Japanese which is formed by adding the や, ゆ or よ sound to a consonant plus an い sound. This time, the や, ゆ and よ characters are written smaller.
These are the Japanese diagraphs called 用音. Even though they look longer, they are still the same length in syllables as the previous characters that you've learned. キャ キュ キョ ギャ ギュ ギョ シャ シュ ショ ジャ ジュ ジョ チャ チュ チョ 鸟 niu niu 鵈 hiu hiu 鵈 byā byū byō 鵈 piā pyū pyō 鸟 miu miu 鸟 ryū ryō Technically, you could also make a digraph with 字, but it's not in use anymore. One thing to note is that you need to be careful when writing or pronouncing them.
They are written smaller and they are pronounced by gliding to the Y sound and not pronouncing the E sound. Doing it otherwise might get you a completely different word. Here's an example. 竜 means dragon, but 理由 means reason.
Another one is 今日 meaning today. However, when you… pronounce the e sound and say kio it means handy or skilled let's see all the characters again yeah you yo and the zygraphs kya kyoo kyo ya yoo yo sha shoo sho ja ju jo cha chu cho 鸟 nyaa 乳 niu 鸟 nyon 鷹 hya 鷹 shu 鷹 hyo 鞭 bya 鷹 byu 鵣 byo 鞭 pya 鞭 pyu 鞭 pyo 鸟 mya 鸣 myu 鵣 myo 鸟 rya 鋁 ryu 鋁 ryo Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready? yo ho yu The magical unicorn.
や の Remember the apple? し 夢 It means dream. やま やま is Mountain. Yasui.
This means cheap. Ryori. Ryori means cooking.
Are you good at it? Kaisha. It means company. Judo. Judo is the national sports of Japan.
宿題 shukudai This means homework. You should do it. 病院 byouin It means hospital.
You don't want to confuse it with byouin, meaning hairdresser. Great job! Do you like listening to Japanese songs?
Try finding the lyrics in Japanese with furigana online and practice your hiragana by reading them and eventually singing them! Okay! Let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. In this lesson, you learned the hiragana characters, や, you, and よ, and all the Japanese diagraphs.
よくできました! You've now mastered 43 characters and 99 Japanese syllable sounds. Wow! Hi, everyone! Welcome to Basic Japanese Writing, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet.
You have learned these 43 hiragana characters from the previous lessons. In this lesson, you'll learn 3 new characters and just 2 new sounds. Yes, you've learned one of them before.
Stay tuned to find out which one. The first hiragana character for this lesson is わ. Do you remember that the hiragana character は is pronounced as, if it's a particle?
Well, the sound is actually signified by this character as well. To remember, think of it as a white swan. Many people have a hard time remembering and, because their left halves look the same.
Hopefully, Our mnemonics can come to the rescue. Remember, ne is the snail with a spiral in its shell. Re is a reindeer looking up in the sky.
And wa is a white swan floating on the water. This is the hiragana character wo wo. It is also commonly said as o o.
Try to think of wo. as a crack in the wall. を is a very distinct character. It is never used in a word, but instead, it functions as the object marking particle.
So whenever you see this, it means that the word before it is the object of the sentence. For example, りんごを食べました。 This means, I ate an apple. The object of the verb, 食べました。 or ate is りんご or apple, and it's the one that comes before お.
Our final character for this lesson is the hiragana ん. This one's easy. It looks like an italicized N.
Hiragana ん is also special because you can never start a word with it. It could only be found in the middle or at the end of words. One more thing that's special about ん is that its pronunciation varies a bit depending on the syllable that comes after it. It can sometimes have an ん sound when it comes before a B or P sound, for example, こんぶ and かんぱい.
And sometimes, it can have an う sound when it comes before a G sound, like in 半額。 Let's see all the characters again. wa, wo, or o.
And finally, ん. Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them.
Ready? わ. It looks like a crack in the wall, right?
よ。 ぱ。 げ。
Which one is the hiragana? Wa. It's this one. N. Shō.
Remember, it's not shio. It's shō. Kawa. This means river.
En. It means circle. It's also the Japanese currency, yen. In Japanese, we call it 縁. 私 私 is I or me. 音楽 This means music.
新聞 It's a newspaper. Since after ん comes ぶ, we pronounce it as ん. 新聞 お母さん お母さん means mother. 水を飲む This means to drink water.
野菜を食べる This means to eat vegetables. Great job! Did you know? There used to be hiragana characters for ウィ and ウェ.
However, just like how ウォ is pronounced, interchangeably as オ, ウィ and 上 was also pronounced as the vowels イ and エ. So they become obsolete. You never know, but maybe 和 might become obsolete in the future as well. Okay, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned.
In this lesson, you learned the hiragana characters 和, 和 and ン. よくできました! You've now mastered all 46 hiragana characters and all 101 Japanese syllable sounds. Here are the 46 hiragana characters. They are used mainly for Japanese words and as grammatical particles.
These are the five vowel sounds, and the rest are a combination of a consonant and a vowel sound except for ん. This is the dakuten or ten-ten mark that makes the consonant of the syllable voiced. It can modify the characters under the K, S, T, and H columns. On the other hand, this is the handakuten or maru mark and is exclusively used for the H column.
It makes the consonant sound plosive. Japanese diagraphs are formed by adding a small ya, yu, or yo to a consonant plus an i syllable. They are pronounced by gliding to the Y sound and not pronouncing the I. Pronunciation of hiragana characters is always the same except for these characters with alternate pronunciations.
は is pronounced は when it's used as the topic marking particle. へ is pronounced え when it's used as a preposition. を is actually more commonly pronounced as お and ん.
can sometimes be pronounced ん or うん depending on the syllable that comes after it. Congratulations! You now know all the syllable sounds native to Japanese. But wait! We're not done yet.
Did you know that around 10% of Japanese is made of long words from English? You will already know many Japanese words just by learning the long words in katakana, so you definitely don't want to miss out on them.