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Basics: Characters
Basics

Lesson 1 - Characters

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Hiragana

Lessons

Hiragana is the first of the three Japanese alphabets to learn. Hiragana is a phonetic
alphabet, where each character represents a syllable. Hiragana is generally the first of the
alphabets used, and is used for many purposes. Until one broadens their knowledge of
kanji, they can use hiragana in place of the kanji they dont know. Additionally, hiragana is
used as particles, and is also used as accompanying characters to verbs, called okurigana.
There are also some words that do not have kanji and are thus written in hiragana alone.

Basics
Characters
Numbers and Counters
Dates and Times
Existence Verbs
Adjectives and Descriptions
Verb Conjugation
Formality

w-

r-

y-

m-

h-

n-

t-

s-

k-

wa

ra

ya

ma

ha

na

ta

sa

ka

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Topic Modifiers

Object Markers
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ri

ru

yu

re

wo

ro

yo

mi

hi

ni

chi

shi

ki

mul

fu

nu

tsu

su

ku

me

he

ne

te

se

ke

mo

ho

no

to

so

ko

Inclusion
Time and Location
Cause and Effect
Tone
Other Topics
Sentence Structures
Location and Time
Opinions
Interactions
Other Topics

Extended Consonant Syllables

p-

b-

d-

z-

g-

pa

ba

da

za

ga

-a

pi

bi

ji

ji

gi

-i

pu

bu

dzu

zu

gu

-u

pe

be

de

ze

ge

-e

po

bo

do

zo

go

-o

Travel
Travel
Holidays
Food
Traditions
Mode
Manners
Seasonal

Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ya, yu, or yo

p-

b-

j-

g-

r-

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m-

h-

n-

ch-

sh-

k-
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pya

bya

jya

gya

rya

mya

hya

nya

cha

sha

kya

-ya

pyu

byu

jyu

gyu

ryu

myu

hyu

nyu

chu

shu

kyu

-yu

pyo

byo

jyo

gyo

ryo

myo

hyo

nyo

cho

sho

kyo

-yo

Long Vowels
oo

ee

uu

ii

aa

Double Consonants: kk, pp, tt, etc. are expressed in hiragana as a small "tsu" ()
before the kana. For example, chotto meaning "a little" is written as .

Katakana
Katakana is the second phonetic Japanese alphabet. Katakana, unlike hiragana is written
with straight lines. Generally, katakana is used for writing words of foreign origin.

w-

r-

y-

m-

h-

n-

t-

s-

k-

wa

ra

ya

ma

ha

na

ta

sa

ka

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a
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ri

ru

yu

re

wo

ro

yo

mi

hi

ni

chi

shi

ki

mul

fu

nu

tsu

su

ku

me

he

ne

te

se

ke

mo

ho

no

to

so

ko

Latest News

Extended Consonant Syllables

p-

b-

d-

z-

g-

pa

ba

da

za

ga

-a

pi

bi

ji

ji

gi

-i

pu

bu

dzu

zu

gu

-u

pe

be

de

ze

ge

-e

po

bo

do

zo

go

-o

Modified Syllables: Consonant combined with ya, yu, or yo

p-

b-

j-

g-

r-

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m-

h-

n-

ch-

sh-

k-
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pya

bya

jya

gya

rya

mya

hya

nya

cha

sha

kya

-ya

pyu

byu

jyu

gyu

ryu

myu

hyu

nyu

chu

shu

kyu

-yu

pyo

byo

jyo

gyo

ryo

myo

hyo

nyo

cho

sho

kyo

-yo

Long Vowels
A long vowel that follows a consonant can be represented with a dash symbol after the kana.
For example koohii, which is coffee in Japanese, would be written as
oo

ee

uu

ii

aa

Double Consonants: kk, pp, tt, etc. are expressed in katakana as a small tsu ()
before the kana For example, shotto, meaning shot is written as .

There are small versions of , , , , and that are , , , , and

. These are used in conjunction with some other characters to create characters for
sounds that were not originally covered by the original set of hiragana/katakana.
ti and tu sounds now commonly written as , and .
di and du sounds, are now commonly written as , and .

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Combining the small , , , , and with , gives character

combinations , , , and for fa, fi, fe, and fo respectively.
wi, we, and wo are written as , , and .
As the v-sound did not originally exist, the character was created to
provide that sound. Now, va, vi, vu, ve, and vo can be written as ,
, , , and respectively.
For je, she, and che, , , and are used for them respectively.

Other Alphabets
Kanji: Kanji are the characters that were imported from China. Each kanji character
generally has two readings an onnyomi or (), which is the original Chinese
reading of the character, and the kunnyomi or (), which is the Japanese
adaptation of the character. Something to note is that characters can have more than one
or or both.
Romaji: Romaji is the writing of Japanese phonetic characters as Roman letters.
Sometimes it helps with pronunciation of words when learning Japanese.

Punctuation
The symbols for punctuation look slightly different in Japanese compared to English
English

Japanese

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Basics

Lesson 1 - Characters

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