The first step to learning the Japanese language is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, to learn the sounds that exist in the language. There are absolutely no "tones" in Japanese like in many other asian languages and there are only 2 exceptions within the alphabet which will be explained later. The Japanese alphabet does not contain letters but, instead, contains characters and, technically, they are not alphabets but character sets. The characters in the chart below are called Hiragana. Hiragana is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. Japanese also consists of two other character sets - Kanji (Chinese characters), which we will get into later, and another alphabet/character set, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered in Lesson 2. Don't wait to move on until you have all Hiragana characters memorized - learn them as you continue to go through the other lessons.
There are 5 vowels in Japanese. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u), pronounced like "oo" in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana characters end with one of these vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not resemble that of English is the Japanese "r". It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r", and "l".
あ
aい
iう
uえ
eお
oか
kaき
kiく
kuけ
keこ
koが
gaぎ
giぐ
guげ
geご
goさ
saし
shiす
suせ
seそ
soざ
zaじ
jiず
zuぜ
zeぞ
zoた
taち
chiつ
tsuて
teと
toだ
daぢ
jiづ
zuで
deど
doな
naに
niぬ
nuね
neの
noは
haひ
hiふ
fuへ
heほ
hoば
baび
biぶ
buべ
beぼ
boぱ
paぴ
piぷ
puぺ
peぽ
poま
maみ
miむ
muめ
meも
moや
yaゆ
yuよ
yoら
raり
riる
ruれ
reろ
roわ
waを
woん
n/mCombinations
きゃ
kyaきゅ
kyuきょ
kyoぎゃ
gyaぎゅ
gyuぎょ
gyoしゃ
shaしゅ
shuしょ
shoじゃ
jaじゅ
juじょ
joちゃ
chaちゅ
chuちょ
choにゃ
nyaにゅ
nyuにょ
nyoひゃ
hyaひゅ
hyuひょ
hyoびゃ
byaびゅ
byuびょ
byoぴゃ
pyaぴゅ
pyuぴょ
pyoみゃ
myaみゅ
myuみょ
myoりゃ
ryaりゅ
ryuりょRyoりょ
Exceptions:
1. The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. This character is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
2. The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.Note: You probably noticed in the chart above that there are 2 characters pronounced "zu" and 2 characters pronounced "ji". The characters づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that has a reading which starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for the Hiragana ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much. I will let you know whenever we come upon a word in which they are used.
Some people wonder why "yi", "ye", "wi", "wu", and "we" are missing. There aren't characters for "yi", "ye", or "wu". There is a ゐ (wi) and a ゑ (we) but these were deemed obsolete in 1946 and were replaced by い (i) and え (e) respectively.
BINABASA MO ANG
Learn Japanese
Non-FictionLearn japanese Achievements #1 in Learning 6/2/2018 #2 Dictionary 6/2/2018 #2 nonfic 04/24/2020