Hiragana Basics

Everyone, Konnichiwa! :D

This guide is all about Hiragana. I am assuming you at least know a tiny bit about Japanese, otherwise you might be a bit lost on some parts depending on your level. This is for beginners, so I tried to explain myself as best as I could, so enjoy. If you do not know what Hiragana is, here is the Wikipedia definition:

HIRAGANA

Hiragana (平仮名 or ひらがな) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana and kanji; the Latin alphabet is also used in some cases. Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each symbol represents one mora. Each kana is either a vowel (such as a あ); a consonant followed by a vowel (such as ka か); or n ん.

You should have at least know what Katakana and Kanji are before reading this tutorial, so if you don't please click the following links and learn! Or, scroll down a bit and read the quotes.

Katakana
Kanji

KATAKANA

Katakana (片仮名, カタカナ or かたかな) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet. The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji.

KANJI

Kanji (漢字) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (ひらがな, 平仮名), katakana (カタカナ, 片仮名), Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet. The Japanese term kanji (漢字) literally means "Han characters".

So, now that we know all that (if you already knew everything that is very good) we can begin the lesson!

NOTE: I am a beginner, so if I make any mistakes please correct them! I just want to pass on my knowledge to others, so they may learn properly and not make the same mistakes I did.

Japanese Sentence Order

I hope you know English sentence order, as you speak/write the language, but if you don't here it is:

SVO

That means subject, verb, object.

Japanese sentence order looks like this:

SOV

Which is subject, object, verb.

Here is an English sentence:

I eat apples.

And in Japanese, it would be:

I apple eat.

Do you see the difference? It is very important to get this down before attempting Hiragana, or your Hiragana sentences will be wrong.

On to the Hiragana

I will first start by listing the 5 vowels:

あ = A
い = I
う = U
え = E
お = O

Everything is based off of these! To pronounce them correctly, listen to them on this site:

A-O Pronunciation

Now, let us write the noun form of "blue" in Hiragana.

あお

AO is the Romaji of blue in Japanese. You might have just learned your first Japanese word, so congratulations!

Now there are other groups, based off of these 5 vowels. Those groups are:

KA-KO
SA-SO
TA-TO
NA-NO
HA-HO
MA-MO
RA-RO
YA, YU, YO
WA, WO
N

Let us start with the KA group.

か = KA
き = KI
く = KU
け = KE
こ = KO

Do you see how the KA group is made? It really should be called the "K" group, as a simple way to remember it is adding a K in front of each vowel. Sometimes, it is not this easy though. Lets take a look at the next group...

さ = SA
し = SHI
す = SU
せ = SE
そ = SO

Ah, almost the same, except... what's this? SHI? Yes, instead of "SI" like you would think, it is SHI. Do not ask me why, but it is. It is Japanese :D If you know however, please reply so I can edit this post and put the reasoning behind it, thanks. The TA group has more of this triple lettering too, so lets look at that next.

た = TA
ち = CHI
つ = TSU
て = TE
と = TO

Ugh, how am I supposed to remember all of this, you may ask? Well, flashcards. I am right now creating a simple application in the programming language C++ that will help you. For now, create your own flashcards or find a website to help you. I really suggest this flash game:

Hiragana game

Here are the rest of the groups:

な = NA
に = NI
ぬ = NU
ね = NE
の = NO

は = HA
ひ = HI
ふ = FU
へ = HE
ほ = HO

ま = MA
み = MI
む = MU
め = ME
も = MO

ら = RA
り = RI
る = RU
れ = RE
ろ = RO

や = YA
ゆ = YU
よ = YU

わ = WA
を = WO

ん = N

To help you remember all of them, I have attached a picture that I created. It is at the bottom of the page. It shows all of these, plus more (more meaning what I am about to cover next, muddied consonants).

Take it all in, and practice daily. Trust me, it gets much easier once you just put a little bit of time into it. So, let's try some words in Hiragana shall we?

あか = RED
あお = BLUE
はちみつ = HONEY

See, easy. I did not put the Romaji of the words above, this is to test you. Can you read the words? Now that we know the basic Hiragana, let us get slightly more advanced. I will now talk about muddied consonants, if you do now know what they are read this (from here):

There are five more possible consonant sounds that are possible by either affixing two tiny lines similar to a double quotation mark called dakuten （濁点） or a tiny circle called handakuten （半濁点）. This essentially creates a "muddy" or less clipped version of the consonant (technically called a voiced consonant or 「濁り」, which literally means to become muddy).

Muddied Consonants

So, this is the last thing we need (for now) to make some real Japanese sentences! If you have not read the description above, please do so. Here they are:

が = GA
ぎ = GI
ぐ = GU
げ = GE
ご = GO

ざ = ZA
じ = ZI
ず = ZU
ぜ = ZE
ぞ = ZO

だ = DA
ぢ = DI
づ = DU
で = DE
ど = DO

ば = BA
び = BI
ぶ = BU
べ = BE
ぼ = BO

ぱ = PA
ぴ = PI
ぷ = PU
ぺ = PE
ぽ = PO

So, remembered them all yet? o.0 No worries, just put time in and you'll get these down in no time trust me.

NOTE: ぢ and じ are pronounced as "JI", and "づ" is pronounced as "DZU".

Now then, let us write some Japanese sentences ^_^ I will break it down for you so it is easy to understand.

SENTENCE 1:

ENGLISH: My name is Kunio.
ROMAJI: Watashi no namae wa Kunio desu.
HIRAGANA: わたし　の　なまえ　は　くにお　です。

Also make a mental note now, that usually Japanese sentences do not have spaces. I put them in for you so you may learn. Now then, sentence 2.

SENTENCE 2:

ENGLISH: What is your name?
ROMAJI: Anata no namae ha nan desuka
HIRAGANA: あなた　の　なまえ　は　なん　ですか

If you have not yet noticed, か is the Japanese question mark. To learn some more grammar, and the grammar I am using, you can search for online dictionaries or buy a book to learn some. Here is a nice short list to get you started (from here):

おはようございます - ohayougozaimasu - Good morning!
こんにちは - konnichiwa - Good afternoon, or Hello!
こんばんは - konban wa - Good evening!
さようなら - sayounara - Goodbye!
おげんきですか - ogenki desu ka - How are you?
げんきです - genki desu - I'm fine.
はい - hai - Yes.
いいえ - iie - No.
それはなんですか - sore ha nan desu ka? - What's that?
はじめまして - hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.
ありがとう - arigatou - Thank you.

For learning purposes, here is a Japanese conversation using some of the above.

Me: こんにちは！

Me: おげんきですか
You: げんきです。

Me: さようなら！

Very simple, but learn it and understand it and you will succeed. Now then, that is all for this Hiragana basics tutorial. There is plenty more to learn out there, but this should be good for a beginner. Now what you must do is practice, practice, practice! Use it every day, and you will master it.

NOTE: If you feel confident with ALL of the above, then move on. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

All possible small や、ゆ、and よ combinations

This is what I just learned, so it could be a little bit off. If it is, please correct me Japanese masters :D

These groups are formed by YA, YU, and YO. Here is a picture will these groups, along with all others(click here for full picture):



I hope you enjoyed this guide!