Japanese Language: Hiragana

HIRAGANA PART 11
The End

There are 4 parts to this page:
Part 1 - adding the ten-ten * Part 2 - Combinations * Part 3 - the small tsu * Part 4 - Hiragana's Basic rules

PART ONE:

How to make 'ten-ten' letters. A 'ten-ten' is like a double- quote (") It changes the sound of the letter to a harder sound. You can ONLY 'ten-ten' the 'K' row, the 'S' row, the 'T' row and the 'H' row. (look at the chart to the right)

Now look at the chart below. You will see that

the 'K' row becomes 'G' (notice it is a harder sound)
the 'S' row becomes 'Z' (again harder sound)
the 'T' row becomes 'D'
the 'H' row becomes 'B' or 'P' ('B' is with a ten-ten (ex. ば ba) and 'P' is with a circle (ex. ぱ pa))

	A	I	U	E	O
K -> G	ga - が	gi - ぎ	gu - ぐ	ge - げ	go - ご
S -> Z	za - ざ	ji - じ	zu - ず	ze - ぜ	zo - ぞ
T -> D	da - だ	ji - ぢ	zu - づ	de - で	do - ど
H -> B	ba - ば	bi - び	bu - ぶ	be - べ	bo - ぼ
H -> P	pa - ぱ	pi - ぴ	pu - ぷ	pe - ぺ	po - ぽ

NOTE: Actually if you allow it to sink in, the sound changes seem quite logical. You will get used to it quickly.

PART TWO:

Combinations: Usually easy... BASE + a smaller YA, YU, or YO

き ki + や ya = きゃ kya

(be careful with the boldfaced ones)

	+ や ya	+ ゆ yu	+ よ yo
き ki +	きゃ kya	きゅ kyu	きょ kyo
し shi +	しゃ sha	しゅ shu	しょ sho
ち chi +	ちゃ cha	ちゅ chu	ちょ cho
に ni +	にゃ nya	にゅ nyu	にょ nyo
ひ hi +	ひゃ hya	ひゅ hyu	ひょ hyo
み mi +	みゃ mya	みゅ myu	みょ myo
り ri +	りゃ rya	りゅ ryu	りょ ryo

AND (Be careful with the boldface ones)

	+ や ya	+ ゆ yu	+ よ yo
ぎ gi +	ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
じ ji +	じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
び bi +	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
ぴ pi +	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

PART THREE:

One more thing... You have learned つ tsu - But sometimes it appears smaller than other letters. This causes a slight pause or break between syllables.

Example: ちょっと chotto (a little) pronounced "cho - to" with a slight break between syllables. In romaji it is usually written by repeating the next consonant as with 'choTTo.'

Example: ざっし zasshi (magazine) pronounced "za - shi"

PART FOUR:

And now RULES!

There are only 5 vowel sounds
All other characters (except ん n) are made of a consonant sound and one of the 5 vowel sounds.
The not-so-logical-pronunciation letters are ち chi, つ tsu, and ふ fu. BE CAREFUL
The R letters are pronounced somewhere between the R and L sounds of English
ん n cannot be used to start a word
You cannot 'ten-ten' vowels
Combinations are formed using only ya, yu, and yo 'helpers' and the i column (explained above)
A small つ tsu causes a slight pause or break between syllables

STOP!!!

Practice writing out the Combos. It may take you a while before you feel confident to take the below quiz, but you WILL get it! Feel free to try out your ability with the quizes below

TEST & REVIEW

How do you read these Hiragana characters?

おちゃ______________ This means Japanese tea (green tea)
おもちゃ______________ This means a toy
びじん______________ This means a beautiful woman
とうきょう______________ This means Tokyo
じゅう______________ This means 10
きゅう______________ This means 9
ちょっと______________ This means a little
でんしゃ______________ This means train

NOTE: Remember the small つ tsu causes a slight pause or break between syllables and is NOT pronounced itself

Click here or go to the bottom to check your answers

CLICK HERE TO TAKE A QUIZ ON ALL 46 REGULAR CHARACTERS

CLICK HERE TO TAKE A QUIZ ON ALL OTHER CHARACTERS (combos & ten-ten)

ANSWERS:

おちゃ ocha This means Japanese tea (green tea)
おもちゃ omocha This means a toy
びじん bijin This means a beautiful woman
とうきょう toukyouThis means Tokyo
じゅう juuThis means 10
きゅう kyuu This means 9
ちょっと chottoThis means a little
でんしゃ densha This means train

Click here to take the Quiz