Hiragana: S's Z's T's and D's

In this lesson you will be learning the next 20 characters. That may seem a lot, but there are only 10 characters you have to know because the rest are just variants. If you think you need more time learning these, feel free to go on ahead in the actual lessons. However, the lessons we be taught using hiragana as soon as we finish learning them.




In Japanese, "si" is pronounced "shi." This is the first of the kana that have a sound different than what it seems. It is usually romanized as "shi." This weird sound retains its oddness when it gains a voice mark. "Zi" is pronoucned "ji."

S as in soon
Z as in zoo**
SH as in shoot
J as in jam

** This is sometimes pronounced DZ.




The T row has even more irregular sounds. "Ti" is pronounced "chi" and "tu" is pronounced "tsu." "Di" and "du" are rare kana. They are only used in certain words in Japanese. They are pronounced the same as "ji" and "zu" respectively. They can be romanized many ways, but the best way is "dji" and "dzu" because it reflects both pronounciation and kana spelling.

T as in tan
D as in dog
CH as in chair
TS as in tsunami**

* Even though it does not truely occur in English, this is very easy to pronounce.

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