Hip-Pop Palace Forums :: Japanese Character list: Hiragana

Nephie15 · Web Headmistress

If you don't have East-Asian language support on your computer, Windows users can find their computers' set-up disk and click here to learn how install it.

Mac users should already have Asian Language support built in to their computer.

There are 83 Hiragana characters. All the same sounds and rules in Hiragana apply to Katakana as well.

Japanese Pronunciation Myth:

No, the Japanese cannot pronounce L, that one rumor is true. There's a good reason though, Japanese doesn't have L in their alphabet so it's just replaced with R since that's the closest letter to it. It's not a disability >.>

No other language has all the letters another one does, Korean doesn't have F, for example.

The way Japanese vowels are pronounced is as follows:

A is pronounced like the A in 'Normal' (I know we usually pronounce the A like E, but really sound it out for learning purposes)

I is pronounced like the I in 'Ski'

U is pronounced like the U in 'fruit'

E is pronounced like the first E in 'better'

O is pronounced like the O in 'No' but open your mouth a little more

Hiragana list: Basic

あ　い　う　え　お
(a) (i) (u) (e) (o)

か　き　く　け　こ
(ka) (ki) (ku) (ke) (ko)

さ　　し　す　せ　そ
(sa) (shi) (su) (se) (so)

た　ち　つ　て　と
(ta) (chi) (tsu) (te) (to)

な　に　ぬ　ね　の
(na) (ni) (nu) (ne) (no)

は　ひ　ふ　へ　ほ
(ha) (hi) (fu) (he) (ho)

ま　み　む　め　も
(ma) (mi) (mu) (me) (mo)

や　ゆ　よ
(ya) (yu) (yo)

ら　り　る　れ　ろ
(ra) (ri) (ru) (re) (ro)

わ　　ん
(wa) (n)

I call Japanese characters with these little 'mini-strokes' on the upper-right corners 'sound-shift characters'. Japanese sound shifts chart out like this:

K becomes G
T becomes D
S becomes Z
H becomes B or P

Sound shifts only apply to K, S, T, F, and H, There are no such characters otherwise.

Hiragana list: sound shift characters

がぎぐげご
(ga) (gi) (gu) (ge) (go)

ざじずぜぞ (<---these 'ji' and 'zu' characters are alot more common than the lower ones)
(za) (ji) (zu) (ze) (zo)

だぢづでど
(da) (ji) (zu) (de) (do)

ばびぶべぼ
(ba) (bi) (bu) (be) (bo)

P uses Hiragana H sound characters as B does, so to differentiate, the Japanese use small circles in the place if the two 'mini-strokes'.

ぱぴぷぺぽ
(pa) (pi) (pu) (pe) (po)

There are no domestic ti, di, si, or zi sounds in Japanese, if your wondering. They are loan sounds and are only used only in Katakana.

Hiragana List: Combined characters

There are combined sounds in Japanese that use consonants plus the ya, yu, or yo sounds. ja, ju, and jo are considered combined sounds too. These sounds are represented with the characters followed by や、ゆ、or　よ at half their regular size.

きゃ　きゅ　きょ
(kya) (kyu) (kyo) (<---fun fact: Japanese people don't say 'AAH!' when they scream, they use 'KYAA!!', instead xD)

しゃ　しゅ　しょ
(sha) (shu) (sho)

ちゃ　ちゅ　ちょ
(cha) (chu) (cho)

にゃ　にゅ　にょ　(<---- fun fact: 'にゃ' is 'meow' for Japanese cats)
(nya) (nyu) (nyo)

ひゃ　ひゅ　ひょ
(hya) (hyu) (hyo)

みゃ　みゅ　みょ
(mya) (myu) (myo)

りゃ　りゅ　りょ
(rya) (ryu) (ryo) <---It's hard for English speakers to pronounce this sound, so that's why it sounds like 'ri-yu' in English-dubbed anime.

ぎゃ　ぎゅ　ぎょ
(gya) (gyu) (gyo)

じゃ　じゅ　じょ
(ja) (ju) (jo)

びゃ　びゅ　びょ
(bya) (byu) (byo)

ぴゃ　ぴゅ　ぴょ
(pya) (pyu) (pyo)

Hiragana rules: Double vowels and consonants

Hiragana double vowels are easy.

double O's appear in words like 'doozo' and 'arigatoo', but romanji rules represent the second O as a U respectfully because in Hiragana, the second O is also represented with an う character. So are long U's

The same thing with double E's. Romanji rules types out long E sounds with an I respectfully as hiragana types out words like 'sensei' with an い character. So are long I's.

A's are represented with another あ character.

The exception or spelling vowels is if a word begins with a double vowel, then you use two of the same character.

Double consonants are the represented the same way as double vowels, but since there aren't any single consonant characters except for　ん, there are represented with a つ character that is, again, half the regular size.

The only two exceptions for this rule are double N's and M's.

Sample words in Hiragana spelling:

うち (house; home)

かわいい (cute)

しゅみ (hobby)

ゆうき (courage)

いま (now)

こい (love)

おおさか (Osaka, the city)

ちゅうがく (junior high)

けっこん (marriage)

こうこう (high school)

いっぷん (one minute)

Read these until you don't have to think about what the characters stand for.