Hiragana - ひらがな

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.

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 い う え お
a i u e o
か き く け こ
ka ki ku ke ko
が ぎ ぐ げ ご
ga gi gu ge go
さ し す せ そ
sa shi su se so
ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ
za ji zu ze zo
た ち つ て と
ta chi tsu te to
だ ぢ づ で ど
da ji zu de do
な に ぬ ね の
na ni nu ne no
は ひ ふ へ ほ
ha hi fu he ho
ば び ぶ べ ぼ
ba bi bu be bo
ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ
pa pi pu pe po
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 を ん
wa wo n/m

Combinations

きゃ きゅ きょ
kya kyu kyo
 ぎゃ ぎゅ ぎょ
gya gyu gyo
しゃ しゅ しょ
sha shu sho
じゃ じゅ じょ
ja ju jo
ちゃ ちゅ ちょ
cha chu cho
にゃ にゅ にょ
nya nyu nyo
ひゃ ひゅ ひょ
hya hyu hyo
びゃ びゅ びょ
bya byu byo
ぴゃ ぴゅ ぴょ
pya pyu pyo
みゃ みゅ みょ
mya myu myo
りゃ りゅ りょ
rya ryu ryo

Katakana - カタカナ

Katakana (as seen in the chart below) is mainly used for foreign words such as foreign names
and words that have been borrowed from other languages such as コンピューター (kompyu-ta-
= computer).
Katakana is the least frequently used of the three character sets in Japanese. The Japanese
language does not have as many sounds as the English language so, when creating a name in
Katakana, for instance, the name must be sound out to the closest Japanese equivalent. Katakana,
Hiragana, and Furigana (when Hiragana is written small next to a Kanji character to show how
that character is read) are collectively known as Kana. Don't worry too much about Katakana
(beyond maybe learning your name) for now.

There are some special Katakana characters that exist only for foreign names (such as シェ (she)
or テ ィ (ti)). These special characters are not in the chart below (which contains only the
standard set of Katakana characters) but can be seen in our Names in Japanese lesson. There are
also the characters ヰ (wi) and ヱ (we) which were deemed obsolete in 1946.

ア イ ウ エ オ
a i u e o
カ キ ク ケ コ
ka ki ku ke ko
ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ
ga gi gu ge go
サ シ ス セ ソ
sa shi su se so
ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ
za ji zu ze zo
タ チ ツ テ ト
ta chi tsu te to
ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド
da ji zu de do
ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ
na ni nu ne no
ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ
ha hi fu he ho
バ ビ ブ ベ ボ
ba bi bu be bo
パ ピ プ ペ ポ
pa pi pu pe po
マ ミ ム メ モ
ma mi mu me mo
ヤ ユ ヨ
ya yu yo
ラ リ ル レ ロ
ra ri ru re ro
ン
ワ ヲ n/m
wa wo

Combinations

キャ キュ キョ
kya kyu kyo
ギャ ギュ ギョ
gya gyu gyo
シャ シュ ショ
sha shu sho
ジャ ジュ ジョ
ja ju jo
チャ チュ チョ
cha chu cho
ニャ ニュ ニョ
nya nyu nyo
ヒャ ヒュ ヒョ
hya hyu hyo
ビャ ビュ ビョ
bya byu byo
ピャ ピュ ピョ
pya pyu pyo
ミャ ミュ ミョ
mya myu myo
リャ リュ リョ
rya ryu ryo