Hiragana is the foundational alphabet of the Japanese language and is a phonetic lettering system.
It makes up the basic alphabet / sounds and consists of 48 characters comprised of:
- 5 vowels (a, i, u, e, o)
- 42 consonant-vowels
- 1 consonant (n)
| a | i | u | e | o | - | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | あ | い | う | え | お | |
| k | か | き | く | け | こ | |
| s | さ | し shi | す | せ | そ | |
| t | た | ち chi | つ tsu | て | と | |
| n | な | に | ぬ | ね | の | ん |
| h | は | ひ | ふ fu | へ | ほ | |
| m | ま | み | む | め | も | |
| r | ら | り | る | れ | ろ | |
| y | や | ゆ | よ | |||
| w | わ | を | ||||
| Some of the consonant rows can be applied a dakuten mark denoted by ( ゛) to become voiced consonants. This changes the sound of the consonant: |
- k —> g
- s —> z
- t —> d
- h —> b
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| g | が | ぎ | ぐ | げ | ご |
| z | ざ | じ ji | ず | ぜ | ぞ |
| d | だ | ぢ ji | づ dzu | で | ど |
| b | ば | び | ぶ | べ | ぼ |
| The H-row of the Hiragana table can also be given a handakuten mark denoted by ( ゜). This changes the sound of the consonant: |
- h —> p
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | ぱ | ぴ | ぷ | ぺ | ぽ |
The Y-row characters have what is called the “small” version which can be added to Hiragana characters ending in -i, each replacing the -i postfix with itself
| small ya | small yu | small yo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ki | きゃ | きゅ | きょ |
| shi | しゃ | しゅ | しょ |
| chi | ちゃ | ちゅ | ちょ |
| ni | にゃ | にゅ | にょ |
| hi | ひゃ | ひゅ | ひょ |
| mi | みゃ | みゅ | みょ |
| ri | りゃ | りゅ | りょ |
| gi | ぎゃ | ぎゅ | ぎょ |
| ji | じゃ | じゅ | じょ |
| dzi | ぢゃ | ぢゅ | ぢょ |
| bi | びゃ | びゅ | びょ |
| The tsu (つ) character also has a “small” version called sokuon which is used to elongate the consonant part of the consonant-vowel that follows it and can be applied to most Hiragana characters with the exception of: |
- the vowels row (simply add a second vowel )
- the N-row, as the singular n (ん) is added instead
- voiced consonants