Beginning Japanese

Hiragana is one of the three writing systems used in the Japanese language, alongside katakana and kanji. It consists of 46 characters that represent syllables and are used to write native Japanese words, grammatical elements, and to provide furigana (phonetic reading aids) for kanji characters. Here's an explanation of each Hiragana character:

あ (a): This character represents the "a" sound as in "ah."

い (i): Represents the "ee" sound as in "eel."

う (u): Represents the "oo" sound as in "boot."

え (e): Represents the "eh" sound as in "bet."

お (o): Represents the "oh" sound as in "boat."

か (ka): Represents the "ka" sound as in "karate."

き (ki): Represents the "kee" sound as in "key."

く (ku): Represents the "koo" sound as in "cool."

け (ke): Represents the "keh" sound as in "ken."

こ (ko): Represents the "koh" sound as in "koala."

さ (sa): Represents the "sa" sound as in "sauce."

し (shi): Represents the "she" sound as in "sheep."

す (su): Represents the "soo" sound as in "soon."

せ (se): Represents the "seh" sound as in "set."

そ (so): Represents the "soh" sound as in "soap."

た (ta): Represents the "ta" sound as in "tall."

ち (chi): Represents the "chee" sound as in "cheese."

つ (tsu): Represents the "tsu" sound as in "tsunami."

て (te): Represents the "teh" sound as in "ten."

と (to): Represents the "toh" sound as in "toe."

な (na): Represents the "na" sound as in "nacho."

に (ni): Represents the "nee" sound as in "need."

ぬ (nu): Represents the "noo" sound as in "noodle."

ね (ne): Represents the "neh" sound as in "net."

の (no): Represents the "noh" sound as in "note."

は (ha): Represents the "ha" sound as in "hat."

ひ (hi): Represents the "hee" sound as in "heel."

ふ (fu): Represents the "foo" sound as in "food."

へ (he): Represents the "heh" sound as in "head."

ほ (ho): Represents the "hoh" sound as in "hope."

ま (ma): Represents the "ma" sound as in "mama."

み (mi): Represents the "mee" sound as in "meet."

む (mu): Represents the "moo" sound as in "mood."

め (me): Represents the "meh" sound as in "met."

も (mo): Represents the "moh" sound as in "motel."

や (ya): Represents the "ya" sound as in "yard."

ゆ (yu) : Represents the "yu" sound as in "you."

よ (yo): Represents the "yo" sound as in "yo-yo."

ら (ra) : Represents the "rah" sound as in "raw."

り (ri) : Represents the "ree" sound as is "replace."

る (ru) : Represents the "roo" sound as in "roots."

れ (re) : Represents the "ray" sound as in "rate."

ろ (ro): Represents the "roh" sound as in "rollerskates."

わ (wa) : Represents the "wah" sound as in "what."

を (wo): Represents the "woh" sound as in "won."

ん (n): Represents the "nn" sound as in "winner."

Special Antiquated Sounds

Please note that the "wi" (ゐ) and "we" (ゑ) characters are not commonly used in modern Japanese and have been largely replaced by "i" (い) and "e" (え) respectively. Similarly, the "wo" (を) character is primarily used as a particle in modern Japanese.

Modified Characters 濁点と半濁点

濁点 (dakuten) and 半濁点 (handakuten) are diacritical marks used in Japanese writing to modify certain Hiragana and Katakana characters. Here's an explanation of each:

濁点 (Dakuten):

Dakuten, which translates to "voicing mark," is a small diacritical mark that looks like two tiny strokes (゛) and is placed on the upper right corner of a Hiragana or Katakana character. When a dakuten is added, it changes the sound of the character from its unvoiced counterpart to a voiced sound. For example:

か (ka) with dakuten becomes が (ga).

さ (sa) with dakuten becomes ざ (za).

た (ta) with dakuten becomes だ (da).

は (ha) with dakuten becomes ば (ba).

ほ (ho) with dakuten becomes ぼ (bo).

半濁点 (Handakuten):

Handakuten, meaning "half-voicing mark," is a small circle (゜) placed on the upper right corner of the Hiragana or Katakana character は (ha). When a handakuten is added to は (ha), it changes the sound to a "p" sound. For example:

は (ha) with handakuten becomes ぱ (pa).

ひ (hi) with handakuten becomes ぴ (pi).

ふ (fu) with handakuten becomes ぷ (pu).

へ (he) with handakuten becomes ぺ (pe).

ほ (ho) with handakuten becomes ぽ (po).

Youon Characters 拗音

Youon characters are a combination of a base Hiragana character and a small version of the Hiragana character や, ゆ, or よ. When combined, they create new sounds that represent a combination of a consonant followed by a glide sound (ya, yu, or yo).

Here is a list of Yōon (拗音) characters in Hiragana:

きゃ (kya) きゅ (kyu) きょ (kyo)

しゃ (sha) しゅ (shu) しょ (sho)

ちゃ (cha) ちゅ (chu) ちょ (cho)

にゃ (nya) にゅ (nyu) にょ (nyo)

ひゃ (hya) ひゅ (hyu) ひょ (hyo)

みゃ (mya) みゅ (myu) みょ (myo)

りゃ (rya) りゅ (ryu) りょ (ryo)

ぎゃ (gya) ぎゅ (gyu) ぎょ (gyo)

じゃ (ja) じゅ (ju) じょ (jo)

びゃ (bya) びゅ (byu) びょ (byo)

ぴゃ (pya) ぴゅ (pyu) ぴょ (pyo)

Yōon characters are commonly used in the Japanese language, particularly in representing foreign or loanwords, as well as in some native Japanese words.