Hiragana
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Hiragana (along with Katakana and Kanji) is one of the three primary systems for writing Japanese (four, if one includes romanji). It is typified by rounder characters than either Katakana or Kanji.
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Details
Hiragan is a set of characters known as a syllabary, meaning that each character represents a syllable. Contrast this to many western alphabets where each character represents a phoneme or sound and those phonemes are combined to represent syllables and words.
In Hiragana, most characters represent a consonant and a vowel sound, for example: か"ka", き"ki", こ"ko".
Usage
Hiragana is used principally to syllabically write Japanese words, as opposed to Katakana which is used to write foreign/imported words. Because many Japanese words are typically represented by Kanji, Hiragana is used in the following cases:
- Words for which there is no kanji
- Grammatical modifiers
- Suffixes, such as Mr. or Ms.
- Words for which the writer does not know the Kanji
- Words for which the audience is not expected to know the Kanji
- When the Kanji would be too formal
- When the Kanji is too difficult to read
- To explain or introduce new or unknown Kanji
Often Hiragana is combined with the other methods of writing Japanese.
See also
Chart
Table of hiragana-rōmaji
The following table shows hiragana together with their Hepburn romanization. The obsolete kana are shown in red romanization. There are 104 cases.
| vowels | yōon | ||||||
| あ a | い i | う u | え e | お o | (ya) | (yu) | (yo) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| か ka | き ki | く ku | け ke | こ ko | きゃ kya | きゅ kyu | きょ kyo |
| さ sa | し shi | す su | せ se | そ so | しゃ sha | しゅ shu | しょ sho |
| た ta | ち chi | つ tsu | て te | と to | ちゃ cha | ちゅ chu | ちょ cho |
| な na | に ni | ぬ nu | ね ne | の no | にゃ nya | にゅ nyu | にょ nyo |
| は ha | ひ hi | ふ fu | へ he | ほ] ho | ひゃ hya | ひゅ hyu | ひょ hyo |
| ま ma | み mi | む mu | め me | も mo | みゃ mya | みゅ myu | みょ myo |
| や ya | ゆ yu | よ yo | |||||
| ら ra | り ri | る ru | れ re | ろ ro | りゃ rya | りゅ ryu | りょ ryo |
| わ wa | ゐ wi | ゑ we | を o/wo | ||||
| ん n | |||||||
| が ga | ぎ gi | ぐ gu | げ ge | ご go | ぎゃ gya | ぎゅ gyu | ぎょ gyo |
| ざ za | じ ji | ず zu | ぜ ze | ぞ zo | じゃ ja | じゅ ju | じょ jo |
| だ da | ぢ (ji) | づ (zu) | で de | ど do | ぢゃ (ja) | ぢゅ (ju) | ぢょ (jo) |
| ば ba | び bi | ぶ bu | べ be | ぼ bo | びゃ bya | びゅ byu | びょ byo |
| ぱ pa | ぴ pi | ぷ pu | ぺ pe | ぽ po | ぴゃ pya | ぴゅ pyu | ぴょ pyo |
The sound ti is spelled てぃ, but this sequence of sounds is found only in loan words, so is normally written only in katakana.
The combinations にゃ, にゅ, and にょ are not to be confused with the sequences んや, んゆ, and んよ. The combinations of に with a small y kana each represent a single mora, while the sequences of ん followed by a large y kana represent two separate sounds. The distinction can be illustrated with minimal pairs such as かにゅう ka-nyu-u, "joining", and かんゆう ka-n-yu-u, "persuasion", which are easily distinguished in speech, although in some romanization styles they might both be written kanyu. In Hepburn romanization, they are distinguished with an apostrophe: kanyū and kan'yū.
