ひらがなとカタカナ
にほんご Nihongo
What is nihongo? Nihongo means Japanese language in Japanese. It is written 日本語 in Kanji, 日本(nihon) means Japan and 語(go) means language. When beginning Japanese Learning we must learn 3 type of Japanese syllabalies called Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Let’s start learning Japanese language!
- Hiragana ひらがな
- Katakana カタカナ
- Kanji 漢字
Hiragana and Katakana have 46 letters and Kanji for common use has 2136 letters. So we use 46 + 46 + 2136 letters to make Japanese sentences.
Romaji exists to express Japanese syllabaly with english alphabet like あ=a, さ=sa, あさ=asa. Romaji make Japanese easy to read but Romaji itself is not Japanese and we don’t use it in life.
example: Nihongo : 私の名前は田中です。 Hiragana: わたしのなまえはたなかです。 Romaji: watashi no namae wa tanaka desu. English: My name is Tanaka.
ひらがな Hiragana
ひらがな Hiragana (wiki) is Japanese syllabaly (Japanese alphabet) along with Katakan, Kanji which has 46 letters. Japanese sentences are made by a combination of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. For example, The sentence “It rains today.” will be “今日は雨です。(kyou wa ame desu.)”
ひらがな hiragana は 、カタカナや漢字とともにつかわれる日本語の文字で、46文字あります。
Hiragana Chart
Click the character and you can check the strokes and words.
| 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 | を | ん | ||
| wa | wo | n |
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Download Kawaii Hiragana Chart!
Hiragana no Kakijun
Hiragana writing with the stroke order (Kakijun).
Japanese textbook
Konnichiwa, Nihongo! こんにちは、にほんご!
カタカナ Katakana
Katakana can be used for words which come from overseas which is called Gairaigo (外来語). For example, basketball = バスケットボール, coffee = コーヒー, hotel = ホテル.
- コーヒー coffee
- ビール beer
- ワイン wine
- シャツ shirts
- オフィス office
- コップ cup
Some words have Japanese and Gairaigo. For example “bag” is “かばん” in Japanese. Also it can be described “バッグ” with Katakana. We have two options to say “bag” in Japanese.
カタカナはおもに、外国から来た言葉(外来語) に用いられます。
Katakana Chart
| ア | イ | ウ | エ | オ |
| a | i | u | e | o |
| カ | キ | ク | ケ | コ |
| ka | ki | ku | ke | ko |
| サ | シ | ス | セ | ソ |
| sa | shi | su | se | so |
| タ | チ | ツ | テ | ト |
| ta | chi | tsu | te | to |
| ナ | ニ | ヌ | ネ | ノ |
| na | ni | nu | ne | no |
| ハ | ヒ | フ | ヘ | ホ |
| ha | hi | fu | he | ho |
| 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 |
| ワ | ヲ | ン | ||
| wa | wo | n |
Katakana no Kakijun
Katakana writing with the stroke order (Kakijun).
i need this language
I have been looking into several of your stories and i must say nice stuff.
I will certainly bookmark your website.
Once again another great article.
ありがとうございます!
hmm, can you give me effective tips to learn Japanese and to understand easily??
Thank you so much!
It’s really usefull for me o(^_^)o
Ok! thank you for visiting HiraganaNinja! Also check other posts 🙂