Hiragana
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Hiragana (ひらがな) is one of the three scripts used in the Japanese writing system, alongside Katakana and Kanji. It is a phonetic script used primarily for native Japanese words and grammatical functions. Hiragana is often the first script that Japanese children and language learners are taught.
Table
| a | i | u | e | o | ya | yu | yo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ (a) | い (i) | う (u) | え (e) | お (o) | - | - | - | |
| k | か (ka) | き (ki) | く (ku) | け (ke) | こ (ko) | きゃ (kya) | きゅ (kyu) | きょ (kyo) |
| s | さ (sa) | し (shi) | す (su) | せ (se) | そ (so) | しゃ (sha) | しゅ (shu) | しょ (sho) |
| t | た (ta) | ち (chi) | つ (tsu) | て (te) | と (to) | ちゃ (cha) | ちゅ (chu) | ちょ (cho) |
| n | な (na) | に (ni) | ぬ (nu) | ね (ne) | の (no) | にゃ (nya) | にゅ (nyu) | にょ (nyo) |
| h | は (ha) (wa as particle) | ひ (hi) | ふ (fu) | へ (he) (e as particle) | ほ (ho) | ひゃ (hya) | ひゅ (hyu) | ひょ (hyo) |
| m | ま (ma) | み (mi) | む (mu) | め (me) | も (mo) | みゃ (mya) | みゅ (myu) | みょ (myo) |
| y | や (ya) | - | ゆ (yu) | - | よ (yo) | - | - | - |
| r | ら (ra) | り (ri) | る (ru) | れ (re) | ろ (ro) | りゃ (rya) | りゅ (ryu) | りょ (ryo) |
| w | わ (wa) | ゐ (i) | - | ゑ (e) | を (o) | - | - | - |
| g | が (ga) | ぎ (gi) | ぐ (gu) | げ (ge) | ご (go) | ぎゃ (gya) | ぎゅ (gyu) | ぎょ (gyo) |
| z | ざ (za) | じ (ji) | ず (zu) | ぜ (ze) | ぞ (zo) | じゃ (ja) | じゅ (ju) | じょ (jo) |
| d | だ (da) | ぢ (ji) | づ (zu) | で (de) | ど (do) | ぢゃ (ja) | ぢゅ (ju) | ぢょ (jo) |
| b | ば (ba) | び (bi) | ぶ (bu) | べ (be) | ぼ (bo) | びゃ (bya) | びゅ (byu) | びょ (byo) |
| p | ぱ (pa) | ぴ (pi) | ぷ (pu) | ぺ (pe) | ぽ (po) | ぴゃ (pya) | ぴゅ (pyu) | ぴょ (pyo) |
| n | ん (n) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Other Graphemes
• ゝ (iteration mark - hiragana): This symbol is called "odoriji" or "repetition mark." It is used to indicate that the preceding Kana character should be repeated. It is specific to Hiragana. For example:
• さゝ (sasa) for repeated "さ" (sa)
• ゞ (iteration mark with dakuten - hiragana): This is similar to the previous iteration mark but with a dakuten. It indicates that the preceding voiced Kana character should be repeated. For example:
• ざゞ (zaza) for repeated "ざ" (za)
• ー (Chōonpu): This is a long vowel mark used in Katakana to indicate that the vowel sound should be extended. For example:
• カー (kā) for an extended "ka" sound.
• ヽ (Iteration Mark - Katakana): This is a smaller version of the Katakana iteration mark, used in vertical writing. For example:
• ツヽ (tsutsu) for repeated "ツ" (tsu).
• ゛(Dakuten) and ゜(Handakuten): These are used to modify the sounds of Kana characters.
• Punctuation: Includes marks like the Japanese comma (、), period (。), and quotation marks (「」)