KANA: Definitive Guide to Hiragana and Katakana – Japanese Alphabet

In this article, we will see a Definitive Guide to Hiragana and Katakana, you will learn the basics of the Japanese alphabet and I will also recommend the true definitive guide at the beginning of this article. That’s right! Kana: Definitive Guide to Hiragana and Katakana!

First of all, I recorded a video explaining about the Japanese alphabet on my channel:

KANA: The definitive guide to Hiragana and Katakana

The pack consists of a 199-page book and a website with extra content. The content of the book is divided between theory and practice. In the theoretical part, you will learn about:

1. The sounds of Japanese;
2. The Japanese writing;
3. The use of kanas;
4. The history of kanas, and;
5. How to practice reading and writing

The practical part brings exercises with kanas handwritten by a native Japanese, so you can learn to write in a more natural way, without copying computer fonts.

On the website, you will find the audio of the kanas, also recorded by a native Japanese, pronunciation comparisons, and much more! So, once again, don’t try to learn Hiragana and Katakana just with their basic instructions, get to know the Book:

What is Hiragana and Katakana?

Have you ever wondered what the Japanese alphabet is like? How does it work? The Japanese language has a syllabic writing system, where letters are actually syllables that form words.

These syllables are written using Hiragana, a set of 46 simple ideograms that form the 109 syllables existing in the Japanese language.

The problem is that the Japanese Alphabet does not only have Hiragana; there is another set of ideograms that form 109 syllables called Katakana.

There is also a huge number of more complex ideograms that usually consist of 1 to 3 syllables and form entire words called Kanji. Let’s get to know these writings of the Japanese alphabet now.

The good thing about the Japanese alphabet is that, being formed by syllables, it increases the speed of reading and speaking. Another very good thing in Japanese is that the pronunciation of the syllables does not change like in Portuguese, where the S sounds like Z and things like that.

There are no accentuations beyond the Dakuten, which is actually a complete alteration of the letter.

Types of writing in the Japanese alphabet

Hiragana – 平仮名: It is used for all words for which there is no kanji, or if it exists but is rarely used. It is also used to replace kanji and in the endings of verbs and adjectives. (あいうえおかきくけこ)

Katakana – 片仮名: Katakana is used to write common and proper names of foreign origin, mainly Western, onomatopoeias, technical words, slang, and scientific names of plants and animals. (アイウエオカキクケコ)

Kanji – 漢字: These are ideograms of Chinese origin, which are used in numerous Japanese words. We will not go into details about kanji in this article.

Romaji – This is how we refer to Japanese written using our Roman letters. It is the transliteration of the Japanese alphabet into ours.

How do 46 letters become 109 sounds?

The truth is that there are 46 drawings that form syllables, but there are elements used as diacritics in Japanese, responsible for changing the sound of the letter. Don’t worry, there are few:

• Handakuten or maru – ゜ – a small circle, similar to the degree symbol. (は = ぱ);
• Dakuten or ten-ten – ゛ – Looks like a quotation mark. (か = が);
• Sokuon (っ) – a small tsu. It serves to extend the sound between 2 hiragana. (だって);
• Ya Yu Yo – small, used to make sounds like: Kya Nya, etc. (ぴゅ/ニャ);

Each of them can modify the sound of Hiragana in a different way. In the character list below, you will find the use of Handakuten and Dakuten. You will also see combinations with Hiragana.

We recommend reading: Dakuten and handakuten – Quotation marks in Japanese

Questions about Hiragana and Katakana

Over the years, Suki Desu has written several articles answering questions about the Hiragana and Katakana alphabet. I decided to briefly summarize these questions and add the articles that address them in detail.

What is the purpose of small Hiragana and Katakana?

Small hiragana used to be used in syllables like wi (うぃ), we (ウェ), vi (ヴィ), ve (ヴェ), je (じぇ), fa (ファ), and others. Nowadays, these syllables are rarely used, with the small TSU [っ] being used only to elongate syllables.

The small tsu is called Sokuon [促音] which indicates a doubled consonant sound or a pause or cut in pronunciation. Unfortunately, only the kana アイウエオあいうえどうつやゆよ can be made small.

For more information, read the article: How to use and type small Hiragana and Katakana

Can I use Hiragana and Katakana in the same word?

We know that the alphabets are written together, but in different words except for ideograms with hiragana. And what about Katakana? Can it be mixed in a hiragana word or vice versa? Yes, but it is rare and usually breaks the rules of Japanese.

There are some created verbs that mix katakana with a hiragana ending, like going to Starbucks, which is said “Sutabaru” [スタバる]. Not to mention that a single word can be written both in hiragana and katakana.

For more information, read the article: Can I use hiragana and katakana in the same word?

Kanji or Hiragana? When to know which to use?

There is no way to know how or which to use. If the word is generally written with Kanji and Hiragana, it is up to you to choose the way. All words can be written with Hiragana or Kanji, except those that are of foreign origin or verbs and adjectives that use both writings in their composition.

Still, you may be able to write a verb or adjective entirely in hiragana, without the kanji, but you cannot write it entirely in kanji. It all depends on the context, the words of the text, the message you want to convey; there is no right or wrong.

The purpose of Kanji is to prevent people from getting lost when reading a word, due to the numerous words with the same hiragana writing. By studying Japanese, you will understand which words are generally written in hiragana, even with the existence of kanji. Through reading and contact with the language, you will understand how words are natively written by the Japanese.

How to distinguish similar Katakana? [シンツソ]

Many people, when learning katakana, get confused with [シンツソ]. The truth is that only time and practice can help you distinguish these devilish similarities. Some apply the following tip to help memorize:

• シ – Shi is a girl looking into the eyes of tsu
• ツ – Tsu is a boy looking down
• ソ – Winking “so“
• ン – Thinking about it “NNNNN… I don’t think that way.”
• ノ – Closed eyes “noooooooooooooo!”

We recommend reading our article: Distinguishing Similar Katakana

Hiragana Table – ひらがな

あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o
か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko
が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go
さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so
ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo
た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to
だ da	ぢ ji	づ zu	で de	ど do
な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo
ぱ pa	ぴ pi	ぷ pu	ぺ pe	ぽ po
ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
わ wa	を wo	ん n/m

Combinations of the Hiragana Japanese alphabet

きゃ kya	きゅ kyu	きょ kyo
ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
しゃ sha	しゅ shu	しょ sho
じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
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
びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo
みゃ mya	みゅ myu	みょ myo
りゃ rya	りゅ ryu	りょ ryo

Katakana Table – カタカナ

ア a	イ i	ウ u	エ e	オ o
カ ka	キ ki	ク ku	ケ ke	コ ko
ガ ga	ギ gi	グ gu	ゲ ge	ゴ go
サ sa	シ shi	ス su	セ se	ソ so
ザ za	ジ ji	ズ zu	ゼ ze	ゾ zo
タ ta	チ chi	ツ tsu	テ te	ト to
ダ da	ヂ ji	ヅ zu	デ de	ド do
ナ na	ニ ni	ヌ nu	ネ ne	ノ no
ハ ha	ヒ hi	フ fu	ヘ he	ホ ho
バ ba	ビ bi	ブ bu	ベ be	ボ bo
パ pa	ピ pi	プ pu	ペ pe	ポ po
マ ma	ミ mi	ム mu	メ me	モ mo
ヤ ya		ユ yu		ヨ yo
ラ ra	リ ri	ル ru	レ re	ロ ro
ワ wa	ヲ wo	ン n/m

Combinations of the Katakana Japanese alphabet

キャ kya	キュ kyu	キョ kyo
ギャ gya	ギュ gyu	ギョ gyo
シャ sha	シュ shu	ショ sho
ジャ ja	ジュ ju	ジョ jo
チャ cha	チュ chu	チョ cho
ニャ nya	ニュ nyu	ニョ nyo
ヒャ hya	ヒュ hyu	ヒョ hyo
ビャ bya	ビュ byu	ビョ byo
ピャ pya	ピュ pyu	ピョ pyo
ミャ mya	ミュ myu	ミョ myo
リャ rya	リュ ryu	リョ ryo

Videos to memorize hiragana and katakana

What is the right way and form to write the Japanese alphabet? How will I memorize all this? First, we ask that you focus on memorizing the meaning of these characters. We also prepared some videos to help with this task;

The video below teaches the pronunciation of Hiragana and also helps to memorize it:

The video below from our channel teaches how to write the Japanese alphabet Hiragana:

What did you think of the Japanese alphabet? Have you learned it? We appreciate the comments and shares that help a lot.