HIRAGANA & KATAKANA INDEX Hiragana chart 3 Katakana chart 4 Intro to Hiragana ( ) and Katakana ( ) Hiragana worksheets 5 7 Long vowels, little tsu 17 Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo 19 Particles wa, e and o 20 Punctuation marks 21 Let’s write in Hiragana! Write the Yamanote stations in Hiragana! 22 23 24 Family members Katakana worksheets 25 Long vowels, little tsu 35 Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo 36 Let’s write in Katakana! 37 38 Other composed sounds Write the following words in romaji or katakana. 39 Write the country names and capitals in Katakana. 40 Let’s read the menu! 41 Let’s write in Hiragana and Katakana! 42 Reply using Hiragana and Katakana! 43 Hiragana chart a i u e o a i u e o k ka ki ku ke ko s sa shi su se so t ta chi tsu te to n na ni nu ne no h ha hi fu he ho m ma mi mu me mo y ya r ra w wa n n g ga gi gu ge go z za ji zu ze zo d da ji zu de do b ba bi bu be bo p pa pi pu pe po ky kya kyu kyo gya gyu gyo sh sha shu sho ja ju jo ch cha chu cho ny nya nyu nyo hy hya hyu hyo bya byu byo my mya myu myo pya pyu pyo ry rya ryu ryo yu ri yo ru re ro wo 3 Katakana chart a i u e o a i u e o k ka ki ku ke ko s sa shi su se so t ta chi tsu te to n na ni nu ne no h ha hi fu he ho m ma mi mu me mo y ya r ra w wa n n g ga gi gu ge go z za ji zu ze zo d da ji zu de do b ba bi bu be bo p pa pi pu pe po ky kya kyu kyo gya gyu gyo sh sha shu sho ja ju jo ch cha chu cho ny nya nyu nyo hy hya hyu hyo bya byu byo my mya myu myo pya pyu pyo ry rya ryu ryo yu ri yo ru re ro (wo) 4 Intro to Hiragana ( ) and Katakana ( ) When you first start learning Japanese, Hiragana and Katakana might seem very intimidating. At Coto Japanese Academy, we believe that if you learn how to write Japanese at your own pace in a relaxed atmosphere, you will soon realize how fun it is to write with Hiragana and Katakana! Origins of Characters Do you know about the history and the origin of Hiragana and Katakana? Originally, the Japanese ancestors did not have a writing system. Around the fifth century, they starting using kanji, ideograms that were adopted from China and Korea. They only used the phonetic reading of the kanji, regardless of their meaning. At that time, the ideograms were called manyogana ( ). However, kanji’s characters are composed of many strokes. They take longer to write, as we are sure you have noticed by now! Due to their difficulty, those ideograms were slowly simplified into kana alphabets, namely Hiragana and Katakana. They are called syllabograms, as each character corresponds to one sound in the Japanese language. According to historians, the change was initiated by Buddhist priests who thought kanji was unable to accurately represent the Japanese language, and that a phonetic alphabet would be better. Examples of Change On the left is the manyogana, and on the right are simplified hiragana and katakana forms. • (a) • (i) • (u) (e) • • (o) This change is thought to have taken place between the eighth and ninth century. Hiragana can be considered a simplified calligraphy form of the kanji’s strokes. On the other hand, katakana is taken from a single element of a kanji. In some cases, the Hiragana and Katakana are created from different ideograms. 5 Among Hiragana and Katakana, some express the same sound and have similar shapes, such as and . However, some can be dissimilar, such as and . Hiragana is said to be cursive while katakana is more angular. Do take note that one sound can have more than one hiragana. In 1900 the two kana scripts, hiragana, and katakana were codified. This led to the clear establishment of rules for the Japanese system in 1946. Difference between Hiragana and Katakana Why is there 2 syllabic Japanese scripts? In the event that the difference is stylistic, you will learn that hiragana is used to write native Japanese words. Those words will have no kanji representation or the ideogram is too ancient or too difficult to write. This kana script is also the one used to write grammatical elements such as particles: (wo) (ni) (he, also read e) (ga) (ha)… On the contrary, Japanese use katakana to write words of foreign origin and foreign names. If you like to read manga in Japanese, you will have certainly noticed that katakana is also used to represent onomatopoeia and emphasis. Have you heard of the word “furigana”? Furigana is Hiragana and Katakana characters written in small forms above kanji in order to show pronunciation. Furigana is used in kids’ books and Japanese language textbooks for learners, in order to teach the reading of unknown kanji. 6 Hiragana worksheets 2 a i 1 3 2 1 1 u 2 1 e o 2 2 3 1 Love House Blue Up, above Good Many 7 2 ka 1 ki 1 2 3 3 4 1 ku ke 2 1 3 1 ko 2 ga Ka hiragana gi gu ge go Persimmon Study of language Keys P.M. (time) Autumn (Metal) nail 8 Sa hiragana sa shi su 2 1 3 1 2 1 3 se 2 1 1 so za ji zu ze zo Sushi There Elephant Slope Wind Alcohol 9 Ta hiragana ta chi tsu 2 1 3 4 2 1 1 1 te to 1 2 da ji zu de do Land Later Bamboo Desk Map Tyding up 10 Na hiragana na ni nu 2 1 3 4 2 1 3 2 1 1 ne no 2 1 Cat Mushroom Dog Eggplant Meat Summer 11 Ha hiragana ha 3 2 1 1 hi fu he 1 2 4 3 1 2 ho 1 3 4 ba bi bu be bo pa pi pu pe po 12 Boat Sunny place Flower Hat Wall Hippopotamus 13 Ma hiragana ma 3 1 2 1 mi mu me mo 2 1 2 1 2 3 3 2 1 Ear Eye Peach City Water Cloud 14 Ra hiragana 1 ra 2 ri 1 2 1 ru 2 1 re 1 ro Frog Dish Bath Chestnut Black Beautiful 15 Ya hiragana ya yu 1 2 1 1 2 yo wa 2 3 1 2 2 wo 1 n 3 1 Mountain Snow Evening, night Night time I, me Read a book 16 Long vowels, little tsu There are long vowels such as ā, ī, ū, ē and ō in Japanese. The column Long vowels such as ā, kā, sā, and tā (those of the first column), are represented by adding (a) to the first syllable: ā, kā, sā, etc. The column Long vowels such as ī, kī, chī (those of the second column), are represented by adding (i) to the first syllable: ī, kī, mī, etc. The column Long vowels such as ū, sū, yū (those of the third column), are represented by adding (u) to the first syllable: ū, sū, yū, etc. The column Long vowels such as rē, kē, sē, tē (those of the fourth column), are represented by adding (i) and not (e) to the first syllable: rē, kē, sē, etc. But there are exceptions like the following: ē (yes), nē (I say), onēsan (an elder sister). The column Long vowels such as ō, kō, sō, tō (those of the fifth column), are represented by adding (u) and not (o) to the first syllable: ō, kō, sō, etc. But there are exceptions like the following: (far), ōi (numerous), Ōsaka, tōri (street), ōkii (big), tōi tōru (to pass through). Little tsu (double consonant, i.e.: kk, pp, ss, tt) When two consonants (except for "n") are in a row, the first consonant is represented by a little tsu written in the bottom half of the line when written horizontally, or to the right if written vertically. E.g.: ippai, mittsu, katta. 17 kōkō kōen imōto ginkō sōko bōshi sensē tokē gakusē ēgo kippu zutto ikkai annai tannin 18 Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo When a small “ya”, “yu”, “yo" is added to a syllables in the “i” column - except for vowel “i” itself - we get a contracted sound. Although contracted sounds are written with two hiragana characters, they are pronounced as a single syllable. The “i” sound in the first syllable decays and the consonant is followed by the “y” sound and the vowel. ya yu yo (ki) (ya) (kya) (ki) (yu) (kyu) (ki) (yo) (kyo) 19 Particles wa, e and (w)o The three particles (grammatical markers) in Japanese, wa (topic maker), e (direction maker), and wo (direct object maker), are represented respectively by the Hiragana characters of (ha), (he), and While we write (wo), due to historical circumstances. , and , the pronunciation respectively is wa, e, and o. Therefore: o when used as a particle is written (wo), not (o). e when used as a particle is written (he), not (e). wa when used as a particle is written (ha), not (wa). E.g: Watashi wa hon wo Tōkyō e yomimasu. ikimasu. wa tashi wa nihonjin o wo tabemasu. he kashi ijitsu ni shibuya desu. (I am Japanese) (I eat sweets) e 20 ikimasu. (I go to Shibuya on weekdays) Punctuation marks Kutōten (puntuation marks) is a generic term that refers both to full stops (maru, ) and commas (ten, ) Punctuation marks can make a huge difference in the meaning of a sentence depending on where they are placed. Just like in English, adding a punctuation mark can change the meaning of a sentence. For example : "Eats, shoots and leaves" versus "Eats shoots and leaves." In Japanese, it is not customary to separate words with spaces, which makes it easier for misunderstandings to arise. Several punctuation marks may be used in order to prevent these kinds of misunderstandings. 1. Koko de, hakimono o nuide kudasai. ( ) Please take your shoes off here. 2. Koko de wa, kimono o nuide kudasai . ( ) Please take your kimono (clothes) off here. 21 Let’s write in Hiragana! 22 Write the Yamanote stations in Hiragana! Tōkyō Kanda Yūrakuchō Akihabara Shimbashi Okachimachi Ueno Hamamatsuchō Uguisudani Tamachi Takanawa (Gateway) Nippori Shinagawa Nishi-Nippori Ōsaki Tabata Gotanda Komagome Meguro Sugamo Ebisu Ōtsuka Shibuya Ikebukuro Harajuku Mejiro Yoyogi Takadanobaba Shin-Ookubo Shinjuku 23 Family members く kazoku family obāsan grandmother ojīsan grandfather okāsan mother otōsan father onīsan elder brother onēsan elder sister watashi I, me Grandfather Grandmother Father Mother Elder brother Elder sister Younger brother Younger sister 24 otōto younger brother imōto younger sister Katakana worksheets a 1 2 1 i 2 1 u e o 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Wear Air 25 Ka katakana 2 Ka 1 ki 1 3 2 2 ku ke 1 1 2 3 ko ga gi gu ge go Khaki Eco Core Cake Ego Car 26 Sa katakana 2 sa shi 3 1 1 2 3 1 su 2 2 1 se so 1 2 za ji zu ze zo Quiz Caesar Case Sausage Size Sauce 27 Ta katakana 2 1 ta 3 1 chi tsu 3 2 1 2 3 1 te to 2 3 1 2 da ji zu de do Date Card Two Test Darts Cheek 28 Na katakana 1 2 na 1 ni 2 1 nu 2 1 ne no 2 4 3 1 Banana Nice Needs Night Canoe Note 29 Ha katakana 1 ha hi 2 1 2 1 fu he 1 ho 1 3 2 4 ba bi bu be bo pa pi pu pe po 30 Curve Boat Copy Part-time job Cover Pair 31 Ma katakana 1 ma mi 2 1 2 3 1 mu 2 1 me mo 2 1 2 3 Memo Mom Mini skirt Gum Madam Motor 32 Ra katakana ra ri ru re ro 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 3 Retro Little Lemon Color Lamp Rugby 33 Ya katakana ya yu 2 1 1 2 1 yo 2 3 2 wa o 1 1 2 3 1 n 2 Jeans Bread Hawaii Wine Yoga Utopia 34 Long vowels, little tsu Long vowels in writing katakana In Katakana long vowels are represented uniformly by drawing a dash after the first syllable. A horizontal dash is drawn when written horizontally and a vertical dash is used when written vertically. ā, kī, sū, te, nō, etc. Little tsu (double consonant, i.e.: kk, pp, ss, tt) In Katakana, the little (tsu) has the same function as in Hiragana. When two consonants except for “n” are in a row, the first consonant is represented by a little lower half of horizontal line or to the right in a vertical column. E.g.: koppu, katto, beddo, etc. kōhī kēki karendā reddo burakku 35 (tsu) written in the Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo ya yu yo (ki) (ya) (kya) (ki) (yu) (kyu) (ki) (yo) (kyo) 36 Let’s write in Katakana! 37 Other composed sounds ye kwa wi we wo kwi kwe kwo gwa she je che tsa ti tse tso fe fo ve vo tu tyu di du dyu fa fi fyu va vi vu vyu 38 Write the following words in romaji or katakana. famirī vanpaia dyuetto vintēji gōrudenwīku fōkusongu 39 Write the country names and capitals in Katakana. (Country name) (Capital) 40 Let’s read the menu! 350 400 350 600 350 700 450 1000 400 550 700 550 500 550 350 300 450 450 650 700 41 Let’s write in Hiragana and Katakana! A: konnichiwa! kyō wa iitenki desune. ___________________________________________________________________ _______ B: sōdesune. kinō wa nani o shimashitaka. ___________________________________________________________________ _______ A: karaoke ni ikimashita. Tanoshikatta desu yo! ___________________________________________________________________ _______ B: sore wa yokatta desune. A san wa chokorēto ga suki desuka. ___________________________________________________________________ _______ A: hai, suki desu! daisuki desu! ___________________________________________________________________ _______ B: sō desu ka. ja, kore dōzo tabete kudasai. oishii desuyo. ___________________________________________________________________ _______ 42 Reply using Hiragana and Katakana! ✏ Your name ___________________________________________________________________ _______ ✏ Your Country ___________________________________________________________________ _______ ✏ Your hometown ___________________________________________________________________ _______ ✏ Your job ___________________________________________________________________ _______ ✏ Your teacher’s name ___________________________________________________________________ _______ ✏ Foods you like ___________________________________________________________________ _______ ✏ Drinks you like ___________________________________________________________________ 43
