Hello! I'm Kosuke!

How is your study going?

Maybe you already know that Japanese has three types of characters, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.


In this article, I will explain about Kanji!


Is this too late?

This is the 41st article of this blog.

I have already explained about Hiragana and Katakana.
  Hiragana >>
  Katakana >>

I even developed small games for them...!
  Hiragana quiz >>
  Katakana quiz >>


However, I didn't explain about Kanji until now...




Did I forget it? hehe


Actually, I think Kanji is too difficult for beginners.

In addition to that, Kanji is not mandatory to remember for you to speak Japanese.

Japanese children speak Japanese without knowing Kanji.




However, for Japanese people, Kanji are very important characters.

Without Kanji, Japanese sentences are very difficult to read even for native Japanese people...

Kanji makes it easier for Japanese people to read sentences.




Let's learn what is Kanji in this article!

Also, after understanding the importance of Kanji from this article, please try to remember Kanji characters in this vocabulary list:
  Japanese Vocabulary List >>

Below is the index of this article!

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Hello. I'm Kosuke!


Do you already remember all Hiragana characters using the Hiragana quiz?

   Hiragana chart >>

   Hiragana quiz >>



Today, let's check the Katakana chart!

Also, I will explain when you should use Katakana later!



After studying the Katakana chart from this article, please check your memory using this:
      Katakana quiz >>

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1. Basic Katakana chart

Basic Katakana chart is below!

The line of A	ア (a)	イ (i)	ウ (u)	エ (e)	オ (o)
The line of K	カ (ka)	キ (ki)	ク (ku)	ケ (ke)	コ (ko)
The line of S	サ (sa)	シ (shi)	ス (su)	セ (se)	ソ (so)
The line of T	タ (ta)	チ (chi)	ツ (tsu)	テ (te)	ト (to)
The line of N	ナ (na)	ニ (ni)	ヌ (nu)	ネ (ne)	ノ (no)
The line of H	ハ (ha)	ヒ (hi)	フ (fu)	ヘ (he)	ホ (ho)
The line of M	マ (ma)	ミ (mi)	ム (mu)	メ (me)	モ (mo)
The line of Y	ヤ (ya)		ユ (yu)		ヨ (yo)
The line of R	ラ (ra)	リ (ri)	ル (ru)	レ (re)	ロ (ro)
The line of W	ワ (wa)		ヲ (wo)		ン (n)

The line of G	ガ (ga)	ギ (gi)	グ (gu)	ゲ (ge)	ゴ (go)
The line of Z	ザ (za)	ジ (ji)	ズ (zu)	ゼ (ze)	ゾ (zo)
The line of D	ダ (da)	ヂ (ji)	ヅ (zu)	デ (de)	ド (do)
The line of B	バ (ba)	ビ (bi)	ブ (bu)	ベ (be)	ボ (bo)

The line of P	パ (pa)	ピ (pi)	プ (pu)	ペ (pe)	ポ (po)

The line of Ky	キャ (kya)	キュ (kyu)	キョ (kyo)
The line of Sh	シャ (sha)	シュ (shu)	ショ (sho)
The line of Ch	チャ (cha)	チュ (chu)	チョ (cho)
The line of Ny	ニャ (nya)	ニュ (nyu)	ニョ (nyo)
The line of Hy	ヒャ (hya)	ヒュ (hyu)	ヒョ (hyo)
The line of My	ミャ (mya)	ミュ (myu)	ミョ (myo)
The line of Ry	リャ (rya)	リュ (ryu)	リョ (ryo)

The line of Gy	ギャ (gya)	ギュ (gyu)	ギョ (gyo)
The line of J	ジャ (ja)	ジュ (ju)	ジョ (jo)
The line of J	ヂャ (ja)	ヂュ (ju)	ヂョ (jo)
The line of By	ビャ (bya)	ビュ (byu)	ビョ (byo)

The line of Py

ピャ (pya)

ピュ (pyu)

ピョ (pyo)

English	Katakana
needs	ニーズ
game	ゲーム
girl	ガール
breeder	ブリーダー

English	Katakana	Hiragana
girl	ガール	がある
breeder	ブリーダー	ぶりいだあ

English	Katakana
cake	ケーキ
printer	プリンター
smartphone	スマートフォン
computer	コンピューター

English	Katakana
Michael Jackson	マイケル ジャクソン
Mariah Carey	マライア キャリー
Usain Bolt	ウサイン ボルト

English	Katakana
boom (sound of explosion)	ドカーン do ka n
clap (sound of handclap)	パチパチ pa chi pa chi
glug (sound of bell)	チリンチリン chi ri n chi ri n

English	Katakana
wuff wufff (voice of dog)	ワンワン wa n wa n
meow (voice of cat)	ニャー nya
cock-a-doodle-doo (voice of chicken)	コケコッコー ko ke ko k ko

As I explained above, we use Katakana characters for "Loan-words from foreign countries" and "Onomatopoeic word".



To confirm that you remember all Katakana characters, please use this:
   Katakana quiz >>



I hope this article helps you study Japanese!
Thank you for reading!

Today, please let me explain about Romaji!

After memorizing the Romaji chart, please use this to check your memory of Romaji:
   Hiragana quiz >>



If you are an English speaker, Romaji is quite easy for you.

Romaji is the way to write Japanese words using the alphabet.


Originally, there were no alphabetic words in Japan.

They used old Hiragana and old Kanji.

If you don't know what Hiragana and Kanji are, please check the article below:
  The three types of Japanese characters >>


However, recently, Japanese people need to write Japanese word in English.

For example, when they go abroad, they need to write their name in English.

That's why Romaji is generally used in Japan now.



Let's check the Romaji chart:

あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o
か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko
さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so
た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to
な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
や ya	い i	ゆ yu	え e	よ yo
ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
わ wa				を wo
ん n

が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go
ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo
だ da	ぢ ji	づ zu	で de	ど do
ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo

ぱ pa

ぴ pi

ぷ pu

ぺ pe

ぽ po

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

I showed you this chart because I will use Romaji when I explain to you about Japanese grammar.
So I thought it would cause some confusion if I didn't explain about Romaji at all.

You should just remember that Romaji is a way to write Japanese words using the alphabet.


Please use the quiz to confirm if you remember all Romaji characters!
  Hiragana quiz >>



By the way, は sometimes makes the sound 'wa' instead of 'ha'.
Why does it happen?

In the next article, let's learn about post-positional particle, は(wa)!
  ～は(wa) >>

I hope this article helps you study Japanese.
Thank you for reading!

In the previous article, I explained about syllabic nasal.
  Syllabic nasal >>

It is a small version of the character, つ.

Like that, there are other small characters in Japanese.

They are called "Contracted sound".

But the way to use them is a little bit different from syllabic nasal!


At first, let's check the chart of contracted sound!



The chart of contracted sound:

The line of Ky	きゃ (kya)	きゅ (kyu)	きょ (kyo)
The line of Sh	しゃ (sha)	しゅ (shu)	しょ (sho)
The line of Ch	ちゃ (cha)	ちゅ (chu)	ちょ (cho)
The line of Ny	にゃ (nya)	にゅ (nyu)	にょ (nyo)
The line of Hy	ひゃ (hya)	ひゅ (hyu)	ひょ (hyo)
The line of My	みゃ (mya)	みゅ (myu)	みょ (myo)
The line of Ry	りゃ (rya)	りゅ (ryu)	りょ (ryo)

The line of Gy	ぎゃ (gya)	ぎゅ (gyu)	ぎょ (gyo)
The line of J	じゃ (ja)	じゅ (ju)	じょ (jo)
The line of J	ぢゃ (ja)	ぢゅ (ju)	ぢょ (jo)
The line of By	びゃ (bya)	びゅ (byu)	びょ (byo)

The line of Py

ぴゃ (pya)

ぴゅ (pyu)

ぴょ (pyo)

As the table above, contracted sound is a sound written by two characters, one big character and one small character.

English	Hiragana	Romaji
cat	きゃっと	kyatto
nuclear	にゅうくりあ	nyukuria
join	じょいん	join
pure	ぴゅあ	pyua

In this article, please let me explain about "P-sound"!

However, if you have already understood the explanation about basic Hiragana and Dull sound, this article is quite easy for you!

   Basic Hiragana chart >>

   Dull sound >>


"P-sound" is quite similar to "Dull sound".

Let's look at the chart of the P-sound characters at first!


The chart of P-sound characters is below:

The line of P	ぱ (pa)	ぴ (pi)	ぷ (pu)	ぺ (pe)	ぽ (po)

Is that all!?

The line of H	は (ha)	ひ (hi)	ふ (fu)	へ (he)	ほ (ho)

In this article, let me talk about syllabic nasal!

Syllabic nasal is the sound of the word, 'っ'.

Is that 'つ (tsu)'?

No no.
Please look at the letter well...


It is a little bit smaller than normal Hiragana.


Let's compare:

Normal Hiragana	Syllabic nasal
つ	っ

English	Hiragana	Romaji
hat	はっと	hatto
book	ぶっく	bukku
get	げっと	getto
kick	きっく	kikku
fashion	ふぁっしょん	fasshon
lollipop	ろりぽっぷ	roripoppu

Hiragana's basic rule is explained in the previous article!
  Hiragana list >>


In addition to that, you should understand "Dull sound"!


Dull sound is based on basic Hiragana characters.

They are like below:

The line of G	が (ga)	ぎ (gi)	ぐ (gu)	げ (ge)	ご (go)
The line of Z	ざ (za)	じ (ji)	ず (zu)	ぜ (ze)	ぞ (zo)
The line of D	だ (da)	ぢ (ji)	づ (zu)	で (de)	ど (do)
The line of B	ば (ba)	び (bi)	ぶ (bu)	べ (be)	ぼ (bo)

What do you think?
Is this easy to remember.

When you compare this with the basic Hiragana chart, you will know this is quite easy.

Below is a part of the basic Hiragana chart corresponded to dull sound:

The line of K	か (ka)	き (ki)	く (ku)	け (ke)	こ (ko)
The line of S	さ (sa)	し (shi)	す (su)	せ (se)	そ (so)
The line of T	た (ta)	ち (chi)	つ (tsu)	て (te)	と (to)
The line of H	は (ha)	ひ (hi)	ふ (fu)	へ (he)	ほ (ho)

Have you already remembered the chart above?

When you want to write a character of dull sound, you just need to write two small points at the upper right of the character.
(You will see it when you compare the two charts above.)

These two small points are called "sonant mark".


Officially, there are only 20 characters of dull sound in the chart, and they are easy to remember, right?


Sometimes Japanese people give the sonant mark to other Hiragana characters, like あ(a).

But it is not official.
Maybe you will see that way to use a sonant mark on the internet.

However, I recommend you to use sonant mark only for the 20 characters above, because it is the official way to use it.



In the next article, I will explain about P-sound!
  P-sound >>


I hope this article helps you study Japanese.
Thank you for reading this article!

Below is the Hiragana chart:

The line of A	あ (a)	い (i)	う (u)	え (e)	お (o)
The line of K	か (ka)	き (ki)	く (ku)	け (ke)	こ (ko)
The line of S	さ (sa)	し (shi)	す (su)	せ (se)	そ (so)
The line of T	た (ta)	ち (chi)	つ (tsu)	て (te)	と (to)
The line of N	な (na)	に (ni)	ぬ (nu)	ね (ne)	の (no)
The line of H	は (ha)	ひ (hi)	ふ (fu)	へ (he)	ほ (ho)
The line of M	ま (ma)	み (mi)	む (mu)	め (me)	も (mo)
The line of Y	や (ya)		ゆ (yu)		よ (yo)
The line of R	ら (ra)	り (ri)	る (ru)	れ (re)	ろ (ro)
The line of W	わ (wa)		を (wo)		ん (n)