Lesson 2: Katakana - カタカナ

Katakana - カタカナ

As mentioned in Lesson 1, Katakana (as seen in the chart below) is mainly used for foreign words such as foreign names and words that have been borrowed from other languages such as コンピューター (kompyu-ta- = computer). Katakana is the least frequently used of the three character sets in Japanese. The Japanese language does not have as many sounds as the English language so, when creating a name in Katakana, for instance, the name must be sound out to the closest Japanese equivalent. Katakana, Hiragana, and Furigana (when Hiragana is written small next to a Kanji character to show how that character is read) are collectively known as Kana. Don't worry too much about Katakana (beyond maybe learning your name) for now.

There are some special Katakana characters that exist only for foreign names (such as シェ (she) or ティ (ti)). These special characters are not in the chart below (which contains only the standard set of Katakana characters) but can be seen in our Names in Japanese lesson. There are also the characters ヰ (wi) and ヱ (we) which were deemed obsolete in 1946.

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

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

Basic Characteristics of Japanese Grammar

Japanese grammar is different form languages from various aspects such as its word order is different from English etc. Let's have a look at these differences and characteristics one by one.

1. Word Order: Japanese is basically classified as SOV (Subject + Object + Verb) language whereas English most widely spoken language as SVO (Subject + Verb + Object) language.  SOV is juts a way of classify Japanese language and it doesn't mean every sentence has to end with a verb- It can also end with adjectives and copula's such as desu or da. Let's have a look at some examples. 
1. Watashi wa ima benkyou shiteimasu (私は今勉強しています。) I am studying now.
2. kyou ha atsui desu 今日暑いです。Today is hot.  

Both of the examples are valid Japanese expression.  But as you can notice the first sentence ends with a verb (benkyou i.e to study) and the 2nd sentence ends with an adjective.

Lesson 1: Basic Japanese

Hiragana - ひらがな

The first step to learning the Japanese language is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, to learn the sounds that exist in the language. There are absolutely no "tones" in Japanese like in many other asian languages and there are only 2 exceptions within the alphabet which will be explained later. The Japanese alphabet does not contain letters but, instead, contains characters and, technically, they are not alphabets but character sets. The characters in the chart below are called Hiragana. Hiragana is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. Japanese also consists of two other character sets - Kanji (Chinese characters), which we will get into later, and another alphabet/character set, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered in next lesson. Don't wait to move on until you have all Hiragana characters memorized - learn them as you continue to go through the other lessons. 

There are 5 vowels in Japanese. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u), pronounced like "oo" in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana characters end with one of these vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not resemble that of English is the Japanese "r". It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r", and "l".

Hiragana - ひらがな Chart:

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

Hiragana - ひらがな Combinations Chart:

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

Exceptions:
1. The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. This character is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word. 
2. The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.