Japanese Alphabet

List of Japanese Alphabet

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Japanese Alphabet

The Japanese has two kinds of alphabet, Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used when we have no Japanese characters (Kanji) for the words or we don't remember the right Kanji. Katakana is used mainly for foreign names. The Japanese alphabet consists of 99 sounds formed with 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and 14 consonants (k, s, t, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, p, and n), as is shown in the
Hiragana chart.

Hiragana

(Japanese Alphabet)

Katakana

(Japanese Alphabet)

a i u e o a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko ka ki ku ke ko
sa shi su se so sa shi su se so
ta chi tsu te to ta chi tsu te to
na ni nu ne no na ni nu ne no
ha hi hu he ho ha hi hu he ho
ma mi mu me mo ma mi mu me mo
ya yu yo ya yu yo
ra ri ru re ro ra ri ru re ro
wq wo wq wo
nn nn

Dakuon (Kana with two commas on right shoulder)

Hiragana

(Japanese Alphabet)

Katakana

(Japanese Alphabet)

ga gi gu ge go ga gi gu ge go
za zi zu ze zo za zi zu ze zo
da zdi zdu de do da zdi zdu de do
ba bi bu bw bo ba bi bu bw bo

Handakuon (Kana with tiny circle on right shoulder)

pa pi pu pe po pa pi pu pe po

Bibliography

Japanese Alphabet Guide (http://www.harapan.co.jp/english/japan/hiragana.htm)

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