{"id":134,"date":"2017-10-16T00:28:22","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T04:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/?p=134"},"modified":"2022-02-19T20:14:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T01:14:47","slug":"grammar-hiragana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/grammar\/hiragana","title":{"rendered":"Hiragana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"basic-modal-content\"><center><img id=\"stroke\" style=\"margin-bottom: 10px;\"><audio id=\"clip\" src=\"\" controls=\"controls\">Use the latest browser for audio<\/audio><\/center><\/div>\n<p><audio id=\"clip_inline\" src=\"\"> <\/audio><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PLA977767E51B55F1F&amp;hl=en_US\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>Hiragana<\/i> is the basic Japanese phonetic script. It represents every sound in the Japanese language. Therefore, you can theoretically write everything in Hiragana. However, because Japanese is written with no spaces, this will create nearly indecipherable text.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a table of Hiragana and similar-sounding English consonant-vowel pronunciations. It is read up to down and right to left, which is how most Japanese books are written. In Japanese, writing the strokes in the correct order and direction is important, especially for Kanji. Because handwritten letters look slightly different from typed letters (just like how &#8216;a&#8217; looks totally different when typed), you will want to use a resource that uses handwritten style fonts to show you how to write the characters (see below for links). I must also stress the importance of correctly learning how to pronounce each sound. Since every word in Japanese is composed of these sounds, learning an incorrect pronunciation for a letter can severely damage the very foundation on which your pronunciation lies.<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\">\n<caption>Hiragana &#8211; Click for stroke order and sound<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>n<\/th>\n<th>w<\/th>\n<th>r<\/th>\n<th>y<\/th>\n<th>m<\/th>\n<th>h<\/th>\n<th>n<\/th>\n<th>t<\/th>\n<th>s<\/th>\n<th>k<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3093<\/a><br \/>\n(n)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u308f<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3089<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3084<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u307e<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306f<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306a<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u305f<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3055<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304b<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3042<\/a><\/td>\n<th>a<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td>\u3090*<\/td>\n<td><a>\u308a<\/a><\/td>\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td><a>\u307f<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3072<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306b<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3061<\/a><br \/>\n(chi)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u3057<\/a><br \/>\n(shi)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u304d<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3044<\/a><\/td>\n<th>i<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td><a>\u308b<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3086<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3080<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3075<\/a><br \/>\n(fu)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u306c<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3064<\/a><br \/>\n(tsu)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u3059<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304f<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3046<\/a><\/td>\n<th>u<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td>\u3091*<\/td>\n<td><a>\u308c<\/a><\/td>\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td><a>\u3081<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3078<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306d<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3066<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u305b<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3051<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3048<\/a><\/td>\n<th>e<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td class=\"empty\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td><a>\u3092<\/a><br \/>\n(o)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u308d<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3088<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3082<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u307b<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306e<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3068<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u305d<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3053<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304a<\/a><\/td>\n<th>o<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>* = no longer used<\/p>\n<p>You can listen to the pronunciation for each character by clicking on it in chart. If your browser doesn&#8217;t support audio, you can also download them at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guidetojapanese.org\/audio\/basic_sounds.zip\">http:\/\/www.guidetojapanese.org\/audio\/basic_sounds.zip<\/a>. There are also other <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tokyowithkids.com\/fyi\/hiragana_chart.html\">free resources<\/a> with audio samples.<\/p>\n<p>Hiragana is not too tough to master or teach and as a result, there are a variety of web sites and free programs that are already available on the web. I also suggest recording yourself and comparing the sounds to make sure you&#8217;re getting it right.<\/p>\n<p>When practicing writing Hiragana by hand, the important thing to remember is that the stroke order and direction of the strokes <em><b><u><i>matter<\/i><\/u><\/b><\/em>. There, I underlined, italicized, bolded, and highlighted it to boot. Trust me, you&#8217;ll eventually find out why when you read other people&#8217;s hasty notes that are nothing more than chicken scrawls. The only thing that will help you is that everybody writes in the same order and so the &#8220;flow&#8221; of the characters is fairly consistent. I <u>strongly<\/u> recommend that you pay close attention to stroke order from the beginning starting with Hiragana to avoid falling into bad habits. While there are many tools online that aim to help you learn Hiragana, the best way to learn how to write it is the old fashioned way: a piece of paper and pen\/pencil. Below are handy PDFs for Hiragana writing practice.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul><!--\n \t\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guidetojapanese.org\/pdf\/hiragana_trace_sheet.pdf\">Hiragana trace sheets<\/li>\n\n\n--><\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/japanese-lesson.com\/characters\/hiragana\/hiragana_writing.html\">japanese-lesson.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u203b As an aside, an old Japanese poem called \u300c\u3044\u308d\u306f\u300d was often used as the base for ordering of Hiragana until recent times. The poem contains every single Hiragana character except for \u300c\u3093\u300d which probably did not exist at the time it was written. You can check out this poem for yourself in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iroha\">this wikipedia article<\/a>. As the article mentions, this order is still sometimes used in ordering lists so you may want to spend some time checking it out.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sumbox\"><span class=\"summary\">Notes<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Except for \u300c\u3057\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3061\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3064\u300d\u3001and \u300c\u3093\u300d\u3001you can get a sense of how each letter is pronounced by matching the consonant on the top row to the vowel. For example, \u300c\u304d\u300d would become \/ ki \/ and \u300c\u3086\u300d would become \/ yu \/ and so on.<\/li>\n<li>As you can see, not all sounds match the way our consonant system works. As written in the table, \u300c\u3061\u300d is pronounced &#8220;chi&#8221; and \u300c\u3064\u300d is pronounced &#8220;tsu&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>The \/ r \/ or \/ l \/ sound in Japanese is quite different from any sound in English. It involves more of a roll and a clip by hitting the roof of your mouth with your tongue. Pay careful attention to that whole column.<\/li>\n<li>Pay careful attention to the difference between \/ tsu \/ and \/ su \/.<\/li>\n<li>The \u300c\u3093\u300d character is a special character because it is rarely used by itself and does not have a vowel sound. It is attached to another character to add a \/ n \/ sound. For example, \u300c\u304b\u3093\u300d becomes &#8216;kan&#8217; instead of &#8216;ka&#8217;, \u300c\u307e\u3093\u300d becomes &#8216;man&#8217; instead of &#8216;ma&#8217;, and so on and so forth.<\/li>\n<li><u>You must learn the correct stroke order and direction!<\/u> Use the following pdf practice sheets.\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul><!--\n \t\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.guidetojapanese.org\/pdf\/hiragana_trace_sheet.pdf\">Hiragana trace sheets<\/li>\n\n\n--><\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/japanese-lesson.com\/characters\/hiragana\/hiragana_writing.html\">japanese-lesson.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"part2\">The Muddied Sounds<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Am-n2HVwVG4\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Once you memorize all the characters in Hiragana, there are still some additional sounds left to be learned. There are five more consonant sounds that are written by either affixing two tiny lines similar to a double quotation mark called <i>dakuten<\/i> \uff08\u6fc1\u70b9\uff09 or a tiny circle called <i>handakuten<\/i> \uff08\u534a\u6fc1\u70b9\uff09. This essentially creates a &#8220;muddy&#8221; or less clipped version of the consonant (technically called a voiced consonant or \u300c\u6fc1\u308a\u300d, which literally means to become muddy).<\/p>\n<p>All the voiced consonant sounds are shown in the table below.<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\">\n<caption>Voiced Hiragana &#8211; Click for Sound<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<th>p<\/th>\n<th>b<\/th>\n<th>d<\/th>\n<th>z<\/th>\n<th>g<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3071<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3070<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3060<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3056<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304c<\/a><\/td>\n<th>a<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3074<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3073<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3062<\/a><br \/>\n(ji)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u3058<\/a><br \/>\n(ji)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u304e<\/a><\/td>\n<th>i<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3077<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3076<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3065<\/a><br \/>\n(dzu)<\/td>\n<td><a>\u305a<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3050<\/a><\/td>\n<th>u<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u307a<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3079<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3067<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u305c<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3052<\/a><\/td>\n<th>e<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u307d<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u307c<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3069<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u305e<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3054<\/a><\/td>\n<th>o<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div class=\"sumbox\"><span class=\"summary\">Note<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notice that \u300c\u3062\u300d sounds essentially identical to \u300c\u3058\u300d and both are pronounced as \/ ji \/, while \u300c\u3065\u300d is pronounced like \/ dzu \/.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"part3\">The Small \u300c\u3084\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3086\u300d\u3001and \u300c\u3088\u300d<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gjh8rHqLrfk\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also combine a consonant with a \/ ya \/ yu \/ yo \/ sound by attaching a small \u300c\u3084\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3086\u300d\u3001or \u300c\u3088\u300d to the \/ i \/ vowel character of each consonant.<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\">\n<caption>All small \u3084\u3001\u3086\u3001and \u3088 combinations in Hiragana &#8211; Click for Sound<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<th>p<\/th>\n<th>b<\/th>\n<th>j<\/th>\n<th>g<\/th>\n<th>r<\/th>\n<th>m<\/th>\n<th>h<\/th>\n<th>n<\/th>\n<th>c<\/th>\n<th>s<\/th>\n<th>k<\/th>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3074\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3073\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3058\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304e\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u308a\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u307f\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3072\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306b\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3061\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3057\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304d\u3083<\/a><\/td>\n<th>ya<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3074\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3073\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3058\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304e\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u308a\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u307f\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3072\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306b\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3061\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3057\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304d\u3085<\/a><\/td>\n<th>yu<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td><a>\u3074\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3073\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3058\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304e\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u308a\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u307f\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3072\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u306b\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3061\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u3057\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a>\u304d\u3087<\/a><\/td>\n<th>yo<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div class=\"sumbox\"><span class=\"summary\">Notes<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The above table is the same as before. Match the top consonants to the vowel sound on the right. Ex: \u304d\u3083 = kya.<\/li>\n<li>Also note that since \u300c\u3058\u300d is pronounced \/ ji \/, all the small \u300c\u3084\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3086\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3088\u300d sounds are also based off of that, namely: \/ jya \/ jyu \/ jyo \/.<\/li>\n<li>The same thing also applies to \u300c\u3061\u300d which becomes \/ cha \/ chu \/ cho \/ and \u300c\u3057\u300d which becomes \/ sha \/ shu \/ sho \/. (Though arguably, you can still think of it as \/ sya \/ syu \/ syo \/.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"part4\">The Small \u300c\u3064\u300d<\/h2>\n<p>A small \u300c\u3064\u300d is inserted between two characters to carry the consonant sound of the second character to the end of the first. For example, if you inserted a small \u300c\u3064\u300d between \u300c\u3073\u300d and \u300c\u304f\u300d to make \u300c\u3073\u3063\u304f\u300d, the \/ k \/ consonant sound is carried back to the end of the first character to produce &#8220;bikku&#8221;. Similarly, \u300c\u306f\u3063\u3071\u300d becomes &#8220;happa&#8221;, \u300c\u308d\u3063\u304f\u300d becomes &#8220;rokku&#8221; and so on and so forth.<\/p>\n<h3>Examples<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol><!--\n \t\n\n<li>\u30c8\u30e9<em>\u30c3<\/em>\u30af (to-ra<em>k<\/em>-ku) <a href=\"torakku\" class=\"playIcon\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\" style=\"position:relative; top:3px;\" \/><\/a> - truck<\/li>\n\n\n--><\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u3056<em>\u3063<\/em>\u3057 (za<em>s<\/em>-shi) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"zasshi\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; magazine<\/li>\n<li>\u304b<em>\u3063<\/em>\u3077 (ka<em>p<\/em>-pu) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"kappu\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; cup<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"sumbox\"><span class=\"summary\">Notes<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A small \u300c\u3064\u300d is used to carry the consonant sound of the second character to the end of the first. Ex: \u300c\u304c\u3063\u304d\u300d = &#8220;ga<em>k<\/em>ki&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>The addition of another consonant almost always creates the characteristic clipping sound. But make sure you&#8217;re clipping with the right consonant (the consonant of the second character).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"part5\">The Long Vowel Sound<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SLP1BxU6AR4\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Whew! You&#8217;re almost done. In this last portion, we will go over the long vowel sound which is simply extending the duration of a vowel sound. You can extend the vowel sound of a character by adding either \u300c\u3042\u300d\u3001\u300c\u3044\u300d\u3001or \u300c\u3046\u300d depending on the vowel in accordance to the following chart.<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<caption>Extending Vowel Sounds<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<th>Vowel Sound<\/th>\n<th>Extended by<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td>\/ a \/<\/td>\n<td>\u3042<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td>\/ i \/ e \/<\/td>\n<td>\u3044<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\">\n<td>\/ u \/ o \/<\/td>\n<td>\u3046<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>For example, if you wanted to create an extended vowel sound from \u300c\u304b\u300d, you would add \u300c\u3042\u300d to create \u300c\u304b\u3042\u300d. Other examples would include: \u300c\u304d \u2192 \u304d\u3044\u300d, \u300c\u304f \u2192 \u304f\u3046\u300d, \u300c\u3051 \u2192 \u3051\u3044\u300d, \u300c\u3053 \u2192 \u3053\u3046\u300d, \u300c\u3055 \u2192 \u3055\u3042\u300d and so on. The reasoning for this is quite simple. Try saying \u300c\u304b\u300d and \u300c\u3042\u300d separately. Then say them in succession as fast as you can. You&#8217;ll notice that soon enough, it sounds like you&#8217;re dragging out the \/ ka \/ for a longer duration than just saying \/ ka \/ by itself. When pronouncing long vowel sounds, try to remember that they are really two sounds merged together.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to make sure you hold the vowel sound long enough because you can be saying things like &#8220;here&#8221; \uff08\u3053\u3053\uff09 instead of &#8220;high school&#8221; \uff08\u3053\u3046\u3053\u3046\uff09 or &#8220;middle-aged lady&#8221; \uff08\u304a\u3070\u3055\u3093\uff09 instead of &#8220;grandmother&#8221; \uff08\u304a\u3070\u3042\u3055\u3093\uff09 if you don&#8217;t stretch it out correctly!<\/p>\n<h3>Examples<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\u304c\u304f\u305b<em>\u3044<\/em> (ga-ku-s<em>e<\/em>) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"gakusei\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; student<\/li>\n<li>\u305b\u3093\u305b<em>\u3044<\/em> (sen-s<em>e<\/em>) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"sensei\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; teacher<\/li>\n<li>\u304d\u3087<em>\u3046<\/em> (ky<em>o<\/em>) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"kyou\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; today<\/li>\n<li>\u304a\u306f\u3088<em>\u3046<\/em> (o-ha-y<em>o<\/em>) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"ohayou\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; good morning<\/li>\n<li>\u304a\u304b<em>\u3042<\/em>\u3055\u3093 (o-k<em>a<\/em>-san) <a class=\"playIcon\" href=\"okaasan\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position: relative; top: 3px;\" src=\"\/images\/play.png\" alt=\"play\"><\/a> &#8211; mother<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>There are rare exceptions where an \/ e \/ vowel sound is extended by adding \u300c\u3048\u300d or an \/ o \/ vowel sound is extended by \u300c\u304a\u300d. Some examples of this include \u300c\u304a\u306d\u3048\u3055\u3093\u300d\u3001\u300c\u304a\u304a\u3044\u300d\u3001and \u300c\u304a\u304a\u304d\u3044\u300d. Pay careful attention to these exceptions but don&#8217;t worry, there aren&#8217;t too many of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Use the latest browser for audio Hiragana is the basic Japanese phonetic script. It represents every sound in the Japanese language. Therefore, you can theoretically write everything in Hiragana. However, because Japanese is written with no spaces, this will create nearly indecipherable text. Here is a table of Hiragana and similar-sounding English consonant-vowel pronunciations. It &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/grammar\/hiragana\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Hiragana&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"series":[4],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-writing-system","series-grammar-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1755,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/1755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guidetojapanese.org\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}