What is hiragana and katakana in japanese. Japanese alphabet with Russian transcription. Consonant group "H"

Good day! In the previous lesson, we fought with hieroglyphs and learned what on and kun reading are. (You can read the article) In this lesson, I decided to talk about what you need to learn first of all for beginners. And the very first step for just beginners to learn Japanese is to learn the Japanese syllabaries. In Japanese, there are two syllabaries, and they are called and. Now let's talk in detail about each of them!

Hiragana

Hiragana- Japanese syllabary, which is used for:

1) writing Japanese words, if the one who writes does not know how to write this word using hieroglyphs.

2) records of endings, connectives, particles.

Here is a table of syllables and hiragana readings:

Hiragana is loved by everyone, especially beginners or those who find it difficult to learn kanji.

Now let's talk about what is nigori And hannigory

Nigori or dakuten- a sign that is used to voice voiceless consonants.

It looks like this ゛ . For example, let's take the syllable は(ha) , add our sign ゛ to it, then the new syllable will be written as ば , and read as ba(If P call, it will work b)

hannigori or handakuten- the character used for the series Ha(those. ha, hee, fu, he, ho). If we substitute this sign, then the syllables of this series will be read as: pa, pi, pu, pe, po. This sign looks like a circle ゜

Here is a table showing syllable options like with nigori (゛), so with hannigori (゜)

By the way, here is a link where you can download hiragana and katakana recipes.

The script is called "Kana-el-metodo". Also in this folder there is a program for repeating and memorizing the alphabet (a file called "kana test")

This program is a game. With it, you can repeat hiragana and katakana in a playful way. The essence of the game is to connect the syllable along with its pronunciation. And every time you are shown the execution time. (there is already a spirit of rivalry, though with oneself)

Well, now back to the alphabet. Next up is the second alphabet called katakana!

Katakana

Katakana- Japanese syllabary, which is used to write loanwords or foreign names and titles. (i.e. foreign words).

Signs nigori And hannigory with katakana is used in the same way as with hiragana

Hiragana- syllabic alphabet (each character does not mean a sound, but a syllable), used in Japanese. It is part of modern Japanese. It includes 46 characters (and a few obsolete ones). Hiragana is mainly used to write endings, conjunctions and postfixes. Word roots are written in kanji (hieroglyphs). In fact, it is allowed to replace kanji with hiragana, but this is considered not very literate (mostly children do this when they learn to write).

In principle, learning hiragana is only worth it if you are going to learn Japanese. After all, it is mainly used to record the pronunciation of Japanese words. Reading such a record is easy, but to understand it, you need to know the language. ^_^

The structure of hiragana is almost exactly the same as that of katakana, but just in case you haven't read it, I'll recap the basics. In hiragana, each character (with the exception of vowels and one exception) does not represent a letter, but a syllable - that is, a combination of a consonant and a vowel. There are simply no symbols for consonants in hiragana. Each syllable has its own pronunciation, which never changes, regardless of the position of the syllable in the word or adjacent syllables, which is very convenient for memorization. True, there are compound sounds consisting of several syllables, but they are also always pronounced the same way. The entire set of sounds is based on "soft" consonants (t, k, s, x). Their "hard" counterparts are obtained by adding two dashes ( nigori) in the upper right corner of the icon.

If you don't understand, don't worry, you'll figure it out as you go. Now that the structure of the language (hiragana) has become a little clearer, I would like to dwell in more detail on the similarities and differences between these two alphabets.

Comparison of hiragana and katakana

In principle, these two syllabaries are very similar to each other. They consist of the same basic set of syllables (sounds) that are pronounced exactly the same. The main differences between these two alphabets lies in their spelling and use. Japanese words are written in hiragana; the outlines of syllabic signs ("letters") are smooth and wavy. This is similar to handwriting. Foreign words are written in katakana; the outlines of the "letters" are straighter, sharper, and resemble the highly stylized hiragana counterparts. Katakana resembles our block letters. By the way, the entire syllabic writing system (katakana together with hiragana) is called one word - cana, contrasting it kanji- hieroglyphic writing system.

Another difference between katakana and hiragana directly follows from the purpose of these alphabets. Since Japanese words are written in hiragana, there are no sounds in it that do not exist in Japanese. The sounds of the "f / f" group, as well as the English "v", which are in katakana, are completely absent. Also, the unnecessary sign of the longitude of the pronunciation of the syllable disappears - it is indicated differently. There are still some small details that are present in katakana. Which? If you learn Japanese, you will. ^_^

Now let's move on to graphic examples. I will write the Japanese spelling of the syllable, the official spelling of the syllable (in romaji), in brackets - an alternative option, if any (in the Hepburn system) and the Russian transcription through the slash (in the Polivanov system).

Vowel group

A/a - the usual short open "a"
= i / and - the usual short open "and"
\u003d u / y - the usual short open "y"
\u003d e / e - the usual short open "e"
\u003d o / o - the usual short open "o"

Quite simply, right? Remember, all sounds in hiragana and katakana are pronounced exactly the same. They differ only in spelling.

Group of derived vowels

Ya / I
= yu / yu
= yo / ё

These vowels are called derivatives (or compound). They are used not only by themselves to convey sound, but also in derivative syllabic formation, as additional parts of a syllable to clarify its pronunciation (see below).

consonant-exception

N / n - nasal syllabic "n". It is not softened by subsequent vowels, which in transcription is transmitted as "нъ".

Consonant group "K-G"

Ka / ka
= ki / ki
= ku / ku
= ke / ke
= ko / ko

Ga/ha
= gi / gi
= gu / gu
= ge / ge
= go / go

Consonant group "T-D"

Ta / ta
= ti (chi) / ti
= tu (tsu) / tsu
= te / te
= to / then

Da / yes
= di / di
= du / du
= de / de
= do / until

Consonant group "S-Z"

Sa / sa
= si (shi) / si
= su / su
= se / se
= so

Za / za
= zi (ji) / ji
= zu / zu
= ze / ze
= zo / zo

Consonant group "H-B-P"

Ha / ha
= hi / hi
= hu (fu) / fu - the Japanese do not distinguish between "hu" and "fu"
= he / he
= ho / ho

Ba / ba
= bi / bi
= bu / bu
= be / be
= bo / bo

pa / pa
= pi / pi
= pu / pu
= pe / pe
= po / by

Strange people, those Japanese! From one soft sound "x", they managed to form two whole "hard" ones! ^_^ The sound "b" is marked with familiar dashes, and "p" - with a circle ( hannigory).

Consonant group "H"

Na / on
= ni / neither
= nu / well
= ne / ne
= no / but

Consonant group "M"

Ma / ma
= mi / mi
= mu / mu
= me / me
= mo / mo

Consonant group "R"

Ra / ra
= ri / ri
= ru / ru
= re / re
= ro / ro

Note: The Japanese do not distinguish between the sounds "r" and "l".

Consonant group "B"

There is only one element in the consonant group "in". Other vowels in Japanese are not used in combination with "v".

special sign

Does not have its own pronunciation

In Japanese, there is a special character (it is present in both katakana and hiragana) that denotes doubling the initial consonant of the syllable that follows it. In hiragana, it looks like a reduced syllable "tu / tsu", but does not have its own pronunciation (like our soft or hard sign). Its purpose is to highlight the pronunciation of the initial consonant sound in any syllable. In fact, its presence in the word shows that the initial consonant of the syllable following it must be pronounced twice, that is, for example, the syllable "to" will turn into "t-to". As part of the word, it will look like: "lo-to" => "lo-t-to". Agree, the second option sounds much better and is more similar in pronunciation to the Russian version. Here is an example:

So this was the last character. You have finished learning hiragana! There are still a few subtleties, but I will talk about them below.

By the way, as an incentive bonus, I have prepared a small summary table that shows the spellings of all katakana and hiragana syllables. Can be viewed here:

Russian variant

English version

Word writing examples

Now we can move on to practical examples. I hope you have mastered the spelling and pronunciation of all the syllables? Next, I will give some examples of writing simple (and, most likely, well-known) words and expressions. So, I will give the original transcription (kanji + kana), then the same using only hiragana, after which I will write the Russian transcription, Russian transcription and translation.

Not difficult, right? By the way, now you understand why the Japanese have not yet abandoned kanji - a complex system of hieroglyphs? Yes, because they write much shorter than just one kana! Yes, and read them, too, much faster. Next, I will dwell on the features of writing hiragana words in more detail.

Pronunciation of "long" vowels

Hiragana has its own, different from katakana, recording system for "long" sounds. So let's start in order:

Case 1- when any syllable is pronounced for a long time, except for the vowel "o" and syllables of the form "consonant + o", then after this syllable hiragana "o" is added. Example:

Case 2- when the vowel "o" or any syllable of the form "consonant + o" is pronounced for a long time, then after this syllable hiragana "u / y" is added, and not hiragana "o". That is, two sounds "o" in a row cannot stand. Example:

Case 3- when you still see in the text two consecutive vowels "o", or a construction like "consonant + o" + "vowel o", then do not be surprised. This means that in this word there is no lengthening of the sound, but the same sound is pronounced twice in a row. To distinguish them from long sounds, I will separate the two parts of the vowel with a dash. Example:

Note 1: all three of the above rules also apply to the derived vowel "ё", as well as derived syllables with the vowel "ё". (What are derived syllables, read below.) Here is an example:

Note 2: it is rather difficult for a Russian person to distinguish by ear when a long vowel is pronounced in a Japanese word, and when a double vowel is pronounced. This is due to the fact that the Japanese pronounce them on one breath without a pause. So the Japanese double vowel in its pronunciation almost does not differ from the Russian long vowel, and the Japanese long vowel is the usual (only slightly drawn) vowel of the Russian language. Therefore, in the "kiriji" recording system, the longitude of sounds is noted extremely rarely. Most often, when transcribing a word from hiragana to kiriji, it is written as more familiar to the Russian ear, unless this distorts its pronunciation. For example, not "arigatoo", but "arigato".

The problem of "identical" sounds. "R - L", "X - F"

The fact is that due to the peculiarities of their language, the Japanese do not distinguish between some sounds that are in other languages, but are absent in Japanese. For example, combinations with: “b-v”, “ji-ji”, “shi-si”, “r-l”, “h-f”, etc. sound the same for them. Therefore, a special system of indications was developed in katakana when the sound is considered "x" and when it is "f". Different spellings were established for the consonant groups "w" - "v", etc.

In hiragana, such a system simply does not exist, because it is not needed to write Japanese words. In principle, you can find some of the above syllables (the group "f", "v", etc.) written in hiragana according to the rules of katakana, but this is extremely illiterate. No Japanese would ever do that.

Derived syllable formation

Derivative syllable formation is intended for the formation of new syllables of the form "consonant + derivative vowel". The principle of construction is the same as in katakana. That is, the basic syllable of the form "any consonant + and", for example, the syllables "ki, mi, pi, ri" is taken. After this syllable, a derivative vowel is written slightly smaller than the syllable itself. This combination is pronounced as one syllable of the form "consonant + vowel derivative". I explain: the combination of the syllables "ki" + "ya" gives the syllable "kya". I think you understand the principle. Here are some examples:

Note: sometimes the derivative vowel is written in the same size as all other syllables. In this case, if it comes after the syllable "consonant + and", then we are still dealing with a derivative syllable. And if it stands after any other syllable, then it sounds by itself.

Pronunciation of grammatical connectives

This item is just an information note. You will learn more about everything that is stated here if you learn Japanese.

This is a special grammatical character and is also considered part of the hiragana. In its pronunciation, it differs little from the sound "o". It is used only in certain grammatical constructions and never to indicate a sound in a simple word.

Some hiragana syllables are used as grammatical connectives in Japanese. In this case, they have other pronunciation different from what is written in the text above. These are the syllables "ha / ha" and "he / he". If you learn Japanese, you will learn more about it.

Conclusion

So, you got acquainted with the Japanese syllabary hiragana. In my article, I tried to dwell on the main aspects without going into unnecessary details. The combination of my two articles on katakana and hiragana should give you a good start on the syllabaries. You can always find more detailed information about the Japanese language on the Web.

Links

http://www.komi.com/Japanese/ - "Japanese Self-Teacher", online Japanese learning, lessons, many examples and other useful information

http://www.rinet.ru/~vit/ - "Vitaly Zagrebelny's page", an excellent Russian source, many links to various useful resources on the language, FAQ

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/japanese.htm - "Jim Breen's Page", various projects, many programs, many links on learning katakana, hiragana and kanji, dictionary projects, etc. , references to literature in Japanese (for practice in the language), grammar, spelling, Japanese tutorials

 Listen to the audio lesson with additional explanations

The Japanese writing system consists of characters (KANJI) and syllabary (KANA). Japanese has two syllabaries. These are Hiragana and Katakana. Visually, they are easy to distinguish. Hiragana syllables are more rounded and soft, while katakana are angular and sharp.

Hiragana is used to record individual words, case markers, postpositions, verb and adjective endings, as well as to record the reading of the hieroglyphs themselves. Katakana is also used to write foreign, borrowed words, which are called GAIRAIGO in Japanese, as well as to highlight certain words in writing, like in bold in Russian.

Visual difference between hiragana and katakana

Example from lesson 1.

わ wa た ta し shi は wa デ de ザ za イ i ナ na ー a で de す su 。 – I (am) a designer.

わ wa た ta し shi, は wa, で de す su - Hiragana

デ de ザ za イ i ナ na ー a - Katakana

In Japanese, you can often find the Latin letter - ROMAJI. It is commonly used to denote abbreviations for various foreign names.

銀 gin行kouにni　ATM　がga　ありますarimasu。 – The bank has an ATM(ATM, or Automatic Teller Machine, is an ATM in English. In Japanese, this abbreviation is also very often used, along with other borrowings).

Japanese has characters and two alphabets. It is incorrect to call the signs of Hiragana and Katakana hieroglyphs.

父 chichi は wa 　 エ e ン n ジ ji ニ ni ア a 　 で de す su - My father is an engineer.

父 chichi - hieroglyph

は wa – hiragana

エ e ン n ジ ji ニ ni ア a - katakana

で de す su - hiragana

The reading 父 chichi written on top of the character is called furigana. Usually, characters are signed with Hiragana characters, but in our beginner course, we use the Latin alphabet.

Both Hiragana and Katakana are composed of 46 characters combined in the gojuon table. In both alphabets there are only 10 main rows. Both Hiragana and Katakana are read and pronounced the same way. The difference is only in their writing and usage.

ABC Hiragana

あ a A	い i AND	う u At	えe E	おo ABOUT
家 ie （ いえ ie ） - home いいえ iie - no
ka KA	ki CI	く ku KU	けke EC	こko KO	きゃ kya EP	きゅ kyu kyu	きょ kyō Kyo
I'm an architect					- Be in the audience.
ga GA	ぎgi GI	ぐ gu GU	げge GE	ご go GO	ぎゃ gya GJ	ぎゅgyu GU	ぎょ gyō Gyo
– This is the key to your room.					What time does the lesson start?
さsa SA	shi SI	すsu SU	せ se SE	そso SO	しゃ sha SA	しゅ shu SU	しょ sho Syo
山田 先生 yamadasensei は wa 仕事 shigoto （しごと shigoto） ga たくさん takusan あり ます arimasu。 - Mr. Yamada has a lot of work to do.					ashita　はwa　両親ryoushin　のno　家ie　へe　会食 kaishoku（かいしょく kaishoku）　にni　行 i きます kimasu。 –
ざza DZA	じji DZI	ず zu DZU	ぜze DZE	ぞzo subsidiaries and affiliates	じゃ ja DZYA	じゅ ju DZYU	じょ jo DZYO
- Do you have time now?					jugyou 。- When is your Japanese lesson?
た ta TA	ち chi TI/CHI	つ tsu TU / CU	て te TE	to THAT	ちゃ cha TU	ちゅchu TU	ちょ cho THOSE
冷 tsume たい tai （ つめたい tsumetai ） 飲 no み mi 物 mono は wa 　 どこ doko 　 に ni 　 ありますか arimasuka). - Where are your refreshments?					koucha ocha ） の no 店 mise 　 へ e 　 行 i きました kimashita 。 – Mom went to the tea shop this morning for black tea.
da YES	ぢji DZI	づ zu DZU	でde DE	do BEFORE
doukyuusei （ どうきゅうせい doukyuusei ） の no 友達 tomodachi （ ともだち tomodachi ） がいますか gaimasuka 。 – Do you have friends at the university among classmates?
なna ON	にni NO	ぬ nu WELL	ne NE	の no BUT	にゃ nya AE	にゅ nyu NUDE	にょ nyo NOT
部屋 heya に ni 猫 neko （ ねこ neko ） がいます gaimasu 。 – There is a cat in the room.					女人 nyonin （ にょにん nyonin ） (woman) .
は ha HA	ひhi chi	ふfu UGH	へhe HE	ho XO	ひゃhya XY	ひゅhyu HYU	ひょ hyō HYO
She is a nurse.
ば ba BA	び bi BI	ぶbu BOO	べ be BE	ぼ bo BO	びゃ bya BYA	びゅ byu BU	びょ byo BYO
- Last year I went to Japan to study economics.					こ ko こ ko は wa 　 病 byou 院 in （ びょういん byouin ） で de す su 。 – There is a hospital here.
ぱpa PA	ぴ pi PI	ぷ pu PU	ぺpe PE	ぽ po BY	ぴゃ pya PJ	ぴゅ pyu PU	ぴょ pyō Pyo
どうして doushite 　 これから korekara 　 散歩 sampo （ さんぽ sampo ） に ni 　行 i きたくない kitakunai ですか desuka 。- Why don't you want to go for a walk now?
まma MA	mi MI	むmu MU	me ME	もmo MO	みゃ mya MJ	みゅ myu Manchester United	みょ myo MYO
あ a し shi た ta 　 は wa 　休 yasu み mi （ やすみ yasumi ）　 で de す su 　 か ka . - Tomorrow is a day off?					脈 myaku （ みゃく myaku ） があります gaarimasu 。 - There is hope.
ya I		ゆ yu YU		yo Yo
冬 fuyu （ ふゆ fuyu ）、 友達 tomodachi の no 車 kuruma で de 山 yama へ e 行 i きます kimasu 。 – In winter we will go to the mountains in a car of friends.
ra RA	り ri RI	る en RU	れre RE	ろro RO	りゃ rya OC	りゅ ryu Ryu	ryo Ryo
公園 kouen に ni 祭 matsu り ri （ まつり matsuri ）　 が ga 　 ありました arimashita 。 – There was a party in the park.					ashita　は wa　両親 ryoushin（りょうしん ryoushin）　の no　家 ie　へ e　会食 kaishoku　にni　行 i きます kimasu。 – Tomorrow I'm going to a family dinner at my parents' house.
わwa VA		を o or wo ABOUT		んn H
銀行 ginkou （ ぎんこう ginkou ） に ni 　ATM　 が ga あります arimasu 。 – The bank has an ATM.

Note: the consonant ん n before hard and soft consonants, with nigori or hannigori, and also next to the consonant M, will be read as M. As in the word がんばります gambarimasu and 一生懸命 isshoukemmei from:

どうして doushite 　 今週 konshuu 、 一生懸命 isshoukemmei に ni 　 がんばりますか gambarimasuka 。 – Why are you studying so hard this week?

ABC Katakana

The Katakana alphabet is built on the same principle. The pronunciation of the Katakana alphabet is no different from Hiragana. They differ only in spelling.

　 　 　 　 　

ア a A	イ i AND	ウu At	エ e E	オo ABOUT
ka KA	ki CI	クku KU	ケke EC	コko KO	キャ kya EP	キュ kyu kyu	キョ kyō Kyo
ガga GA	ギgi GI	グ gu GU	ゲge GE	go GO	ギャ gya GJ	ギュgyu GU	ギョ gyō Gyo
サsa SA	shi SI	su SU	セ se SE	so SO	シャ sha SA	シュ shu SU	ショ sho Syo
za DZA	ジzi DZI	ズ zu DZU	ze DZE	ゾzo subsidiaries and affiliates	ジャ ja DZYA	ジュ ju DZYU	ジョ jo DZYO
タta TA	チ chi TI / CHI	ツ tsu TU / CU	テte TE	to THAT	チャ cha TU	チュchu TU	チョ cho THOSE
da YES	ヂji DZI	ヅ zu DZU	デ de DE	do BEFORE
ナna ON	ニ ni NO	ヌnu WELL	ネne NE	ノ no BUT	ニャ nya AE	ニュ nyu NUDE	ニョ nyo NOT
ハ ha HA	ヒhi chi	fu UGH	ヘhe HE	ho XO	ヒャhya XY	ヒュ hyu HYU	ヒョ hyō HYO
ba BA	ビ bi BI	ブbu BOO	ベ be BE	ボbo BO	ビャ bya BYA	ビュbyu BU	ビョ byo BYO
パpa PA	ピpi PI	プ pu PU	ペ pe PE	ポpo BY	ピャ pya PJ	ピュ pyu PU	ピョ pyō Pyo
マma MA	ミmi MI	ム mu MU	メme ME	モmo MO	ミャ mya MJ	ミュ myu Manchester United	ミョ myo MYO
ya I		ユ yu YU		yo Yo
ra RA	リ ri RI	ル en RU	レre RE	ロro RO	rya OC	リュryu Ryu	ryo Ryo
ワwa VA
		ヲ o or wo ABOUT		ン n H

Syllable table for loanwords

シェ she She	ジェ je Jae	チェ che Che	ヂェ dje Jae
e E	スィsi Xi	ズィzi Dzi (Zi)	リェre Re
ti Tee	トゥ tu That	テャ tya cha	テュ tyu Chu	テョ tyo Those
ヂィ di Di	ドゥdu Doo	デャdya Dia	デュ du du	デョ dyō Do
ツァtsa Tsa	ツィ tsi qi		ツェ tse Tse	ツォ tso Tso
ファ fa F	フィ fi fi	ホゥ hu Hu	fe Fe	フォ fo Fo
fya Fya	フュ fyu fu	fyo Fe

Longitude

In addition, in Japanese there is such a thing as long and short syllables.

In writing, a long syllable can be recognized as follows: these are those syllables in which, after a syllable with a vowel at the end, there is another letter from the A series.

A syllable with あ a is lengthened with the letter あ a, for example:

おばさん obasan (aunt) – おばあさん obaasan (grandmother)

A syllable with い i is lengthened with the letter い i , for example:

おじさん ojiisan (uncle) – おじいさん ojiisan (grandfather)

The う u syllable is lengthened with the letter う u, for example:

くき kuki (stem) – くうき kuuki (air)

A syllable with え e is lengthened with え e or い i , two options are possible. For example:

え e (painting) - ええ ee (yes), or へや heya (room) - へいや heeya (plain)

A syllable with お o is lengthened with う u, but sometimes there is a lengthening with お o as well. For example:

とる toru (to take) - とおる tooru (to pass).

However, お o is most often lengthened with う u

学校 gakkou （ がっこう gakkou ） であります dearimasu 。 – Pass at school.

田中 tanaka さんに sanni 　 東京 toukyou （ とうきょう toukyou ） で de 　会 a いました imashita 。 – I met Mr. Tanaka in Tokyo.

Note: All soft syllables such as きゃ kya , きゅ kyu , きょ kyo , にゃ nya , にゅ nyu , にょ nyo , じゃ ja , じゅ ju , じょ jo etc. are lengthened with the letter う u . It turns out: きゃう kyau , きゅう kyuu , きょう kyou , にゃう nyau , にゅう nyuu , にょう nyou , じゃう jau , じゅう juu ,じょう jou etc.

大学 daigaku に ni 同級生 doukyuusei （ どうきゅうせい doukyuusei ） の no 友達 tomodachi がいますか gaimasuka 。 – Do you have friends among classmates at the university?

- I want to go to Moscow for my birthday.

Katakana has a special longitude symbol "ー", and it is placed after any syllables that need to be extended.

– How much does coffee cost?

I am a designer

- This is not a house. This is an apartment.

マリア maria さん san 　 は wa 　 今晩 komban 、 パ pa ー a ティ ti ー i に ni 　 来 ki ますか masuka 。 – Is Maria coming to the party tonight?

Double consonants

Also in Japanese there is such a thing as doubling. It is written with a small letter っ / ッ , which is placed before the syllable with the doubled consonant.

kissatenりますか arimasuka。 - Does this cafe have soft drinks?

The same is true with katakana.

マリア maria さんは sanwa 「緑 midori の no 窓口 madoguchi 」 で de チケット chiketto を o 買 ka いたかったのですか itakattanode suka - Maria wanted to buy a ticket to Midori no Madoguchi?“Midori no madoguchi” (literally translated as “Green Window”) is the Japanese name for the Shinkansen bulletin boards.

Vowel reduction

Vowel reduction is the weakening or complete loss of vowels in the process of speech, depending on neighboring sounds or the place of stress.

In Japanese, the vowels い i and う u are reduced:

• between voiceless consonants. For example, as in the word cover - ふた futa （F (u) ta）
• and at the end of a word after voiceless consonants when the tone drops, for example, as in verbs ending in ます (Mas), which are often found in our lessons: たべます - eat, のみます - drink.

In Japanese, there is an obligatory reduction, as in the word つき tsuki (tsuki) - "moon", and an optional one, as in the word きく kiku - "chrysanthemum". How to understand which option we are dealing with? Everything is simple. If the syllables in a word are from the same row, as in the word きく kiku - chrysanthemum, then they are not reduced, if from different rows, as in the word つき tsuki - moon, then the syllable is reduced before a deaf consonant.

あ a し shi た ta 　 は wa 　休 yasu み mi で de す su か ka 。 – Tomorrow is a day off?

ikutsu 。- How many apples are on the table?

地下鉄 chikatetsu （つ chikatetsu） ni 乗 no っ て tte 仕事 shigoto へ e 行 i き kimasu。 - I go to work by subway.

The study of any foreign language must begin with the basics, which in most cases is the alphabet. The Japanese language will not be an exception. However, unlike European languages, Japanese has as many as two alphabets. Let's see why there are two of them and what function they perform.

The common name for the Japanese alphabet is cana. There are two types of kana: hiragana (平仮名) and katakana（片仮名）. Both alphabets are syllabic. This means that they do not consist of vowels and consonants, but of signs that mean syllables (in Japanese they are called pestilence). For example, ま(ma)、く(ku)、ふ(fu), カ(ka). The exception would be a sound that is more like the English nasal sound [N] and is sometimes pronounced like "m" depending on the syllables that precede it. It is denoted in the hiragana system ん, katakana ン.

Both hiragana and katakana are derived from characters (in Japanese kanji), which were borrowed from China and adapted to Japanese pronunciation, so kana characters, like hieroglyphs, must be written in a strict stroke sequence.

What are the characters of the Japanese alphabet for?

Japanese letters: hiragana

Initially, this type of kana was considered a female script, as a lightweight version of writing. But, despite this, many great works were written in hiragana, for example, Genji monogatari.

Imagine that a character in Japanese is like the Russian root of a word that does not change. In Russian, when speaking, we decline, conjugate and perform other manipulations with words by adding various suffixes, endings and prefixes. This is the role of the word-changing elements that hiragana plays.

Take, for example, the word 食べる (taberu) means "to eat, take food." In it, 食 is a character, and べ and る are hiragana characters. What will happen if we decide to change this word somehow? It will look something like this: 食べます(I will eat)、食べましょう(Let's eat)、食べるな(Don't eat!). We see that the hieroglyph, as it was, remains in place, and the hiragana signs change. So, these changing signs are called okurigana and help inflect/conjugate/modify Japanese words.

The next function of hiragana is to transcribe kanji. If you ever see small hiragana above or below kanji in text, know that they are characters. furigans and are designed to help in reading unfamiliar hieroglyphs, that is, furigana is a kind of transcription.

Also, this Japanese alphabet is used when writing words that do not have hieroglyphs, grammatical particles (まで、に) and some adverbs.

Hiragana texts are written for elementary school, when children still know few hieroglyphs. But the perception of such text for learners of Japanese is complicated by the fact that there are no spaces in Japanese, and commas, in fact, can be placed anywhere.

The basic set of kana characters is called gojuon, additional signs are formed from it. This is done using special characters:

• ゛- nigori. Sounds signs. For example, た (ta) becomes だ (yes) when added to nigori;
• ゜- maru. Used only in one row on は (ha) and turns "x" into "n". For example, は(ha) into ぱ (pa), へ(he) into ぺ (pe), etc.;
• っ means doubling the previous syllable. って(tte)、っさ(ss), etc.;
• small letters ゃ (ya), ょ (yo), ゅ (yu) are used to soften sounds. り(ri) becomes りゃ(rya)、し(shi) to しゅ(shu).

Hiragana

Fact one. Before the hiragana was modernized and folded into the gojuon system (50 vowels), the sounds ゐ (and, which, according to students, are more often similar to “ui” or even “vi”) and ゑ (“e”, which, according to the opinions of many students is similar to “ue” or “we”). In some writing systems, these sounds can still be found, and they are often asked questions on stackexchange, in the Japanese threads. Before hiragana was shortened, these sounds were part of the わ

Fact Two. The basics of hiragana originated during the Nara period. Hiragana prototypes were called まんようがな (万葉仮名), or しゃくじ (借字). However, these alphabets served as pronunciation sounds, while Chinese characters were still fully used for writing. And from まんぎょうがな, modern hiragana originated.

Fact three. The first literary work to feature hiragana (hiragana appeared in writing) is called 土佐日記, or Tosa-nikki (Travel Notes from Tosa), by a Heian period author Ki no Tsurayuki (10th century AD)

Fact four. Hiragana was once called “woman's hand”, (female handwriting) from 女手 (おんなて）, 女(woman) + 手（て hand). The name was obtained for a reason: women could record messages for secret, sometimes romantically cordial affairs, and this was considered their privilege.

Fifth fact. Japanese Waka verses, 和歌, which followed meter: 5-7-5-7-7 could also be written in kanji and hiragana (Heian period)

Fact six. There is a separate type of poem in Japanese that uses all 48 syllables of the old hiragana called Iroha Uta (いろは歌).

Here is an example of such a verse, taken from Wikipedia

いろはにほへと　ちりぬるを わかよたれそ　つねならむ うゐ のおくやま　けふこえて あさきゆめみし　 ゑ ひもせす

(translated into kanji to make it clear what it is about) 色はにほへど　散りぬるを 我が世たれぞ　常ならむ 有為の奥山　　今日越えて 浅き夢見じ　　酔ひもせず

Fact seven. To be more precise, this fact is closer to a myth. Many sites write that names written in hiragana are considered more feminine (due to the smoothness of the writing forms), while katakana is assigned to male names due to its angularity. However, even if this was once the case, now many names are trying to write either in hiragana or in katakana without regard to gender: look at the tweets, facebook pages, wikipedia pages of both men and women.

Katakana

Fact one. Unlike hiragana, (where the own “ui”/”wi”-like characters have been abolished), katakana has characters for conveying “v-sounds”: wa (ヴァ), wi (ヴィ), ve (ヴェ), ve ( ヴォ) .. So the famous Vaio brand is written in katakana as ヴァイオ.

Fact two. Katakana is also derived from kanji. This happened around the 7th century AD. Just like in hiragana, there are signs that were “removed as unnecessary”. These are the signs ヰ (and, which is closer to “ui”, “vi” and is now written ウィ), as well as the sound ヱ, which was pronounced as “e” / “ue” / “ve”, and is now replaced by ウェ. So, one of the gods of happiness (7 gods of happiness) was written as ヱビス

Fact three. Initially, katakana was created to read ancient Chinese manuscripts-kanbun 漢文（かんぶん）, in principle, even now Chinese texts have the same name. However, at that time there were Chinese texts that were published with Japanese reading marks, and the marks, as you understand, used katakana notation.