Hiragana - ひらがな

The first step is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, the sounds that exist in the Japanese language. There are absolutely no "tones" like in Chinese, Thai, etc. and there are only 2 exceptions within the alphabet which will be explained later. The characters listed below are called Hiragana. It is the main alphabet for Japanese. The Japanese language also consists of Chinese characters (Kanji), which we will get into later, and another alphabet, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words.

There are 5 vowels in the Japanese language. (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".

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

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



Note: You probably noticed that there are 2 "zu" and 2 "ji". づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu) in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that starts with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much. I will let you know whenever we come upon a word in which they are used.

Zero / Rei - Zero - 0
Ichi - One - 1
Ni - Two - 2
San - Three - 3
Shi (Yon) - Four - 4
Go - Five - 5
Roku - Six - 6
Shichi (Nana) - Seven - 7
Hachi - Eight - 8
Kyuu (Ku) - Nine - 9

Juu - Ten - 10
Juu ichi - Eleven - 11
Juu ni - Twelve - 12
Juu san - Thirteen - 13
Juu yon - Fourteen - 14
Juu go - Fifteen - 15
Juu roku - Sixteen - 16
Juu nana - Seventeen - 17
Juu hachi - Eighteen - 18
Juu ku - Nineteen - 19

Ni juu - Twenty - 20
Ni juu ichi - Twenty one - 21
Ni juu ni - Twenty two - 22
Ni juu san - Twenty three - 23
Ni juu yon - Twenty four - 24
Ni juu go - Twenty five - 25
Ni juu roku - Twenty six - 26
Ni juu nana - Twenty seven - 27
Ni juu hachi - Twenty eight - 28
Ni juu kyuu - Twenty nine - 29

San juu - Thirty - 30
San juu ichi - Thirty one - 31
San juu ni - Thirty two - 32
San juu san - Thirty three - 33
San juu yon - Thirty four - 34
San juu go - Thirty five - 35
San juu roku - Thirty six - 36
San juu nana - Thirty seven - 37
San juu hachi - Thirty eight - 38
San juu kyuu - Thirty nine - 39

Yon juu - Forty - 40
Go juu - Fifty - 50
Roku juu - Sixty - 60
Nana juu - Seventy - 70
Hachi juu - Eighty - 80
Kyuu juu - Ninety - 90
Hyaku - One Hundred - 100

Writing numbers in Japanese kanji will make it easier to understand the logical part of Japanese language.

If it is bit too hard to understand what I have just explained, please see the numbers written in Japanese kanji.

1 - 5 numbers	6 - 10 numbers

As you can see above, those are numbers wirtten in Japanese kanji from 1 to 10.
So, as I explained, 11 is combined with the number of 10 and 1, we pick jyu and ichi kanji symbol

21 is combined with 2, 10, and 1 kanji numbers.

English---------------------Romaji


animals-----------------------doubutsu

bear--------------------------kuma

butterfly---------------------chōcho

bird--------------------------tori

camel ------------------------rakuda

chicken-----------------------niwatori

cat---------------------------neko

cow --------------------------ushi

crane------------------------ tsuru

crocodile-------------------- wani

deer------------------------- shika

dog --------------------------inu

dolphin---------------------- iruka

donkey -----------------------roba

duck, domestic ---------------ahiru

duck,wild-------------------- kamo

eagle ------------------------washi

elephant--------------------- zou

fish -------------------------sakana

fox---------------------------kitsune

frog--------------------------kaeru

giraffe-----------------------kirin

goat -------------------------yagi

goose------------------------ gachou

horse------------------------ uma

kitten----------------------- koneko

lion -------------------------raion

lizard -----------------------tokage

monkey -----------------------saru

mouse ------------------------nezumi

octopus---------------------- tako

pig --------------------------buta

rabbit -----------------------usagi

raccoon-----------------------araiguma

raccoon-dog ------------------tanuki

rat --------------------------oonezumi

seal -------------------------azarashi

shark ------------------------same

sheep------------------------ hitsuji

snake ------------------------hebi

spider------------------------kumo

squid------------------------ ika

squirrel ---------------------risu

swan------------------------- hakuchō

tiger------------------------ tora

turtle----------------------- kame

whale------------------------ kujira

wolf -------------------------ookami

zebra ------------------------shimauma