Sokuon

Sokuon そくおん



っ　 　ッ　

そくおん　means a double consonant. You pause reading for a second at small っ or ッ.

For example,

いた(ita) means a "board"

いった(itta) means "went" ("to go" in past tense)


We don't say    いてきます(itekimasu)、、 

We say..           いってきます(ittekimasu)      This means "I'm leaving"



Here are some Sokuon words

Hiragana Sokuon
きって
せっけん
いってきます
いってらっしゃい
もってください
まってください
いってください

Katakana Sokuon
バッタ
バット
シップ
シロップ
インターネット
ホッチキス
パイナップル



Worksheets

                                                              Hiragana Sokuon Worksheets
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Click ひらがな促音　簡単１　

　　　　ひらがな促音　簡単２

　　　　ひらがな促音　普通１　

　　　　ひらがな促音　普通２

Hiragana( Dakuon Handakuon Youon )

Dakuon 　だくおん

There are 20 Dakuon letters in Hiragana.  Dakuon is a Hiragana letter with  2 dots "

が　ぎ　ぐ　げ　ご　　ga  gi  gu  ge  go

ざ　じ　ず　ぜ　ぞ     za  zi(ji)  zu  ze  zo

だ　ぢ　づ　で　ど    da  di  du  de  do

ば　び　ぶ　べ　ぼ   ba   bi  bu  be  bo


* が　has 3 dots.  However, Katakana Dakuon ガ has 2 dots. 

* じand ぢare the same sounds.  ずand づare the same sounds. Even though the roman letters are different, Japanese people pronounce them same.



Handakuon　はんだくおん

There are 5 Handakuon letters in Hiragana.  Handakuon is a Hiragana letter with a circle 。

ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ　　pa  pi  pu  pe  po



Youon　ようおん　

There are 36 Youon letters in Hiragana.  Youon is a Hiragana letter with small ゃ　ゅ　ょ

Read　き　and　や slowly.  Then, read　 き　and　や　very quickly.  That is the sound of きゃ

 

きゃ　きゅ　きょ　kya  kyu  kyo

しゃ　しゅ　しょsya  syu  syo (sha  shu  sho)

ちゃ　ちゅ　ちょtyatyutyo (cha  chu  cho)

にゃ　にゅ　にょnyanyunyo

ひゃ　ひゅ　ひょhyahyuhyo

みゃ　みゅ　みょmyamyumyo

りゃ　りゅ　りょryaryuryo

ぎゃ　ぎゅ　ぎょgya  gyu  gyo

じゃ　じゅ　じょzya  zyu  zyo (ja  ju  jo)

ぢゃ　ぢゅ　ぢょ dya  dyu  dyo

びゃ　びゅ　びょbya  byu  byo

ぴゃ　ぴゅ　ぴょpya  pyu  pyo

*じゃじゅじょand ぢゃぢゅぢょare the same sounds.  Even though the roman letters are different, Japanese people pronounce them same.

Hiragana Dakuon Handakuon Youon Chart

                        　　　　　　　　                Hiragana Chart with words

                         　　　　　Click  あいうえお（教科書体）　濁音　半濁音　拗音あいうえお表１

                                         Simple Hiragana Chart (Dakuon Handakuon Youon)
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Click ひらがな濁音拗音一覧表（PDF）
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

                             Hiragana (Dakuon Handakuon Youon) Chart with Roman letters





Worksheets

　　　　　　　　　　　　　

                                                     Dakuon Handakuon Worksheet
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

                                                     Dakuon Hantakuon Tracing Writing
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Click ひらがな表　濁音なぞり書き２

                                                                 Youon Worksheet

                         Dakuon Handakuon Youon Worksheets
　　　　　　　2 letters in each page  Total 31 pages
                    There are good for younger children and beginners

Hiragana

There are 46 characters in Basic Hiragana.

                                               From http://www.happygolucky.info/?p=1216


The first 5 Hiragana letters (the vertical line on the right)  are あ　い　う　え　お　(a i u e o)

Then, か　き　く　け　こ  ka ki ku ke ko

           さ　し　す　せ　そ  sa si(shi) su se so

           た　ち　つ　て　と   ta ti(chi) tu(tsu) te to

           な　に　ぬ　ね　の  na ni nu ne no

           は　ひ　ふ　へ　ほ   ha hi hu(fu) he ho

           ま　み　む　め　も   ma mi mu me mo

           や　　　ゆ　　　　よ  ya yu yo

           ら　り　る　れ　ろ   ra ri ru re ro

           わ　　　　　　　　を　 wa wo

           ん                               n (nn)


Just remember the first vertical line（あ　い　う　え　お a i u e o） and the first horizontal line （あ　か　さ　た　な　は　ま　や　ら　わ　ん a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa n）at first.  Then it is easy to memorize all Hiragana sounds. However for the writing, you need to memorize one by one since there are no patterns on writing.


Here are some different kinds of Hiragana Chart.  Print out whichever you like, and study!

                                                   Hiragana Chart with the stroke orders

                                Hiragana Chart with Roman letters, Katakana and Stroke orders

Hiragana Chart with Roman letters, Katakana and words

Simple Hiragana Chart

                                                              Hiragana Chart Coloring

                                                      Hiragana Chart with Roman letters




Hiragana Worksheets

Hiragana あ～の　　　　Hiragana は～ん
　　　One character in each page　These are good for young children and the first time learner.
         Total 46 pages

Hiragana Tracing Writing あ～ん
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　               5 letters in each page  

                                        Hiragana Trace Writing あ～ん with Stroke Orders
                                                            5 letters in each page

Hiraganaあ～の with Stroke Orders

Trace once and write once 

                                                     Hiragana は～ん with Stroke Orders
                                                              Trace once and write once

Hiraganaあ～んTracing
                                                         
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

                                           Hiraganaあ～んTrace Writing with Stroke Order



Blank papers to practice Hiragana!

                                                                   Blank papers   
                                                                 

どうぶつAnimals

When I teach Japanese to young children, the first thing I teach is animals.  Children love animals!  I also teach them the sounds of the animals.  It is very interesting to know how different we hear the sounds of the animals.

いぬ　dog 　　　　ねこ　cat 　　　　　ぶた　pig 　　　　　うし　cow

さる　monkey           かえる　frog              ひつじ　sheep            うさぎ　rabbit

ぞう　elephant    　らいおん　lion  　　きりん　giraffe  　　　かめ　turtle

わに　crocodile        　　しまうま　zebra       　　　どうぶつえん　zoo

The sounds of the animals

A dog says...わんわん

A cat says..にゃーにゃー

A pig says..ぶーぶー

A cow says..もー

A monkey says...ききー

A frog says...げろげろ

A sheep(also a goat) says めー

A rabbit jumps..ぴょんぴょん

An elephant says..ぱおーん？

A lion says...がおー

I don't know about a giraffe, a turtle, a crocodile, and a zebra... Most of the big animals, we think they say がおー！

Click here!  Animals PDF file

Japanese alphabets

The Japanese language consists of three different alphabets;

Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji (Kanji means "Chinese Character" in Japanese).

Both Hiragana and Katakana are syllabic alphabet. Each character represents a sound.

They both represent exactly the same sounds (some of them even look quite similar).

Example:  　Hiragana あいうえお（a i u e o)　Katakana アイウエオ（a i u e o)

Hiragana is used for native Japanese words.      Ex. すし

Katakana is used for foreign words.  　Ex.コンピュータ

There are 46 characters in Basic Hiragana and Basic Katakana.  There are also Mix Hiragana and Mix Katakana, and they are called Dakuon, Handakuon, and Youon.

Hiragana

Basic--46 characters 　　Dakuon and Handakuon--25       Youon-36

Katakana

Basic--46 characters        Dakuon and Handakuon--25         Youon--36 

Hiragana Chart         Mix Katakana Chart (Dakuon Handakuon Youon)


Katakana Chart        Mix Katakana Chart (Dakuon Handakuon Youon)


These are a lot!  But as long as you memorize basic letters, it is easy to learn mix letters.

The difficult part of learning Japanese writing is Kanji. But do not worry!   Even Japanese people struggle with Kanji..

Kanji—over 8000  

Kanji came from China,  An average adult Japanese speaker must know at least 2000.

If you want to live in Japan, I think you will need to know at least 1000 Kanji...^^;