Lesson 1-2

Japanese Syllabary

1) Basic syllables

There are forty-six basic hiragana (also katakana) syllables, which are listed below. Once you memorize these charts, you will have the skill to transcribe all of the Japanese sounds. The romaji chart is given for general pronunciation reference.

*The syllables 「ふ」,「し」,「ち」, and 「つ」are romanized

as fu, shi, chi, and tsu, respectively, which is closer to the English pronunciation.

**「を」is also pronounced as “o“, however, since this「を」is

only used as a particle, it is sometimes written and managed as “ wo” in romanized distinctively from the basic syllable「お」.

Basic syllables/ Hiragana

Basic syllables/ Katakana

Basic syllables/ Romaji

2) Syllables with Diacritical Marks

You can transcribe 23 additional sounds by adding diacritical marks.

With a pair of short diagonal strokes ( ” ), the unvoiced consonants k, s, t, and h become voiced consonants g, z, d and b.

The consonant h changes to p with the addition of a small circle ( ° ).

*「ぢ( ji )」and 「づ( zu ) are pronounced the same as 「じ( ji )」and 「ず( zu )」, respectively, and have limited use.

Syllables with Diacritical Marks/Hiragana

K→G

T→D

H→P

S→Z

H→P

*pronounced as the same sound

Syllables with Diacritical Marks/Katakana

K→G

T→D

H→P

S→Z

H→P

*pronounced as the same sound

Syllables with Diacritical Marks/Romaji

K→G

T→D

H→P

S→Z

H→P

*pronounced as the same sound

3) Transcribing Contracted Sounds

Small「 や」,「 ゆ」, and 「 よ」followed after letters in the second

column i-vowel hiragana/i-Dan ( except「い」) and are used to

transcribe contracted sounds. The contracted sound represents a single syllable.

Transcribing Contracted Sounds/Hiragana

Transcribing Contracted Sounds/Katakana

Transcribing Contracted Sounds/Romaji