Japanese Grammar

BarCharts, Inc.® WORLD’S #1 ACADEMIC OUTLINE Japanese Use as a supplement with basic & intermediate Japanese course textbooks PRONUNCIATION A. Sound and Syllables 1. Syllables consist of a vowel, [a], [i], [u], [e] or [o], and a set of either a consonant or a consonant + [y] and a vowel 2. There are two exceptions: See small [tsu] and long vowel in the syllabary below 3. Each syllable should be pronounced with same length WRITING SYSTEM Basic Hiragana a あ i い u う e え o お Variations N na な ni に nu ぬ ne ね no の H ha は hi ひ fu ふ he へ ho ほ M ma ま mi み mu む me め mo も Y ya や yu ゆ yo よ R W ra wa n ら わ ん ri り ru る re れ ro wo ろ を a i u e o G ga が gi ぎ gu ぐ ge げ go ご Z za ざ ji じ zu ず ze ぜ zo ぞ D da だ ji ぢ zu づ de で do ど B ba ば bi び bu ぶ be べ bo ぼ P pa ぱ pi ぴ pu ぷ pe ぺ po ぽ c. Glides: A smaller-sized letter や[ya], ゆ[yu] or よ[yo] is attached to き[ki], し[shi], ち[chi], に[ni], ひ[hi], り[ri] or its variation to transcribe sound of syllables containing a consonant and [y] a Sy kya Ch sha cha postal stamp きって kitte author さっか sakka ticket きっぷ kippu leaf はっぱ happa magazine ざっし zasshi diary にっき nikki 3. Katakana a. Each katakana character was made from part of a kanji character b. Most words borrowed from romance languages and onomatopoeias are transcribed in katakana Basic Katakana K a kyu shu chu i kyo sho cho Ny nya Hy hya My mya Ry rya nyu hyu myu ryu nyo hyo myo ryo きょ しょ ちょ にょ ひょ みょ りょ Gy J gya J ja ja By bya pya gyu ju ju byu pyu gyo jo jo byo pyo ぎょ じょ ぢょ びょ ぴょ Some Examples of Double Vowels k s t n h m y r w aa ああ かあ さあ たあ なあ はあ まあ やあ らあ わあ ii いい きい しい ちい にい ひい みい N/A りい N/A むう ゆう るう N/A ee oo うう ええ えい おお おう くう ええ けい こお こう Variations N H M Y R W G a ta na ha ma ya ra wa n ri イ キ シ チ ニ ヒ ミ リ u ki shi chi ni ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru e re レ o ke se B P ga za da ba pa ダ バ パ gi ji ji bi ギ ジ ヂ ビ ピ u gu zu zu bu pu グ ズ ヅ ブ プ o ko so to no ho mo yo ro wo D ガ ザ e te ne he me エ ケ セ テ ネ ヘ メ Z i ウ ク ス ツ ヌ フ ム ユ ル オ コ ソ ト ノ ホ モ ヨ ロ ヲ Py d. Double consonants: Small letter of つ [tsu] is used to indicate the first consonant of double consonants; it occurs in a word and requires a slight pause of the same duration of one syllable uu ka sa T hi mi a pi ge ze de be pe ゲ ゼ デ ベ ペ go zo do bo po ゴ ゾ ド