3/24/2011

Hiragana - Part I (a)

<Skill Level: Never Learned Before, Beginner, Intermediate>

Hiragana (ひらがな) is a set of Japanese phonetic alphabets.

Take a look at this chart and see if you can pronounce and write them.


Can you change the following hiragana words into Roman alphabets, then translate it?

Example: おはよう ---> OHAYOU
It literally means "Early" and stands for "Good morning."

The last う(u) elongates よ(yo). Some textbooks may suggest you to write a small bar on top of the last vowel next to う(u): OHAYO with a bar on top of the last O, or to spell OHAYOO or OHAYOH instead. If you are taking Japanese lessons at school, please follow their instructions. Sometimes people say おはよ (Ohayo). To make it more polite, add ございます (gozaimasu): おはようございます (Ohayou gozaimasu).

Question 1: いぬ
Question 2: かわ
Question 3: はる
Question 4: みかん
Question 5: あか
Question 6: やま
Question 7: おいしい
Question 8: たのしい
Question 9: うれしい
Question 10: はしる

If you are intermediate, don't forget to write them in Kanji+Hiragana.