Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [hiragana]

ひらがな. The cursive form of the syllabary used mostly for (but not restricted to) the grammatical features of written Japanese including verb endings and particles, and for native words written without kanji.

Note that hiragana usage often overlaps with that of and . They are not necessarily mutually exclusive though there are some useful rules of thumb.

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I cannot recognise this kana

Hello. I've circled characters I cannot recognise. The top one looks like を but there is an actual をnext to it and it looks different. Why? The middle one is ゆ in my opinion. But I'm not sure about that. Why does it look different to the usual ゆ?…
Pavel
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Is there any rhyme or reason to hiragana?

I'm just beginning to learn Japanese. The grammar and kanji I can follow along thanks to similarities with Korean, but the hiragana is confusing the heck out of me. There seems to be no pattern at all whatsoever, even in letters that look very…
user3932000
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Why is ゆ written in hiragana on bath houses' noren?

I am informally teaching Japanese to friends and they sometimes ask interesting questions I can't answer. Yesterday, I told them that ゆ could often be seen in front of public bath houses, and someone asked me why the kanji wasn't used. I guess it…
Gumamori
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Why is it spelled やっほー instead of やっほう?

Very beginner question. I often see this spelled in hiragana with a dash. I thought the dash was used to indicate long sounds in katakana, where hiragana should have been spelled やっほう. Why isn't it?
Don Reba
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Are the Hiragana characters ぢゃ, ぢゅ, and ぢょ (still) used?

I am learning Hiragana, and I pulled a couple of charts off the internet to use as study aids. One of them has the line of characters ぢゃ, ぢゅ, and ぢょ, but they are not in the other chart. Are these characters a mistake? Are they still used? Are they…
Rabet
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Why are a high proportion of basic Japanese words written in hiragana?

Sometimes it seems like a lot of basic Japanese words are typically written in hiragana rather than kanji. By "basic", I mean pleasantries that are probably the first thing non-native speakers learn in Japanese: "おはようございます", "こんにちは", "ください",…
Golden Cuy
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I want to know what "marumaru" means

What does marumaru mean? For example, this anime title ひとりぼっちの○○生活 (Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu). What does marumaru mean here?
Bdetona
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Can personal pronouns be written in hiragana?

Would it be frowned upon to say for example ぼく instead of 僕？Or わたし instead of 私？Is it just a stylistic choice or do these have to be in kanji?
jacoballens
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Reading and significance of dakuten with kana for which it normally is not used

Came across these while reading a novel. How do you read this?
mkJohn
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What does ちょーなー mean?

ファイナルがんばって！終わったらデートしてちょーなー In that sentence. Is the person saying date me or just simply, "go on date"? And what does cho na mean? Thanks
trent
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Patterns across Hiragana consonants?

I've recently begun studying Japanese just for fun. I rely really heavily on patterns to learn languages. Please do excuse me if I'm using incorrect terminology. This is literally my second day of studying Japanese, so I really don't know exactly…
Day 2 of learning Japanese
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The difference between 何/なに (nani) and なん (nan)?

In そうなんですか (sounandesuka) the なん (nan) is used to explain something, give reasoning, or to emphasize something but in これはなんですか (korewanandesuka) the なん is treat as "what", how to know when to use, is it all depends on context?
John Adams
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What is なん in そうなんですか

I understood roughly what sou desu, sou des ka mean. But I'm having difficulty in understanding the word nan in sou nan des ka. If Sou des ka can literally be translate as "correct/it seem so is it?" How does adding nan "what" fit in this sentence?…
John Adams
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How do you write cho, chu, che and cha in Japanese using hiragana?

I'm not completely sure on how to write cho, chu, che and cha in Japanese (using hiragana). I have a rough idea that includes having the ち (chi) character followed by any of the 'y' characters (yo, yu, ya). For example: ちゃ to make a cha sound. Is…
simp4tingle
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Origin of Nanka

When watching anime I heard this word come across (Tsuki ga kirei, ep4, somewhere at the end) and I was wondering if it is a combination of nani and ka or just another word. If it is a combination then why would it be used like that? with both nani…
John Adams
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