Learn the Hiragana K column
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| Hi everyone! Welcome to BASIC JAPANESE WRITING. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet! |
| You've learned these five Hiragana characters from the previous lesson. |
| かがきぎくぐけげこご |
| In this lesson, you'll learn five new characters and 10 new sounds. How is that possible? Stay tuned to find out! |
| The first Hiragana character for this lesson is か. |
| Need help remembering this one? Just imagine it as a blade CUTTING a stick! |
| か is actually a Hiragana character that is used a lot since it is the question-marking particle in Japanese. So if you see a sentence ending in か it is most probably a question. |
| The Hiragana か also has another reading once we add this mark. |
| This mark is called "dakuten" or "ten ten". It is made up of two lines that look a bit like a quotation mark symbol and it's put on the upper right corner of the character. |
| The dakuten makes the consonant of the syllable voiced. So か with a dakuten will be pronounced as が. |
| Voicing a consonant simply means that you create a vibration in your vocal cords when you say it. が. が. Notice the difference? か; が. か; が. |
| Hiragana か is written in 3 strokes. |
| The first stroke starts as a horizontal line, then bends down into a vertical curved line. Finally it ends with a "hane" release. |
| The second stroke is a downward diagonal line with a slight curve inwards. Make sure that this stroke intersects the first stroke around here. |
| The final stroke is a curved slanted stroke to the right of where the first stroke bends. |
| Make the last stroke slightly longer than the other small slanted strokes in previous characters to distinguish it from the dakuten. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| Ok, next up is the Hiragana character き. き. |
| き looks like a [pause] KEY! |
| Just like the Hiragana か, all of the characters in this column can be altered by a "dakuten." |
| き with a dakuten is pronounced as ぎ. き; ぎ. き; ぎ. |
| Hiragana き is written in 4 strokes. |
| The first two strokes are two parallel lines both starting from left to right. They are written at a bit of an angle. |
| The third stroke cuts through the first two strokes and ends with a "hane" release. |
| Because the third stroke ends with a "hane," don't put down your pen yet. When you get to this point, make a small curve like half of a smile. |
| Even though you see the fourth stroke connected to the third stroke in most fonts, the correct way to write き is to lift your pen up before making the final stroke. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| The third one is the Hiragana く. く. |
| To remember this character, think of it as a cuckoo's beak. CUCKOO |
| Let's add a "dakuten" to く as well. How do you think it will sound like? |
| It's pronounced as ぐ. く; ぐ. く; ぐ. |
| Hiragana く is written in 1 stroke. |
| It is written just like an open angle bracket but with a slight inward bend. |
| To make your handwriting neat, make sure that the start and end points are aligned. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| This is the Hiragana character け. け. |
| け looks like a KEG, doesn't it? |
| Just like the first three characters, け can be modified by a dakuten. |
| け with a dakuten is pronounced as げ. け; げ. け; げ. |
| Hiragana け is written in 3 strokes. |
| The first stroke is a vertical stroke with a slight outward curve and then ends with a "hane." |
| After the "hane," continue on to the next stroke. it is a short horizontal line. |
| The third stroke is another vertical stroke that curves opposite to the first stroke but starts a bit higher and ends lower. Flick your pen at the end of this stroke. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| And our final character for this lesson is the Hiragana こ. こ. |
| Imagine this character as two KOI fish swimming around each other. |
| Now, can you go and say what こ sounds like with a dakuten? |
| It will be ご. こ; ご. こ; ご. |
| Hiragana こ is written in 2 strokes. |
| The first stroke is a curved horizontal line that ends with a "hane." |
| Go down to this point and make a longer horizontal line that curves opposite from the first one. |
| Just like the Hiragana い, こ should look like it is enclosing a circle. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| Let's see all the characters again. か, が, き, ぎ, く, ぐ, け, げ, こ, ご. |
| Quiz time! |
| Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or group of characters and give you time to say them. Ready? |
| き. Just like a KEY remember? |
| か. か actually means "a mosquito." |
| Do you remember this one? [pause for 3 sec] It's え! |
| い. |
| こ. |
| う. |
| く. |
| かく. This means "to write." |
| かげ. かげ means "shadow." |
| きく. This means "to listen." Try not to mix this up with かく. |
| こえ. こえ is "voice." |
| かぎ. かぎ means "key." Don't forget it! |
| きおく. This means "memory." Make sure not to forget this one as well. |
| えいが. えいが is "movie." |
| おおきい. This means "big"! |
| Great job! Are you wondering, "How do I identify between a dakuten mark and a quotation mark?" Don't worry. In Japanese we use corner brackets to signify quotes and titles instead of quotation marks. |
| Ok, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. |
| In this lesson, you learned か and が, き and ぎ, く and ぐ, け and げ, and こ and ご. |
| よくできました！You've now mastered 10 characters and 15 Japanese syllables: |
| Are you ready to learn what "imagination" is in Japanese? Stay tuned for the next lesson when we move on to the hiragana characters in the S column. |
| Before you go, practice writing the following words on your own! |
| See you in the next lesson! またね！ |
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