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Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to BASIC JAPANESE WRITING. The fastest, easiest and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet!
You've learned these 20 Hiragana characters in the previous lessons.
なにぬねの
In this lesson, you'll learn five new Hiragana characters.
The first Hiragana character for this lesson is な. な.
Think of な as a complicated *KNO*T!
Are you confused between た and な? Just remember that な looks more complicated so it gets mixed up in a *KNO*T. Also, remember that the left side of た is *TA*LLER.
Do you remember that Hiragana い is used as a suffix for MOST adjectives? These are called い-adjectives. The other kinds of adjectives are the な-adjectives. These use the Hiragana な as the particle to connect to nouns.
Hiragana な is written in 4 strokes.
The first stroke is a short horizontal stroke.
Next is a diagonal stroke that cuts through the first stroke. It only goes until the middle.
The third stroke is a short curved stroke to the right and under of the first stroke. It ends with a "hane" and continues on to the next stroke.
The final stroke goes downwards then makes a loop. Unlike the loop in す, this one doesn't need to follow the same line as when it started the loop.
Ok, let's see it again.
Ok, next up is the Hiragana character に. に.
に looks like a *KNEE*. Easy to remember, right?
Hiragana に is written in 3 strokes.
The first stroke is like that of the Hiragana け. It is a vertical stroke with a slight outward curve and then it ends with a "hane."
The second and third stroke is like the Hiragana こ but smaller. Start with the curved line on top that ends with a "hane." Then follow it with the bottom line curved in the opposite way.
Ok, let's see it again.
The third one is the Hiragana ぬ. ぬ.
To remember this character, think of a pair of chopsticks holding a bunch of *NOO*dles!
Hiragana ぬ is written in 2 strokes.
First draw a curved, slanted line.
The second stroke starts at the same height as the first stroke, but curves opposite it, makes a big curve, then finishes with a loop.
Take a look at the proportions of the spaces. These two are small ones, this one is a bit larger, and this one has the biggest space.
Ok, let's see it again.
Think of ね as a S*NAI*L hiding behind a *NAI*L
ね looks similar to ぬ doesn't it? Well, just remember that you need a pair of chopsticks to be able to hold your *NOO*dles so ぬ has two lines sticking out on top of the curve and ね just has ONE.
Hiragana ね is written in 2 strokes.
The first stroke is a vertical line which goes from top to bottom.
The second stroke starts with a short horizontal line that passes the first stroke. It then goes diagonally to the left passing the first stroke again, then it retraces back, makes a big curve, and ends with a loop.
Ok, let's see it again.
And our final character for this lesson is the Hiragana の. の.
It's easy to remember this one. It's like a "NO" sign.
の is also a widely used Hiragana. It is the particle used to denote possession.
Hiragana の is written in 1 stroke.
It starts from this point, goes down then bends to the left and continues on to make a big curve that passes through the starting point.
Make sure that the curve meets the starting point but try your best not to go too low and make the vertical line protrude.
Ok, let's see it again.
Let's see all the characters again. な, に, ぬ, ね, の.
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?
に. Just like a *KNEE* remember?
の.
Which one is the Hiragana た? [pause for 3 sec] It's this one! It does look like a "ta", doesn't it?
じ. This also means "letter."
Remember this one? [pause for 3 sec] It's せ.
"Cuckkoo!" It's a く.
ぬ.
なに. This means what? What! なに means "what".
いぬ. This means "dog."
"Meow!" ねこ is "cat."
にじ. にじ means "rainbow."
おかね means "money."
せなか. It refers to your upper back.
なっとう. なっとう is fermented soybeans. It's known to be very smelly, but it's very good for you!
おねがい. Means "Please!" As a noun, it also means "a request."
Great job! Are you wondering why there's no dakuten version of なにぬねの? This is because the "N" sound is already voiced. Try to feel your throat. "Nnnnn." There's a vibration, right?
Ok, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned.
In this lesson, you learned the Hiragana characters な, に, ぬ , ね, and の.
よくできました!You've now mastered 25 characters and 40 Japanese syllables:
Did you miss the dakuten in this lesson? Next time, I'm going to introduce 5 more characters and ANOTHER modifying mark, so don't miss it!
Before you go, practice writing the following words on your own!
[pause]
And to learn MORE Japanese, go to JapanesePod101.com.
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See you in the next lesson! またね!

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