Learn how to read and write hiragana characters, な, に, ぬ, ね, の
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| みなさんこんにちは。(Mina-san konnichiwa.) |
| Hi everyone and welcome back to JapanesePod101.com’s Kantan kana. In the last lesson, we learned the Hiragana characters た(ta), ち(chi), つ(tsu), て(te) and と(to). Be sure to review the last lesson if you are not feeling confident. After this lesson, you will have learned over half of the Hiragana characters. Keep going but don’t forget to review the ones that you’ve already learned. |
| We will start with な(na). な(na) is one of just three Hiragana characters that have four strokes 1, 2, 3, 4. |
| なつ(natsu) “Summer” |
| あなた(anata) “You”. |
| Next up is に. 1, there is a はね(hane), right here, 2, 3. The character kind of looks like a knee. These two strokes are the kneecap. Do you see it? |
| にく(niku), “Meat” |
| かに(kani) , “Crab”. |
| Here is ぬ(nu). The first stroke goes at an angle. The second stroke crosses over twice and ends in a loop. |
| いぬ(inu) “Dog” |
| きぬ(kinu), “Silk”. |
| Let’s learn ね(ne). The first stroke is straight up and down. Then we cross it once, twice, three times and finish in a loop. Think of this loop as a fish swimming in a net. |
| ねこ(neko) “Cat” |
| おかね(o-kane) “Money”. |
| Finally here is の(no). Just think of this as a sign with the slash through it like a no smoking sign. いのしし(inoshishi), “Wild boar” |
| おの(ono), “axe”. |
| Now let’s have a short quiz. I will show you the Hiragana and you read it. Bonus points if you remember what it means. |
| あなた(anata) “You” |
| いぬ(inu) “Dog”, |
| おかね(o-kane), “Money. |
| Now it’s time for Chihiro’s tip. Hiragana has evolved for more complex Chinese characters called 漢字(kanji). Some 漢字(kanji) had easily recognizable sounds, so they were used phonetically. Then those were simplified over time and are used in the Hiragana today. That’s why you can find some kanji that look like Hiragana and sounds similar too. |
| Have you ever given はな(hana) to your はは(haha). In the next lesson, you will learn how to write flower and mother in Hiragana. See you next time. |
54 Comments
HideMina-san,
We're really learning a lot of hiragana characters now! This week it's the "n" set!
Cameron Scott さん
Thank you for your comment😄
Yes, they look similar👍
Thank you for studying with us!
Sincerely,
Erica
Team JapanesePod101.com
こんにちは Jeffrey Scott,
Thank you for your comment. 😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish you good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
レヴェンテ (Levente)
Team JapanesePod101.com
Thank you so much for this series.
In just two weeks 've learned and memories half the Hiragana characters.
I practice writing them from memory too and I'm doing good.
I find that helps me remember them more when I see them.
こんにちわ！have you noticed ぬ and め look like あ without the top stroke?
Halaさん
Thank you so much for your comment😄
You will learn the は (ha) line in the next lesson👍
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
is the hana necessary for "na"? i know she made one but she didn't mention that it's important like she usually does.
Hi Parth Mehta,
Thank you for posting!
I'm so sorry for this late reply.
Congratulations on being able to write your favorite anime characters names!
Yes, it's of course possible to calligraph hiragana and katakana as well.
Do you want to try? How nice!!
Hope you enjoy learning Japanese with us.
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
hello
I am actually revising Hiragana
i was able to write my favorite Naruto characters names in Hiragana back than thanks to the easy to understand lessons of japanesepod101.com
my question is it is possible to write calligraphy in Hiragana?
Hi Zayne,
Thank you very much for the comment!
I'm glad to hear you've picked up Japanese again with us!
Please keep studying with us and make your dreams (being fluent in Japanese/ travelling to Japan) come true!
Sincerely,
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Thank you so much, I wish I cared about learning Japanese as much as I did back when i was in my younger years of schooling and one of my classes was Learning Japanese, but oh well. I hope that I will be able to Speak fluent Japanese and also be able to travel to Japan.