Hiragana and Katakana Basics

Hiragana and Katakana

Basic Strokes

• Hiragana and katakana characters are written with a specific stroke order:
  • Vertical strokes: top to bottom
  • Horizontal strokes: left to right
  • Slanted strokes: top-left to bottom-right
• Basic stroke order: vertical, horizontal, slanted
• Some characters have additional strokes or variations

Common Characters

• Hiragana:
  • (a)
  • (i)
  • (u)
  • (e)
  • (o)
• Katakana:
  • (a)
  • (i)
  • (u)
  • (e)
  • (o)

Pronunciation

• Hiragana and katakana characters are phonetic symbols:
  • Represent sounds in the Japanese language
  • Each character has a specific pronunciation
• Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words and grammatical elements
• Katakana is used to write foreign words, loanwords, onomatopoeias, and emphasis

Reading and Writing

• Reading:
  • Hiragana and katakana characters are read from top to bottom and right to left
  • Characters are combined to form words and phrases
• Writing:
  • Practice writing characters with correct stroke order
  • Pay attention to character spacing and alignment

• • (a)
  • (i)
  • (u)
  • (e)
  • (o)
• • (a)
  • (i)
  • (u)
  • (e)
  • (o)