Vowels
あ (a) : Apple
い (i) : Two i’s side by side
INFO
い
appears very commonly as it can act as suffix to adjectives in Japanese- These adjectives are called I-adjectives
- The flicked line in
い
called as anはね
(hane)い
on its on own means stomach in Japanese
う (u) : Boxer getting punched in the stomach saying “UGH!”
え (eh) : Energetic Ninja
お (oh) : UFO
INFO
お
is commonly found at the begining of words- It is used to imply politness
Example Words
- あい
- AI (Love)
- うえ
- UE (Up/ Above)
- いいえ
- IIE (No)
- あおい
- AOI (Blue (adj.))
INFO
- Hiragana can be also used to spell Kanji characters
- Hiragana will be placed above or beside the Kanji character and written in a smaller font
- This usage of Hiragana is called “Furigana”