Japanese Grammar

Consonants

Japanese has the following consonants:

b  d  f  g  h  j

k  m  n  p  r  s

sh  t  ts  ch  z

The Gojû table

This table contains the possible combinations of consonants and vowels in Japanese - the so-called '50 vowel table' (gojû-on-zu).

a  ka  sa  ta  na  ha  ma  ya  ra  wa  n

i  ki  shi  chi  ni  hi  mi - ri -

u  ku  su  tsu  nu  fu  mu  yu  ru -

e  ke  se  te  ne  he  me - re -

o  ko  so  to  no  ho  mo   yo  ro -

The horizontal lines are dan (level), the columns gyô (column).

daku-on

Dulled vowels (daku-on) are formed with the ka-gyô, sa-gyô, ta-gyô, ha-gyô consonants through dulling nigori:

ga  za  da  ba

gi  ji  ji  bi

gu  zu  zu  bu

ge  ze  de  be

go  zo  do  bo

Another series is formed with the ha-gyô and half-dulling (han-daku-on):

pa  pi  pu  pe  po

The gojû-on table is the alphabet used in Japanese dictionaries in the order of the individual gyô with the following dan:

a  i  u  e  o  ka  ki  ku  ke  ko  sa  shi  su  se  so  ta ...

daku-on and han-daku-on are inserted after the relevant sei-on.

All the above syllables are called choku-on (unbroken vowels) in Japanese, as they are represented by one symbol in written Japanese.

yô-on

Syllables with the half-vowel y[I] are called yô-on (broken vowels), as they need two syllable symbols. The symbols for ya, yu and yo to designate the half-vowels. They can be combined with the following consonants:

k  s  t   n   h  m  r  g   j  b  p

The syllable symbol for the relevant i-dan are used when writing. The following symbols are formed:

kya  sha  cha  nya  hya  mya  rya  gya  ja  bya  pya

kyu  shu  chu  nyu  hyu  myu  ryu  gyu  ju  byu  pyu

kyo  sho  cho  nyo  hyo  myo  ryo  gyo  jo  byo  pyo

soku-on

Double consonants (soku-on) - tension vowels - appear in Sino-Japanese and in pure Japanese words. They also appear in foreign words.

hatsu + sha -> hassha

datsu + sen -> dassen

kutsu + taku -> kuttaku

shutsu + hatsu -> shuppatsu

hachi + kai -> hakkai

ichi + tsû -> ittsû

nichi + chû -> nitchû

haku + kin -> hakkin

roku + hyaku -> roppyaku

seki + kô -> sekkô

Soku-on appear in pure Japanese words through vowel suppression onbin

torite -> totte

omoite -> omotte

kirite -> kite

mochite -> motte

yorite -> yotte

Japanese in the Latin alphabet (rômaji)

- the Hepburn system (Hebonshiki-rômaji)

- the Japanese system (Shin-kunresiki-rômazi)

The symbol system in Japanese

Two types of symbols are used in Japanese

- Syllable symbols (Kana)

a) Hiragana

b) Katakana

- Phonoideographic characters Kanji

Generally, Kanji serves for semantic representation, while Hiragana serves morphological and syntactic representation.

Syllable symbols

The syllable symbols (Kana) have developed in two forms:

- Hiragana from cursive forms of Kanji (from sôsho)

- Katakana from abbreviated or simplified forms of Kanji (derived from kaisho)

Each syllable symbol in Japanese represents the vowel value of a complete syllable.

Hiragana is usually used to represent all morphological forms. such as Joshi and Jodôshi, but also whole words in pure Japanese, e.g. Fukushi, Setsuzokushi or Kandôshi. Katakana is mainly used for foreign words from other - mostly European languages - and foreign names or designations. In both syllable alphabets individual syllables (the gojû-on-zu) are represented with one syllable symbol each. These syllables are also used as base characters in the combined vowel representation.

Hiragana table

wa	ra	ya	ma	ha	na
ta	sa	ka	a
(w)i	ri	---	mi	hi	ni
chi	shi	ki	i
(w)u	ru	yu	mu	fu	nu
tsu	su	ku	u
(w)e	re	---	me	he	ne
te	se	ke	e
(w)o	ro	yo	mo	ho	no
to	so	ko	o	n

Katakana table

wa	ra	ya	ma	ha	na
ta	sa	ka	a
(w)i	ri	---	mi	hi	ni
chi	shi	ki	i
(w)u	ru	yu	mu	fu	nu
tsu	su	ku	u
(w)e	re	---	me	he	ne
te	se	ke	e
(w)o	ro	yo	mo	ho	no
to	so	ko	o	n

Other vowel combinations are written in a certain way. daku-on are formed by adding two small parallel lines on the right on top beside the sei-on in ka-gyô, sa-gyô, ta-gyô, and ha-gyô.

daku-on

ba	da	za	ga
bi	ji	ji	gi
bu	zu	zu	gu
be	de	ze	ge
bo	do	zo	go

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