Hiragana and Katakana Basics
To put things simply, hiragana and katakana are the Japanese alphabet. There are 46 syllables in both systems, not including those created by diacritics (more on that later).
(Cultural Fact! — Hiragana and katakana were created from simplified kanji during the Heian Period (794—1192). )
Hiragana are used for endings on verbs and for items that are not written in kanji or katakana. The hiragana alphabet is as follows:
あ (a) い (i) う (u) え (e) お (o)
か (ka) き (ki) く (ku) け (ke) こ (ko)
さ (sa) し (shi) す (su) せ (se) そ (so)
た (ta) ち (chi) つ (tsu) て (te) と (to)
な (na) に (ni) ぬ (nu) ね (ne) の (no)
ま (ma) み (mi) む (mu) め (me) も (mo)
や (ya) ゆ (yu) よ (yo)
ら (ra) り (ri) る (ru) れ (re) ろ (ro)
わ (wa) を (wo)
ん (n)
(Did you notice how all of the letters are kinda curvy? That's a hiragana-only trait!)
Katakana are used for several things, including foreign words and names, pet names and onomatopoeia (or sound effects). The katakana alphabet is as follows:
ア (a) イ (i) ウ (u) エ (e) オ (o)
カ (ka) キ (ki) ク (ku) ケ (ke) コ (ko)
サ (sa) シ (shi) ス (su) セ (se) ソ (so)
タ (ta) チ (chi) ツ (tsu) テ (te) ト (to)
ナ (na) ニ (ni) ヌ (nu) ネ (ne) ノ (no)
マ (ma) ミ (mi) ム (mu) メ (me) モ (mo)
ヤ (ya) ユ (yu) ヨ (yo)
ラ (ra) リ (ri) ル (ru) レ (re) ロ (ro)
ワ (wa) ヲ (wo)
ン (n)
(See how the lines here are all straight and angular? That's how to tell the difference between hiragana and katakana. Be sure to note the differences here!)
That's all well and good knowing what the syllables look like, but it doesn't work very well if you don't know how to pronounce things, right? Here's a quick and dirty guide:
a as in father
i as in the "ee" sound in feet
u as in the "oo" sound in mood
e as in met
o as in fort
Hopefully, that might help you out a bit.
