Overview
Hello everyone! I hope that you’ve been practicing writing and recognizing the hiragana in the first four columns. In this lesson, we will be going through the 5th and 6th columns of the Hiragana chart, as well as the additional sounds that can be generated from those letters.
Hiragana – Fifth Column
The fifth column is associated with the ‘n’ sound, so the the first letter, な, is read as ‘nah’, and so on.
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Hiragana – Sixth Column
This column is associated with the ‘h’ sound, but we have an exception with the third letter, ふ. It is read as ‘foo’, instead of ‘hoo’. Also, note that the first letter, は, is read as ‘hah’, but it can also be read as ‘wah’ when it used as a particle in a sentence, but more on that when we get to sentence structure. Similarly, the fourth letter, へ, is usually read as ‘heh’, but can be read as ‘eh’ (same sound as え) when it is used as a particle in a sentence.
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Additional Sounds
The ‘n’ column has no additional sounds. However, as if to make up for that, the ‘h’ column has two kinds of additional sounds that can be produced.
The first kind is with the two strokes added to the top right of the letter. In that case, the ‘h’ sound changes to the ‘b’ sound, so the first letter, ば, will be read as ‘bah’, and so on.
The second kind is with a circle added to the top right of the letter. The ‘h’ sound then changes to the ‘p’ sound, so the first letter, ぱ, will be read as ‘pah’, and so on.
Let us now take a look at these additional sounds.
1. ば
Romaji: Ba
2. び
Romaji: Bi
3. ぶ
Romaji: Bu
4. べ
Romaji: Be
5. ぼ
Romaji: Bo
6. ぱ
Romaji: Pa
7. ぴ
Romaji: Pi
8. ぷ
Romaji: Pu
9. ぺ
Romaji: Pe
10. ぽ
Romaji: Po
Example Words
Below are some words and phrases that can be formed by combining all the letters we’ve learnt thus far.
- なに (Nani) – What?
- あに (Ani) – Older brother
- あね (Ane) – Older sister
- ぶた (Buta) – Pig
- いぬ (Inu) – Dog
- ねこ (Neko) – Cat
- おはよう (Ohayou) – Good morning
- はね (Hane) – Wing
- はな (Hana) – Nose / Flower
- はなび (Hanabi) – Fireworks
- にじ (Niji) – Rainbow
- へた (Heta) – Unskillful
- ふとい (Futoi) – Fat
- ほんとう (Hontou) – Really
- ひな (Hina) – Doll
Conclusion
In this lesson, we learnt the 5th and 6th columns of Hiragana, and the additional sounds that can be produced from them. If you have any questions, be sure to comment below. I hope to see you in the next lesson!