Learn the katakana H column
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| Hi everyone! Welcome to BASIC JAPANESE WRITING. The fastest, easiest and most fun way to master the Japanese alphabet! |
| You've learned these 25 katakana characters from the previous lessons. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the five katakana characters in the H column. We'll be using the dakuten and handakuten as well. |
| ハバパ |
| ヒビピ |
| フブプ |
| へべぺ |
| ホボポ |
| The first katakana character for this lesson is ハ. ハ. |
| To remember ハ, imagine it as a roof of a *HOU*SE. |
| Do you remember how to pronounce ハ with a "dakuten?" |
| It will be バ. ハ; バ. ハ; バ. |
| And what will be its sound if we put a "handakuten" to it instead? |
| Do you remember? ハ with a handakuten is pronounced パ. ハ, パ; ハ, パ. |
| Katakana ハ is written in 2 strokes. |
| The first stroke is a curved diagonal going to the bottom left. |
| The second stroke is another curved diagonal mirroring the first one. |
| Make sure there is a gap between where the two strokes start. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| Ok, next up is the katakana character ヒ. ヒ. |
| Can you see it as a side of a *HEE*L? |
| Now, let's add a dakuten to ヒ. ヒ with a dakuten is pronounced as ビ. ヒ; ビ. ヒ; ビ. |
| And, how will it sound like with a handakuten? It's going to be ピ. ヒ; ピ. ヒ; ピ. |
| Katakana ヒ is written in 2 strokes. |
| The first stroke is a slightly slanted horizontal stroke going from left to right. |
| The second stroke goes from top to bottom then curves to the right. The angle on this corner is not as sharp as in other katakana characters. |
| Make sure the second stroke only touches the first stroke and doesn't cross it. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| The third katakana for this lesson is フ. Remember, it's not "hu" or "fu" but somewhat in between: フ. フ. |
| To remember the katakana フ, try to think of it as the tip of a *FOO*T. |
| Let's try adding a "dakuten" to フ as well. What do you think it will sound like? |
| It's pronounced as ブ. Listen carefully. フ; ブ. フ; ブ. |
| Now, let's try it with a handakuten. It becomes プ. フ; プ. フ; プ. |
| フ is special as it is the only syllable in Japanese to have a sound very close to an F sound. However, since it is not in the I row, you couldn't combine it with や, ゆ and よ to make digraphs. Instead, you combine フ with smaller versions of the katakana vowels to make a whole "F" column: ファ, フィ, フ, フェ and フォ. |
| Take note that you don't combine a small ウ to フ since it already ends in an "u" sound. |
| Katakana フ is written in 1 stroke. |
| You have done this stroke in other katakana characters. Start with a horizontal line then turn sharply to draw a curved diagonal line going to the bottom left. And that's it. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| Next is the katakana character へ. へ. |
| へ looks exactly like its hiragana counterpart with no exceptions. |
| Let's modify へ with a dakuten. It is now pronounced as べ. へ; べ. へ; べ. |
| And when へ is modified with a handakuten, it will be pronounced as ぺ. へ; ぺ. へ; ぺ. |
| Katakana へ is written in 1 stroke. |
| Start from the middle and draw a diagonal line upwards then turn and make a longer diagonal line towards the bottom right. |
| The "peak" of this character should not be in the center. Instead it's a bit to the left. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| Our final character for this lesson is the katakana ホ. ホ. |
| You can think of ホ as a shining, holy cross. |
| What does ホ sounds like with a dakuten? |
| ホ with a dakuten is pronounced ボ. ホ; ボ. ホ; ボ. |
| And with a handakuten? It will be ポ. ホ; ポ. ホ; ポ. |
| Katakana ホ is written in 4 strokes. |
| The first stroke is a long horizontal line. |
| The second stroke is a long vertical line cutting through the middle of the first stroke. |
| The third stroke is a diagonal which starts from here then goes down to the left. |
| The fourth stroke is a mirrored version of the third stroke. Make sure the third and fourth strokes are not touching the other lines. |
| Ok, let's see it again. |
| Let's see all the characters again. ハ, バ, パ, ヒ, ビ, ピ, フ, ブ, プ, へ, べ, ぺ, ホ, ボ, ポ and the new digraphs ファ, フィ, フェ, and フォ. |
| Quiz time! |
| Now, let's review what you've learned. I'll show you a character or a word and give you time to say them. Ready? |
| プ. |
| ヒ. |
| わ. Remember the *WHI*TE S*WA*N? |
| べ. |
| ク. |
| り. |
| ナ. It looks like a *KNI*FE, remember? |
| ベース. This could mean "bass," the musical instrument or the "bases" in baseball. |
| サボる. It means "to slack off." |
| コーヒー. This means "coffee." |
| デパート. This refers to a "department store." |
| ビジネス. ビジネス means "business." |
| パーティー. This means "party." Yeah! |
| ピカピカ. This means "shiny" or "sparkling." |
| ゴボゴボ. This is an onomatopoeia for rushing water. ゴボゴボゴボ. |
| Great job! Did you know that many loan words have become so popular that they even become verbs or adjectives? Some examples are シェアする meaning "to share," スマート meaning "smart-looking" and サボる meaning "to slack off." This last one comes from an abbreviation of "sabotage." |
| Ok, let's wrap up this lesson by recapping what you've learned. |
| In this lesson, you learned ハ, バ and パ, ヒ, ビ and ピ, フ, ブ and プ, へ, べ and ぺ, ホ, ボ and ポ and the digraphs ファ, フィ, フェ, and フォ. |
| よくできました！You've now mastered 76 Japanese characters. |
| Up for some games? Find out how it's spelled in Japanese first when we talk about the M-column in the next lesson. |
| Before you go, practice writing the following words on your own! |
| [pause] |
| And to learn MORE Japanese, go to JapanesePod101.com. |
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| See you in the next lesson! またね！ |
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