Japanese Answer

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Hiragana is part of three parts of the Japanese writing system (the others are Kanji and Katakana).

Hiragana represent all possible syllables of Japanese. So if you can pronounce Hiragana you can pronounce any Japanese word reasonably well (although obviously intonation and other factors come into play). Hiragana is the best place to start learning Japanese.

Hiragana are used for Japanese words that have no Kanji (Chinese characters). They are also used for various gramatical constructs such as verb and adjective endings, particles etc...

There are 46 Basic Hiragana:

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
は ha ひ hi ふ fu へ he ほ ho
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 ゐ wi ゑ we を wo

These basic characters are extended as follows:

が ga ぎ gi ぐ gu げ ge ご go
ざ za じ ji ず zu ぜ ze ぞ zo
だ da ぢ (ji) づ (zu) で de ど do
ば ba び bi ぶ bu べ be ぼ bo
ぱ pa ぴ pi ぷ pu ぺ pe ぽ po

They are used in combination as follows:

きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo
しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho
ちゃ cha ちゅ chu ちょ cho
にゃ nya にゅ nyu にょ nyo
ひゃ hya ひゅ hyu ひょ hyo
みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo
りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo
ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo
じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo
ぢゃ (ja) ぢゅ (ju) ぢょ (jo)
びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo
ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo