Hiragana accent

Learn more about the features of accent in hiragana!

As in the Portuguese language, Japanese also has accents. These accents are of two types: consonant and vowel.

consonant accent

The consonant accent is characterized by the use of two lines at the top of the hiragana symbols. Also, when using the consonant accent, the sound of the symbols becomes more “fangled”. For example:

The family of K ( Ka??, Ki??, Ku??, Ke??, Ko?? ) becomes G (Ga??, Gi??, Gu??, Ge??, Go ??) ; the S family ( Sa??, Shi??, Su??, Se??, So?? ) becomes the Z family ( Za??, Ji??, Zu??, Ze??, Zo ? ?); the family of T ( Ta??, Tchi??, Tsu??, Te??, To??) becomes the family of D ( Da??, Ji??, Zu??, De??, Do ?? ) and the H family ( Ha??, Hi??, Fu??, He??, Ho?? ) becomes the B family ( Ba??, Bi??, Bu??, Be? ?, Bo?? ). These are the only families that can use the consonant accent.

Note that in both the S family and the T family, the syllables SHI and TCHI become JI, and the syllables SU and TSU become ZU. Then you ask me: And how will I know when a word is written with ? and ?? Or with ? or ?? The answer is simple. Living with the Japanese language.

Only with the coexistence and the use of Japanese will we learn how to differentiate the correct spelling of words. So don't worry about confusing and swapping these syllables at first. This is completely natural.

vowel accent

The vowel accent is characterized by the use of a circle at the top of the symbol, be it hiragana or katakana. It is also known as explosive accent because it transforms the H family ( Ha??, Hi??, Fu??, He??, Ho?? ) into the P family ( Pa??, Pi??, Pu?? , Pe??, Po?? ). And this is the only case where vowel accents are used.

Conclusion on Hiragana Accent

Both the consonant accent and the vowel accent are very simple to be used and learned, as they do not have as many rules as the accents in Portuguese. Thus, we do not need to memorize, but only to understand the transformation that occurs from one family to another when using accents.

It would be good for you to also take a look at the full list of hiragana and katakana japanese alphabet placed in introductory articles on Japanese writing to see all the symbols.

The stroke order for accented hiragana symbols continues in the same way. You write the symbol in the same order and, finally, write the accent (with two dashes or the circle).

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Japanese calligraphy exercise

Select the Japanese alphabet symbols and click the Generate button in the Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice . Then a new window will open with the file for printing. Then just print it out, cover the gray hiragana symbols and then try to write it yourself. Just print and practice!