Japanese/Kana/Lessons/Hiragana/Lesson 3

Hiragana: [ a ] [ ka ] [ sa ] [ ta ] [ na ] [ ha ] [ ma ] [ ya ] [ ra ] [ wa, wo, n ] [ ゐ and ゑ (ancient hiragana in disuse) ]
Katakana: [ a ] [ ka ] [ sa ] [ ta ] [ na ] [ ha ] [ ma ] [ ya ] [ ra ] [ wa, wo, n ] [ ヰ and ヱ (ancient katakana in disuse) ]

In this lesson you are going to learn how to read and write さ、し、す、せ、そ. Adding two small lines called 濁(だく)点(てん) dakuten, but commonly known simply as 点々(てんてん) tenten, meaning "two marks", causes clear sounds to change to their voiced sound. Thus, adding the 点々(てんてん) tenten marks to さ、し、す、せ、and そ will produce ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、ぞ.

Clear sounds

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	sa	za
Mnemonic:	The horizontal line is a saw (sa) cutting through an apple tree branch, and the round part is the apple.
Example:	さら (sara) plate さけ (sake) rice wine さわる (sawaru) to touch	ざんねん (zannen) too bad, regrettable ざんぎょう (zangyou) overtime (work) ざいがい (zaigai) overseas

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	shi	ji
Mnemonic:	She (shi) has very long hair.
Example:	した (shita) below; rude しぬ (shinu) to die しる (shiru) to know	じぶん (jibun) oneself じしょ (jisho) dictionary じごく (jigoku) hell

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	su	zu
Mnemonic:	It's someone who committed suicide by hanging. Tie a knot to a "T"
Example:	する (suru) to do すみません (sumimasen) excuse me すごい (sugoi) awesome, terrific すし sushi	ずるい (zurui) sly, cunning ずいい (zuii) optional ずいちょう (zuichou) good omen

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	se	ze
Mnemonic:	It's the face of a person named Seth (se). A guy has his arm wrapped around the girl and says "say you love me"
Example:	せんたく (sentaku) laundry せなか (senaka) back (of the body) せまい (semai) confined, small, cramped	ぜひとも (zehitomo) by all means ぜんぶ (zenbu) all, entire ぜん (zen) Zen (Buddhism)

Brush Stroke:
Sound:	so	zo
Mnemonic:	There are SO many lines at the top of this symbol, and SO few at the bottom. Think to the sign of "Zorro" plus a fox tail The zig-zag of a sewing stitch.
Example:	そら (sora) sky そば (soba) Japanese buckwheat noodles そと (soto) outside	ぞう (zou) elephant ぞうき (zouki) internal organs ぞうり (zouri) sandals