HIragana

 LETTER
Japanese has at least four kind of letters. They are Hiragana,
Katakana, Kanji and Romaji.
Here's my short explanation about them:
a. HIRAGANA : Long time ago, Hiragana is only used by women. So, no
wonder it has a very gentle shape. You can use this kind of letter to
write an adverb, words that can't be represented by Kanji, or to write
in a formal situation.

ひらがな (HIRAGANA)
あ　A い　I う　U え E お O
か KA き KI く KU け KE こ KO
が GA ぎ GI ぐ GU げ GE ご GO
さ SA し SHI す SU せ SE そ SO
ざ ZA じ JI ず ZU ぜ ZE ぞ ZO
た TA ち CHI つ TSU て TE と TO
だ DA づ DZU で DE ど DO
ら RA り RI る RU れ RE ろ RO
は HA ひ HI ふ FU へ HE ほ HO
ば BA び BI ぶ BU べ BE ぼ BO
ぱ PA ぴ PI ぷ PU ぺ PE ぽ PO
な NA に NI ぬ NU ね NE の NO
ま MA み MI む MU め ME も MO
や YA ゆ YU よ YO
わ WA を (W)O
ん ..N
ちゃ　CHA ちゅ CHU ちょ CHO
じゃ JYA じゅ JYU じょ JYO
きゃ KYA きゅ KYU きょ KYO
ひゃ HYA ひゅ HYU ひょ HYO

Do they have cute shapes? I think they do
You can write "sha","shu","sho", "pya","pyo" etc by following the formula above.

Let's try to applicate the letter we've learned..Try to read the
Hiragana without looking the Roman version.
a) ちび　まるこ　ちゃん
b) めいたんてい　きゅう
c) じょだん　じゃない
d) とうきょう　に　いきます

Written in Roman
a) Chibi Maruko chan (little maruko-chan)
b) Meitantei Kyuu (Detective Kyuu)
c) Jyodan jyanai (It's not kidding"
d) Toukyou ni ikimasu (I live in Tokyo)

There's special cases when you find っ(tsu) is written in a smaller
font. It's used to write double consonants.
• ゆっくり = yu-(little)tsu-ku-ri >> Yukkuri
• いっぱい = i-(little) tsu-pa-I >> ippai
• きっと = ki-(little) tsu-to >> kitto
• いらっしゃいませ　＝i-ra-(little)tsu-sha-i-ma-se >> irasshaimase

Did you see the pattern? Little "tsu" would sound like the consonant
coming after it. I think that's enough about Hiragana. Next, we'll
learn to read Katakana.