Hiragana

Hiragana serves several vital roles in a Japanese sentence:

1. Grammatical Particles: Small words like は, が, を, and へ that tell you who is doing what or where they are going are almost exclusively written in Hiragana. Note that when used as particles, は, を, and へ are pronounced わ, お, and え respectively.
2. Okurigana (Inflections): While the 'root' of a verb might be Kanji, the part that changes for tense or politeness is Hiragana (e.g., in 食べる（たべる）, the べる is Hiragana).
3. Native Words: Many common words like ねこ (cat) or かわいい (cute) are frequently written in Hiragana.
4. Furigana (Reading Aids): Small Hiragana characters are often written above or beside Kanji to show how to pronounce them, which is especially helpful for learners.
5. Softness: Writing a word in Hiragana instead of Kanji can make the sentence feel warmer or more casual.

Sound Modifications:

• Dakuten (゛): Turns か into が.
• Handakuten (゜): Turns は into ぱ.
• Small characters (ゃ, ゅ, ょ): Create contracted sounds like きゃ.
• Small tsu (っ): Creates a double consonant or a short pause.
• Long Vowels: Sounds are extended by adding a second vowel character. While お sounds are usually extended by adding う (e.g., お父さん（おとうさん）), a few exceptions use お instead (e.g., 大きい（おおきい）). Similarly, え sounds are usually extended by adding い (e.g., 先生（せんせい）), with a few exceptions using え (e.g., お姉さん（おねえさん）).