VSGs
Table of Contents
So far, we’ve talked about 15 Hiragana sound groups and 71 characters in all! Do you remember them all?
Here is a little review for you:
あ、い、う、え、and お
か、き、く、け、and こ
さ、し、す、せ、and そ
た、ち、つ、て、and と
な、に、ぬ、ね、and の
は、ひ、ふ、へ、and ほ
ま、み、む、め、and も
や、ゆ、and よ
ら、り、る、れ、and ろ
わ and を
が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、and ご
ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、and ぞ
だ、ぢ、づ、で、and ど
ば、び、ぶ、べ、and ぼ
ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、and ぽ
As it turns out, that is only 1 way to group the Hiragana characters. In this post, let’s talk about a different way to group the Hiragana characters and how it will help you as you learn more Japanese in the future.
The あ Vowel Sound Group
Take a look at the following 15 characters:
You’ll notice that all these characters end in the same vowel sound. I’m going to call these characters “the あ V.S.G.” where VSG stands for vowel sound group.
Some of these characters will be important when we talk about negation in verbs. They will also be important when we talk about receptive and causative sentences.
The い VSG
The next VSG will be very important when we talk about our last set of 36 sounds. They will also be important when using the polite version of verbs and when you talk about actions that you want to do.
Keep in mind that ぢ is rarely used in modern Japanese words.
The う VSG
9 of the sounds in this group will be very important when we talk about Japanese verbs.
Just like ぢ、づ is hardly ever used in modern Japanese words.
The え VSG
This group of sounds will be important when we talk about how you say that you are able to do things, and also when you want to say “If I do X, then Y”.
The お VSG
This final group is used when you want to say that”let’s do 〜”, and also when you talk to yourself about doing actions.
Conclusion
Because there are only 5 vowels, there are also only 5 VSGs. In the next post we’ll start using this way of grouping Hiragana to explain the last set of Hiragana characters! Stay tuned!
