Hiragana character for wa/ha?

[Chaotic]

I'm a bit confused. The character for WA is

, correct?
The character for HA is

, right?
In the book I'm studying it has this sentence in Romaji: Kore wa nan desu ka. and translates it into the Hiragana form. Well, after "KORE" (

) it shows

attached to KORE.

Means HA doesn't it? But they're using it as WA through more than once in the book.
This confuses me. Is WA converted to

when used as a particle? Thank you.

 

[undrentide]

Normally は is pronounced "ha".
e.g.
はな（花） hana = flower
はこ（箱） hako = box
は（歯） ha = teeth

However, when it is used as a particle, は is pronounced "wa", it sounds the same as わ.

e.g.
私は日本人です watashi wa nihonjin desu = I'm Japanese
こんにちは konnichiwa

 

[SushiShin]

i also studied from a book some months ago and people still say that i was wrong to buy the book with the money i could better do some private lessons for 7days!

now we are talking about it is this correct? =

これわなんですか = kore wa nan desu ka
こんにちわ= konnichiwa

 

[undrentide]

i also studied from a book some months ago and people still say that i was wrong to buy the book with the money i could better do some private lessons for 7days!

now we are talking about it is this correct? =

これわなんですか = kore wa nan desu ka
こんにちわ= konnichiwa

Pronounciation-wise, it is OK, but don't write これわ or こんにちわ.
It is simply wrong!
Stick to これは and こんにちは.

 

[SushiShin]

hai! わかります! ありがとう!
im happy that i've accomplished a lot in 2 months!

ha, watashi wa baka desu

 

[gofai]

I have an another question,
why た、て、と、 usually pronounced as だ、で、ど

Also, how to pronounce づ、ぢ。。。
their pronunciation are too similar to be confused.

Thanks.

 

[nice gaijin]

I have an another question,
why た、て、と、 usually pronounced as だ、で、ど

Also, how to pronounce づ、ぢ。。。
their pronunciation are too similar to be confused.

Thanks.

づ＝ず and ぢ＝じ

 

[undrentide]

I have an another question,
why た、て、と、 usually pronounced as だ、で、ど

For example???
た、て、と are always pronounced た、て、と (ta, te, to),
not だ、で、ど (da, de, do).

Also, how to pronounce づ、ぢ。。。
their pronunciation are too similar to be confused.

づ = dzu
ぢ = ji

There used to be difference between ず and づ, or じ and ぢ, but not any more. They are pronounced the same.

 

[gofai]

For example???
た、て、と are always pronounced た、て、と (ta, te, to),
not だ、で、ど (da, de, do).



づ = dzu
ぢ = ji

There used to be difference between ず and づ, or じ and ぢ, but not any more. They are pronounced the same.

for example, In many japanese アニメ ~たっだ。 ～こと。 手 行きたい were spoken as ～だっだ ～ごど で 行きだい

 

[undrentide]

for example, In many japanese アニメ ~たっだ。 ～こと。 手 行きたい were spoken as ～だっだ ～ごど で 行きだい

I'm afraid that you heard them wrong...
At least it is not a normal speech.

だった（not たっだ） is pronounced だった. Never だっだ.
Same about others.

 

[gofai]

also, usually か was pronounced as が

for example, 飲むに行きませんか －＞ のむに行きませんが

 

[undrentide]

also, usually か was pronounced as が

for example, 飲むに行きませんか －＞ のむに行きませんが

Again... you heard it wrong.
飲みに行きませんか. Unless the speaker has nasal problems, it should be pronounced without ゛.

 

[gofai]

then I can only say たとてか have similar pronunciation with だどでが。。。

so that I cannot distinguish them

 

[nice gaijin]

it's called voicing; d and g are phonetically related to t and k. However, they are not interchangeable.

 

[gofai]

I know they are related, but I really heard both of them (た、だ）were spoken as だ, then I can only say my ear cannot distinguish them...

Is there anybody here also has this problem?

 

[breez]

I'd venture to guess that your native language doesn't have those as distinct sounds. Personally I have some trouble with じ and ち which are foreign sounds to me.

 

[Chaotic]

Thanks for the replies everyone Found out what I needed to know.

 

[SushiShin]

you are welcome chaotic-san!

 

[Chaotic]

Heh, k. I finally looked at the tutorial and learned how to type in Japanese. Makes life easier than linking pictures.

Okay, here's another question I came up with: How do I know the difference between HA and WA? How can I tell the difference when it's something like "はい" or something like "それ えんぴつは ぼくのです"

I know that in えんぴつは, wa is attached at the end, but I have encountered this new sentence/word(s) which confuse me: わたしのではありません.

How do I know whether the は in わたしのではありません is wa or not? Is it because wa （ は ） is always at the end of a word, if anywhere, or am I wrong?

Also, what if a word ends with はHA? Or are there no words in Japanese that end with HA? If so, how can I tell the difference? Thank you

 

[undrentide]

Okay, here's another question I came up with: How do I know the difference between HA and WA? How can I tell the difference when it's something like "はい" or something like "それ えんぴつは ぼくのです"

I know that in えんぴつは, wa is attached at the end, but I have encountered this new sentence/word(s) which confuse me: わたしのではあ りません.

How do I know whether the は in わたしのではあ りません is wa or not? Is it because wa （ は ） is always at the end of a word, if anywhere, or am I wrong?

The only は which is pronounced wa is the particle.
えんぴつは is two words, えんぴつ (pencile, noun) and は (particle, topic marker)
Same goes with
わたしのではあ りません
わたしの で は あ りません
Again this は is particle.

As particle is used to indicate the function of its preceding words, so it always come after another word. (Not at the end of the word because は is a word on its own...)

Also, what if a word ends with はHA? Or are there no words in Japanese that end with HA? If so, how can I tell the difference? Thank you

There are words that end with は, though not so many.
あ げは（揚羽） ageha : name of butterfly
いんしょうは（印象派） inshouha : impressionism
ことのは（言の葉） kotonoha : word(s)
Also there are a few words pronounced は
歯 ha = tooth/teeth
刃 ha = blade
葉 ha = leaf

 

[Chaotic]

The only は which is pronounced wa is the particle.
えんぴつは is two words, えんぴつ (pencile, noun) and は (particle, topic marker)
Same goes with
わたしのではありません
わたしの で は ありません
Again this は is particle.

So how do I tell the difference? わたしのではありません looks like one word because it's not spaced out. Is で a word by itself? Is that the reason は is put next to it as a particle? It confuses me how I'll be able to tell the difference later on.

 

[undrentide]

So how do I tell the difference? わたしのではあ りません looks like one word because it's not spaced out. Is で a word by itself? Is that the reason は is put next to it as a particle? It confuses me how I'll be able to tell the difference later on.

Yes, で is another particle.
Perhaps, it would help you to learn the main particles and basic vocabulary first?

 

[Charles Barkley]

Later on it will be no problem. Well, almost. When there are long strings of hiragana, if you don't know the vocabulary, it can be kind of hard to figure out how to pronounce things (at first glance at least). But once text starts having kanji, the は for particles and the は as pronounced normally are pretty apparent.

For example:

私はCharles Barkleyです。

スイカは好きだけど、オレンジは嫌いだ。
I like watermelon but I hate oranges.

今日は何時に勉強しはじめるの？
When will you start studying today?

はじめまして。

In the first two, the は are wa's, or particles. Often they come after nouns, or other particles such as に で etc. Since almost all nouns are either written in kanji or katakana, it's pretty apparent that what follows them is the particle wa.

In the last two, the last sentence, hajimemashite, ha is the first character in the sentence, so it obviously has to be pronounced ha. The other one might be a bit confusing: shiHAjimeru. You take the masu form of a verb, drop masu, add hajimeru, and you get 'to begin to do ~'. In this case, you see that the shi before the は is not in kanji, an is after benkyou, so it must be the beginning of an inflected verb. Particles will not break up an inflected verb, so you know it cant be prounced wa, and with enough familiarity, you'll quickly recognize the grammar point. Anyway, just gaman and keep reading and it won't be a problem anymore.

ETA: Others may have other opinions, but I think its best not to think of Japanese in terms of 'words.' More useful is thinking of things as nouns, particles, verbs, a long inflected string consisting of a verb + an ending, etc. Even more useful, and what I do now, is to kind of think of things as units, which are broken up by important partices. In the above examples:

今日は何時に勉強しはじめるの？ I would break this up into 3 parts:

kyouwa nanjini benkyoushihajimeruno?

Thinking about it this way is quite helpful for pronounciation and for forming sentences, especially when speaking. You get through one part, then think of what the next part will be. It creates a more natural rhythm, which will obviously be slow and choppy at first, but will eventually get you there.

 

[Chaotic]

Yes, で is another particle.
Perhaps, it would help you to learn the main particles and basic vocabulary first?

If that's a sarcastic remark then I'm no damn mood for it. If it's a simple question, then I can't seem to find a LIST that explains each and every particle. As I go along in my textbook, I'm just finding them separately and having them explained to me there.

I haven't reached で yet. Didn't know it was a particle.

Furthermore, if で is a particle, then why is it following の? ( わたしのではありません )


Also, thank you Charles for your informative post.

 

[undrentide]

If that's a sarcastic remark then I'm no damn mood for it. If it's a simple question, then I can't seem to find a LIST that explains each and every particle. As I go along in my textbook, I'm just finding them separately and having them explained to me there.

I haven't reached で yet. Didn't know it was a particle.

Furthermore, if で is a particle, then why is it following の? ( わたしのではありません )

Why do I have to make a sarcastic remark to you?
I have to tell you that your comments do not make very happy when I'm trying to help.
If you cannot find a list of particles, I hope you'd just ask me.


The reason I suggested to learn particles is that there are not so many of them, it would be easy for you to remember particles (I assume you already know it comes after other words such as nouns and verbs), so once you get the hang of it, it should not be so difficult to see where one words starts and ends.

Anyway, I think this website is very helpful when you want to learn the basics,
Learn Japanese – Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese
and you can find explanations on the particles under "3. Basic Grammar".
Hope it helps.

Oh, and the reason の is followed by で - there are many cases that two or more particles are used together, as each has different meanings and functions.
In the case of your example, の works just like noun, meaning something that belongs to わたし. So わたしの means "mine".