Portuguese uses the Latin alphabet; Japanese usually combines three scripts in a single sentence.

The idea

Hiragana represents sounds and often writes particles and verb endings: を and ます. Katakana also represents sounds and commonly writes borrowed words, such as コーヒー. Kanji usually carries meaning in word stems: 水 means water. Furigana gives a kanji reading in small kana; 水 is read みず here. Unlike Portuguese letters, kana generally represent a sound unit rather than a single consonant or vowel.

Patterns to compare
SystemExample
ひらがなを
カタカナコーヒー
漢字水

Examples

  • これは本ほんです。This is a book.
  • 私わたしは水みずを飲のみます。I drink water.
  • パンを食たべます。I eat bread.
  • コーヒーを買かいます。I buy coffee.
  • 今日きょうは学校がっこうへ行いきます。I go to school today.
  • あの人ひとはブラジル人じんです。That person is Brazilian.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

A borrowed word is not necessarily pronounced like its Portuguese counterpart. Also, a kanji can have more than one reading depending on the word.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the usual spelling for coffee: （コーヒー／こーひー）

    Show answer or example answer

    コーヒー

    コーヒー is the usual katakana spelling of coffee.

  2. Choose the hiragana particle in 水を飲みます: （を／水）

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    を

    を is a hiragana particle marking the object; 水 is kanji.

  3. Choose the kanji meaning water: （水／を）

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    水

    水 is the kanji for water, read みず in this word.

Use it today

Find the three scripts in the examples, then read 水を飲みます aloud using the furigana.