When do I use the different Japanese alphabets?

The Japanese writing system is a combination of two character types—an ideogram

kanji, which was introduced from China, and a phonogram kana, which was derived
from kanji. Most Japanese words are generally written in kanji or kanji plus hiragana to
express the meaning. Actually, we use four patterns to write words in the Japanese
language.

Language Tip

       Firstly, only kanji. Many nouns and words of Chinese origin are

often written in kanji only. For example, 本 meaning "book" or 天気 meaning
"weather."
        When Japanese people see kanji, they can immediately recognize the
meaning of the word. However, when they see the hiragana versions of words
normally written in kanji, Japanese people have to find the meaning from the
context of the sentence.
        Secondly, kanji and hiragana. Thehiragana is called okurigana. And it
is the hiragana that follows kanji stems, and is generally used to inflect
adjectives and verbs. For example, 大きい meaning "big" or 食べる meaning
"to eat." Here, the ki i and the beru are written in hiragana.
        Thirdly, only hiragana. This is used when a person forgets how to write a
word in kanji or when words don't have kanji. For example, うきうきす
る which means "be excited" doesn't have kanji and is written in hiragana only.
        Finally, only katakana. Imported words from other languages are
primarily written in katakana only. For example, ピアノ meaning "piano"
and サッカー meaning "football."
       Almost all Japanese sentences contain a mixture of kanji and kana. For
example:
   私はコンピューターを使います。(watashi wa kompyūtā wo tsukaimasu)
meaning "I use the computer."

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Lesson Transcript
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Hi everybody! Hiroko here. Welcome to Absolute Beginner Questions Answered
by Hiroko, where I’ll answer some of *your* most common Japanese questions.

The question for this lesson is… When do I use the different Japanese
alphabets?

When you write the Japanese word “kokoro” which means “heart,” can the first
“ko” be written in hiragana, the second “ko” in katakana and the last “ro” in either
hiragana or katakana or kanji?

The Japanese writing system is a combination of two character types - an

ideogram kanji, which was introduced from China, and a phonogram kana, which
was derived from kanji. Most Japanese words are generally written in kanji or
kanji plus hiranaga to express the meaning. Actually, we have four patterns to
write words in the Japanese language.

Firstly, only kanji. Many nouns and words of Chinese origin are often written in
kanji only. For example, 本 meaning “book” or 天気 meaning “weather.”

Secondly, kanji and hiragana. The hiragana is called okurigana. And it is the
hiragana that follows kanji stems, and is generally used to inflect adjectives and
verbs. For example, 大きい meaning “big” or 食べる meaning “to eat.” Here, the
‘ki i’ and the ‘beru’ are written in hiragana.

Thirdly, only hiragana. This is used when a person forgets how to write a word in
kanji or when words don’t have kanji. For example, うきうきする which means
“be excited” doesn’t have kanji and is written in hiragana only.

Finally, only katakana. Imported words from other languages are primarily written
in katakana only. For example, ピアノ meaning “piano” and サッカー meaning
“football”.

Then when you write “kokoro”, you can use either hiragana “こころ” or the kanji
“心”. However, when Japanese native speakers see the kanji ”心”, they can
immediately understand the meaning is “heart” because of the kanji. When they
see the hiragana version of “こころ”, they have to find the meaning from the
context.

Now let’s talk about sentences a bit.

Almost all Japanese sentences contain a mixture of kanji and kana. For
example, 私はコンピューターを使います。