Hiragana: Lesson 26 - ‘は’ [ha], ば [ba] & ‘ぱ’ [pa]

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CHARACTERS OF THE DAY!


Hakuba: Konnichiwa, minna-sama! Kyou hiragana no HA wo benkyoshitai! Tna-san to Kaoko-san kochira e ikanai, ja boku wa koko ni iru. Ah- wasurechatta, boku wa Hakuba Saguru, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!



*Cough*

Someone came to the class and coughed. Crossing her hands lazily.





Hakuba:Haibara-san?

Haibara: In case you forgot, but this is an international classroom, many of them aren't coming from Japan, so please use English.

She glanced at Hakuba sarcastically.

Hakuba: Aha~ gomen, gomen...hontou ni wasurechatta...

*Scratching his not-itchy head*

Haibara only responded with apathetic expression without a single word.

Hakuba: Tonikaku, why does the-first-grader come here all of sudden? We're going to teach everyone who is absolutely years and years older than you.

Haibara: Any problem?

Again, she coldly implied Hakuba's words without any expression.

Hakuba: Betsuni...

Haibara: Well, actually Tna-san and Kaoko-san asked me to share about Japanese language to all members of this classroom since my name begins with “HA”. I bet you're here for the same reason.

Hakuba: Yeah, perfectly right. Ja, could we start the class now?

Haibara: Dame yo. We should wait for another teacher.

Hakuba: Maji ka yo? There's another besides us? Dare?

Haibara: Soon you'll know him. Oh no, maybe you’ve known him. Just wait patiently.

Haibara looked at his watch then sighed.

Hakuba: Why hasn't he come? It's been fifteen minutes late,”

Haibara: If he came on time, then it would be weird.

Hakuba: Ha?

Haibara: So, the great meitantei has no idea about him?

She smirked and scorned him.

Hakuba: Taku....

45 minutes passed. Some students in the classroom complained for the very long delay, but some of them seemed to enjoy chitchatting each other.
An hour later...

“Yo, minna!”



A-not-unfamiliar voice with lazy tone heard. Someone came into the classroom.

Haibara: An hour forty six minutes and twenty seven seconds late. Youkoso, Hatake-san.

Kakashi: Aha- warukatta na. I helped a granny found her way home. On my way here, I ran into two foreign girls wandering away in my love labyrin-

Hakuba: Uso! Ah, so another teacher is you, Kakashi-san?

Kakashi: Ah, sou, sou.

Haibara: Maa, can we start off now?

Kakashi: Yeah, of course. I brought a nice book with me so we can have fun while learning 'HA' lesson!

He put out three books with different color from his ninja weapon pocket.



Hakuba: Icha Icha Paradise? Kakashi-san, they're still underage! Not to mention one of us also far behind the permitted age... I think mine is better...

He glanced at Haibara. But she just sneered at him, silently. He had no idea that she was actually an eighteen year old woman. Hakuba then put out a blue thick novel-like.



Haibara: Sherlock Holmes? Geez~ I'm freakin' out already with so many Holmes' freak around me...

She sighed with a long breath, suddenly she remembered of Kudou Shinichi, the biggest fan of it.

Haibara: Maa, how about mine? Karera no tameni, chanto yori ga ii to omoimasu... (I think it’s more proper to them)

She took out a magazine-like book and showed it off to those two.



Kakashi & Hakuba: EINSTEIN?

Kakashi: We're not going to study science, Haibara...

Haibara: But we're not also going to study ninja arts and detective story, no?

Hakuba: Demo sa, detective story is important to build up their analytical skill...


Cheesus: Ano...can we start now? More than two hours the lesson is being delayed. May I know what's the topic for today?

Haibara: Einstein life story!

Kakashi: Ninja arts!

Hakuba: Detective!

They said accordingly.

Cheesus: OK, OK. Just mingle them into one. So the conclusion is we're going to study "A Detective, who had used to be a mad scientist, was currently learning Ninja Arts".

Hakuba, Kakashi, & Haibara: 

Haibara: Soreyori, we now have ‘HA’ and ‘BA’ characters to begin with. What about ‘PA’?

Kakashi: Shinpai shinai...

He suddenly bit his right thumb until its bled and scraped it to the ground.

Kakashi: Kuchiyose no jutsu! (summoned technique)

*PUFF* As the smoke faded away, a dog appeared.



Kakashi: Yo, minna! This is PAKKUN. He’ll help us as the example for ‘PA’ lesson. Well then, let’s begin the class!

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Pronunciation:
‘は’ is romanized ‘ha’.

Words with ‘は’:
‘は’ at the beginning:

• 八 / はち (hachi -> eight)
• 蜂 / はち (hachi -> bee)
• 早い / はやい (hayai -> quick; fast)
• 走る / はしる (hashiru -> run)
• 話す / はなす (hanasu -> speak; talk)
• 離す / はなす (hanasu -> separate; disengage; divide)
• 鼻 / はな (hana -> nose)
• 離れ / はなれ (hanare -> apart)
• 離れる / はなれる (hanareru -> leave)
• はさみ (hasami -> scissors)
• 働く / はたらく (hataraku -> to work)
• 初恋 / はつこい (hatsukoi -> first love)
• 刷毛 / はけ (hake -> brush)

‘は’ in the middle:

• おはよう (ohayou -> good morning!)
• 朝飯 / あさはん (asahan -> breakfast)
• 後輩 / こうはい (kouhai -> junior)
• 同輩 / どうはい (douhai -> peer; equal; comrade)
• 浅はかな / あさはかな (asahakana -> shallow)
• 腐敗 / ふはい (fuhai -> corruption; decay; decomposition)
• 河畔 / かはん (kahan -> riverside)
• やはり (yahari -> still; also; nevertheless)
• 自白 / じはく (jihaku -> confession; acknowledgement)
• 野原 / のはら(nohara -> field)

‘は’ at the end:

• 母 / はは (haha -> mother)
• 木の葉 / このは (konoha -> foliage; leaves)
• 爆破 / ばくは (baha -> blast; explosion)
• 打破 / だは (daha -> defeat)
• 学派 / がくは (gakuha -> school; sect)
• 撃破 / げきは (gekiha -> kills; crushing)

Stroke order:



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The character ‘は’ may also be combined with a dakuten, changing it into ‘ば’ in hiragana, and ‘ba’ in Hepburn romanization. With the dakuten added the pronunciation is changed, to ‘ba’. は + " (dakuten) = ば (look below)

Pronunciation:
‘ば’ is romanized (pronounced) ‘ba’ as in ‘bar’.

Words with ‘ば’:

‘ば’ at the beginning:

• ばかり (bakari -> only; just; merely)
• 馬鹿馬鹿しい / ばかばかしい (bakabakashi -> stupid)
• 爆弾 / ばくだん (bakudan -> bomb)
• 化け物 / ばけもの (bakemono -> monster; ghost; goblin; phantom)
• ばら (bara -> rose)
• 番号 / ばんごう (bangou -> number)
• 場所 / ばしょ (basho -> place)
• 晩御飯 / ばんごはん (bagohan -> dinner)
• 化かす / ばかす (bakasu -> delude; confuse; enchant)
• 化ける / ばける (bakeru -> garbled)
• 瀑布 / ばくふ (bakufu -> waterfall)

‘ば’ in the middle:

• 今晩は / こんばんは (konbanwa -> good night)
• 鞄 / かばん (kaban -> bag)
• 瞬き / まばたき (mabataki -> wink; flicker; twinkling)
• 小母さん / おばさん (obasan -> auntie)
• お婆さん / おばあさん (obaasan -> granny)
• しばらく (shibaraku -> for a while)
• 縛る / しばる (shibaru -> tie; bind)
• 煙草 / たばこ (tabako -> tobacco; cigarrete)
• 素晴らしい / すばらしい (subarashii -> great; magnificent; wonderful)

‘ば’ at the end:

• 言葉 / ことば (kotoba -> words; language; speech)
• 前歯 / まえば (maeba -> front teeth)
• 半ば / なかば (nakaba -> middle; half; partly)
• 束 / たば (taba -> bundle; bunch; sheaf)
• 乳母 / うば (uba -> nanny)
• 若葉 / わかば (wakaba -> young leaves; fresh verdure)

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Handakuten
The hiragana HA can also be combined with a handakuten. Handakuten is a small circle that can be placed at the right top of some certain characters (ha, hi, hu, he, ho). And changing the sounds to ‘pa’ when placed. ひ [hi] + ^o (handakuten) = ぴ [pi]


Pronunciation:
‘ぱ’ is romanized (pronounced) ‘pa’ as in ‘pal’.

Words with ‘ぱ’:

‘ぱ’ at the beginning:

• ぱくぱく (paku paku -> to eat in big bites; to eat so quickly)
• ぱりぱり (pari pari -> first class; the best)
• ぱっと (patto -> suddenly; in a flash)
• ぱたん (patan -> knock)
• ぱちくり (pachikuri -> blinking with surprise)
• ぱちゃぱちゃ (pacha pacha -> sounds of splash water)
• ぱらぱら (para para -> sounds of falling rain)

‘ぱ’ in the middle:

• いっぱい (ippai -> full)
• 乾杯 / かんぱい (kanpai -> cheers!)
• 活発な / かっぱつな (kappatsu na -> active; brisk; sprightly)
• 潔白 / けっぱく (keppaku -> innocence; purity; rectitude)
• すっぱい (suppai -> sour)
• やっぱり (yappari -> finally; still; absolutely; also)
• 一発 / いっぱつ (keppatsu -> one shot)

‘ぱ’ at the end:

1. 河童 / かっぱ (kappa -> water demon)
2. 寒波 / かんぱ (kanpa -> cold wave)
3. 発破 / はっぱ(happa -> blasting; explosion)
4. 葉っぱ / はっぱ (happa -> leaves)

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Task: You shall write ‘は’, ‘ば’ and ‘ぱ’ 50 - 100 times in your textbook. To be more simple, just practice to write the original ‘は’. Once mastered, adding a dakuten and a handakuten is a piece of cake! But remember this, memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write it down), etc.