Hiragana Basics · Japanese

Grammar notes

Hiragana (ひらがな) is one of Japan's phonetic scripts. Each character represents one sound (a "mora"), not a whole word or idea like kanji does. It's the first script Japanese children learn, and it's used for native Japanese words, grammar particles, and verb endings.

The words in this lesson are spelled out character by character below. Read down each column for the same vowel sound, and across each row for the same consonant.

Gojūon (basic 46 sounds)

	a	i	u	e	o
—	あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o
k	か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko
s	さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so
t	た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to
n	な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
h	は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
m	ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
y	や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
r	ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
w	わ wa				を wo
n	ん n

Dakuten and handakuten (voiced sounds)

A small mark next to a character changes its sound: ゛(dakuten) or ゜(handakuten).

	a	i	u	e	o
g	が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go
z	ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo
d	だ da	ぢ ji/di	づ zu/du	で de	ど do
b	ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo
p	ぱ pa	ぴ pi	ぷ pu	ぺ pe	ぽ po

Yōon (contracted sounds)

Combining an い-row character (small ゃ/ゅ/ょ) with き, し, ち, に, ひ, み, り (or their voiced forms) makes a single contracted sound.

	ya	yu	yo
ky	きゃ kya	きゅ kyu	きょ kyo
sh	しゃ sha	しゅ shu	しょ sho
ch	ちゃ cha	ちゅ chu	ちょ cho
ny	にゃ nya	にゅ nyu	にょ nyo
hy	ひゃ hya	ひゅ hyu	ひょ hyo
my	みゃ mya	みゅ myu	みょ myo
ry	りゃ rya	りゅ ryu	りょ ryo
gy	ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
j	じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
by	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
py	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

This first practice set uses 10 common everyday words — more will be added over time.

Hiragana Basics

How many words this round?

210 words available · each round is a random pick, so replaying covers different ones.