Hiragana

ひらがな

1. Hiragana Chart

Memorize the reading of all 46 hiragana characters as quickly as you can so you do not have to rely on the romanized version

You read the chart from top left (「あ」) to right. The characters in the first line are vowel characters (a, i, u, e, o) , and from the
combination of the vowel and a consonant as you can see in 「か」(consonant 'k' plus the vowel 'a').
2. Hiragana Pronunciation

Pay special attention to 「ら、り、る、れ、ろ」pronunciation. These are different from English 'ra, ri, ru, re, ro'. In Japanese, there
れ、ろ」sounds.

hiragana pronunciation

u
e

ka

ki

ku
ke

ko

sa

shi

su
se

so

ta

chi

tsu
te

to

na

ni

nu
ne

no

ha

* when used as a topic particle, it is pronounce

hi

hu
he

* when used as a directional particle, it is pronou

ho

ma

mi

mu
me

mo

ya

yu

yo
ra

ri

ru

re

ro
 wa

* used only as an object particle.

3. Writing of the Characters

1) General Rules of Stroke Orders

Both kana (hiragana and katakana) and Kanji have the same general rules of stroke orders.

a. Write from top to bottom, and left to right

 top line first left line first

b. Horizontal before vertical

When horizontal and vertical lines cross, horizontal lines are usually written before vertical lines.

c. Character-spanning strokes last

Vertical line that pass through other strokes are written after the strokes passed through are written.
Practice writing Hiragana

When you write Japanese characters, pay special attention to:

a. length of each the line

b. small hooks
c. how the lines curve
d. angles of lines
e. space between lines

If you cannot see the stoke order movie clips below, go to this page.
4. Hiragana with Diacritical Marks

You can create 23 additional sounds by adding diacritical marks. With short parallel lines, the unvoiced consonants [k], [s], [t
consonants [g], [z], [d], and [b] respectively. Additionally, by adding a small circle to [h], the sound changes to [p].
5. Transcribing Contracted Sounds
When small 「や」「ゆ」「よ」are added to the letters in the 「い」column except for 「い」, it transcribe contracted sounds. Contract

6. Transcribing Double Consonants

By using small 「っ」, you can transcribe double consonants.

がっき gakki semester; term

きって kitte postage stamp
ざっし zasshi magazine
とっとり tottori Tottori Prefecture (one of Japan's 43 prefectures)

Double consonant 'n' is transcribe with 「ん」.

あんない a n na i guide

さんにん sa n ni n three people

7. Other Rules

1) Long Vowels

[aa] - add 「あ」to the 「あ」step hiragana：おかあさん（o ka a sa n) 'mother' (someone else's, not your own)

[ii] - add 「い」to the 「い」step hiragana：おにいさん（o ni i sa n) 'older brother' (someone else's, not your own)

[uu] - add 「う」to the 「う」step hiragana：くうき（ku u ki）'air'

[ee] - add 「え」to the 「え」step hiragana：おねえさん（o ne e sa n) 'older sister' (someone else's, not your own)

[oo] - add「う」to the 「お」step hiragana：ほうりつ（ho o ri tsu) 'law'

* However, there are words that 「お」is added instead of 「う」.

おおきい（o o ki i)
とお（to o ) 'ten' in Japanese numeral
おおさか（o o sa ka) Osaka Prefecture
こおり（ko o ri) 'ice'
とおり（to o ri） 'street'
2) Vowels to be Dropped

When vowel [i] and [u] are placed between voiceless consonants ([k], [s], [t], [p], [h]) or at the end of the sentence proceeded
sometimes omitted.

すきやきです。 su ki ya ki de su → s ki ya ki de s （It is 'sukiyaki', the beef dish.)