🇯🇵 JAPANESE
Hiragana – Part 1
Base 46 characters · あ to ん · Flashcards + reading practice
Progress: 0 / 2 exercises completed
A – Flashcard Practice
Click each card to reveal its romaji reading. Work through every row until you can recall the reading before you click.
B – Type the Reading
Type the romaji for each character. Use standard Hepburn romanisation: shi not si · chi not ti · tsu not tu · fu not hu.
The four "special" readings
- し → shi (not "si") — The consonant /s/ historically palatalised before the vowel /i/, producing the /ʃ/ ("sh") sound. Hepburn romanisation reflects actual pronunciation rather than a theoretical pattern.
- ち → chi (not "ti") — Likewise, /t/ before /i/ became the affricate /tʃ/ ("ch"). The spelling chi signals this for English readers.
- つ → tsu (not "tu") — The vowel here is a close back unrounded vowel, and the consonant cluster /ts/ reflects the actual articulation at the start of the syllable.
- ふ → fu (not "hu") — This consonant is a bilabial fricative /ɸ/, produced between both lips rather than at the back of the throat. It sounds closer to English f than h.
The consonant + vowel pattern
- Every hiragana character (except ん) represents either a pure vowel or a consonant + vowel pair. The five vowels always appear in the same order: a, i, u, e, o.
- Once you know a row's consonant, the remaining four characters follow automatically — except where historical sound changes apply (shi, chi, tsu, fu).
- は is read ha in words, but wa when used as the topic-marking particle. へ is read he in words, but e as the direction particle. These are writing conventions, not pronunciation changes within vocabulary.
ん — the lone consonant
- ん is the only hiragana with no attached vowel. Its exact sound shifts with context: /m/ before b/p, /ŋ/ before k/g, and /n/ elsewhere.
- When ん appears before a vowel or the sound y, an apostrophe separates it in romanisation to prevent ambiguity: kin'iro (金色, golden) vs a hypothetical kiniro starting with /ni/.
The Gojūon (五十音) — Base Hiragana
| 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 | ||||
* Empty cells indicate vowel combinations that no longer exist in modern Japanese (e.g. yi, ye, wu, wi, we).
Memorisation tips
ROWS
Learn one row per session. The consonant is fixed; only the vowel changes. Knowing ka means ki, ku, ke, ko follow the same vowel sequence automatically.
SHAPES
Hiragana evolved from Chinese characters. あ derives from 安 (an), い from 以 (i), う from 宇 (u). Spotting this ancestry can create a visual anchor for each shape.
MNEMONICS
Create image links: き looks like a key (ki). つ resembles a face — think of a tsunami wave. ぬ and め look similar; remember nudge has a loop on one side.
HIGH FREQUENCY
The most common hiragana in written Japanese: の, は, が, を, に, で, て, し, い, る. Prioritise these in early practice — you will see them constantly.