Hiragana - ひらがな

Hiragana Chart

Each of the 46 Hiragana** characters represents a syllable or "sound cluster":

The 46 Hiragana characters are shown in the table above are in "alphabetical" or "dictionary order." In this table, the characters are read from left to right, beginning from the top row. So, あ-い-う-え-お (a-i-u-e-o) then か-き-く-け-こ (ka-ki-ku-ke-ko), and so on.

Hiragana came to be used mainly in the Japanese language in conjunction with kanji, and katakana came to be reserved for mainly words with a foreign origin.

Since these two sets are phonetic, anything you can say you can write down using these characters (within the sound system of Japanese).

Pronouncing Hiragana

Are you ready to try pronouncing these Hiragana characters? The most important pronunciations are those of the five vowels. As long as you can distinguish the five vowels clearly, you’ll be alright! All other syllables consist of consonants and these vowels. Let's give them a try:

Reading Hiragana ひらがな

You can easily read the table above by learning the vowel order, あ い う え お (a i u e o), shown on the top row, and the order of the syllables in the first column on the left, か さ た な は ま や ら わ ん (ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa n). Now, you simply combine the consonants of the first column, with each of the vowels (except the special ん (n)) - and you can read out the Hiragana table whenever you need.

You may have noticed that there are a few blank spots in this table: two in the "y" row and three in the "w" row (the ん (n) row is a special one). The five Hiragana that appear to be missing here originally did exist; however, the sounds of these Hiragana are no longer used in modern Japanese as they are almost identical to the syllables in the "a" row. (For example, the pronunciation of "yi" is very similar to "i," "ye" is similar to "e," etc.).

Learning to Write Hiragana

In this lesson we'll start with the first row, which are all vowels: あ い う え お (a i u e o). Memorize this vowel order and I assure you it will help you in learning your 46 Hiragana characters. Also, one of the best ways to learn and to read Hiragana is to practice writing them—learning the proper order of the strokes helps!

That's it for today! If you want more lessons on Hiragana, check out our full Rocket Japanese course here.

To get started on the second set of Japanese phonetic characters, Katakana, check out this free lesson.

Here are a few recommended Japanese lessons to try next!

• Fitting out an apartment in Japan? Know how to pronounce your household appliances in Japanese.
• Know your alphabet in Japanese.
• Learn the colors in Japanese.

よく　できました！ (Yoku dekimashita!) "Well done!"

Sayaka Matsuura: Rocket Japanese