In this lesson you will be introduced to the Hiragana “alphabet”. Hiragana is the first set of characters Japanese children learn.
As well as the Katakana and Kanji alphabets, the Hiragana alphabet has over 1000 years old roots. When Kanji was imported from China, some characters were simplified, and used as a phonetical alphabet.
Hiragana is used mostly for grammatical constructs, such as the word の “no” (possessive form) and for modifying verbs. It is used for Japanese words that do not have Kanji, or at least none that people in general know of. I’ve heard that it has also become increasingly popular to use hiragana and katakana for words that has ordinary kanji, especially among young people.
Hiragana consists of 46 characters, with some additional modified sounds. It consists of the same sounds as the Katakana alphabet.
Basic Hiragana Table
This is the basic table of Hiragana.
| Basic Hiragana | Modified sounds | ||||||||||||||
| あ a |
い i |
う u |
え e |
お o |
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| か ka |
き ki |
く ku |
け ke |
こ ko |
が ga |
ぎ gi |
ぐ gu |
げ ge |
ご go |
||||||
| さ sa |
し shi |
す su |
せ se |
そ so |
ざ za |
じ ji |
ず zu |
ぜ ze |
ぞ zo |
||||||
| た ta |
ち chi |
つ tsu |
て te |
と to |
だ da |
ぢ ji |
づ zu |
で de |
ど do |
||||||
| な na |
に ni |
ぬ nu |
ね ne |
の no |
|||||||||||
| は ha |
ひ hi |
ふ hu/fu |
へ he |
ほ ho |
ば ba |
び bi |
ぶ bu |
べ be |
ぼ bo |
ぱ pa |
ぴ pi |
ぷ pu |
ぺ pe |
ぽ po |
|
| ま ma |
み mi |
む mu |
め me |
も mo |
|||||||||||
| や ya |
ゆ yu |
よ yo |
|||||||||||||
| ら ra |
り ri |
る ru |
れ re |
ろ ro |
|||||||||||
| わ wa |
を wo |
||||||||||||||
| ん n |
|||||||||||||||
Exercise
Now, using the table above, try to read the following words.
Hiragana:
- a) わたし
- b) くるま
- c) あかい
- d) りんご
- e) やま
Answers
- a) watashi: I/me, b) kuruma: car, c) akai: red, d) ringo: apple,e) yama: mountain
Practise Sheet
Practice hiragana using this free Hiragana practice sheet that can be downloaded and printed out (requires Adobe PDF reader). The sheet can be freely distributed in its original form, so you may spread it to your classmates if you want to.
So print out the sheet and try to memorize the characters. It may be easier to remember if you practice by writing them down by hand. Just note that all Japanese characters has a rule saying in which order to draw the lines (strokes). It may feel hard to learn the stroke order too, but it does actually help you later to remember the character. It’s also vital if you start with calligraphy.
Practise Through a Song
Check out the hiragana song, a great way to learn the hiragana “alphabet”.
Related posts:
6:28 pm on February 18th, 2012
Hmmm…. Crazy me!!!! My dad is from Japan!! But I can’t write Hiraga and Katakana
O.o </3 Hehhhhhhhhhhhh 3:)
4:26 am on August 29th, 2011
new learner here, just trying to figure things out, doing good so far, but I was wondering where exactly I can find a tutorial on the proper writing methods for all three? thanks a bunch.
4:01 am on June 13th, 2011
The ‘r’ sound is pronounced with a quick “flap” or “tap” of the tongue just behind the teeth. It is best not to compare it to either the ‘r’ or ‘l’ sound in US English, although it is similar to how some UK English speakers pronounce some of their ‘r’s. The best thing is to listen to sound files and try to imitate them. There are pronunciation lessons listed on the Lessons page which give sound files for all of the syllables.
3:42 am on June 13th, 2011
Any tips on pronouncing ら, り, る, れ, ろ (ra,ri, ru, re, ro)? Is it more like an ‘l’ sound or an ‘r’ sound?
1:55 pm on October 13th, 2010
Thanks this helped me loads, I now know most of the hiragana and I am well into learning Katakana
6:48 pm on October 12th, 2010
I learned the hiragana fully in just two days (yesterday k-h, today m-w)
I tried to memorize them over and over again and copied the table with pen and paper.
The Chipchat site (I guess it was linked somewhere here?) helped a lot too.
Now I could learn the katakana, but I think i’ll learn some grammar first, as katakana isn’t really important (I guess?)
5:43 pm on July 20th, 2010
Real Kana is great for learning the kanas. That’s how I learned!
11:55 pm on May 2nd, 2010
I use the same Japanese Phrases app on my iPhone, and it is WONDERFUL!!! I would definitely recommend the app as well.
12:35 am on February 16th, 2010
there is a really good app. that I have been using on my iPod touch…and it’s free!!! it is called Japanese Phrases but it has Hiragana. What I really like about it is that you can practice anytime anywhere AND it has voice playback so you can hear what the character should sound like. It also gives words to read with only characters you have learned so it builds off of previous lessons. So if anyone isn’t really getting this lesson check the application out it has helped me a lot!!!
3:56 am on February 10th, 2010
I was able to memorize how to write all the hiragana characters in just like 2 hours using the worksheets. Yay me. It helps to know how to memorize quikly (it’s what actors do yay!)
I just can’t figure out this one thing. How, if needing to transfer from romaji to hiragana, can you tell which ji or which zu to use in the modified sounds?
11:33 pm on February 7th, 2010
thejapanesepage.com has a really could teaching method for learning Hiragana and Katakana. Its free and you don’t have to sign up if you don’t want to. I’m only on lesson two and have memorized 10 characters. I simply practiced for 10-15 minutes for the last four days. If your having trouble you should check it out.
1:53 am on February 4th, 2010
i spent a week learning the characters and i still can’t seem to remember the modified sound…
3:08 pm on November 30th, 2009
Is it right if i study hiragana as my very first lesson??
11:50 am on November 19th, 2009
That’s really how it is.
Notice that し sounds approximately like “ｓhi”, not like “ｓi”; this may make it less surprising that じ sounds approximately like “ji”, not like “zi”.
Similarly ち sounds approximately like “chi”, not like “ti”, so ぢ sounds approximately like “ji”, not like “di”.
Similarly, つ sounds approximately like “tsu”, not like “tu”, so づ sounds approximately like “zu” or “dzu”, not like “du”. (However, “zu” is the usual Romanization.)
10:34 am on November 19th, 2009
Is it really “ji” and “zu” for the “d” sounds and the “z” sounds, or is it a typo?
3:07 pm on August 24th, 2009
Any good Tips on learning them?
10:52 pm on August 18th, 2009
If you go to wikipdia.org you can look up the stroke order for both hiragana and katakana
7:10 am on July 15th, 2009
How can i learn the stroke order?
5:35 am on July 6th, 2009
it is not as difficult as i thought other than the memorising part
6:00 pm on April 17th, 2009
I did the quest clearly!!
:D
Yay me !!
12:00 am on April 2nd, 2009
i meant katakana!!!!
11:59 pm on April 1st, 2009
i have to work on hiragana.what am i doing here!by the way lol inw-san
11:44 am on March 27th, 2009
Seems like the best way to remember is to print out everything and take them to read everywhere you go >
7:33 am on March 14th, 2009
I think the easiest is to memorize 10 a day and then repeat them the day after so you can see if you remember them. Also I think the easiest is to first learn the alfabet and then take the online lessons
5:53 pm on February 27th, 2009
finally, but still gotta memorize them .. err!
8:14 pm on February 14th, 2009
@DarkDelusion004 Your doing better than me right now. but that will change!
9:07 pm on January 18th, 2009
ohhhh god this language is ROCK !!
2:34 am on January 16th, 2009
I’m still trying to remeber some of the symbols, but so far I’ve only remembered 50…