Lessons for English speakers

Learn to read Japanese

A short, active path into reading Japanese: decode seven real words from eleven kana, learn why the verb comes last and how nine particles carry the grammar, meet the plain past stories are told in, and read a short fable before opening your first book.

13 core sections · ≈ 34 min + 4 optional lookups · ≈ 55 min with everything

Kana reference: look a character up, do not recite it

Optional lookup · ≈ 8 min

What you'll learn

Open this when a character blocks you. The closing stories need none of it memorised.
The table is one consonant crossed with the same five vowels, so learning a row gives you five characters.
Four characters say something other than their row promises, and んn is not a syllable at all.
A shrunken ゃゅょ turns two characters into one syllable; a shrunken っ is a silent beat.
Length is meaning: おじさんojisan“uncle” and おじいさんojiisan“grandfather” differ by one held vowel.
A few characters are said differently from how they are spelled, and this section collects them.

You do not need this section to finish the path. Open it when a character will not decode, and otherwise walk straight past it. There are forty-six basic hiragana characters, you will not learn them today, and nothing later asks you to.

The hiragana table (the gojūon)

Row	a	i	u	e	o
vowel alone	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o
on its own	んn	——	——	——	——

Read across: each row is one consonant, each column is one vowel. The blanks are real — those syllables do not exist.

The four that do not follow the row, and the lone consonant

しthe s-row “i”
“shi”, not “si”
A fishing hook curving up at the bottom — she (“shi”) went fishing.
しろいshiroi
“white”
ちthe t-row “i”
“chi”, not “ti”
The mirror image of さ (sa) — flip “sa” in the mirror and it says “chi”.
ちいさいchiisai
“small”
つthe t-row “u”
“tsu”, not “tu”
A wave curling over. A tsunami starts with “tsu”.
きつねkitsune
“fox”
ふthe h-row “u”
between “fu” and “hu” — blow gently between rounded lips; do not bite your lip
Mount Fuji with cloud broken across it — Fu-ji, “fu”.
ふゆfuyu
“winter”
んthe lone consonant
a plain “n”, the one character that is not a full syllable
A handwritten lower-case n, leaning. The shape says its own sound.
ほんhon
“book”

Everything else in the table says what its row and column promise.

The pairs beginners mix up

ぬnu
“nu”
It has a loop at the end, like a noodle twirled on a fork — noodles, “nu”.
いぬinu
“dog”
めme
“me”
The same shape with the loop cut off. No noodle, so it is not “nu”.
あめame
“rain”
さsa
“sa”
It opens downward and to the left. Its mirror twin ち, in the block above, faces the other way.
さかなsakana
“fish”
はha
“ha”, but “wa” when it is doing grammar
A capital H that has grown a loop on the right — “ha”.
はなhana
“flower”
ほho
“ho”
The same shape with one extra bar across the top. One more storey on the house makes it “ho”.
ほんhon
“book”
れre
“re”
The tail flicks out to the right, like a runner leaning into a turn.
これkore
“this”
わwa
“wa”
The same body, but the tail curls back in on itself — a closed loop, a wheel, “wa”.
わたしwatashi
“I”
ねne
“ne”
The same body again, with a full curl at the bottom — a cat’s tail, and a cat is ねこ.
ねこneko
“cat”
るru
“ru”
The stroke closes into a loop at the bottom. A closed knot, and a great many verbs end in it.
くるkuru
“come”
ろro
“ro”
The same stroke with the knot untied — open at the end, so it is not る.
ろくroku
“six”

These are the ones worth a memory hook. The rest of the table you will absorb by meeting words, not by drilling.

Two small strokes in the top-right corner of a character make its consonant voiced — the same difference as English “s” and “z”. The shape does not otherwise change, so four whole rows of the table above come free: かka → がga, さsa → ざza, たta → だda, はha → ばba. The h-row alone can also take a small circle instead, and that gives ぱpa. Two surprises hide inside: しshi voices to じji rather than “zhi”, and the rare ぢji and づzu sound like their s-row neighbours.

Small ゃゅょ: two characters, one syllable

Row	+ ゃ	+ ゅ	+ ょ
き ki	きゃkya	きゅkyu	きょkyo
し shi	しゃsha	しゅshu	しょsho
ち chi	ちゃcha	ちゅchu	ちょcho
に ni	にゃnya	にゅnyu	にょnyo
ひ hi	ひゃhya	ひゅhyu	ひょhyo
み mi	みゃmya	みゅmyu	みょmyo
り ri	りゃrya	りゅryu	りょryo

Only the “i” characters do this, and the “i” disappears from the sound: きki + ゃya is “kya”, never “kiya”. Voiced characters combine the same way: じゃja, ぎょgyo, びゅbyu.

How a long vowel is written

あa

ああā

as in おかあさんokāsan“mother”

いi

いいii

as in おにいさんoniisan“older brother”

うu

ううū

as in ふうせんfūsen“balloon”

えe

えいei

written with いi rather than a second えe, as in とけいtokei“clock” — spelled “ei”, said as one long “e”. A few words use えe after all: おねえさんonēsan“older sister”

おo

おうō

written with うu in most words, as in おはようohayō“good morning” — not an “ou” sound, a long “o”

おじさんojisan“an uncle”

おじいさんojiisan“a grandfather”

one extra いi, a generation apart — length is meaning

Small っ: a beat of silence before the next sound

きてkite“come”

きってkitte“a stamp”

in rōmaji the doubled letter is the silence: ki-(pause)-te

またmata“again”

まったmatta“waited”

this pattern also builds many past-tense verbs — see the past section

おとoto“a sound”

おっとotto“a husband”

and it is never optional

Written one way, said another — the whole list

はha

はwa

inside a word it is still “ha”; as a grammar character it is “wa”, which is why こんにちはkonnichiwa“hello” ends in a “wa” sound

をwo

をo

this character has no other job, so it is always “o”

へhe

へe

as a grammar character only; it means “towards”, and this lesson uses にni for that instead

えいei

えいē

spelled with two vowels, normally said as one long “e”

すきsuki“like”

often heard as “ski”

between two voiceless sounds, or at the end of a word, u and i are frequently whispered away — ですdesu usually comes out as “des”. The spelling never changes