Chapter 4 of 17 · Explore the Japanese path
Optional reference · Chapter 4 of 17
Hiragana chart: look a character up, do not recite it
The full hiragana table, the characters that break their row, the pairs beginners mix up, and how length and small characters change a word. Open it when a character will not decode.
≈ 9 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- 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)
All forty-six basic hiragana, laid out as one consonant against the same five vowels. Learning a row gives you five characters, so use this to look a character up rather than to recite the lot.
| 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
Four characters in the table say something other than their row and column promise, and one of them is not a syllable at all. These five are worth knowing by name.
- 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 lipMount Fuji with cloud broken across it — Fu-ji, “fu”.ふゆfuyu“winter”
- んthe lone consonanta plain “n”, the one character that is not a full syllableA 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
These shapes differ by a loop, a bar or the direction of a tail. Read them in order: each one is easiest to hold on to beside its neighbour.
- 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 grammarA 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
Small ゃ ゅ ょ: two characters, one syllable
A shrunken ゃ ゅ ょ after an “i” character makes the two into one syllable. Read across each row and say every cell as a single beat.
| 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
How a long vowel is written
A long vowel is written by adding a second character, and how long you hold the sound can be the whole difference between two words. Compare the short form with the long one in each row.
Small っ: a beat of silence before the next sound
A shrunken っ is not a sound of its own. It stops the voice for one beat, and that beat changes the word. Say each pair aloud and listen for the gap.
Written one way, said another — the whole list
A handful of characters are said differently from the way they are written. The left side is what you see on the page and the right side is what you say.