Hiragana in Japanese

In Brief

Hiragana (ひらがな) is one of the three scripts used in Japanese. Its 46 basic characters represent sound units called morae (short rhythmic beats): あ is a, か is ka, and ん is n. Extra marks and small characters create sounds such as が ga, ぱ pa, きゃ kya, and っ in words such as きって kitte.

Overview

Hiragana is the best starting point for reading Japanese. It writes many native Japanese words, grammatical endings, and particles (short words that show a word's role in a sentence). It also gives the reading of unfamiliar kanji in beginner materials and in furigana, the small pronunciation guides printed beside or above kanji. A normal Japanese sentence often combines all three scripts: kanji carries much of the meaning, hiragana supplies endings and grammar, and katakana commonly marks loanwords.

At A1, your first goal is to recognise and write the 46 basic characters without relying on rōmaji (Japanese represented with the Latin alphabet). English spelling habits are not a reliable guide: Japanese し is conventionally written shi, but it is one mora, not a sequence of three separate letters. Likewise, each kana normally represents a whole vowel or consonant-plus-vowel beat rather than a single alphabetic letter.

Once the basic chart feels familiar, add dakuten (the two short marks ゛ that voice a consonant), handakuten (the small circle ゜used for the p sounds), and yōon (contracted sounds such as きゃ). These additions are systematic, so they are much easier after the base forms are secure.

How It Works

The 46 basic hiragana

The chart is traditionally organised by vowel columns: a, i, u, e, o. Read each row from left to right here. A dash means that modern standard Japanese has no basic hiragana in that position.

Row	a	i	u	e	o
Vowels	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
Final nasal	ん n	—	—	—	—

The irregular-looking romanizations—し shi, ち chi, つ tsu, and ふ fu—reflect their modern pronunciations. The Japanese R-row sound is not exactly the English r or l; the tongue makes a brief tap. Do not let imperfect pronunciation stop you from learning the script, but copy native audio rather than forcing an English sound onto it.

The character ん is special because it can stand without a following vowel. Its exact sound changes slightly before different consonants, but it still counts as one mora. For example, にほん (ni-ho-n, “Japan”) has three morae.

Voiced sounds: dakuten and handakuten

Adding dakuten changes the consonant of four rows. Adding handakuten to the H-row produces the P-row.

Base row	With marks	Sounds
か き く け こ	が ぎ ぐ げ ご	ga gi gu ge go
さ し す せ そ	ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ	za ji zu ze zo
た ち つ て と	だ ぢ づ で ど	da ji zu de do
は ひ ふ へ ほ	ば び ぶ べ ぼ	ba bi bu be bo
は ひ ふ へ ほ	ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ	pa pi pu pe po

In standard Japanese, じ and ぢ are usually pronounced alike, as are ず and づ. Most words use じ and ず; ぢ and づ occur in a smaller group of words, often because sounds change inside a compound or repeated expression. Beginners should learn spellings word by word rather than trying to choose by sound alone.

Contracted sounds: yōon

A normal-sized character from the I-column can combine with a small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ. The two written characters form one contracted mora: きゃ is kya, not kiya. Compare きゃく (kyaku, “guest”) with きやく (kiyaku, “rules”): character size changes both rhythm and meaning.

Base	+ small ゃ	+ small ゅ	+ small 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
ぎ gi	ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
じ ji	じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
び bi	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
ぴ pi	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

Small っ and doubled consonants

Small っ, called sokuon, marks a brief closure before the following consonant. In rōmaji, that consonant is usually doubled: きって is kitte, not kite. It takes one mora of timing even though it has no vowel of its own.

With small っ	Reading	Meaning
きって	kitte	stamp
ざっし	zasshi	magazine
ちょっと	chotto	a little; wait a moment

Do not confuse small っ with full-sized つ (tsu). Compare きて (kite, “come,” in the て-form) and きって (kitte, “stamp”).

Long vowels

Japanese distinguishes short and long vowels. A long vowel lasts about two morae and can distinguish words. In hiragana, long vowels are normally written by adding another vowel kana, not with the katakana long-vowel bar ー.

Common pattern	Example	Reading
あ + あ	おばあさん	obāsan, grandmother
い + い	おにいさん	onīsan, older brother
う + う	くうき	kūki, air
え + い	せんせい	sensei, teacher
お + う	とうきょう	Tōkyō, Tokyo

The えい and おう sequences are often pronounced as long ē and ō in ordinary speech, but spelling retains い and う. Some words instead use ええ or おお, so learn the written form with each word.

Examples in Context

These examples show hiragana doing real work: writing whole words, grammatical particles, endings attached to kanji, and sound contrasts.

Japanese	Romanization	English	Note
あさです。	Asa desu.	It is morning.	A short sentence entirely in hiragana
ねこがいます。	Neko ga imasu.	There is a cat.	が marks the subject here
わたしはアンナです。	Watashi wa Anna desu.	I am Anna.	は is written ha but read wa as a particle
えきへいきます。	Eki e ikimasu.	I am going to the station.	へ is written he but read e as a particle
ほんをよみます。	Hon o yomimasu.	I read a book.	を is normally pronounced o
すしをたべます。	Sushi o tabemasu.	I eat sushi.	Basic し and the object particle を
ぎんこうはどこですか。	Ginkō wa doko desu ka?	Where is the bank?	Dakuten in ぎ and ご; long お sound in こう
きょうはあめです。	Kyō wa ame desu.	It is rainy today.	きょ uses small ょ; きょう has a long vowel
きってをかいます。	Kitte o kaimasu.	I buy a stamp.	Small っ doubles the following consonant
ちょっとまってください。	Chotto matte kudasai.	Please wait a moment.	Yōon and two instances of small っ
日本語をべんきょうします。	Nihongo o benkyō shimasu.	I study Japanese.	Hiragana supplies particles and the verb around kanji
食べました。	Tabemashita.	I ate.	べました is a grammatical ending attached to kanji

Common Mistakes

Treating kana like English letters

• Wrong: Reading か as separate k and a symbols.
• Right: Read か as one mora, ka.
• Why: A kana normally represents a whole rhythmic unit. Sounding out Latin letters adds an unnecessary step and can distort timing.

Ignoring the size of や, ゆ, よ, and つ

• Wrong: Reading きゃ as kiya or きって as kitsute.
• Right: Read きゃ as kya and きって as kitte.
• Why: Small ゃ/ゅ/ょ contract with the preceding kana, while small っ creates a consonant closure. Full-sized characters represent separate morae.

Reading every character by its chart pronunciation

• Wrong: Reading わたしは as watashi ha in a sentence.
• Right: Read it watashi wa.
• Why: Three common grammatical particles have conventional pronunciations: は is wa, へ is e, and を is o. Their spelling reflects historical forms.

Dropping long vowels or ん

• Wrong: Writing おばさん when you mean おばあさん, or confusing こんな with こな.
• Right: Preserve every mora: お・ば・あ・さ・ん and こ・ん・な.
• Why: Vowel length and ん can change a word's identity. English speakers often hear these timing differences as unimportant, but Japanese does not treat them as optional.

Using rōmaji as a permanent crutch

• Wrong: Looking at kyō first and treating きょう as decoration.
• Right: Look at きょう, say it, and use rōmaji only to check yourself.
• Why: Rōmaji conventions vary and hide useful spelling information. Direct kana recognition is necessary for fluent reading.

Choosing じ/ぢ or ず/づ only by sound

• Wrong: Assuming the sound ji must always be じ in every word.
• Right: Learn the spelling with the word, such as ちぢむ (“to shrink”).
• Why: These pairs are generally merged in standard pronunciation, so sound alone may not reveal the spelling.

Usage Notes

Hiragana does not mean “easy Japanese” or “Japanese without kanji.” Adult writing uses it alongside kanji and katakana. Writing every word in hiragana is possible, but long passages become hard to parse because Japanese normally has no spaces between words. Kanji boundaries help readers recognise words quickly.

Some common words may appear either in kanji or hiragana depending on style, audience, and context. For example, ください is often written in hiragana, while many basic nouns are commonly written with kanji once the writer expects readers to know them. Children's materials and beginner resources use more hiragana and often add furigana to kanji.

Handwriting and typefaces can make the same character look slightly different. Learn the normal stroke order and overall structure rather than copying a computer font as if every hook and curve were mandatory. Stroke order supports legibility and makes handwritten forms easier to recognise.

Japanese words are often shown with spaces in beginner texts, but ordinary Japanese generally does not use them. Treat spaces as temporary training aids, not part of hiragana spelling.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following details at A1, but you will encounter them later.

Hiragana has historical spellings and older characters. The obsolete kana ゐ (wi) and ゑ (we) are not part of the modern 46-character set, though they survive in historical texts, names, and deliberate stylistic uses. Historical kana spelling also differed more broadly from modern pronunciation.

Writers can choose hiragana for stylistic effect. A word usually written in kanji may be written in hiragana to feel softer, more informal, easier for children, or deliberately ambiguous. Conversely, katakana can add visual emphasis or a detached tone. These are writing choices, not changes to the underlying spoken grammar.

Small kana also appear in less basic notation, especially when representing unusual sounds, dialect, or foreign pronunciation. Combinations such as てぃ are much more strongly associated with katakana loanword spelling, but hiragana versions can occur when a writer has a specific reason. They are not part of the core yōon chart and should not distract you from きゃ, しゅ, ちょ, and the other standard combinations.

Finally, pitch accent—the pattern of high and low pitch within a word—is not encoded by ordinary hiragana. Two words can have the same kana yet differ by context, meaning, or pitch pattern. Kana gives you the mora sequence, but native audio remains essential for pronunciation.

Practice Tips

1. Learn by row, then mix the rows. Write and read あいうえお, then the K-row, and so on. As soon as a row is familiar, shuffle its characters; chart-order recitation alone can create false confidence.
2. Use mora timing aloud. Tap once for each beat: に・ほ・ん has three taps, きょ・う has two, and き・っ・て has three. This makes small kana, ん, and long vowels audible rather than merely visual.
3. Move quickly to real words. Label familiar items, read short graded sentences, and handwrite a few useful words each day. Cover rōmaji before answering, then check the kana shape and pronunciation separately.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Katakana — represents the same core sound system with different characters and is especially common in loanwords, names, and emphasis.