Hiragana · ひらがな
46 basic signs, each one a whole syllable — a SYLLABARY, not an alphabet: か is 'ka' and cannot be split into k + a. Hiragana are the rounded, flowing ones, derived from cursive forms of Chinese characters (安 → あ), and they do the grammatical work: verb endings, particles, and any word whose kanji you don't use. Two accent marks generate the rest of the inventory — ゛ voices a consonant (か ka → が ga) and ゜ turns は into ぱ. Learn these 46 shapes plus two marks and you can write every sound in the language.
Japanese syllabary (from cursive Chinese characters) · written left to right · used here by Japanese
71 signs
| Sign | Katakana | Name | Roman | IPA | Group | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ | ア | a | a | a | Base (五十音) | |
| い | イ | i | i | i | Base (五十音) | |
| う | ウ | u | u | ɯ | Base (五十音) | Unrounded — lips relaxed, not English 'oo'. |
| え | エ | e | e | e | Base (五十音) | |
| お | オ | o | o | o | Base (五十音) | |
| か | カ | ka | ka | Base (五十音) | ||
| き | キ | ki | ki | Base (五十音) | ||
| く | ク | ku | ku | Base (五十音) | ||
| け | ケ | ke | ke | Base (五十音) | ||
| こ | コ | ko | ko | Base (五十音) | ||
| さ | サ | sa | sa | Base (五十音) | ||
| し | シ | shi | shi | Base (五十音) | NOT si — the grid breaks here. | |
| す | ス | su | su | Base (五十音) | ||
| せ | セ | se | se | Base (五十音) | ||
| そ | ソ | so | so | Base (五十音) | ||
| た | タ | ta | ta | Base (五十音) | ||
| ち | チ | chi | chi | Base (五十音) | NOT ti. | |
| つ | ツ | tsu | tsu | Base (五十音) | NOT tu — the hardest mora for English speakers. | |
| て | テ | te | te | Base (五十音) | ||
| と | ト | to | to | Base (五十音) | ||
| な | ナ | na | na | Base (五十音) | ||
| に | ニ | ni | ni | Base (五十音) | ||
| ぬ | ヌ | nu | nu | Base (五十音) | ||
| ね | ネ | ne | ne | Base (五十音) | ||
| の | ノ | no | no | Base (五十音) | ||
| は | ハ | ha | ha | Base (五十音) | Said 'wa' when it is the topic particle — the one exception you meet on day one. | |
| ひ | ヒ | hi | hi | Base (五十音) | h + i turns palatal, like German ich. | |
| ふ | フ | fu | fu | Base (五十音) | NOT hu, and not English f — blown between the lips. | |
| へ | ヘ | he | he | Base (五十音) | Said 'e' as the direction particle. | |
| ほ | ホ | ho | ho | Base (五十音) | ||
| ま | マ | ma | ma | Base (五十音) | ||
| み | ミ | mi | mi | Base (五十音) | ||
| む | ム | mu | mu | Base (五十音) | ||
| め | メ | me | me | Base (五十音) | ||
| も | モ | mo | mo | Base (五十音) | ||
| や | ヤ | ya | ya | Base (五十音) | ||
| ゆ | ユ | yu | yu | Base (五十音) | ||
| よ | ヨ | yo | yo | Base (五十音) | ||
| ら | ラ | ra | ra | Base (五十音) | A tap — halfway between r, l and d. Never an English r. | |
| り | リ | ri | ri | Base (五十音) | ||
| る | ル | ru | ru | Base (五十音) | ||
| れ | レ | re | re | Base (五十音) | ||
| ろ | ロ | ro | ro | Base (五十音) | ||
| わ | ワ | wa | wa | Base (五十音) | ||
| を | ヲ | wo | wo | o | Base (五十音) | Said 'o'. Survives only as the object particle. |
| ん | ン | n | n | ɴ | Base (五十音) | The only mora that is not a syllable — a full beat of nasal on its own. |
| が | ガ | ga | ga | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぎ | ギ | gi | gi | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぐ | グ | gu | gu | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| げ | ゲ | ge | ge | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ご | ゴ | go | go | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ざ | ザ | za | za | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| じ | ジ | ji | ji | With ゛/ ゜ | し + ゛ — spelled zi in some systems, always said ji. | |
| ず | ズ | zu | zu | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぜ | ゼ | ze | ze | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぞ | ゾ | zo | zo | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| だ | ダ | da | da | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぢ | ヂ | ji | ji | With ゛/ ゜ | Same sound as じ; rare, kept for etymology (はなぢ). | |
| づ | ヅ | zu | zu | With ゛/ ゜ | Same sound as ず; rare. | |
| で | デ | de | de | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ど | ド | do | do | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ば | バ | ba | ba | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| び | ビ | bi | bi | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぶ | ブ | bu | bu | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| べ | ベ | be | be | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぼ | ボ | bo | bo | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぱ | パ | pa | pa | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぴ | ピ | pi | pi | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぷ | プ | pu | pu | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぺ | ペ | pe | pe | With ゛/ ゜ | ||
| ぽ | ポ | po | po | With ゛/ ゜ |
Groups: Base (五十音) (the 46 you learn first) · With ゛/ ゜ (same shapes, voiced or plosive)
Most used combinations
The sequences you'll meet constantly — learn them as units.
| Sequence | Sound | What's going on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| きゃ きゅ きょ | A small ゃゅょ fuses with the i-row into ONE mora — きょ is one beat, not two. Full-size きよ would be two. | とうきょう Tōkyō = to-o-kyo-o, four beats | |
| しゃ しゅ しょ | Same trick on the し row. | しゃしん shashin — photograph | |
| ちゃ ちゅ ちょ | And the ち row. | おちゃ ocha — tea |
Rules of the system
How the signs behave together.
| Sequence | Sound | What's going on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| っ | The small つ doubles the next consonant and takes a beat of its own — a moment of silence you must actually hold. | きっぷ kippu 'ticket' (3 beats) vs きぷ kipu (2) | |
| ー | The katakana long mark. Length is meaning, so this is not decoration. | ビール bīru 'beer' vs ビル biru 'building' | |
| ゛ dakuten | — | Two strokes voice a consonant: か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba. One mark, twenty new sounds — you never learn them as separate letters. | て te → で de |
| ゜ handakuten | — | The little circle turns the は row into p: は ha → ぱ pa. It appears on that row and nowhere else. | ほ ho → ぽ po |
| ティ ディ ファ ウィ | KATAKANA ONLY: small vowels are bolted on to write sounds Japanese does not have, for foreign words. パーティー pātī 'party', ディスク disuku 'disc'. Hiragana never does this. |
Incompatible combinations
What this writing system does not allow — knowing the impossible prunes the search space.
| Sequence | Sound | What's going on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| yi · ye · wi · wu · we | — | These slots are empty. The や row has only ya/yu/yo and the わ row only wa (and vestigial を) — which is why Japanese renders foreign 'yes' as イエス iesu, spelling the gap around it. | |
| ん at the start | — | No native word begins with ん. It is why the word game しりとり shiritori ends when someone says a word ending in ん — nothing can follow. |