Dakuten and handakuten
Two small marks (゛) turn k into g, s into z, t into d and h into b: か → が. A small circle (゜) turns h into p: は → ぱ. Same shapes, new sounds.
Hiraganaひらがな
Hiragana, all of it, stroke by stroke
The 46 characters every Japanese sentence is built from, plus the voiced sounds and the combinations. Tap one to watch it being written, then draw it: the board checks each stroke.
Tap any character to watch its stroke order, then draw it yourself.
The 46 basic sounds
aiueo
k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w
n
Voiced sounds
Two marks (゛) or a small circle (゜) on a basic character.
g
z
d
b
p
Small kana
Written small, they change the sound of the character before them.
Combinations
An i-column character plus a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ: one syllable.
きゃkyaきゅkyuきょkyoしゃshaしゅshuしょshoちゃchaちゅchuちょchoにゃnyaにゅnyuにょnyoひゃhyaひゅhyuひょhyoみゃmyaみゅmyuみょmyoりゃryaりゅryuりょryoぎゃgyaぎゅgyuぎょgyoじゃjaじゅjuじょjoびゃbyaびゅbyuびょbyoぴゃpyaぴゅpyuぴょpyo
Things worth knowing
The small っ
A small tsu doubles the consonant after it. きって (kitte, stamp) and きて (kite, come) are different words. It is a pause, not a sound.
Small ゃ, ゅ, ょ
They glue to an i-column character to make one syllable: き + ゃ = きゃ (kya). Written small, said together.
Long vowels
An extra vowel makes the sound long: おかあさん (okaasan, mother). In the o column it is usually う: とうきょう (Tōkyō).
は, へ and を as particles
As particles they read wa, e and o: わたしは (watashi wa), とうきょうへ (Tōkyō e). を only ever appears as a particle.
ん
The only character without a vowel. It takes a full beat of its own: にほん (ni-ho-n, three beats).
Questions people ask
Most people read it within a week with 15 to 20 minutes a day; writing it takes a little longer. The order on this chart (a, ka, sa, ta, na…) is the one every textbook and dictionary uses, so learn it in that order.
Hiragana. It is what you read most: particles, verb endings, grammar words and the furigana over kanji. Katakana comes next, for loanwords and foreign names.
Not to read. But drawing each character a few times is the fastest way to stop mixing up the look-alikes (さ and ち, ぬ and め, わ and れ). That is why every character here has a board.
Because that is how it sounds. The romaji on this chart is Hepburn, which spells sounds: shi, chi, tsu, fu. Other systems (Kunrei) spell the position on the chart: si, ti, tu, hu. Japanese keyboards accept both.
Katakana
The same 46 sounds with angular shapes, for loanwords and foreign names.
Ready to start?
A free account keeps your progress: hiragana today, your first kanji this week.
Stroke order from KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Readings and meanings from KANJIDIC2 © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.