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In -Depth Hiragana Tutorial
Learn the 5 basic Japanese vowels
Here are the five basic Japanese vowels. These are combined with consonants in the following units.
あ
い
う
え
お
a
i
u
e
o
ah as in “father”
ee as in “beet”
oo as in “mood”
eh as in “bet,” “met”
oh as in
“oh”
The basic “k” hiragana か～こ
These are a combination of the basic vowels and a consonant sound similar the to “k” sound in the English words concern, court, Korea.
か
き
く
け
こ
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
similar to the kah sound in “cause”
“key”
the coo sound in “cooties”
a slightly clipped version of “Kay”
everything except the “t” sound in “coat”
The basic “g” hiragana が～ご
These are a combination of the basic vowels and a consonant similar to the hard “g” sound. So the “g” sound in Japanese sounds like the “g” get, good, gauze—and not like the “g” in generous, giraffe, etc.
Notice the similarities between the “g” characters and the “k” characters.
が
ぎ
ぐ
げ
ご
ga
gi
gu
ge
go
gah as in “got”
ghee as in “Twiggy”
goo as in “goon”
a clipped version of “gay”
“go”
The basic “s” hiragana さ～そ
One thing you should notice here there is no native Japanese sound that corresponds to the English sound “see”. In this portion of the syllabary, the “s” sound becomes a “sh”, so that we have “she” instead of see.
さ
し
す
せ
そ
sa
shi
su
se
so
sah as in “sauce”, “Arkansas”, “Nassau”
she as in “she”
sounds like the female given name “Sue”
seh as in “says,” “send,” and “said”
very similar to the English word “so”
The basic “z” hiragana: ざ～ぞ
ざ
じ
ず
ぜ
ぞ
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
like the zah sound in “Zagreb”, or the surname “Zahn”
like the gee sound in “gene”, “jeep”
like the English word “zoo”
like the zay sound in “zany” or “Zane Grey”
like zoh sound in “zone”
The basic “t” hiragana
た
ち
つ
て
と
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
like the tah sound in “tawny”
like the chee sound in “cheese”
like tsu in “tsunami” and “Mitsubishi”
like the tay sound in “tame”
toh as in “tone”
Transliteration notes: Some textbooks transliterate つ as tu (in accordance with the Kunrei transliteration system), even though it is pronounced tsu –as in the Japanese words tsunami and Mitsubishi.
This is not a conspiracy to trip up new students (though it had might as well be—since the tu pronunciation will result in incomprehensible Japanese.)
The tu transliteration is favored by some native Japanese textbook authors who want to emphasize the position of つ among the “t” hiragana.
I understand their logic; but I disagree with this method. Most textbooks authors agree with me. Tu transliterations of つ are rare these days; but you will still encounter them on occasion—especially if you shop for textbooks in Japan.
Likewise, ちis sometimes transliterated as ti (Kunrei system)
The basic “d” hiragana だ～ど
Notice that the “d” hiragana are very similar to the “t” hiragana.
だ
ぢ
づ
で
ど
da
ji
zu
de
do
similar to the dah sound in “dot”
like the gee sound in “gene”, “jeep”
like the zu sound in “gesundheit”
a slightly clipped version of “day”
like the doh sound in “donate”
Transliteration notes: Because of their positions among the “d” hiragana, some textbooks transliterate ぢ as di and づ as du. While faithful to the hiragana table, these pronunciations are not correct: ぢ = ji and づ = zu
The basic “n” hiragana な～の
な
に
ぬ
ね
の
na
ni
nu
ne
no
like the nah sound in “not”
like the nee sound in “need”
like the English word “new”
like the neh sound in “net”
like the English word “no”
The basic “h” hiragana は～ほ
は
ひ
ふ
へ
ほ
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
like the hah sound in “hot” and “holly”
like the hee sound in “heed” and “hear”
like the foo sound in “food”
like the heh sound in “head”
like the hoh sound in “hose” and “home”
The double agent hiragana は has a dual identity. It serves as the phonetic element indicated above, as well as the particle "wa"
へ also wears two hats. When you see it as part of a word, it has the pronunciation you see above, he.
へ also functions as a directional particle, and is pronounced eh.
If this explanation seems a bit confusing, don’t worry. This will become clear as you delve into Japanese grammar. For now, simply make note of the fact that は and へ both have two roles and two pronunciations.
Transliteration note: The oddball here is ふ character. The fu is not a typo; it is indeed pronounced like the foo sound in food, as indicated above.
Some Japanese textbooks (mostly ones written an published in Japan) transliterate this character as hu. This is an attempt to be faithful to the grouping of this hiragana character with the other “h” sounds.
The basic “b” hiragana ば～ぼ
ば
び
ぶ
べ
ぼ
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
like the bah sound in “ball”, “bond”
like the bih sound in “beet”, “bean”
like the boo sound in “boondoggle”, “booze”
like the beh sound in “bet”, “bend”
like the boh sound in “boat”
The basic “p” hiragana ぱ～ぽ
ば
ぴ
ぷ
ぺ
ぽ
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
like the pah sound in “pawn”, “pause”
like the pih sound in “Pete” “peal”
like the poo sound in “Winnie the Pooh”
like the “peh” sound in “pen”, “pet”
like the poh sound in p
The basic “m” hiragana ま～も
ま
み
む
め
も
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
like the mah sound in “mama”
like the English word “me”
like the moo sound in “moot”
like the meh sound in “met”
like the moh sound in “moan”
The basic “y” hiragana や～よ
No, we didn’t run out of ink when printing the table below. There are only three basic y hiragana. There is no indigenous Japanese sound that corresponds to yi or ye.
や
ゆ
よ
ya
yu
yo
like the yah sound in “Yahoo!”, “yaht”
like the yoo sound in “use”, “unique”
like the yoh sound in “yoke”, “yo-yo”
The basic “r” hiragana ら～ろ
ら
り
る
れ
ろ
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
similar to the rah sound in “rod”
like the rih sound in “read”
like the roo sound in “rude”
like the reh sound in “red”
like the roh sound in “road”
Three more basic hiragana: wa, n, and o
We are almost done with the basic hiragana. Stick with me a few moments longer.
These final three basic hiragana are a bit unusual. Notice that わ is sort of a loaner. There are no currently used hiragana that correspond to we, wo, wi. (These sounds do correspond to some archaic hiragana that are no longer used; but you won’t encounter these unless you read classical Japanese—which is beyond the scope of this tutorial.) Nor is there a hiragana for the sound wu.
ん is the only hiragana that does not contain a vowel sound. For all practical purposes, it corresponds to the English letter “n”. Note that ん is only
The sound of を is more or less the same as お. You may therefore quite reasonably ask: Then why to we need を? The reason is that is a をparticle (a grammatical component) whereas お is a phonetic unit. Don’t worry about confusing them: This distinction will become second-nature to you as you dive into Japanese grammar.
わ
ん
を
wa
n
o
like “wah” as in “want”
“n” as in “soon” “tan”
oh as in
“oh”
Transliteration notes: Some older textbooks transliterate をas wo. The wo transliteration of を is most common in textbooks printed in Japan prior to 1960.
And if you get your hands on a Japanese textbook published during the WWII or immediate postwar era, you will almost certainly encounter the wo transliteration. However, this practice is rare among texts written since I have been studying Japanese (the 1980s).
The ん is sometimes transliterated as an “m” when it adjoins to another syllable as in しんぶん / shinbun = newspaper. Some texts transliterate しんぶん as shimbun.
Making words from the basic hiragana
Now we are going to look as some common Japanese words that can be derived from the basic hiragana. This list includes some Japanese words that you likely already know:
Hiragana
Romaji
Meaning
つなみ
tsunami
tsunami
みつびし
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi (company name)
ながさき
Nagasaki
Nagasaki (place name)
たなか
Tanaka
Tanaka (common Japanese surname)
さかな
sakana
fish
ねこ
neko
cat
ほん
hon
book
にほん
Nihon
Japan
The compound hiragana
We aren’t quite done with hiragana. The “basic” hiragana characters that we have covered thus far provide a wide range of sounds; but we need a few more to cover all of the sounds in the Japanese language.
This next group of hiragana is comprised of combinations of the basic characters. Therefore, we’ll be building on the knowledge acquired in the previous section.
Phonetically, the compound hiragana characters are a bit trickier than the basic group—but there is nothing here that is particularly intimidating. Some of these sounds are rarely used in the English language; but they are not difficult for native-English-speakers to reproduce.
All of these sounds consist of a consonant sound, immediately followed by a y + vowel sound.
The k + y hiragana きゃ、きゅ、きょ
きゃ
きゅ
きょ
kya
kyu
kyo
kyah
like the kyuh sound in “cucumber”
kyoh
Be careful to keep your consonants short and clipped! When you pronounce きゃ, do not say keeyah, say kyah.
The g+ y hiragana ぎゃ、 ぎゅ、 ぎょ
ぎゃ
ぎゅ
ぎょ
gya
gyu
gyo
gyah
gyuh
gyoh
Pronunciation tip: If you have been to many Japanese restaurants, you may be familiar with the word gyoza, or dumpling. This word is rendered in hiragana as ぎょうざ. Note that it begins with the ぎょ sound.
The s+ y hiragana しゃ、 しゅ、 しょ
しゃ
しゅ
しょ
sha
shu
sho
like “shah” as in “the shah of Iran”
similar to “shoe”
similar to "show"
This group is quite easy to master, as these sounds are all common in the English language.
Transliteration notes: Alternate transliterations for these characters are sya, syu, syo
The z+ y hiragana (1)
じゃ
じゅ
じょ
ja
ju
jo
like the jah in “Johnny”
like the juh in “Jewish”
like the English word “Joe”
Kunrei transliteration notes: Kunrei transliterations for these hiragana are zya, zyu, zyo
The t+ y hiragana
ちゃ
ちゅ
ちょ
cha
chu
cho
like the chah sound in “cha-cha” or “chalk”
like the chuh sound in “choose”
like the choh sound in “chosen”
Transliteration notes: Alternate transliterations for these hiragana are tya, tyu tyo.
The z+ y hiragana (2)
ぢゃ
ぢゅ
ぢょ
ja
ju
jo
like the jah in “Johnny”
like the juh in “Jewish”
like the English word “Joe”
Transliteration notes: Alternate transliterations for these hiragana are zya zyu zyo
The n + y hiragana
にゃ
にゅ
にょ
nya
nyu
nyo
nyah
nyuh
nyoh
The h + y hiragana
ひゃ
ひゅ
ひょ
hya
hyu
hyo
hyah
like the name “Hugh”
hyoh
The b + y hiragana
びゃ
びゅ
びょ
bya
byu
byo
byah
byuh
byoh
The p + y hiragana
ぴゃ
ぴゅ
ぴょ
pya
pyu
pyo
pyah
pyuh
pyoh
The m + y hiragana
みゃ
みゅ
みょ
mya
myu
myo
myah
myuh
myoh
The r + y hiragana
りゃ
りゅ
りょ
rya
ryu
ryo
ryah
ryuh
ryoh
Doubling up
A small つ is placed between two syllables to form a double consonant sound. This advances the sound of the second character to the end of the first one. I know, this explanation seems a bit confusing. It is best understand by example:
Hiragana
Romaji
Meaning
きっと
kitto
surely; certainly
いっしゅ
isshu
a kind; a sort
きって
kitte
postage stamp
にっさん
nissan
Nissan (the company)
Let’s examine this process in a bit more detail:
き(ki) + っ + と(to) = きっと (kitto)
Note that a double consonant can change the meaning of a word!
さか saka means “slope; hill”
さっか sakka means “writer”
Coming soon: Diphthongs and long vowel sounds....
