This guide contains everything: the full chart, how each row works, stroke order principles, the modified sounds (dakuten and combinations), the pronunciation points English speakers miss, the characters everyone mixes up, and a study method that gets most learners reading in under two weeks.
What Is Hiragana and Why Learn It First?
Japanese uses three scripts together:
| Script | Characters | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Hiragana (ひらがな) | 46 base | Grammar endings, particles, native words |
| Katakana (カタカナ) | 46 base | Foreign words, emphasis, onomatopoeia |
| Kanji (漢字) | 2,000+ common | Word roots: nouns, verb stems |
A typical sentence uses all three:
私はコーヒーを飲みます。
kanji(私) + hiragana(は…を…みます) + katakana(コーヒー)
Hiragana comes first because:
- Every grammar element is written in hiragana — particles, verb endings, adjective endings.
- All kanji readings are explained in hiragana (furigana) — it's the key that unlocks every textbook.
- Romaji becomes a crutch that damages pronunciation. The sooner you drop it, the better your accent.
Each hiragana represents a syllable (technically a mora): か is always "ka," every time, in every word. Compare that to English "a" in cat/father/cake — Japanese spelling is wonderfully fair.
The Complete Hiragana Chart (46 Base Characters)
Read top-to-bottom within each column, columns right-to-left traditionally — but as a learner, just follow the rows below (a-i-u-e-o order):
| Row | あ a | い i | う u | え e | お 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 (w)o |
| N | ん n |
Four irregulars to flag from day one (bolded above): し = shi (not si), ち = chi (not ti), つ = tsu (not tu), ふ = fu (not hu). They follow the chart's logic visually but shifted in pronunciation over the centuries.
を is used almost exclusively as the object particle and is pronounced "o." ん is the only consonant that stands alone.
Row-by-Row Notes and Memory Hooks
あ row — the five vowels
Japanese has exactly five vowel sounds, and they never change:
| Kana | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| あ a | father |
| い i | see (short) |
| う u | food, but with relaxed, unrounded lips |
| え e | get |
| お o | go (without the English "w" glide at the end) |
Get these five right and your accent is already better than most learners — every other sound is consonant + one of these five.
か row (か き く け こ)
Crisp, unaspirated "k." Memory hook: か looks like a person karate-kicking.
さ row (さ し す せ そ)
し is "shi" — there is no "si" sound in Japanese. す at the end of words often devoices: です sounds like "dess," ます like "mass."
た row (た ち つ て と)
つ "tsu" is the hardest new sound for English speakers — English has "ts" only at word ends (cats). Practice by saying "cats are" quickly, then dropping the "ca": tsu-are → つ.
な row (な に ぬ ね の)
の looks like a one-stroke spiral and conveniently means "of" — you'll see it on shop signs everywhere.
は row (は ひ ふ へ ほ)
ふ is between "fu" and "hu" — blow air gently between relaxed lips (like blowing out a candle), no teeth touching the lip. Remember the particle readings: は as a particle reads "wa," へ as a particle reads "e."
ま row (ま み む め も)
め looks like a medama (eyeball); ぬ vs め is a classic confusion pair — ぬ (nu) has the extra loop, like a nudle… noodle.
や row (や ゆ よ)
Only three characters. They double as the small combination characters (ゃゅょ) you'll meet below.
ら row (ら り る れ ろ)
The Japanese "r" is neither English R nor L — it's a single light tap of the tongue tip just behind the teeth, close to the "tt" in American "butter" (ladder). Don't roll it, don't curl your tongue.
わ row and ん
わ wa, を o (particle only), and ん — the standalone "n," which assimilates: before m/p/b it sounds like "m" (せんぱい → "sempai").
Modified Sounds
Dakuten (゛) and handakuten (゜)
Two small marks multiply your 46 characters into 71 sounds — no new shapes to learn:
| Base row | + ゛ becomes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| か き く け こ | が ぎ ぐ げ ご (g) | がっこう gakkou (school) |
| さ し す せ そ | ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ (z, じ = ji) | かぞく kazoku (family) |
| た ち つ て と | だ ぢ づ で ど (d) | でんわ denwa (telephone) |
| は ひ ふ へ ほ | ば び ぶ べ ぼ (b) | かばん kaban (bag) |
| は ひ ふ へ ほ | ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ (p) ← ゜ | てんぷら tempura |
ぢ and づ are rare; じ and ず write the same sounds in almost all words (exceptions like つづく "to continue" and はなぢ "nosebleed" follow a rule: they come from voiced doubling or compounds).
Combination sounds (拗音, yōon)
A small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ after any い-column kana blends into one syllable:
| Combination | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| きゃ きゅ きょ | kya kyu kyo | きょう kyou (today) |
| しゃ しゅ しょ | sha shu sho | しゃしん shashin (photo) |
| ちゃ ちゅ ちょ | cha chu cho | おちゃ ocha (tea) |
| にゃ にゅ にょ | nya nyu nyo | ぎゅうにゅう gyuunyuu (milk) |
| ひゃ ひゅ ひょ | hya hyu hyo | ひゃく hyaku (hundred) |
| りゃ りゅ りょ | rya ryu ryo | りょこう ryokou (travel) |
| ぎゃ じゃ びゃ ぴゃ… | gya ja bya pya… | じゃあね jaa ne (see ya) |
Critical size distinction: big や vs small ゃ changes the word. きや = "kiya" (two syllables); きゃ = "kya" (one syllable). Compare びょういん (byouin, hospital) vs びよういん (biyouin, beauty salon) — a one-character-size difference natives joke about.
Small つ (っ) — the doubled consonant
A small っ creates a brief stop — hold the following consonant for one beat:
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| きって kitte | "kit-te" | stamp |
| がっこう gakkou | "gak-kou" | school |
| ちょっと chotto | "chot-to" | a little |
Minimal pair to drill: きて (kite, "come") vs きって (kitte, "stamp"). The pause carries meaning — skipping it is one of the most persistent foreign accents in Japanese.
Long vowels
Long vowels are held for two beats and change meaning:
| Short | Long | |
|---|---|---|
| おばさん obasan = aunt | おばあさん obaasan = grandmother | |
| おじさん ojisan = uncle | おじいさん ojiisan = grandfather | |
| ゆき yuki = snow | ゆうき yuuki = courage |
Spelling rules: long あ→ add あ; long い→ add い; long う→ add う; long え→ usually add い (せんせい sensei); long お→ usually add う (ありがとう arigatou). Exceptions like おおきい (big) and とおい (far) just need memorizing.
Stroke Order: The Rules That Cover Everything
You don't memorize 46 stroke orders — you internalize four principles that govern nearly all of them:
- Top to bottom — strokes start high.
- Left to right — when strokes are side by side.
- Horizontal before vertical — when they cross (as in き, さ).
- Outside before inside — enclosures first.
Why stroke order matters (it's not pedantry)
- Written at speed, correct stroke order produces the correct shape — the curves of hiragana come from brush momentum.
- Stroke-order-aware apps and dictionaries let you look up characters by drawing them — wrong order means failed lookups.
- It transfers directly to kanji, where it becomes essential.
Stroke counts for tricky characters
| Character | Strokes | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| き | 4 | bottom curve is a separate stroke |
| さ | 3 | unlike き, only one crossbar |
| ふ | 4 | the most strokes of any "simple-looking" kana |
| む | 3 | the loop and the final dot |
| ん | 1 | one flowing stroke |
| の | 1 | counter-clockwise start, clockwise sweep |
The Look-Alike Characters Everyone Confuses
Drill these pairs side by side — they cause 80% of reading errors in week one:
| Pair | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| あ / お | あ has the crossing loop through the middle; お has a separate dot at top right |
| ね / れ / わ | All share the left stroke. ね has a loop tail, れ kicks out, わ curves in |
| ぬ / め | ぬ (nu) has a loop at the end — "noodles have loops"; め (me) doesn't |
| る / ろ | る (ru) ends in a loop; ろ (ro) is open — "ru has a loop" |
| は / ほ | ほ has an extra top bar on the right side |
| き / さ | き has two crossbars, さ has one |
| し / つ | し sweeps up, つ sweeps down — "shi hooks up to the sky, tsu curls down" |
How to Learn Hiragana in 7–14 Days
A schedule that has worked for thousands of self-learners:
| Day | Learn | Method |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | あ–こ (10 kana) | Mnemonics + write each 10× |
| 2 | さ–と (10) | Review day 1 first, always |
| 3 | な–ほ (10) | Start reading 2-kana words (なに, はな) |
| 4 | ま–よ (8) | Write words, not just characters |
| 5 | ら–ん (8) | Full chart complete — quiz yourself blank-chart style |
| 6 | Dakuten + handakuten | They're free — same shapes |
| 7 | Combinations, small っ, long vowels | Minimal-pair drills |
| 8–14 | Read real words daily | Use the N5 vocabulary list as reading material |
Five study tips that make the difference:
- Use mnemonics for recognition, writing for retention. Picture stories (し = a fishing hook, "she fishes") get you recognizing fast; physical writing cements recall.
- Quiz with a blank chart. Fill in a 5×10 grid from memory daily. Gaps reveal exactly what to review.
- Read words from day 3. Characters in isolation are abstract; かさ (umbrella) is a word you now own.
- Drop romaji completely after week one. Cover romaji subtitles, switch your notes to kana.
- Type it too. Set up a Japanese IME and type words — typing "ka" → か reinforces the sound-symbol link from the other direction.
Common Mistakes Beginners Make
- Learning recognition only. If you can read but not write from memory, the characters fade within weeks. Write daily, even just one chart.
- Ignoring the small characters. ゃゅょ and っ are not decoration — びょういん vs びよういん is hospital vs beauty salon.
- Pronouncing う and ふ with rounded lips. Japanese う is flat-lipped; ふ is a soft blow, not English "foo."
- Skipping long vowels. おばさん and おばあさん are different relatives. Hold long vowels a full extra beat.
- Reading は and へ literally everywhere. As particles they are "wa" and "e." こんにちは ends in the particle は — it's "konnichiwa."
- Staying on hiragana too long. Once you can read all 46 plus modifications, move on. Fluency comes from reading real words, not endless chart drills.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to learn hiragana?
Most learners achieve full recognition in 3–7 days and comfortable reading in 2–3 weeks of daily practice. Writing from memory takes slightly longer than reading.
Should I learn hiragana or katakana first?
Hiragana. It carries all grammar, appears in every beginner textbook, and is used for furigana over kanji. Katakana follows naturally afterward — see our Complete Katakana Guide.
How many hiragana characters are there in total?
46 base characters. With dakuten/handakuten (25 more sounds) and small-character combinations (33+), you can write every sound in the Japanese language — about 104 distinct syllables.
Is stroke order really necessary?
Yes, for three practical reasons: handwriting at speed only looks right with correct order, drawing-based dictionary lookup depends on it, and it transfers directly to kanji where it becomes indispensable.
Why does は sometimes sound like "wa"?
Historical spelling preserved in the 1946 script reform: when は functions as the topic particle, it keeps its centuries-old pronunciation "wa." Same story for the particles へ ("e") and を ("o").
Can I skip writing and just learn to read?
You can reach reading recognition faster that way, but retention suffers measurably. Even ten minutes of writing per day roughly doubles how well the characters stick.
Summary and Next Steps
Hiragana is 46 fair, phonetic characters plus three cheap upgrades: dakuten marks, small-character combinations, and the small っ. Learn ten characters a day with mnemonics, write them by hand, drill the look-alike pairs, respect the small characters and long vowels, and you'll be reading within two weeks.
Continue on NihongoDoya:
- Next script: Complete Katakana Guide
- Start reading real words: N5 Vocabulary List
- Begin grammar in parallel: Complete N5 Grammar Guide
- Train your ear to match the kana: N5 Listening Practice