Learn the Japanese Hiragana

ひらがな

Learn to read the Japanese Hiragana (ひらがな): all 46 letters with names, sounds and audio, plus flashcards, listening, typing and matching practice.

Letter	Name	Latin letters	Sound
あ	a	a	a as in father
い	i	i	ee as in see, but short
う	u	u	oo as in food, but with relaxed, unrounded lips
え	e	e	e as in pet
お	o	o	o as in more, short and pure
か	ka	ka	ka as in car
き	ki	ki	key
く	ku	ku	coo as in cuckoo
け	ke	ke	ke as in kettle
こ	ko	ko	co as in coat, short
さ	sa	sa	sa as in salsa
し	shi	shi	she
す	su	su	sue, with the u barely voiced
せ	se	se	se as in set
そ	so	so	so as in soap, short
た	ta	ta	ta as in taco
ち	chi	chi	chee as in cheese
つ	tsu	tsu	ts as in cats, then oo
て	te	te	te as in ten
と	to	to	toe, short
な	na	na	na as in nachos
に	ni	ni	knee
ぬ	nu	nu	noo as in noodle
ね	ne	ne	ne as in net
の	no	no	no, short
は	ha	ha	ha as in hard; read wa when used as the topic particle
ひ	hi	hi	hee, with a breathy h as in huge
ふ	fu	fu	between who and foo: blow out gently, lips barely apart
へ	he	he	he as in head; read e when used as the direction particle
ほ	ho	ho	ho as in horse, short
ま	ma	ma	ma as in mama
み	mi	mi	me
む	mu	mu	moo
め	me	me	me as in met
も	mo	mo	mo as in more, short
や	ya	ya	ya as in yard
ゆ	yu	yu	you
よ	yo	yo	yo as in yoga
ら	ra	ra	a light tap of the tongue, like the tt in American butter, then a
り	ri	ri	a light tapped r, then ee
る	ru	ru	a light tapped r, then oo
れ	re	re	a light tapped r, then e as in pet
ろ	ro	ro	a light tapped r, then o
わ	wa	wa	wa as in wasp
を	wo	o	o as in more, same as お; used only as the object particle
ん	n	n	n as in pen; shifts to m or ng before some sounds and never starts a word

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