WHAT IS HIRAGANA ?
Hiragana are a type of Japanese character. They're sort of like a Japanese alphabet, inthat each hiragana character is used to represent a sound. That means that bylearning hiragana characters, you'll also learn basic Japanese pronunciation! In
essence, remembering hiragana is the first step to learning Japanese.

AN OVERVIEW OF HIRAGANA
There are 46 basic hiragana in total, typically presented in these ten columns.

K

S

T

N

H

M

Y

R

W

か

さ

た

な

は

ま

や

ら

わ

ka

sa

ta

na

ha

ma

ya

ra

wa

い
i

き

し

ち

に

ひ

み

り

ki

shi

chi

ni

hi

mi

ri

う
u

く

す

つ

ぬ

ふ

む

ゆ

る

を

ku

su

tsu

nu

fu

mu

yu

ru

o

け

せ

て

ね

へ

め

れ

ke

se

te

ne

he

me

re

こ

そ

と

の

ほ

も

よ

ろ

ん

ko

so

to

no

ho

mo

yo

ro

n

あ
a

え
e
お
o

The first column consists of five vowels: あ (A) - い (I) - う (U) - え (E) - お (O).
The rest of the hiragana pair one of these vowels with a consonant sound. Take a look at
the second column, the K-column. It includes か (KA) - き (KI) - く (KU) - け (KE) - こ(KO). See how they're just "K" sounds combined with the five vowels from the firstcolumn?
This pattern gives us all the columns for K - S - T - H - M - Y - R - W sounds, and as you
can see from the chart, they (almost) all follow the same rule. You may notice some
exceptions, but don't worry — you'll learn about those later in this book.

1

HOW TO USE THE LEARN HIRAGANA BOOK
PAGE FOR EACH HIRAGANAThis is the kana (hiragana) you'll belearning on the page.

The HOW TO PRONOUNCE section
explains how to say the kana.
It also tells you how to write the kana inromaji (a system that transliterates
Japanese into English letters). Pay
attention to the romaji spelling, as you'll
be quizzed later on!

This is a supplemental image to the
HOW TO REMEMBER section. It visually
illustrates how the memory hint works.

This shows the stroke order for writing
the kana. As for stroke direction, keep inmind that the basic rule is left to right,
top to bottom.

The HOW TO REMEMBER section
gives you a "memory hint," a.k.a. amnemonic, to help you link the shapeand the reading of the kana. You may
find some quirky ones, but believe me— they'll help the kana stick to yourbrain!
The bottom half of the page is the
PRACTICE WRITING section.

Do some practice writing the kana,tracing over the lines first, then filling in
the blank boxes! At this stage, writing is
not as important as being able to read,but moving your hand and practicing
writing will help you remember the kana.

2

REVIEW PAGE FOR EACH COLUMN
After you learn a set/column of kana, you'll see a page called LET'S PRACTICEREADING! where you can review what you've learned.

Here in the boxes below each kana,just fill in the romaji reading of thecorresponding kana.
This helps you self-assess and see howmuch you have (or haven't) retained.
If you find yourself having a hard time
remembering a specific kana, you canalways go back to that kana's page toreview.
You can also try to come up withmemory hints of your own if that works
better for you!

The reading quiz continues! Keep filling in the kana readings in romaji.
What's different (and kind of cool) in this part is that the kana are used for making actual Japanesewords. You'll realize that you already know how to read some Japanese words in hiragana!
Each word contains at least one kana from the column you're reviewing, but keep in mind that you
may see some kana from previous columns being used as well.
So when you're using this book, try to follow the order it's in to get the most out of it.
— Are you ready to learn all the hiragana now? Good luck!

3

how to pronounce あ
あ is pronounced like "ah!" like when
you come to a realization.
In romaji, write a.

how to remember あ
howto andrememberLookclosely,find the letterあA
inside of it.
There is another similar hiragana, お,
but that one doesn't have an A in it,
which is how you can differentiatethem.

PRACTICE WRITING あ

4how to pronounce いい is pronounced like the ee in "eel."
In romaji, write i.

how to remember いTo remember this kana, just think of acouple of eels hanging out.
They’re upright because they’re trying
to mimic the letter i, which also stands
upright and happens to be the way
you spell out this character in romaji.

PRACTICE WRITING い5how to pronounce う
う is pronounced like ooh in "ooh, ahh!"
In other words, it sounds like u in
"UNO," the card game, or the number
one in Spanish.
In romaji, write u.

how to remember う
To remember this kana, notice the U
how to remember う
shape right in it!
There's another similar hiragana, つ,but that one isn't wearing a hat like U(you) are. Ooh, ahh, what a nifty hat!

PRACTICE WRITING う

6how to pronounce え
え is pronounced like the e in "egg."
In romaji, write e.

how to remember え
Look at this kana and find the exotic
bird laying exotic eggs inside of it.
The feather on its head gives awaythat it's special and exotic, and theflourish looks like its body and tail.
How adorable!

PRACTICE WRITING え

7how to pronounce お
お is pronounced like you're saying"oh." It's the o sound in "origami."
In romaji, write o.

how to remember お
Can you see the letter o in here, twotimes? This one looks similar to あ,
except for one key difference: there
are two letter o symbols visible inthere.
Make sure you use this to differentiate
this kana お and the similar kana あ.

PRACTICE WRITING お

8let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means ah! — something you
say when you come to arealization.

means blue.

means house.

means above.

means king.

9

how to pronounce かか is just the K sound plus あ, making aka sound. It's pronounced like ka in"karma."In romaji, write ka.

how to remember かSee how this kana looks like amosquito? What a convenient
coincidence! Mosquitos happen to becalled か (ka) in Japanese. You also
say "cut it out, darn mosquito!" when
they try to suck your blood, so thatshould be easy to remember.

PRACTICE WRITING か10how to pronounce きき is just the K sound plus い, making aki sound. It's pronounced kee, just likethe word "key."
In romaji, write ki.

how to remember きNotice how the shape of き resembles
a key?
Note: In some fonts, the bottom part is
detached from the main part. For
example: き. The pronunciation is still
ki though!

PRACTICE WRITING き

11how to pronounce く
く is just the K sound plus う, making aku sound.
It's pronounced coo, like both syllablesof the word "cuckoo" (or just the firstsyllable, depending on your variety ofEnglish).
In romaji, write ku.

how to remember く
To remember this, think of this kanabeing the mouth of a coo-coo /cuckoo bird popping out and saying"ku ku, ku ku!".

PRACTICE WRITING く

12how to pronounce け
け is just the K sound plus え, making ake sound.
It's pronounced like ke in "kelp."
In romaji, write ke.

how to remember け
See how this kana resembles some
wiggly kelp?

PRACTICE WRITING け

13how to pronounce こ
こ is just the K sound plus お, making ako sound. It's pronounced like co in"cohabitating." In British English, it ismore like co in "coin."In romaji, write ko.

how to remember こ
こ is a couple of co-habitating worms.
They're so happy together, cohabitating the same area!
Alternatively, you could imagine a
couple of short cords lying on the
ground next to each other.

PRACTICE WRITING こ

14let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means tree.

means mosquito.

means air.

means hair.

means voice.

15

how to pronounce ささ is just the S sound plus あ, making asa sound. It's pronounced like sa in"salsa."In romaji, write sa.

how to remember さ
Notice how this kana looks like two
hands stirring a bowl of salsa.
This salsa is so chunky and thick, youneed two hands just to stir it!

PRACTICE WRITING さ

16how to pronounce しし is the SH sound plus い, making a
shi sound. It's pronounced like shee in"sheep."Take note that this is the first"exception" kana that doesn't follow
the patterns that show up everywhere
else. Instead of being si, it's shi.
In romaji, write si or shi.

how to remember しThis kana looks like a giant shepherd's
crook used to herd sheep.
Baaaa... get in that corral, sheep!

PRACTICE WRITING し17how to pronounce すす is just the S sound plus う, making asu sound. It's pronounced like theword "sue," or su in "suit."
In romaji, write su.

how to remember すSee the swing doing a loop-dee-loop
and throwing that poor kid off of it?
Imagine him screaming "I'M GONNASUE SOMEBODY FOR THIIIIIiiiissss" as
he flies off into the distance.

PRACTICE WRITING す18how to pronounce せ
せ is just the S sound plus え, making ase sound. It's pronounced like se in"sell."In romaji, write se.

how to remember せThis kana looks like a mouth with a big
vampire fang in it. Someone's trying tosell you a set of vampire teeth
because they are just so sexy!
Oh Dracula, always trying to make aquick buck.

PRACTICE WRITING せ19how to pronounce そそ is just the S sound plus お, making aso sound.
It's pronounced like so in "soda." In
British English, it's more like so in"song."In romaji, write so.

how to remember そSee how this kana looks like a mouth
slurping soda?

PRACTICE WRITING そ20

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means salt.

means steep hill.

means vinegar.

means height.

means warehouse.

21

Let's practice reading hiragana FROM A - K - S ROWS!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

22how to pronounce た
た is just the T sound plus あ, making ata sound. It's pronounced like ta intaco.
In romaji, write ta.

how to remember た
Use your imagination and see thiskana as a fork, taco, and lime garnish
for your taco.
Wait... you're eating a taco with a fork?
That's a bit weird, but you do you, pal.

PRACTICE WRITING た

23how to pronounce ち
ち is pronounced like "chee" in"cheese." This is the second"exception" hiragana. Instead of a "ti"sound, it's a "chi" sound. Try not toforget this.
In romaji, write ti or chi.

how to remember ち
You know when someone tells you tosay "cheese" when taking a picture ofyou? This kana looks like that forced
smile you have to make every time
you're in a group photo.

PRACTICE WRITING ち

24how to pronounce つ
つ is just the TS sound plus う, making
a tsu sound. It's pronounced like tsu in"tsunami."
This is another "exception" hiragana.
Instead of saying "tu," you say "tsu." Trynot to forget this.
In romaji, write tu or tsu.

how to remember つLook at the swoosh of this hiragana.
Doesn't it look like a big wave, or
tsunami?

PRACTICE WRITING つ25how to pronounce てて is just the T sound plus え, making ate sound. It's pronounced like te in"telescope."
In romaji, write te.

how to remember てCan you see a good ol' telescope?
It's a hand-held one! In Japanese,"hand" is て (te). That should help you
remember that this kana looks like anold-school hand(te)-held telescope.

PRACTICE WRITING て26

how to pronounce とと is just the "T" sound plus お, making
a to sound.
It's pronounced like to in "toe." In
British English, it sounds like to in "top."
In romaji, write to.

how to remember とThis kana looks just like someone's toewith a little nail or splinter in it.
Imagine how much this would hurt if it
was your toe!

PRACTICE WRITING と27

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means to stand.

means
underground.

means moon.

means hand.

means and.

28

how to pronounce な
な is just the N sound plus あ, making ana sound. It's pronounced like na in"nachos."
In romaji, write na.

how to remember な
The nun is praying in front of the crossasking for nachos, because she's
craving a delicious snack!
The cross up in the air should be themain giveaway that this is な.

PRACTICE WRITING な29how to pronounce にに is just the N sound plus い, making ani sound. It's pronounced like nee in"needle."In romaji, write ni.

how to remember にDo you see the needle pulling thethread?

PRACTICE WRITING に30how to pronounce ぬ
ぬ is just the N sound plus う, making anu sound. It's pronounced like noo in"noodle."In romaji, write nu.

how to remember ぬThis kana looks like some noodles.
There are several other kana that are
similar to this one (れ, め, ね, わ), but
you know this one is noodles
because there are no sharp angles in
it. It's 100% smooth and bendable,
like noodles! It even has an extra
loop at the bottom, because it is a
noodle.

PRACTICE WRITING ぬ31how to pronounce ね
ね is just the N sound plus え, making ane sound. It's pronounced like ne in"Nelly."In romaji, write ne.

how to remember ねThis is Nelly the cat. There are otherkana very similar to this one (ぬ, れ, め,わ), but you know this is different.
Why? Because it has a loop at the end
for the tail, and it's not super bendable
like ぬ (noodles) is — see those sharp
corners on the left?
To top things off, Nelly is a
necromancer. Why? I have no idea,
you'll have to ask her. It must havesomething to do with the undead catarmy she's creating.
Also, if you know the word
"neko" (Japanese for "cat"), you can
use that too. This is a ねこ.

PRACTICE WRITING ね

32how to pronounce のの is just the N sound plus お, making ano sound. It's pronounced like no in"nose" or "nori."
In romaji, write no.

how to remember のSee the big pig nose there? You canalso think of this as a "No smoking"sign (the one with the cigarette andbig red circle/slash through it). Pickthe one that sticks with you the best.

PRACTICE WRITING の33

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means meat.

means eggplant.

means fabric.

means cat.

means brain.

34

how to pronounce はは is just the H sound plus あ, making aha sound. It's pronounced like ha in"haha" (like laughing!).
In romaji, write ha.

how to remember はThis kana looks like an uppercase
letter H plus a lowercase letter a.
What does that spell? "Ha!"Why are you laughing? Stop that. Make
sure you can see the H+a in the kana.

PRACTICE WRITING は35

how to pronounce ひひ is just the H sound plus い, making ahi sound.
It's like the English pronoun "he." Inother words, it sounds like "he" in"heat."In romaji, write hi.

how to remember ひHe has a big nose. See that big nose?
Now say it out loud. "He has a big
nose."

PRACTICE WRITING ひ36how to pronounce ふ
ふ is halfway between the F and H
sounds, plus う, making a fu / husound.
It's pronounced like a softly blown-out
version of foo in "fool," or sometimes
hoo in "hoop."
In romaji, write either fu or hu.

how to remember ふSomeone is over there dancing like afool. What's that around theirneck? ...Oh, that's a hula hoop! That's
why they're twisting their body sohard.

PRACTICE WRITING ふ37how to pronounce へ
へ is just the H sound plus え, making a
he sound. It's pronounced like he in"help," or "Helens."
In romaji, write he.

how to remember へ
Do you know the famous mountain Mt.
Saint Helens? This kana isn't totally flat
like Helens is, but it's pretty squatlooking.
That's why this one is Helens. If it ever
erupts again, people will need help!

PRACTICE WRITING へ

38

how to pronounce ほ
ほ is just the H sound plus お, making aho sound.
It's pronounced like ho in "hoe" or "ho
ho ho!" In British English, it sounds
more like ho in "hot."In romaji, write ho.

how to remember ほ
The line on the left is a chimney. The
right side is a mutated Santa Claus. He
has four arms, a snake tail, and nohead. Out of his neck he's uttering "ho
ho ho… ho ho ho…" Hopefully hedoesn't come down your chimney.

PRACTICE WRITING ほ

39

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means yes.

means person.

means clothes.

means belly button.

means fire.

40

Let's practice reading hiragana FROM T - N - H ROWS!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

41how to pronounce まま is just the "M" sound plus あ, making
a ma sound. It's pronounced like theEnglish word "ma" (meaning "mother").
In other words, it sounds like ma in"mark."In romaji, write ma.

how to remember まRemoving your head? Doubling yourhands and arms? What sort of evilmagic is this? What makes it weirder isthat your mama is the one doing thismagic. Imagine your ma looking likethis. Aghh!

PRACTICE WRITING ま42how to pronounce み
み is just the M sound plus い, making
a mi sound.
It's pronounced like the English word"me." In other words, it sounds likemee in "meet."
In romaji, write mi.

how to remember みLooks like lucky number 21. Who just
hit the blackjack? Me! Who just turned
21 as well? Me!!
Listen to me sing my own birthday
song... mi mi Mi MIIIIIIII!

PRACTICE WRITING み

43how to pronounce む
む is just the M sound plus う, making
a mu sound.
It's pronounced like what cows say in
English: "moo." In other words, itsounds like moo in "mood."
In romaji, write mu.

how to remember む"Moooooo," says the cow.
"MOOOOOOO."

PRACTICE WRITING む

44how to pronounce め
め is just the M sound plus え, making
a me sound.
It's pronounced like me in "mess."
In romaji, write me.

how to remember め
Look at that beautiful eye! It's sobeautiful because of the makeup on it.
Gotta look pretty in the eyes, or else
your ensemble will just be "meh."If you also happen to know the word
for "eye" in Japanese, that will help too.
The word for "eye" in Japanese is justめ (me).

PRACTICE WRITING め

45how to pronounce もも is just the M sound plus お, making
a mo sound.
It's pronounced like mo in "more."
In romaji, write mo.

how to remember もYou want to catch more fish, so you
add more worms to your hook.

PRACTICE WRITING も46

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means ear.

means forward.

むし means bug.

means eye.

means peach.

47

how to pronounce やや is just the Y sound plus あ, making aya sound. It's pronounced like ya in"yacht." In British English, it sounds
more like ya in "yak."In romaji, write ya.

how to remember やSee how this kana looks like a yachtwith an anchor going down? It's evengot a little flag on the rear... how cute.
Alternatively, you canthink of this as theface of a yak too!

PRACTICE WRITING や48

how to pronounce ゆ
ゆ is just the Y sound plus う, making ayu sound. It's pronounced like theEnglish word "you."
In romaji, write yu.

how to remember ゆThis kana is a very unique looking fish!
It looks like a big eyeball swimming in
the water. What's it looking at? You,you big goofball! Isn't it weird how fish
always look like they're staring at you?

PRACTICE WRITING ゆ49how to pronounce よよ is just the Y sound plus お, making ayo sound.
It's pronounced like yo in "yo-yo." In
British English, it's more like yo in"yonder."
In romaji, write yo.

how to remember よYo, this kana looks like the letters Y &O! And look, you can even play yo-yo
with it. Look at it slide down and backup again... it's mesmerizing, yo.

PRACTICE WRITING よ50

only three kana in the Y-column?
It was a lot quicker going through the Y-column, right?
That's because there are only three kana in this column, while the other columns
had ve kana each. You might've noticed ye and yi are seemingly missing.
Actually, they used to exist, but now they don't (instead, people use
or ,because they sound pretty similar). So don't worry — you only have to learn threecharacters in the Y-column.

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means grilled meat.

means snow.

means yokai(folktale creatures).

fi51

how to pronounce ら
ら is just the R / L sound plus あ,making a ra / la sound.
ら is pronounced like a combination of"rah rah" (like cheering) and "la lala" (like singing!).

how to remember らら looks like a rabbit that's standing
and facing left. Look at its big droopy
ears. So cute!

It's a bit hard to explain with English
examples, because the R-column
sounds are kind of a mixture of r, l, andd sounds. For more details about Rcolumn sounds, check the How To
Pronounce The Japanese "R" Sound
article and video on tofugu.com.
However, to type or write it in romaji,
use r and write ra.

PRACTICE WRITING ら

52how to pronounce り
り is just the R /L sound plus い,making a ri / li sound.
り is pronounced like a combination of
ree in "reed" and lee in "leek."
However, to type or write it in romaji,
use r and write ri.

how to remember り
The reeds are swaying in the wind.
This kana is also commonly written
without the connection in the middle,
like り, which looks even more reedlike.

PRACTICE WRITING り

53how to pronounce る
る is just the R / L sound plus う,
making a ru / lu sound.
It's pronounced like a combination of
ru in "rule" or "route" and loo in "loop."
However, to type or write it in romaji,
use r and write ru.

how to remember るThis is just ろ (which you will learn in asec) with a loop at the end.
る is a crazier route. Why? Because
there's a loop at the end.

PRACTICE WRITING る

54how to pronounce れれ is just the R /L sound plus え,making a re / le sound.
れ is pronounced like a combination of
re in "retch" and le in "led."
However, to type or write it in romaji,
use r and write re.

how to remember れThis looks like a guy kneeling on the
ground, retching up his dinner.
This kana is similar to め, わ, ぬ, and ね.
What makes this one different is thecurve at the back. You can identify
this as the guy's knees bending, whichmakes it clear that he's keeled overretching his guts out.

PRACTICE WRITING れ55how to pronounce ろ
ろ is just the R / L sound plus お,
making a ro / lo sound.
ろ is pronounced like a combination of
ro in "road" and lo in "load." In British
English, it's more like ro in "rot" or lo in"long."
However, to type or write it in romaji,
use r and write ro.

how to remember ろThis is the counterpart to る, except
this one doesn't have a loop at theend. So this kana is just a plain oldroad.

PRACTICE WRITING ろ56

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means thunderstorm.

means reason.

means absent.

means history.

means candle.

57

how to pronounce わわ is just the W sound plus あ, making
a wa sound.
It's pronounced like wa in "wasabi."In romaji, write wa.

how to remember わThis kana looks like a wasp flying
straight up.
It looks similar to れ, ぬ, ね, and め. And
it looks especially similar to ね. You
know ね is Nelly the cat because of
the curl of the tail on the end. So you
can imagine the cat chasing this wasp,
which is why it's flying straight up to
get away. Its butt is also a straight,
sharp line. This is its stinger!

PRACTICE WRITING わ

58how to pronounce をを is pronounced like o in "origami"— just like the vowel お. It used to bepronounced like "wo," but now itsounds exactly like お.
In romaji, both o or wo are used for を.
To type it, write wo.

note:
Why two kana for the osound? Unlike お, を isprimarily used as agrammar element called a"particle." It marks theobject of a sentence.

how to remember を"Whoa!" yells the guy with no chin.
Someone threw a boomerang into hismouth! That's pretty "whoa"-worthy, I
think.

PRACTICE WRITING を59

how to pronounce んん is just the N sound — that's it. It's
the only kana that consists of a single
consonant. It's pronounced like theending n sound in "pen."
In romaji, write n. To type it, yousometimes have to type nn. Typedouble ns, especially before vowels
and y, so that it won't turn into anotherkana that starts with n.

note:
Despite being introducedin the W-column, ん has
nothing to do with W.
It just doesn't belong
anywhere else, and the Wcolumn had some extra
space. Simple as that.

how to remember んThis kana looks just like a lowercase n
in English. They happen to be thesame sounds as well. How convenient!
nnn んんん.

PRACTICE WRITING ん

60well, the w-column was strange!
As you could tell, the w-column is a bit weird.
The rst character is as you'd expect, but the other two are curveballs — like thenotes on each character explained.
Anyhoo, this was the last column for basic hiragana characters. Congrats!
Do some practice below to learn these irregular characters.

let's practice reading!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

means to laugh.

means gate.

fi

fi

61

Let's practice reading KATAKana FROM M - Y - R - W ROWS!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

62

LEARN VARIATION HIRAGANA
Congratulations! You've learned all the basic hiragana. Now it's time for you to learn
about "variation" hiragana. Don't worry — you've done all the heavy lifting at this point.
As long as you know the basic hiragana, learning beyond the basics is easy.

DAKUTEN & HAN-DAKUTEN
Dakuten is a symbol that looks like this → ゛. Looks like a double quotation mark, right?
This dakuten symbol marks hiragana from certain consonant columns and changes
their pronunciation. It turns the consonant into a "voiced" or "vibrating" sound, whichjust means your vocal cords vibrate when the sound is made.
For example, with dakuten added, a K-sound becomes a G-sound. That means か (KA)becomes が (GA), き (KI) becomes ぎ (GI), and so on — like the chart below shows.

K

G

S

Z

T

D

H

B

か

が

さ

ざ

た

だ

は

ば

ka

ga

sa

za

ta

da

ha

ba

い
i

き

ぎ

し

じ

ち

ぢ

ひ

び

ki

gi

shi

ji

chi

ji (di)

hi

bi

う
u

く

ぐ

す

ず

つ

づ

ふ

ぶ

ku

gu

su

zu

tsu

zu (du)

fu

bu

あ
a

え
e

け

げ

せ

ぜ

て

で

へ

べ

ke

ge

se

ze

te

de

he

be

お
o

こ

ご

そ

ぞ

と

ど

ほ

ぼ

ko

go

so

zo

to

do

ho

bo

In the same manner, S-sounds become Z-sounds, T-sounds become D-sounds, andH-sounds become B-sounds. Note that "exception" kana like し (SHI) act a little
differently. With dakuten, し becomes じ — JI instead of ZI. Also, be aware that on thischart, romaji in parentheses indicate how to type a character if its keyboard input
differs from its reading. To type ぢ on your keyboard, you'll type DI, for example, but the
pronunciation is still JI.
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You've just learned about basic dakuten, but there's actuallyanother variety called "han-dakuten" — indicated by a circularsymbol that looks like this → ゜. They are phonetically voicelesssounds: unlike voiced sounds (dakuten sounds), your vocal cords
don't vibrate when you make them.
It sounds complicated, but should be easy to remember — thehan-dakuten can only mark H-sounds and always turns theminto P-sounds!
は (HA) - ひ (HI) - ふ (FU) - へ (HE) - ほ (HO) become
ぱ (PA) - ぴ (PI) - ぷ (PU) - ぺ (PE) - ぽ (PO).
Pretty straightforward, right?

H

P

は

ぱ

ha

pa

ひ

ぴ

hi

pi

ふ

ぷ

fu

pu

へ

ぺ

he

pe

ほ

ぽ

ho

po

... ”Now, how do I remember all this?” Don't worry. Here are some memory hints a.k.a.
mnemonics to help you remember the dakuten/han-dakuten conversions.
K → G The car (か) runs into the guard (が) rail.
S→Z

My saw (さ) just zapped (ざ) me when I tried to use it.

T → D "TADA!" (た & だ)

H → B You're saying "hahaha (は)" at the bar (ば) because you've been drinking too much.
H → P You say "hahaha (は)" so much at the bar that somebody punches (ぱ) you.
Now that we've learned about dakuten and han-dakuten, let's practice (and try not tocheat, of course)!

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COMBINATION HIRAGANA
You can combine different types of kana to make some new sounds. Here are the two
types of kana you'll be putting together:
1) Kana from the い (I) row.
In other words, kana that end with an I-sound when written in romaji:
き (KI) - し (SHI) - ち (CHI) - に (NI) - ひ (HI) - み (MI) - り (RI),
ぎ (GI) - じ (JI) - ぢ (JI) - び (BI) - ぴ (PI). Note the vowel い itself won't apply here!
2) The small ゃ - ゅ - ょ.
The small versions of や (YA) - ゆ (YU) - よ (YO).
Look closely to see how they're almost half the size of the regular kana!
やゃ
ゆゅよょFor example, き + ょ = きょ (KYO). し + ゃ = しゃ (SHA). び + ゅ = びゅ (BYU).
Notice that the I at the end of the first kana is dropped when you spell the combinationin romaji. You'll also drop the I-sound when you pronounce these combination kana.
Now let's practice!

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SMALL っ (QUICK PAUSE)
We also have a small version of つ (TSU), which looks like this → っ. This kana doesn't
have a sound. Instead, it adds a quick little pause before a consonant sound in a word.
To express this in romaji, the consonant after a small っ is written twice.
Let's take a look at an example:
Add a small っ between the two kana い (I) and か (KA) to make the word いっか. In thiscase, you're doubling the K-sound, because that's the consonant following the small っ.
So いっか is written IKKA — which is how you pronounce いっか as well as how you typeit.
りったい RITTAI/rit_tai/
かっこ KAKKO/kak_ko/
いった ITTA/it_ta/Practice reading words with the small っ！

... and that's it! You've learned everything in the book.
Now let's wrap up and practice reading all the different kinds of hiragana that you've
learned!
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Let's practice reading all the hiragana!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

67

Let's practice reading all the HIRAGANA!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

68Let's practice reading all the HIRAGANA!
What's the reading? Write in romaji.

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WHAT'S NEXT?
Here are some recommendations for what you can do to keep moving forward withyour Japanese proficiency.

ADDITIONAL PRACTICE
Ready for more practice? Tofugu has an online quiz tool to assess and quiz yourhiragana knowledge, so visit https://kana-quiz.tofugu.com for additional practice! And
don't be stressed about mastering hiragana right now. Spacing your practice is really
important for retaining knowledge in the long term. So while you continue to study
hiragana, you can also start working on other parts of Japanese, like learning katakana
and kanji. They're the other characters used in the Japanese writing system.

LEARN KATAKANA
Katakana is similar to hiragana in that each character represents a sound. It's usedmainly for loanwords. If you liked learning hiragana through this book, check out
Tofugu's Learn Katakana Guide as well!

LEARN KANJI (& JAPANESE VOCABULARY)
Tofugu has an online platform for learning kanji (characters of Chinese origin) andJapanese vocabulary called WaniKani (wanikani.com).
Kanji can be intimidating, because they're complicated and unfamiliar to a lot of
learners. But WaniKani makes it easy by breaking them down into parts and giving you
memory hints (a.k.a. mnemonics) to help you associate their shapes with their
meanings and readings.
WaniKani also uses SRS (Spaced Repetition System) for its flashcard feature. It
automatically spaces out your practice so that everything you learn sticks better toyour brain. You can learn about 2,000 kanji and more than 6,000 words using
WaniKani. If you're fast, you can do that in a little over a year! Try the first three levels
for free and see if it works for you.

...This is the end of Tofugu's Learn Hiragana Book. We hope to see you around on yourJapanese learning journey!
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