Hiragana Chart
Hiragana has 46 basic characters. Add 25 with dakuten or handakuten marks and 33 small-ya/yu/yo combinations, and this chart covers 104 sounds in all.
How to use
- Read the chart row by row. Each row shares one consonant (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko) and each column one vowel (a, i, u, e, o).
- Tap a character to hear it. Untick Show romaji to cover the letters and test yourself.
- Switch to Quiz, pick a range, and type the romaji for the character shown. Check marks right answers, and the score and streak count up.
How it works
The 46 basic characters are the standard gojuon table: five vowels, then nine consonant rows (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w) and the single consonant n. The rows y and w have gaps because ye, yi, wi, wu and we are not used today, and wo is written only as the particle を.
A dakuten (two small strokes) voices a consonant: k to g, s to z, t to d, h to b. A handakuten (small circle) turns h into p. This gives 25 more characters: ga gi gu ge go, za ji zu ze zo, da ji zu de do, ba bi bu be bo and pa pi pu pe po.
A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ after an i-ending character makes one syllable: き + ゃ is kya, not ki-ya. The chart lists the 33 common ones. Romaji follows the Hepburn system, the one used on most road signs and in passports.
Hepburn and Kunrei romaji
The chart shows Hepburn, which spells sounds the way English readers hear them. Japanese school textbooks sometimes use the Kunrei system instead. The quiz accepts both, so si for し counts as right.
| Kana | Hepburn | Kunrei |
|---|---|---|
| し | shi | si |
| ち | chi | ti |
| つ | tsu | tu |
| ふ | fu | hu |
| じ | ji | zi |
| しゃ | sha | sya |
| ちゃ | cha | tya |
| じゃ | ja | zya |
Look-alike pairs worth drilling
- は ha and ほ ho, and ぬ nu and め me, differ by a small loop or stroke.
- さ sa and ち chi look like mirror images, and る ru and ろ ro differ only by a small loop.
- し shi, つ tsu, そ so and ん n are the four that most often get confused.
- ぢ and づ sound the same as じ and ず. They show up in a few words, such as はなぢ (nosebleed) and こづつみ (parcel).
Particles read differently
Three characters change sound when they work as grammar words. は is read wa in the topic marker (わたしは), へ is read e when it means toward, and を is read o in the object marker. Inside ordinary words they keep their usual sounds.
FAQ
How many hiragana characters are there?
There are 46 basic characters. With the 25 dakuten and handakuten forms and the 33 small ya, yu, yo combinations on this chart, you meet 104 distinct sounds. The obsolete ゐ and ゑ are shown separately.
Why is を read as o and not wo?
Modern Japanese pronounces を as plain o. The chart lists it as wo because that is its place in the gojuon table, and the quiz accepts both wo and o.
Is the audio a recording?
No. It uses your browser's built-in Japanese text-to-speech, so it needs a Japanese voice on your device. Pronunciation can differ a little between devices, so check against a native speaker when you can.
Should I learn hiragana or katakana first?
Hiragana first. It is used for grammar endings and native words, so you see it in every sentence. Katakana comes next for foreign words and names, and has its own chart on this site.
Does this show stroke order?
Not yet. Stroke order needs a verified animation set, so it is left out rather than shown wrong.