Everything you need to start reading hiragana — the full chart with romaji, the voiced and combination kana, and the handful of rules that trip up beginners.
Japanese is written with three scripts: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana (ひらがな) is the rounded, flowing one, and it's almost always the first that learners pick up. Unlike the English alphabet, hiragana is a syllabary: each character stands for a whole sound — usually a consonant plus a vowel, like か = "ka" — rather than a single letter.
There are 46 basic hiragana. Learn those, add a few simple modifications, and you can sound out any Japanese word phonetically. The good news: hiragana is remarkably regular. Once you know a character's sound, it reads the same way every single time — there are almost no exceptions.
Once hiragana clicks, the natural next step is the angular second syllabary — see the katakana chart & reading guide. Not sure how the two scripts differ? The hiragana vs katakana comparison lays them side by side.
The 46 base characters are traditionally laid out in a 5-vowel grid called the gojūon ("fifty sounds"). Read each row left to right; the vowel order is always a – i – u – e – o.
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | 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wo | |||
| n | んn |
Watch the irregular readings. A few kana don't follow the tidy consonant+vowel pattern: し is shi (not "si"), ち is chi, つ is tsu, ふ is fu, and ん is a standalone n. In the typing game both spellings are usually accepted — you can type "shi" or "si" — but the readings above are the standard ones.
Adding two small strokes (dakuten, ゛) or a small circle (handakuten, ゜) to the top-right of a kana changes its consonant sound. You don't learn new shapes — just the marks. They turn k→g, s→z, t→d, and h→b (dakuten) or h→p (handakuten).
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| g | がga | ぎgi | ぐgu | げge | ごgo |
| z | ざza | じji | ずzu | ぜze | ぞzo |
| d | だda | ぢji | づzu | でde | どdo |
| b | ばba | びbi | ぶbu | べbe | ぼbo |
| p | ぱpa | ぴpi | ぷpu | ぺpe | ぽpo |
ぢ and づ are pronounced the same as じ (ji) and ず (zu); they're rare and appear mostly in compound words.
To write sounds like "kya" or "sho", a kana ending in i is followed by a small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ. The two characters blend into one syllable. Note the small size — a full-size や would be read separately.
| + ya | + yu | + yo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| き | きゃkya | きゅkyu | きょkyo |
| し | しゃsha | しゅshu | しょsho |
| ち | ちゃcha | ちゅchu | ちょcho |
| に | にゃnya | にゅnyu | にょnyo |
| ひ | ひゃhya | ひゅhyu | ひょhyo |
| り | りゃrya | りゅryu | りょryo |
| ぎ | ぎゃgya | ぎゅgyu | ぎょgyo |
| じ | じゃja | じゅju | じょjo |
A small っ isn't pronounced on its own. It doubles the consonant that follows, marking a short pause. So きって is "kitte" (a stamp), not "kitsute". Think of the catch in the middle of "uh-oh".
A vowel held twice as long changes the word's meaning, so it's written out: おばさん (obasan, "aunt") versus おばあさん (obāsan, "grandmother"). Long vowels are usually written by adding the matching vowel kana — and for the "o" sound, often with う, as in とうきょう (Tōkyō).
Practice the recall step here. The kana typing game shows you a character and asks you to type its romaji against the clock — exactly the active-recall drill above, turned into a combo chase. Its mastery tracker marks which kana you've nailed and which still need work, so weak characters come up more often.
Most people can read all 46 basic hiragana within one to two weeks of short daily sessions. The trick is active recall — seeing a character and saying its sound from memory — rather than just staring at a chart. A few focused minutes a day beats one long cram.
Hiragana first. It spells out native words and all of Japanese grammar, so you meet it constantly from day one. Katakana shares the same sounds and falls into place quickly once hiragana is solid — see hiragana vs katakana for how the two split the work.
There are 46 basic hiragana. Adding the voiced marks (dakuten and handakuten) and the small-y combinations pushes the readable total past 100, but every one is built from those original 46.
Only as a short-lived crutch. Romaji lets you start speaking sooner, but it slows real reading and hides sounds Japanese makes that English spelling does not. Switch to reading kana directly as soon as you can — the typing game is built to push you over that line.
Hiragana is phonetic — each character is a sound with no meaning of its own. Kanji are meaning characters borrowed from Chinese. Hiragana writes grammar, native words, and the readings of kanji, so it is the foundation you learn first.