The Easiest Way To Learn Hiragana - Ninja Writing Skills Part 1 - How to Use this Guide It is often easy to sit back and let guides like this teach you. But that is not the most effective way to learn. The most effective way to learn anything is to take an active role. So, make sure you are not a passive student who simply reads through the guide. Get involved and make sure that you practice the characters as you progress. Make sure that you listen to the audio for the sounds each character makes. Make the sounds yourself as you practice writing them. Once you ve finished the guide, be sure to revise using our recommended Spaced Repetition Systems. And continue to hone your reading and writing skills with our recommendations. And, most importantly, have fun. - がんばってね!Good Luck!
We are going to start with the character の which signifies the sound no. This one should be easy to remember. Just think of a stop sign. It kind of looks like one with the line cutting diagonally through an almost-circle. And stop means no! Our next hiragana character is め which makes the sound me as in mellow.
め has the meaning of eye(s). Yes, Japanese has plenty of words that consist of just one letter! And you don t have to stretch your imagination too much to see that the character itself looks like an eye! We have moved from の to め because め is the most similar character to の. This makes for an easy transition and logical progression. Once you ve mastered the easy stroke of writing の, it isn t too much of a leap to learn how to write め. You just start by drawing a small descending stroke on the left. Then you write the character の cutting through that stroke. Voilà! Easy-peasey, Japanesey. Next, we are going to progress from め to ぬ which makes the sound nu as in new Can you see that it looks very similar to め? The only difference is that this character ends with a fancy little loop.
Some people like drawing characters with loops. These are the type of people who love calligraphy. Other people, however, find this style of writing a real nuisance. And that s one way to remember this character. It s like め but it s a nuisance because you have to add a little loop at the end. The next character we are going to learn is あ. This makes the sound a as in father. In order to draw this character, we just have to add what looks like a bendy cross going through a stroke similar to の.
From あ it is an easy progression to お which makes the sound o as in only. Try writing these characters next to each other, making the different sounds as you write them, in order to see the difference between them. Once you ve nailed the difference between these two characters, we can combine them to create a word! あお is the Japanese word for blue. We also have enough characters to make another common word. If we combine あ and め, we create the word あめ which means both candy and rain. If you want a way to remember the dual-meaning of あめ, just think of your favorite candy raining down from the sky. What delicious carnage that would cause!
From お we are going to progress to す which has the sound su as in super. As you can see from the drawing, we just need to get rid of a little piece of お and then grab the bottom of the character and stretch it downwards. Using the hiragana we have learned so far, we can acquire some basic vocabulary. おす means to push. おすすめ means recommendation.
To get our next character, we are going to do some more stretching. Boy, these hiragana are flexible! We take the bottom of す and stretch it horizontally to the right in order to get む. We must also remember to add another little bit over this hiragana, just like the one we took from お. The character む has the sound mu as in moo. We can place the characters す and む together in order to get すむ which means to live (somewhere).
Our next hiragana is こ which has the sound ko as in coat. From this we can get the word ここ which means here. From こ we are going to jump to い which makes the sound i as in easy. We also get the common word いい which means good.
If we combine こ and い, we get the word こい which means carp. If you look at the drawing, you can see an easy way to remember both of these characters and the word. The character こ makes the pond enclosure, while the い are the fish inside it. From い we can move quite easily to the next character り which makes the sound ri as in ring. We can also pick up a new word. りす means squirrel.
Fun fact: the most difficult English word for a Japanese person to say is squirrel. It usually comes out sounding something like squirr. Be careful with the Japanese r sound. It s not quite like the r sound we have in English. It s actually somewhere between an English r sound and an English l sound. The best way to master it is to listen to recordings and try your best to replicate the sound yourself. Also be careful not to confuse り ro い as they can look similar. If you do get the two confused, you might end up saying いす, or chair, when you mean りす, or squirrel. Next, we are going to use the character we learned for こ and add a vertical line to the left of it in order to create a new character. This character is に and makes the sound ni as in knee. This is the particle for to/in/at. It also means two.
We also get a new word: にこにこ. This means smile. It is an onomatopeia word, which Japanese people are very fond of. The next character is た which makes the sound ta as in tally. This character is particularly easy to remember because its formation actually looks like the sound s representation in the Roman alphabet. Ta-da! Easy. We also get a new word: たいこ which means (Japanese) drums.
The next character is は which is pronounced ha as in heart or wa as in whack. When it is used as a particle, it is pronounced wa. は means tooth or teeth. はは is a formal way of saying mother. And はい is the formal way of saying yes. The next character we have is よ. If you remember は, this one is easy. All we need to do is remove the vertical line on the left and snap off the left part of the horizontal line. よ makes the sound yo as in yo-yo.
This character kind of looks like a man thumbing for a ride on the side of the road. Imagine a hitchhiker sticking his thumb out and yelling Yo! Give me a ride! We get a few new words with this character: おはよう which is the informal way to say good morning ; たいよう which means the sun ; and よう which means to get drunk or to feel sick in a vehicle. The next character is な. Just imagine a boomerang came and knocked the small part of よ away. And you get な. We have a very important word なに, which means "what". Now if a Japanese person says something, but you could not catch what he/she said, you can say " なに?".
In order to transition from は to the next character, all we need to do is to add an extra horizontal line above the first one, almost as if we are putting a hat on the character. This creates the character ほ which makes the sound ho as in hot. The next character that we want to learn is another very easy one. The character ん makes the nasal sound n as in any.
Now we can create some common and important words. ほん means book. にほん means Japan. And うん which is the informal version for yes. But wait a minute What s this new character? We haven t come across う yet! Well, let s introduce it along with another character now. う makes the sound u as in boo ooth. A good way to remember this character is by looking at it and seeing the image of a man who has just been punched in the stomach. You can imagine the sound he makes as he gets punched oof! If you get rid of the little bit that looks like the guy s head, we end up with a new character.
This character is つ which makes the sound tsu as in tsunami. This one is easy to remember because the character itself actually kind of looks like a tsunami wave. If we combine う and つ, we get うつ which means to shoot and depression. Next up, if we add a cross to the top of つ, we get ち which makes the sound chi as in cheese.
ち means blood. ちち is a formal word for father. From ち, we can move to ら which makes the sound ra. Remember that the Japanese r sound is not exactly the same as the English r sound. To get to ら from ち, all we have to do is knock the vertical line off of ち so that it is now hovering at a slant. These two characters together form the word ちら which is a kind of furtive glance. From ら, we can move to ろ which makes the sound ro as in row.
This character looks a bit like a 3. We can remember the sound and the appearance of this character by remembering the popular children s song: Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream! Just like the character looks like a 3, we sing row 3 times in order to remember how it is pronounced. From ろ we easily get the next character る which makes the sound ru. We can remember this character because it looks like a ruined version of the character before it. We just need to take る and ruin it a little by curling the end of the character. To get to the next character, we can just take the top part of る or ろ and turn it around to create く which makes the sound ku. We can now create the words ろく which means six and くる which means to come.
Our next character is made by adding two small lines to either side of ろ. We now have ふ which is pronounced like a combination of fu and hu. Again, it is worth listening to this sound and attempting to repeat it yourself as it is not common in English. We can make some new words. Namely, おふろ which means bath ; ふく which means clothes ; ふる which means to shake, to dump someone, and to fall from the sky ; and ふるい which means old as in old things.
Our next character is け which makes the sound ke as in kept. け means a hair.
Next up we have the character ま which makes the sound ma as in map. If you remember how to write ほ, this character is an easy one to develop. You just need to get rid of the vertical line on the left and move the top horizontal line downwards a bit. It kind of looks like the mast of a ship, don t you think? With this character, we can get the word まん which means ten thousand. You might think that s a number you don t often say, but when you deal in yen on a daily basis, you will need to say it. For our next character, we just need to take the character ん and drag the top portion out to the left a little bit. We also need to add a little line on top. This produces え which makes the sound e as in red. え means drawing, painting, or picture.
The next character we will look at is さ which makes the sound sa. This is a tricky one because it is easy to confuse さ with ち. It is best to practice writing them both together, making the different sounds as you write each one, just to make sure that you can differentiate the two. From さ all we have to do is to add another horizontal line beneath the first one in order to get the next character. The next character is き and makes the sound ki as in key. And it actually looks quite a lot like a key.
き means tree. We also get the word さきに which means beforehand. Remember く? For our next character we are going to bend く a little in order to form し which makes the sound shi as in she. し means four and death. Fun fact: a lot of hotels in Japan will not have the number four in a lift because it is bad luck due to it also meaning death.
From し we are going to add some horizontal lines in order to make も which makes the sound mo as in moment. We also get the word もしもし which is how you say hello when you answer the phone.
For our next character we are going to take し and bend its tail downwards just a little bit so that it lies flat on the ground. Then we are going to add a horizontal line and then another smaller vertical line that curls round at the bottom towards the left. This next character is せ and makes the sound se as in self. せ means height. We also get the new words くせ which means a bad habit and くせー which means stinks in a colloquial, manly way. By the way, that dash at the end of くせ, the one that looks like ー, is just a way of showing that the vowel sound preceeding it is to be made longer.
The next character is み which makes the sound mi as in me. This character is a particularly fun one to draw. みみ means ears. みる means to watch, to see, or to look. おみせ means shop or store. We could just say みせ to mean shop or store but adding the prefix お makes your speech sound more polite. It s called the honorific prefix. Use it if you wish to speak with honor, young samurai. Our next character is と which makes the sound to as in toe. This is the connective word and/with. This is another simple one. Do you remember つ? Just add a little line to it in order to make と.
This character kind of looks like a toe actually. It looks like a toe that has unfortunately got a nail or a splinter stuck in it. Ouch. Looks painful. We can make the word とし which means year, age, and city. Next up, manipulating と a little bit, we can arrive at the next character. This character is て which makes the sound te as in teddy. て means hand. In fact It s actually written on your hand for you to remember!
Have a look at your right hand and you will see a crease in your palm that is shaped just like て. Terrific! Now, if we add what looks like a backwards-facing く on top of て, we get our next character. This character is そ and it makes the sound so as in sock. We also get some new words. We get そと which means outside and そう which means that s right or I see. Japanese people say そう a lot while another person is speaking.
For our next character, all we need to turn is bend と a little bit. We need to get rid of the splinter that is stuck in the toe thank goodness! and then we can turn the character to the left a little bit and pull its sides down. Now we have ひ which makes the sound hi as in hit. We also get a common word by combining ひ and と to make ひと which means person. Our next character looks a bit like what would happen if ち and と had a baby. It makes the exact sound as お / o, but when Japanese people write romaji they write it as 'wo'.
As a particle, を indicates the direct object of a verb. This character kind of looks like a man who has just stepped over the side of a cliff. Imagine him screaming oh oh! as he falls over the side. From を we can move to ゆ which makes the sound yu as in you. We can get the word おゆ which means hot water. Just remember: Oh, you will be in hot water if you forget ゆ.
Next we have や which makes the sound ya. It kind of looks like a man running at someone with his right arm outstretched. Perhaps he is a rugby player and he is about to tackle someone. Imagine him screaming ya! ya! as he does it. や means arrow. From や we can get か if we pull や and tilt it to the side and straighten the part that is curled. か makes the sound ka as in car. か means mosquito. And part of this character looks a little bit like a pesky mosquito. Look at those creepy legs as it flies about. We get a few new words too. We can make かう which means to buy and やかん which means kettle.
Our next character is へ and makes the sound of he as in head. We also get a new word with へや which means room. Imagine someone who always greets everyone by saying heya! heya! when they walk into a room.
Okay! We are almost done! Don t worry! Our next character is わ which makes the sound wa. わ means circle. You can remember this character because, just like か looks like a mosquito, わ looks a bit like a wasp. We also get the word わかる which means to understand. How are you doing? Do you understand everything so far? わかる? From わ we can move to ね which makes the sound ne as in net. We can move to this character just by curling the end of わ a little bit. ね even looks a bit like a fisherman casting his net out in the hopes of catching some dinner. ね means root. We also get the word ねる which means to sleep.
To make our next word, we will take わ and instead of curving it round at the end like we did to get ね, we are going to flick out to the right and give the character a little tail. This character is れ and makes the sound re as in a sound half way between red and led. れ means example. And that just about does it Almost! We just have a few more little things that we need to add. Once you get these handled, you will have a knowledge of hiragana, and you can celebrate! All we are going to do now is look at some ways that we can create new sounds with the existing hiragana by adding some marks. The first mark we are going to look at is called the tenten / てんてん. This is two small dashes next to a character that changes its pronunciation. Remember は makes the sound ha? Well, when you add a てんてん to it, the sound changes. は can turn into ば and ば makes the sound ba.
So we can suddenly get the word ばか which means stupid. So, let s see what other new pronunciations we can make with てんてん. か-> が ga き-> ぎ gi く-> ぐ gu け-> げ ge こ-> ご go さ -> ざ za し -> じ ji す -> ず zu せ -> ぜ ze そ -> ぞ zo た-> だ da ち -> ぢ ji つ -> づ zu て -> で de と -> ど do は-> ば ba ひ-> び bi ふ-> ぶ bu へ-> べ be ほ-> ぼ bo Now we can make words like がか which means painter ; ぎん which means silver ; まずい which means nasty when talking about food; and ただいま which is a very Japanese phrase which means I m back/home. So basically てんてん works with any characters starting with K, S, T, H. K->G, S->Z, T->D, H->B. Now that we ve got a handle on てんてん, we can move on to the next mark that alters the way a character is pronounced. The next mark is called maru / まる, which means circle. This makes sense because the mark is, quite literally, a circle placed next to the character.
The まる can be used with は Ha, ひ Hi, ふ Hu/fu, へ He, ほ Ho. This mark changes the pronunciation like this: は ha -> ぱ pa ひ hi -> ぴ pi ふ hu -> ぷ pu へ he -> ぺ pe ほ ho -> ぽ po However, true Japanese words don t really use the まる. The mark is mainly used in words than have been adapted from English words Gairaigo /EngRish words. We will explore this further in the katakana guide, but some examples include: パソコン pasokon computer (comes from PERSOnal COMputer); ピース piisu peace (You know, when Japanese people take pictures, they go like piisu! and do the peace sign); and ペン pen pen. Now, finally, we are going to look at what happens when you see small versions of や ya ゆ yu よ yo つ tsu. They are much smaller than the original versions and look like this: ゃゅょっ The first three characters are used in combination with other characters. They are used with き ki, し shi, ち chi, に ni, ひ hi, み mi, and り ri. Examples include: きゃ kya きゃく KYAku guest / customer きょ kyo きょく KYOku (a piece of) music ちゅ chu ちゅうごく CHUugoku China ちゃ cha おちゃ ocha (green) tea にゃ nya にゃあ! nyaa! Meow! ひゃ hya ひゃく HYAku hundred みょ myo みょうじ MYOuji surname りょ ryo りょこう RYOkou travel
Next, the small っ. This signifies a glottal stop, or a small pause from closing the airway at the back of the throat. When you see this mark, it is telling you to leave a small gap between the characters on either side of it. A less confusing way to think of what this represents, is to see it as kind of a double consonant sound. For example: いっかい ikkai once (one time) or first floor ちょっと chotto a bit まって matte wait ちょっとまって chotto matte wait a bit やった yatta yay! And, on that final note, let s say やった!together because We have finished! Phew! Congratulations on making it through. Now, just make sure you have practiced writing each character a few times and listen to the pronunciation. We have included a chart of the hiragana at the end of this guide. We have a video that will help you with the sounds on the Japanese Ammo YouTube channel. As for revision, your will find using a Spaced Repetition System, or SRS, will make be most efficient. This will cut your revision time down to the bare minimum and make sure that you retain everything with ease. A great SRS is Anki. You can download it and input your own information or load premade flashcards into it.
Another great option is on a website called Memrise. You won t need to revise hiragana for too long. You could revise every day for a week or so but after that it will be better to direct your efforts to native materials and vocabulary lists. Now that you are acquainted with hiragana, you need to keep sharpening your skills. So read vocabulary lists in hiragana and make sure to acquire grammar and phrases using hiragana. In order to improve your reading skills, and once you have built up a basic vocabulary and grammar base, you may find it enjoyable to spend some time reading manga. You will read slowly at first, and need to keep this guide on hand for reference, but you will soon pick up your pace. Try to pick easy managa. You want to read books for small children. Two great examples of children s manga include Doraemon and Yotsubato. But do some research and find something that appeals to you. And do be disheartened if you don t understand much. That s just the way it will be in the beginning. In order to improve your writing, you can keep a diary. Just writing a couple of lines will be enough at the beginning. The diary can be typed on the computer or written by hand. It is probably a good idea to combine both methods. Good luck! がんばってね! Thank you for reading. We hope you enjoyed this guide and found it useful! Best wishes, The Japanese Ammo Team