Japanese grammar · Beginner 1

ひらがなは行〜んhiragana ha-gyou~n

Hiragana sounds: ha row to n

Learn 「ひらがなは行〜ん」 and how 「を」 marks the object of an action.

Start the interactive lessonIllustrated cards, audio and speaking practice

How it works

This lesson covers the は row through ん. Together with the sounds you already learned, you can now read the basic hiragana.
Follow the audio and read both rows in the direction of the arrows. The は and ま rows each have five sounds. Read each character separately.
ふ is written fu in romaji, but it sounds different from Chinese fu and from the English f sound.
Try saying ふ: bring your lips gently close together and blow softly. Your upper teeth should not touch your lower lip.
Look at the top row: the や row has only や, ゆ, and よ. Read along with the audio. Do not add sounds in the empty spaces.
Why are there gaps in the や row? Modern Japanese has no basic hiragana for yi or ye.
Listen to the ら row again: ら, り, る, れ, ろ. Read all five characters clearly, one at a time.
For the ら row, lightly tap the tip of your tongue just behind your upper teeth, then release it immediately. Do not curl your tongue back.
First listen to わ, pronounced wa. The last group is arranged as わ, を, ん, but ん is a separate nasal sound.
Notice を: it looks different from お, but both are usually pronounced o. Even when the romaji says wo, do not pronounce it wo.
を often appears after a noun in a sentence to mark the object of an action. For now, get familiar with this role.
In the examples, を after 本 marks the book as what is read. を after 水 marks the water as what is drunk.
ん is a nasal sound similar to n. Listen to ん in the audio and feel how the sound resonates in your nose.
Although ん has no vowel like the other characters, it still takes one beat. Do not add an extra vowel when saying it.
The sound after ん can make it sound slightly different. Start by imitating the audio; it does not have to be a fixed n sound.
Finally, repeat わ, を, ん: wa, o, and a nasal sound. Match each of the three written characters to its sound.