Learn Hiragana

July 21st, 2009

In this chart, the romaji text appears on the left, the hiragana is on the left, and kanji from which the characters originated on the right side:

Additional sounds are written using combinations of characters (syllables):

  1. Gordon C.
    August 9th, 2009 at 23:19 | #1

    Ive got a quick question, which is more important Katakana or Hirgana for learning first? See im just getting into the alphabet so I was getting confused on which comes first. Or is it Kanji you want to learn first?

  2. August 17th, 2009 at 21:07 | #2

    Hiragana should be learned first.

  3. October 15th, 2009 at 02:27 | #3

    what is the difference between Katakana and Hirgana?

  4. Kamie
    October 18th, 2009 at 03:39 | #4

    @Msmagnificent
    Katakana is for foreign words (i.e., names, etc) and hiragana is for words of japanese origin (i.e., chakuseki which means “sit”, would be spelled using the characters above, hiragana)

  5. Joe
    October 31st, 2009 at 11:22 | #5

    they’re both important, but when in Japan you’ll likely see more hiragana. alot of the time their mixed together which can cause confusion if you don’t know katakana.
    like said before, hiragana is used for japanese originating words (watashi = I, shinbun = newspaper, denwa bango = phone number, etc..)
    and katakana is used for foreign words (toide = toilet, tobaku = tobacco, etc…)

  6. anat167
    December 30th, 2009 at 18:32 | #6

    i’ve a question, on the list there are also shown kanji from which the characters originated, do we have to learn them?do people use it?

  7. February 12th, 2010 at 05:02 | #7

    i’ve a question,like name banneza what character it means..

  8. February 12th, 2010 at 05:04 | #8

    i speak japanese a littile bit!!!!you now the gifu city!!

  9. furanku
    March 1st, 2010 at 02:56 | #9

    I was going to use your website untill I noticed mistakes with your hiragana chart. Fu should be Hu. Wi and We should be in other sounds chart.

  10. Matt
    March 1st, 2010 at 13:04 | #10

    @anat167

    You need to learn them only to the point of their pronunciation and what they mean. They no longer really hold meaning as to what they were derived for to hiragana. Since the “a” kanji is now used as part of many kanji/phrases - yasui (安い), anshin (安心). I hope that makes it clear. Just learn the pure hiragana and kanji comes later.

  11. March 6th, 2010 at 01:13 | #11

    @furanku Thanks for the comment. There are actually a few styles of romaji (the most common being the Revised Hepburn, Nihon, and Kunrei Romanization styles) and the chart above just shows one type. That’s actually why using romaji can be so tricky. Hope this helps to clarify what you’re seeing!

  12. March 29th, 2010 at 14:51 | #12

    Enjoy your website, but just can’t get to it enough. This is a picky comment, but on your ” Learn Hiragana” page - you state “the hiragana is on the left” - while I am sure that you meant “in the middle”. Similar to how you said on “Learn Katakana`page.

    Your webiste is quite well `constructed`& I am visiting whenever possible.

    Thanx much

  13. caadorii@yahoo.com
    May 15th, 2010 at 23:47 | #13

    furanku :
    I was going to use your website untill I noticed mistakes with your hiragana chart. Fu should be Hu. Wi and We should be in other sounds chart.

    a few mistakes, so? this is a great site! it is one of the BEST and i mean BEST websites ive ever been to! This is JUST what i was looking for! im learning alot and my friends go Huh? everytime i say something Japanese! you guys rock! litsen to comments and fix the VERY little mistakes ur website has!
    Yours Truly,
    Caadori Husdon

  14. jesse
    June 10th, 2010 at 05:11 | #14

    ji is put twice the second one is suppose to be changed to di

  15. konata
    June 17th, 2010 at 16:38 | #15

    @Gordon C.
    it’s easiest to learn them bolth at the same time.if you try to learn them seperatly you will get confused because the characters make the same sounds.A good way to learn them together is to remember this: a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko sa shi su se so ta chi tsu te to na ni nu ne no ha hi fu ha ho ma mi mu me mo ya yu yo ra ri ru re ro wa wo n. that’s all the noises now you just have to learn the characters for them.a good way to do that is to go a(hiragana character)a(katakana character) and learn bolth two characters at once.

  16. July 9th, 2010 at 20:46 | #16

    [quote]i’ve a question, on the list there are also shown kanji from which the characters originated, do we have to learn them?do people use it?[/quote]

    Kanji it’s Chinese Simplified, one Kanji match word or number eg. 火 - fire, 八 - 8 , 六 - 6 , 日 - sun, day. You can read more on the wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

  17. Lori
    August 1st, 2010 at 12:04 | #17

    Maybe I’m incorrect, but isn’t “ri” (リ) shown above the katakana form? The hiragana form is actually り.

  18. jolwin
    August 5th, 2010 at 08:59 | #18

    is there a difference between ji from shi/し and ji from chi/ち ? ex. change the meaning of the word?

  19. Mushii
    August 18th, 2010 at 12:58 | #19

    I’ve got a little question. The Kanji looks so hard to learn and I personaly think that the Hiragana is easier to learn. So the question is:
    If I went to Japan, whould I see Kanji or Hiragana? Like in newspapers and resturants etc.
    And it really is a great site! I’ve learned much here, so thank you very much ^__^

  20. john
    August 25th, 2010 at 06:10 | #20

    You would see both written together in the same sentences. Kanji is used heavily.If you have any wish of traveling to japan of reading japanese literature kanji is a must.@Mushii

  21. Yuki
    August 27th, 2010 at 06:34 | #21

    @Przemek178

    Kanji are not simplified Chinese characters, they are Chinese traditional characters. Only Chinese from the PRC use Chinese simplified. Everyone else (Taiwanese, Japanese, Koreans, etc) uses traditional.

  22. Sharmin
    September 1st, 2010 at 13:59 | #22

    Hey guys, love the website, and speekit, simply put, is awesome.
    I was wondering how would I type the charactes for wi and we, because the IME software doesn’t register it as a character, but instead as ウィ・ウイ  ゑ・ウェ…my God, i just figured it out. Thanks, anyway guys. Please continue updating the website. xxx

  23. October 18th, 2010 at 14:55 | #23

    uuu cool .
    i lovejapan

  24. misskris11
    November 1st, 2010 at 16:06 | #24

    as someone who lives in japan and doesnt read kanji i will say that it’s not a must, but it is helpful. Most signs and things are hiragana and some katakana (but if you’re in Tokyo most things have English, too) so if you’re just visiting its not completely necessary to learn any. But i recommend Hiragana :)

  25. goddess05991
    November 2nd, 2010 at 03:29 | #25

    There is such thing as “wi” and “we” now? I never learned that in my Japanese class. When did that happen?

  26. Wan Ying
    November 17th, 2010 at 20:48 | #26

    So I just looked over this and I’m wondering why there are two “ji”s and “zu”s. Please respond.

  27. neko-chan
    January 26th, 2011 at 04:46 | #27

    nyaaaaa~!!
    can’t understand kanji! what do you mean by the characters after hiragana? how do you compose words with kanji? o.o

  28. January 31st, 2011 at 21:50 | #28

    Godess059, “we” and “wi” came before the rest of the alphabet.

  29. doku
    February 4th, 2011 at 04:14 | #29

    For those confused about the fu and hu sound, you have to remember, the romaji are the closest sound they have for English speakers. They are really only there to help out none native speakers. The sound that character is suppose to make is somewhere in between the F and H sound. I dont know if it makes sense, but thats how I learned it. I’ve had luck with pronouncing the sounds thanks to my Spanish.

  30. jim beam
    February 20th, 2011 at 01:27 | #30

    Japanese is so annoying they made it so complex

  31. February 22nd, 2011 at 12:36 | #31

    nandaka yoku wakaranai

  32. February 22nd, 2011 at 12:39 | #32

    nihongo de hanasu….

  33. Nicholas Bizaoui
    February 24th, 2011 at 06:57 | #33

    @ jim beam
    in some ways your right(learning hiragna and katagana ect) but hiragana itself is easier than English, if you get the proper training.

  34. Nicholas Bizaoui
    February 24th, 2011 at 07:59 | #34

    but after that comment, I’m stuck with my JAP homework (and it’s very basic homework). I have to translate the romaji names to hiragana, but I’m having trouble with one question, wouriKKu, the two k’s really got me and I don’t know what to put in. Does anyone know about the double k’s.

  35. Sayuri
    February 25th, 2011 at 11:16 | #35

    wonderful resource!
    @jim beam you think Japanese is hard? try working out all the rules for English! its hard enough for me and it’s my native language!

  36. DarkDZ
    March 1st, 2011 at 03:52 | #36

    Thanks, this site has been very helpful…I lived for a short time in Yokosuka when I was young in the early 1970’s, spoke Nihon-go with the neighborhood kids and English at home. I took a class in college and the prof thought I was “sandbagging” her; I asked what she meant by that, and she replied that I already had nailed the hardest part of learning Japanese as an English-speaking adult; that being the sound, rhythm, tone and timber. I suppose it was something remembered, but not consciously. So if you get a chance and want to truly understand not just Japanese, but ANY non-native language, I’d suggest you go to a country where that particular language is used. My mom also hosted a few Japanese exchange students and truly enjoyed it…rock on, your site is awesome!!

  37. March 18th, 2011 at 19:41 | #37

    Well, I just started learning japanese and it’s the hardest challenge I have faced in life. 4 days took me to memorize just the basic hiragana. Now I’m going to study here the rest of the hiragana mixes.

    Very amazing resource, indeed. I’m going to be always a step forward at class.

  38. Mangalve
    April 2nd, 2011 at 18:07 | #38

    its like saying what?
    Take the Name of Japanese?

  39. みちこ
    April 8th, 2011 at 02:55 | #39

    このサイトをありがとう!

  40. Cyberdaemon
    May 15th, 2011 at 19:05 | #40

    @furanku
    Hu and Fu are the same thing, my Japanese textbook uses the same symbol for “fu” that they do, and my Japanese professor (who is from japan) confirms it.
    Also, Wi and We don’t have diacriticals or extra symbols, they’re just regular sounds that like nobody uses…

  41. Sophie
    May 28th, 2011 at 13:03 | #41

    @Msmagnificent
    Hiragana letters are rounded whereas Katakana letters are not. :)

  42. Chynese
    June 25th, 2011 at 17:33 | #42

    Im a chinese and i understand the words that was originated from the hiragana. The only thing I can say is that the pronunciations are like Martian language and English… they are completely different… :D

  43. Chynese
    June 25th, 2011 at 17:35 | #43

    If you actually understand chinese and a few chinese dialects and combining here and there, you can actually get Japanese :D
    But not for all… So from my theory It would be much easier to learn japanese if you are an Asian :D

  44. Misa
    July 3rd, 2011 at 05:26 | #44

    @Nicholas Bizaoui
    I think that’s where you use a little tsu to get a double consonant sound.

  45. Cara Bryan
    August 3rd, 2011 at 02:18 | #45

    i dont understand why there are two different symbols for each letter.
    if i wanted to write NE would i use the one on the left or the one on the right?

  46. diablo
    August 26th, 2011 at 16:46 | #46

    hiragana, katakana en kanji zijn nodig om de taal volledig te begrijpen en te beheersen.@Msmagnificent

  47. September 10th, 2011 at 19:41 | #47

    @Gordon C.
    Hiragana is better for first lessons!

  48. takano
    December 21st, 2011 at 13:23 | #48

    yeh, i don’t know how much japanese you speak but fu is right? theres no such sound as *hu*. im japanese myself and have never heard of it.@furanku

  49. Alexis
    December 28th, 2011 at 02:20 | #49

    @furanku

    This is not incorrect. It is supposed to be that way.

  50. Jami-san
    February 26th, 2012 at 12:49 | #50

    @Gordon C.
    hiragana is the best to learn first because that is always used in Japan

  51. wafflechel
    March 15th, 2012 at 08:21 | #51

    can you suggest some technique on how i can easy remember the hiragana hehe

  52. Kait
    March 18th, 2012 at 15:11 | #52

    I have a question about “zu.” Tsu and su can both be used to make zu. I rarely ever see the version that uses tsu symbol though. Why is this?

  53. Person 1
    May 2nd, 2012 at 08:30 | #53

    Hiragana is probably first then katakana then kanji@Gordon C.