The Ultimate Guide To Learning Hiragana

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Koichi

Learning to read hiragana can seem like a daunting task, but weve made it easy for you, laying out the
steps you need to take to go from being able to read zero hiragana to being able to read all of it. Follow
the steps, do what they say, and youll be pooped out the other end a omnipotent hiragana being.
Basically, youll be able to read the hiragana alphabet at a moderate pace (getting faster and better is
up to you from there on out). The speed at which I get you to this level of expertise, however, is very
fast. In order to do that, we employ a few important methods:
1. Mnemonics: Due to hiraganas relative simplicity, image-based mnemonics are perfect! Using a
picture to go along with each kana you are able to store the information in your brain very easily
(if you dont believe me just give it a try it works quite well). From there the drills and practice
make you recall the information so that you learn each item and are able to recall it more
naturally as the guide progresses. At the end you should be able to recall everything.
2. No Writing: WHAT? NO WRITING? you scream. I know what youre thinking. Thats stupid!
But think about it for a moment. Whens the last time you actually wrote something by hand?
Probably the last time you had to sign your name on a receipt at a restaurant. The need to write
by hand is going down, down, down. Typing is the wave of the future. Plus, if you spend all the
time needed to learn how to read AND write youre doubling or tripling the amount of total time
needed to learn hiragana. This guide will teach you how to read hiragana very quickly, but writing
will need to come later. Its a lot faster to learn writing once youre able to read well, anyways.
3. Exercises: As I mentioned earlier, there are some carefully thought out exercises that Ill ask
you to do. If you do them, and you dont cheat, etc., etc., youll learn the kana. Do your best to

force yourself to recall things even when you dont think you can come up with it. The act of
trying to remember something thats difficult to remember actually will help you to build a
stronger memory (if you are able to recall it eventually, that is).
4. Hiragana Chart: Well also use a hiragana chart. Please download this hiragana chart if you
dont already have one.
So shall we get started? Ive heard of some people finishing this guide in a couple hours. Others take a
few days. Some a week. However long it takes you, remember: there is no limits. You can learn the
hiragana on this page as quickly (or slowly) as you want. So if you want to be able to read hiragana in
a few hours, I bet you can do it. Lets start those timers!

A, I, U, E, O
This is the first (and most important!) column in hiragana. It sets the pronunciation of every other
column coming after it, because every other column is basically just the a-i-u-e-o column with
consonants attached to them. The same basic sound repeats over and over and over, with a consonant
plus these five vowel sounds, so make sure you have the right pronunciation for these five right from
the start.
Shall we? No, thats okay, after you.

is pronounced like the a in car or the a in awful.

To remember this kana, find the capital A inside of it. This A will tell you that this kana is also a aka
. There is another similar kana, , but that one doesnt have an A in it, which is how you can
differentiate them.

 is pronounced like the ee in eel.

To remember this kana, just think of a couple of eels (i) hanging out. Theyre upright because theyre
trying to mimic the letter i which also stands upright and also happens to be the way you spell out this
character in romaji.

is pronounced like the oo in oooo ahhh! when youre watching fireworks. It also sounds like the
ou in You.
To remember this kana, notice the U shape right in it! Its sideways but its there, telling you what this
kana is.

 is pronounced like the e in exotic or the e in egg.

To remember this kana, think of it like an exotic bird. The big feathery thing on its head gives it away
that its exotic and not normal. It also lays exotic eggs, because its an exotic bird, after all.

is pronounced like youre saying oh. It also sounds like the o in original.
Can you see the letter o in here, two times? This one looks similar to , except for its one key
difference: there are two letter o symbols visible in there. Make sure you use this to differentiate this
kana () and that similar kana (). This is one area where a lot of people trip up, but by using this
mnemonic you will be able to figure them out every time.

Tasks
Now that youve put these kana into your brain (at least somewhat shakily) its time to pull them out.
Recall is the foundation of memory, and youre going to start doing just that. For each tasks section
make sure you follow along perfectly. Skipping these steps may cause you to fail later on in the future.
Having a strong base to build off of is important with each section.

1. Head over to the website Drag n Drop Hiragana. All I want you to do is to find the five kana
you just learned (a-i-u-e-o) and drag them to their correct spot. Thats it! Its an exercise in
recognizing the kana you learned as well as matching them to the correct sounds. When youve
done it once hit the refresh button and do it again and again until youre able to get it done in 10
seconds.
2. Print out, copy, or download this worksheet. Youll need to go through it, filling in the boxes with
the romaji for the kana. Try your best not to cheat even if you spend a while trying to
remember a kana it will be beneficial to your memory (as long as youre able to recall it on your
own). Looking up the answer doesnt help your memory at all, but struggle (with
accomplishment) tells your brain that this is a thing worth remembering. Try using the
mnemonics when you need to recall something you cant figure out right away.
This should be fairly easy with only five kana (and maybe a little boring too), but when youre done
move on to the next five hiragana.

KA, KI, KU, KE, KO

The next set of hiragana is from the k-column. This is just the k sound plus the vowel sounds you
learned above, making it ka-ki-ku-ke-ko. There are no weird exceptions in this column either, so enjoy
it while you can.

is just the K sound plus , making a ka sound.

To remember this, think of someone whos doing the Can-Can (ka) dance. The kana even looks
like someone doing the Can-Can.
Cannn, can you do the can can, can you do the can can

 is just the K sound plus , making a ki sound. In fact, it sounds just like the word key which is
the mnemonic we end up using.
To remember this, notice how much it resembles a key (ki).

is just the K sound plus , making a ku sound.

To remember this, think of this kana being the mouth of a coo-coo/cuckoo (ku) bird popping out
saying ku ku, ku ku!

 is just the K sound plus , making a ke sound.

Youll have to use your imagination here, but this kana looks a lot like a keg. The three dimensional
shape that it makes is somewhat keg-like, right?

is just the K sound plus , making a ko sound.

Ko is a couple of co-habitation (ko) worms. Theyre so happy together, co-habitating the same area!
Alternatively, you could imagine a couple of short cords laying on the ground next to each other.

Tasks
More tasks! This time well include the column along with this K-column you just learned.
1. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, find the and hiragana and drag them to
their correct spots. How quickly can you identify and place these ten hiragana characters? When
you can do it in under 25 seconds, or youve completed this task at least five times, move on to
the next step.

2. Print out, copy, or download this worksheet. Complete it by filling in the blanks with the romaji
for each of the kana. This time it will be both of the columns that youve learned (so far) so it
should be a little more interesting (and half familiar).
Once again, when you get stuck just think back to the mnemonic before you cheat. When youre done
you can move on to the next group.

SA, SHI, SU, SE, SO

Now that you have the K-column under your belt its time for the S-column. There is one weird
exception in this row, and thats for si aka shi. Its pronounced just like the word she in English,
and doesnt quite follow the pattern youve seen up until now. Youll want to use sa-shi-su-se-so for
this column.

is just the S sound plus , making a sa sound.

This kana looks like a weird sign (where the si of sign is pronounced like sa) stuck in the ground.
Focus on the pronunciation, not the spelling, from this mnemonic.

 is just the Sh sound plus , making a shi sound. Take note that this is the first exception kana
where it doesnt follow the patterns that show up everywhere else. Instead of being si its shi (though
you will see it written both ways when dealing with romaji. One more reason why you ought to just
learn hiragana already).
This kana looks like a giant hook youre dipping into the water. What do you catch? A poor seal ( shi).

is just the S sound plus , making a su sound.

See the swing (su) doing a loop-dee-loop throwing that poor kid off of it? Imagine him screaming IM
GONNA SUE SOMEBODY FOR THIIIIIiiiissss as he flies off into the distance.

is just the S sound plus , making a se sound.

This kana looks like a mouth with a big fang in it. What would someone like this say (se)? How sexy is
that tooth, btw?

 is just the S sound plus , making a so sound.

This kana is just a songbird (so), flapping its little wings while singing a little tune! So so so soooo!

Exercises
Now that weve done three sets of five, its time for exercises! As usual, these exercises will help you to
practice kana youve previously learned plus the ones you just learned.
1. Back to our best buds Drag n Drop Hiragana. Identify and place the , , and columns into
their spots. Do this several times and see if you can do it all in under 30 seconds (or just
complete the task 5 times). Once youre able to do either of those, move on.
2. Using this worksheet, print out, copy, or download it and fill out the boxes with the correct
romaji. If you cant remember something try to think back to the mnemonic first before cheating.
When youre able to do these two tasks move on to the next five kana.
P.S. Have you noticed how in the worksheets youre being asked to wait 5 minutes then 10 minutes?
Waiting is actually an important part of building memory. By waiting and then recalling something as its
fading away, youre telling your mind that it shouldnt forget that item. But, if you keep bringing it up
over and over again in a short period of time your brain will just keep it in its short term memory,
meaning you probably wont remember it later. Dont skip the waiting periods! In fact, if you think you
can wait longer without forgetting much thats even better!

TA, CHI, TSU, TE, TO

Time for the fourth column, the T-column. Now you have a lot to remember! Hopefully mnemonics
and the reasons for using them are starting to make sense now. If not, that should happen soon.
Like the column, youll find an exception in the column. In fact, youll find two exceptions, them
being (chi) and (tsu). So, for this column well have ta, chi, tsu, te, to.

 is just the T sound plus , making a ta sound.

This looks just like the romaji that spells it out: ta

is just the Ch sound plus , making a chi sound.

This is the second exception hiragana. Instead of a ti sound, it is a chi sound. Try not to forget
this.
This kana looks like a mans face except its missing something: the chin!

 is just the Ts sound plus , making a tsu sound.

This is another exception hiragana. Instead of saying tu you say tsu. Try not to forget this.
Do you remember the kana ? Its a hook thats dipped straight down into the water. This didnt work
very well (you caught a poor seal!), so now youre trying a new strategy: pulling the line behind you in a
boat. This way the hook is facing sideways. It works, too! You pull up your line and you have two (tsu)
fish!

is just the T sound plus , making a te sound.

This kana looks like the uppercase letter T where T is for Ten. How many kana can you learn at
one time? I bet at least ten of them (lets start with the next set!)

 is just the T sound plus , making a to sound.

This kana looks just like someones toe (to) with a little nail or splinter in it. Imagine how much this
would hurt if it was your toe!

Exercises
Now that we have a few kana under our belt well be adding a third resource to our arsenal. Still, well
start with something familiar. Just follow along.
1. With Drag n Drop Hiragana, complete the four columns that you know (, , , ). When
you are able to do this fairly quickly (lets say 40 seconds) or youve done it 5 times, move on to
the next step.
2. Time for the new resource. Now go to RealKana. Check off the first four columns (the ones
youve learned). Uncheck any columns in the katakana tab (you dont know any of these yet).
Now click on the options tab. Choose all the typefaces. Just like in English, sometimes there
are slightly different ways to write things, and its good to know what those differences are so
you dont get confused later on (when you read someones handwriting and its a bit different).
For example, in English the letter a can be written in a couple of different ways. I dont imagine
you write your lowercase a the way you see it when typed out usually, right? Same with
Japanese. and , for example, often dont have that little round line in the bottom left
connected to the main part theres a space in there. Youll start to see these differences by
using RealKana. When youve drilled the four columns for 5-10 minutes move on to the
worksheet.
3. Copy, download, or print out this worksheet. Fill in all the blanks with romaji. Pay special
attention to exception kana, like , , and and write them out the way I showed you above
to make sure that you know the proper reading. Not all romaji-styles will write these kana like
this (youll see si, ti, and tu too), but for now write shi, chi, and tsu just for the sake of
associating the correct pronunciation with each of these particular kana.
When youve completed everything and feel like you can recall all 20 of these kana, move on to the next
section. Now its time to try 10 at a time. Youre getting better at this, after all!

NA, NI, NU, NE, NO

This is your first more than 5 things to learn group. In fact, its a whole ten things! But youll be just

fine. Youre getting better at learning the hiragana with all this practice. Too bad theres not 150
hiragana for you to practice on.

is just the N sound plus , making a na sound.

The naughty (na) nun is praying in front of the cross, asking for forgiveness of her naughty ways.
The cross up in the air like this should be the main giveaway that this is .

is just the N sound plus , making a ni sound.

Do you see the needle (ni) pulling the thread?

 is just the N sound plus , making a nu sound.

This kana looks like some noodles (nu). There are several other kana that are similar to this one (,
, , ) but you know this one is noodles because there are no sharp sides in it. Its 100% smooth
and bendable, like noodles! It even has an extra loop at the back, because it is a noodle.

is just the N sound plus , making a ne sound.

This is Nelly the cat. There are other kana very similar to this one (, , , ) but you know this is
different because it has a loop at the end for the tail and its not super bendable like (noodles) is
(see those sharp corners on the left?).
To top thins off, Nelly is a necromancer. Why? I have no idea, youd have to ask her. It must have
something to do with the undead cat army shes creating.
Also, if you know the word neko (Japanese for cat) you can use that too. This is a .

 is just the N sound plus , making a no sound.

See the big pig nose (no) there? You can also think of this as a No smoking sign (the ones with the
cigarette and the big red circle and slash through it). Pick the one that sticks with you the best.

Ha, Hi, Hu/Fu, He, Ho

Now lets look at the next five in this set. If youre feeling really shaky you can jump over to RealKana or
Drag n Drop Hiragana to practice, but you dont have to (yet)!

is just the H sound plus , making a ha sound.

This kana looks like the uppercase letter H plus the lowercase letter a. What does that spell? Ha!
Why are you laughing? Stop that. Make sure you can see the H+a in the kana.

 is just the H sound plus , making a hi sound.

He (hi) has a big nose. See that big nose? Now say it out loud. He has a big nose.

is just the F/H sound plus , making a fu/hu sound.

Usually this kana is pronounced with an f (fu) in hiragana, so were going to go with that. However,
this kana does look a lot like a hula dancer too, so keep the hu in mind as well. If you want, you can
think of this hula dancer as a fu-reaky hula dancer to remember the fu.

 is just the H sound plus , making a he sound.

Do you know the famous mountain Mt. Saint Helens? This kana isnt totally flat like Helens is, but its
pretty squat looking. Thats why this one is Helens.

is just the H sound plus , making a ho sound.

The left side line is a chimney. The right side is a mutated Santa Claus. He has four arms, a snake tail,
and no head. Out of his neck hes uttering ho ho ho ho ho ho
Hopefully he doesnt come down your chimney.

Exercises
Time to practice ten at a time! Its a lot, but youre getting better at learning these things, right?
1. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, find the hiragana from the , , , , , and columns and
place them in their correct spots. When youre completed this five times, or when youre able to
complete this fairly quickly (lets say in ~1 minute), move on to the next task.

2. Using RealKana, check the , , , , , and , uncheck any katakana columns, and
check all the different typefaces. Then, drill the above kana for 5-10 minutes until you are
consistently getting the answer right and you feel comfortable with the different fonts that they
present.
3. Copy, print out, or download this worksheet and fill in all the boxes. As always, use the
mnemonics and try not to cheat. If this is starting to feel easy, try to time yourself to see how long
it takes to complete each section and try to beat yourself each time.
When you are done with these exercises its time to move on to the next set of hiragana.

MA, MI, MU, ME, MO

Not quite ten in this set (before the exercises), but close enough. Lets start with the M-column.

is just the M sound plus , making a ma sound.

Removing your head? Doubling your hands and arms? What sort of evil magic is this? What makes it
weirder is that your mama is the one doing this magic. Imagine your ma looking like this. Aghh!

 is just the M sound plus , making a mi sound.

Looks like lucky number 21. Who just hit the blackjack? Me (mi)! Who just turned 21 as well? Me (mi)!!

is just the M sound plus , making a mu sound.

Moooooo (mu), says the cow. MOOOOOOO.

is just the M sound plus , making a me sound.

Look at that beautiful eye! Its so beautiful because of the makeup (me) on it. Gotta look pretty in those
eyes!
If you also happen to know the word for eye in Japanese, that will help too. The word for eye in
Japanese is just (me).

 is just the M sound plus , making a mo sound.

You want to catch more fish so you add more worms to your hook. This is the third hook one, so
make sure you can differentiate the mnemonics in your head: , , and now .

YA, YU, YO
This column is a little strange. There are only three items in here, and ye and yi are seemingly
missing. Actually, they used to exist but now they dont (instead people use or , because it sounds
pretty similar). Because of that, you only have to learn three kana for this section!

is just the Y sound plus , making a ya sound.

Do you see the yak in this kana?

 is just the Y sound plus , making a yu sound.

This kana is a very unique (yu) looking fish! It looks like a big eyeball swimming in the water.

is just the Y sound plus , making a yo sound.

The hitchhiker has his arm and thumb out. Hes yelling YO! yo! at all the cars that go past him. Why
wont they pick him up?

Exercises
Time to practice these eight hiragana (and the previous ones as well). Once again, go through the
steps to make sure you know everything well!
1. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, drag the , , , , , , , and columns into their spots.
Youre dragging more kana than youre leaving now, and thats pretty cool! Once youve done
this three times, or youre able to get this all done fairly quickly (1:30 or so?) move on to step 2.
2. Using RealKana, choose the , , , , , , , and columns, unchecking any

katakana columns, and choosing all the typefaces, drill the kana for 10-15 minutes.
3. Using this worksheet, copy, print out, or download it and write in all the boxes.
When youre all done, its time to tackle the last main hiragana section. Youre almost there! Not so
hard, right?

RA, RI, RU, RE, RO

Welcome to the last main set! Its only eight characters just like the last set, so hopefully its not too
bad. It does include the infamous ra-ri-ru-re-ro column though, which does tend to give some people
trouble pronunciation-wise. Please be sure to check out our how to pronounce the Japanese R
(coming soon!) guide for more information on this.

is just the R sound plus , making a ra sound.

The rapper is rapping at the DJ table.

is just the R sound plus , making a ri sound.

The reeds (ri) are swaying in the wind.

This kana can also be written without the connection in the middle, too, which makes it more reedlike in
that case (I wanted to present the more difficult of the two versions here, though).

is just the R sound plus , making a ru sound.

The is like (youll learn it in a second) except it has a loop at the end. is a crazier route (ru).
There is a loop (ru) at the end. Are there no rules on this road?

is just the R sound plus , making a re sound.

This looks like a guy kneeling on the ground, retching up his dinner.
This kana is similar to , , , and . What makes this one different is the curve at the back. You
can identify this as the guys knees bending, which makes it so you know hes keeled over retching his
guts out.

 is just the R sound plus , making a ro sound.

This is the counterpart to , except this one doesnt have a loop at the end (there are rules here!). So,
this kana is just a plain old road (ro).

WA, WO, N
And finally, the last group. This is a weird one. It includes (which is quite normal), (which is
pronounced just like , but is primarily used as a particle), and (which is the only consonant-only
character in all the kanaa). Lets go through them one by one.

is just the W sound plus , making a wa sound.

This kana looks like a wasp flying straight up.
It looks similar to , , , and . It looks especially similar to . You know is Nelly the cat
because of the curl of a tail on the end. So, you can imagine the cat chasing this wasp, which is why its
flying straight up to get away. Its but is also a straight sharp line. This is its stinger.

 is just the W sound plus , though it sounds more like oh than it does wo.
The w is pretty silent, though its still a tiny bit there. You can pretty much just pronounce it like .
Whoa! (wo) yells the guy with no chin (). Someone threw a boomerang into his mouth, so of course
hes going to yell something. WHOA!

is just the N sound, thats it. Its the only kana that consists of a single consonant.
This kana looks just like the lowercase n in English. They happen to be the same sounds, as well.
How convenient! nnn.

Exercises
This is the last of the main hiragana. The exercises will now cover quite a bit (you know quite a bit!), so
make sure you understand and know everything before moving on.
1. Using RealKana, choose all of the columns up through . Drill for 10-15 minutes until you feel
like you can recall pretty much everything.

2. Using Drag n Drop Hiragana, drag the all of the kana into their spots. Try to be able to finish it in
three minutes. If thats too easy try two minutes. Two minutes should be difficult but more than
doable.
3. Using this worksheet, fill in all the blanks. You know the drill!
That will finish out all the main hiragana. From here on out its just combinations of kana or variations
on kana you already know, which makes things both easier and harder. Lets start with the variation
hiragana, also known as

Dakuten
Dakuten takes hiragana you already know and adds an additional symbol to it to change their
pronunciation. Usually this symbol is something that looks like a quotation mark, though in one
instance youll see this mark as a small circle. Here they are:

GA ZA DA BA PA
Luckily for you, there are only five rows of dakuten kana to learn, and all you have to learn is what the
sound changes to (since you know the kana already). Lets go over each of those dakuten
transformations.

Every kana in the column can have dakuten. When this happens, the K sound becomes a G
sound.
(ga) (gi) (gu) (ge) (go)
Because you know the column already, all you really need to remember is that K G. Think of it
this way:
The car () runs into the guard () rail.
Before you move on, make sure you know that ka ga, ki gi, etc.

When something from the column gets dakuten, it changes to a Z sound, with the exception of
(which is already an exception, so this makes sense!).
(za) (ji) (zu) (ze) (zo)
All you have to remember is that S Z, except in the case of , which goes to . Exceptions will
breed exceptions, so make sure you keep this in mind. To remember the S Z part, though, consider
the following mnemonic:
My saw () just zapped () me when I tried to use it. (imagine yourself trying to use a saw/ and
getting zapped/).
Do you remember what the K-column converts to? Do you remember what the S-column converts to?
What is the exception in the S-column? When youre able to answer all that, move on to the next
dakuten set.

The T-column kana change to D sounds, except for the exceptions (which are and ). Remember:

Exception breeds exception!

(da) (dzi) (dzu) (de) (do)
The two exceptions ( and ) very rarely show up, which is lucky for you. They mostly sound like
and , but not quite. Youll get by pronouncing it like that if you must, but the correct pronunciation is
more like whats written above a combination of the D + Z sounds. Everything else is pretty normal.
To remember that the column changes to become the column, think of it this way:
Changing these kana to the dakuten versions is a bit like magic TADA! (ta & da)
Do you remember what the K-column changes to? Do you remember what the S-column changes to?
What about the T-column? Do you remember the three exceptions weve run into so far? If you can
answer all of those questions its time to move on to the last dakuten set, which is really two sets in
one.

,
The H-column is a bit strange. It has two different kinds of dakuten that can be applied to it. One is that
quotes symbol youve seen so far, the other is a little circle.
(ba), (pa) (bi), (pi) (bu), (pu) (be), (pe)
(bo), (po)
You have to remember that the H-column goes to both a B and a P sound. What a pain. Think of it
this way:
Youre saying hahaha at the bar, because youve been drinking too much.
You say hahaha so much at the bar that somebody punches you.
Imagine through that story with you being the one saying hahaha (i.e. youre laughing) a couple of
times, trying to get the details as vivid as possible (especially the details that have to do with laughing,
the bar, and getting punched).
To help you a little more, you can remember that the P-column is the one that uses the little circle.
Why? Because that little circle is like a little fist thats about to punch you.
Before moving on, try to recall the mnemonics we used for the following (and remember what each
converts to):

When youre able to do and recall everything, its time to practice and see how good you really are!

Dakuten Practice
This practice will mainly focus on dakuten but also include all the kana youve learned up until this
point.
1. Using RealKana, select only the dakuten kana and drill those for 5-10 minutes until you feel
somewhat comfortable.
2. Now, add in all the other kana, mixed in with the dakuten kana.
3. Using this worksheet, fill in all the blanks.
When youre all done with that you should know all the kana fairly well, some better than others. I

imagine there will be a few nagging difficult kana for you (it will depend on each individual which kana
these are), but over time as you use hiragana and read more everything will get easier and easier. The
whole point of this guide is to help you to get you reading, making it so you can use various other
resources to continue your Japanese study.

Combination Hiragana
Theres only one more section to complete. Youre not really learning much thats new here, but you are
going to learn how to combine different types of kana together to make some new sounds. Mainly,
were going to focus on what small , , and can do to kana from the row (that includes , ,
, , etc). First lets take a quick look at the size difference. Its hard to see when theyre not next to
each other!

To use these, youll need to combine them with something from the column. When you do this,
youre essentially combining the first (English) letter of the -kana with the small , , sound. For
example:
+ KIYA KYA
+ JIYO JYO
See how the i gets dropped and it just becomes one syllable of sound? Heres a list of them all:
KYA, KYU, KYO GYA, GYU, GYO
SHA, SHU, SHO JYA, JYU, JYO (or JA, JU, JO)
CHA, CHU, CHO DZYA, DZYU, DZYO (youll never see these,
pretty much ever) NYA, NYU, NYO HYA, HYU,
HYO BYA, BYU, BYO PYA, PYU, PYO
MYA, MYU, MYO RYA, RYU, RYO
As you may have noticed, theres no sound and theres no combination kana for the Y-column.
The first kana has to be a sound with a strong consonant in it, and both i and yi dont fit the bill. Also,
yi doesnt exist in modern Japanese.

Combination Hiragana Practice

With this knowledge its time to practice. Ive made a worksheet that covers these combination kana.
Go through it and fill in all the blanks.
When youre done, you should be able to read almost everything that hiragana throws at you.
Everything except one little thing

Small Tsu ()
The small tsu is a weird little thing but well make sense of it. The easiest way to think of it, I think, is to
call it a double consonant. Basically, by adding a small to something, you are making the (English)
letter that follows it double into two consonants. Luckily, you wont see a small tsu before any of the
kana, so that never becomes an issue. Lets take a look at how the following hiragana
converts to romaji.
ita itta
kekou kekkou
See how that worked? is just plain ita without the small . But when you add it in, it becomes

itta. The small that comes before the ta causes the consonant to double, making it itta. Make sure
you understand how that works with kekou/kekkou too.
In terms of pronunciation, this is different as well. Its almost as if you add a small stop where the small
exists, with one of the double consonants on either side.
it_ta
kek_kou
You will hear both of the consonants as separate sounds. One that ends the first part of the word, and
one that starts the second half (with the small ) showing you where that half point is.
For a while it will probably be difficult to distinguish a small and a large , especially in handwriting.
After you get more experience and read a lot more youll be able to make this distinction quite easily.

Additional Practice
Although you could probably go out into the real world and practice hiragana on your own, I thought Id
provide for you some ways to practice your newfound skills. I wouldnt recommend doing everything
here all at once but instead spread it out over the course of a couple weeks. Spacing your practice is
very important if you want to get better at something more quickly. Doing all this at one time wont be all
that effective. Luckily you can always start working on other parts of Japanese in the meantime while
you continue to practice hiragana.

Worksheets
We made a couple more worksheets for you to download/copy/print out. Theyre a little different from
before though. This time theyre real sentences and were not keeping track of what kana were using,
so its a bit more like real life. Youll still want to put the romaji above the kana and read each kana out
loud. Dont worry too much about meaning, thats not what were learning right now and it will definitely
be way above your ability level.
Hiragana Practice #1
Hiragana Practice #2
When you finish those, I bet youll be feeling pretty special, like some kind of hiragana master. If you
dont, theres always more ways to practice.

Apps & Other Programs

There are plenty of apps and resources out there to help you drill as well. Some of them youve seen
already because of this guide, others you have not.
Im sure there are plenty of other resources out there as well, but this should be good enough to get
you to that level where you can start using the hiragana with other resources.

Real Life Practice

Of course, if youd like to practice more there are plenty of real life ways to practice hiragana. Just go
to any Japanese website and read all the hiragana that you can find. If anything it will teach you to
differentiate between kanji, katakana, and hiragana, which is a nice skill to have. Try the Yomiuri
Online, or any of these beginner Japanese reading resources.

Moving On Practice

After learning hiragana to a moderately slow level, you dont have to keep drilling it until its fast. In fact,
you can just move on to something else. Hiragana will keep popping up just about everywhere, so by
learning something new youre actually reviewing the hiragana at the same time!

What Next?
Hiragana is only the start of things to come. You have so much more to do and hiragana will help you to
get there. Although the answer to the question whats next is going to be somewhat vague /
dependent on the individual, here are some suggestions to move you along your way.

Kanji
I do highly recommend that you get started on kanji right away. A lot of people think they should wait
until they have a higher level of Japanese but that is usually a terrible idea. Being good at kanji speeds
up just about every other facet of learning the Japanese language, from grammar to reading to
speaking to listening. If youre weak at kanji youll be weaker at everything else. Many people think
kanji is difficult, but we made WaniKani to show that its not as hard as people think.

Katakana
At the same time as kanji its worth learning katakana. Katakana wont come up nearly as much
especially at a really early stage of Japanese, but its not rare enough to ignore. Were working on a
similar guide for katakana which should be out in the near-ish future. In the meantime, a similar
strategy to hiragana can be employed on your own.

Grammar
Along with kanji or after you have a foundation in kanji, its time to learn some Japanese grammar.
There are many resources to help you to do this. We made TextFugu (an online Japanese textbook) for
this, but there are other sites like Tae Kims Guide To Japanese as well as textbooks (we like the Genki
series).

I hope this guide helped you to learn hiragana effectively and quickly! Keep working hard and youll
continue to get better and better. With hiragana you have the tools to start your Japanese studies no
matter what resource or textbook you end up choosing, so try a lot of things and see what works for
you. Fell free to check out some of our reviews on Japanese resources as well as resources that weve
made while youre in the Japanese-learning-mood!
P.S. Were working on adding videos to this guide, so check back occasionally if youre having trouble
with pronunciation (because videos will help a lot with that!).