Day One JapaneseStart with the letters
Japanese uses three kinds of letters: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. First, look at the hiragana and katakana charts. The small letters below show how to read them.
Audio coming soon
Hiragana
The most basic letters for writing Japanese sounds.
Letters with tenten and maru marks (e.g., か → が, は → ぱ)
Letters with a small 「ゃ・ゅ・ょ」 (e.g., きゃ, しゅ, ちょ)
Katakana
Used for foreign words and names (e.g., ベトナム, リン).
Letters with tenten and maru marks (e.g., か → が, は → ぱ)
Letters with a small 「ゃ・ゅ・ょ」 (e.g., きゃ, しゅ, ちょ)
Sound rules
Japanese sounds follow a few rules. They can change the meaning of a word, so listen carefully.
Long sounds
Say the same sound for two beats. In katakana, it is written with 「ー」.
おかあさんokaasanコーヒーkoohii
Small 「っ」
Pause for one beat before the next sound.
きってkitteちょっとchotto
「ん」
Say it clearly, for one beat.
ほんhonにほんnihon
Numbers
How to count from 0 to 10. Some numbers, like 4, 7, and 9, have two readings.
- 0ゼロ ／ れい
- 1いち
- 2に
- 3さん
- 4よん ／ し
- 5ご
- 6ろく
- 7なな ／ しち
- 8はち
- 9きゅう ／ く
- 10じゅう
From 11 to 100
11–19 are 「じゅう + いち–きゅう」, and 20, 30… are 「に, さん… + じゅう」. For 25, combine them: 「にじゅう + ご」.
- 11じゅういち
- 15じゅうご
- 20にじゅう
- 30さんじゅう
- 40よんじゅう
- 50ごじゅう
- 60ろくじゅう
- 70ななじゅう
- 80はちじゅう
- 90きゅうじゅう
- 25にじゅうご
- 100ひゃく
Try reading
Look at the letter and choose how to read it. There are 5 questions. Your answers are not saved.
How do you read this letter?
You can start Lesson 1 even if you can't read all the hiragana yet.
Go to Lesson 1