は

Hiragana 2: the H, M, Y, R, W rows and ん

The second half of the basic chart, including the only basic kana with no vowel.

要点The idea

Five more rows and ん complete the 46 basic hiragana; the Y and W rows are short, and ん stands alone.

	a	i	u	e	o
h	は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
m	ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
y	や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
r	ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
w	わ wa				を o
n	ん n

ふ is fu, made with the lips close together but not touching, and no teeth (unlike English f). The Japanese r is a light tap, somewhere between English r, l and d. In modern spelling を is only used as a particle, mostly marking the object. ん is a full beat on its own: ほん (book) is two beats, ho-n.

saifuwalletふ is fu: lips close but not touching, and blow gently.

sarumonkeyる is a light tap of the tongue: ru.

tenkiweatherte-n-ki: three beats. ん is a beat of its own.

yukisnow

watashiI, me

Afuneboat

Bhonebone

One kana changes the word. Both are in the H row, but ふ is fu, not hu.

確認Check yourself

1How do you read ふゆ (winter)?
2How do you read みかん (mandarin orange)?
3How do you read よる (night)?
4How do you read ほんや (bookshop)?

Drill hiraganaStart with the first row — new rows open as you learn them.