Learn Hiragana – Vocabulary Flashcards

60 vocabulary flashcards covering all 46 basic hiragana plus key concepts such as dakuten, han-dakuten, small contracted kana, and romaji.

あ (a)

Pronounced “ah” like in “ah!”; mnemonic: the shape hides a capital letter A.

い (i)

Pronounced “ee” like in “eel”; mnemonic: looks like two upright eels copying the letter i.

う (u)

Pronounced “oo” as in “ooh, ahh!”; mnemonic: contains a U-shaped curve wearing a little hat.

え (e)

Pronounced “eh” like the e in “egg”; mnemonic: resembles an exotic bird laying exotic eggs.

お (o)

Pronounced “oh” as in “origami”; mnemonic: you can spot the letter o twice inside the kana.

か (ka)

Pronounced “ka” as in “karma”; mnemonic: shaped like a mosquito (ka in Japanese).

き (ki)

Pronounced “kee” like “key”; mnemonic: silhouette of an old-fashioned key.

く (ku)

Pronounced “koo” like first syllable of “cuckoo”; mnemonic: mouth of a cuckoo bird saying “ku-ku!”

け (ke)

Pronounced “keh” as in “kelp”; mnemonic: looks like wavy strands of kelp.

こ (ko)

Pronounced “koh” as in “cohabitate”; mnemonic: two worms/cords co-habitating side by side.

さ (sa)

Pronounced “sa” like in “salsa”; mnemonic: two hands stirring a bowl of chunky salsa.

し (shi)

Pronounced “shee”; mnemonic: a shepherd’s crook herding sheep. (Spelling exception: shi, not si.)

す (su)

Pronounced “soo” as in “suit”; mnemonic: a looping swing flinging a child who yells “I’ll sue!”

せ (se)

Pronounced “seh” like “sell”; mnemonic: mouth with one vampire fang trying to sell you teeth.

そ (so)

Pronounced “so” like “soda”; mnemonic: mouth slurping a soda through a straw.

た (ta)

Pronounced “ta” as in “taco”; mnemonic: fork, taco, and lime garnish on a plate.

ち (chi)

Pronounced “chee” like “cheese”; mnemonic: forced smile made when someone says “Say cheese!” (Exception: chi, not ti.)

つ (tsu)

Pronounced “tsu” as in “tsunami”; mnemonic: sweeping tsunami wave shape. (Exception: tsu, not tu.)

て (te)

Pronounced “teh” like “telescope”; mnemonic: hand-held telescope (and ‘te’ means hand).

と (to)

Pronounced “toh” like “toe”; mnemonic: someone’s toe with a splinter or nail in it.

な (na)

Pronounced “na” like “nachos”; mnemonic: nun praying before a cross asking for nachos.

に (ni)

Pronounced “nee” as in “needle”; mnemonic: a needle pulling thread through fabric.

ぬ (nu)

Pronounced “noo” like “noodle”; mnemonic: smooth, bendable noodles with an extra loop.

ね (ne)

Pronounced “neh” like “Nelly”; mnemonic: Nelly the necromancer cat with a tail loop.

の (no)

Pronounced “noh” like “nose”; mnemonic: big pig nose or a no-smoking sign.

は (ha)

Pronounced “ha” like laughter; mnemonic: contains a capital H and lowercase a spelling “Ha!”

ひ (hi)

Pronounced “hee” like “he” in “he’s”; mnemonic: face with a big nose—“He has a big nose.”

ふ (fu/hu)

Pronounced halfway between fu and hu; mnemonic: dancer with a hula-hoop acting like a fool.

へ (he)

Pronounced “heh” as in “help”; mnemonic: squat outline of Mt. St. Helens.

ほ (ho)

Pronounced “ho” like “ho-ho-ho!”; mnemonic: mutated Santa beside a chimney saying ho ho ho.

ま (ma)

Pronounced “ma” like “mother”; mnemonic: your magical mama with doubled arms and no head.

み (mi)

Pronounced “mee” like “me”; mnemonic: lucky number 21—“Me! I just hit blackjack!”

む (mu)

Pronounced “moo” like a cow; mnemonic: the kana itself moos like a cow.

め (me)

Pronounced “meh” like “mess”; mnemonic: beautifully made-up eye (and me means eye in Japanese).

も (mo)

Pronounced “mo” as in “more”; mnemonic: adding more worms to catch more fish.

や (ya)

Pronounced “ya” like “yacht”; mnemonic: a yacht with anchor and tiny flag (or a yak’s face).

ゆ (yu)

Pronounced “you”; mnemonic: odd fish-eye staring at you.

よ (yo)

Pronounced “yo” like “yo-yo”; mnemonic: shows the letters Y-O and acts like a yo-yo.

ら (ra)

Pronounced with Japanese r/l sound “ra”; mnemonic: rabbit standing with droopy ears.

り (ri)

Pronounced “ri”; mnemonic: two reeds swaying (often written disconnected: り).

る (ru)

Pronounced “ru”; mnemonic: route with a loop at the end—crazy road.

れ (re)

Pronounced “re”; mnemonic: person kneeling, retching dinner—knee bend distinguishes it.

ろ (ro)

Pronounced “ro”; mnemonic: plain straight road (no loop unlike る).

わ (wa)

Pronounced “wa” as in “wasabi”; mnemonic: wasp shooting straight upward with stinger.

を (o / wo)

Pronounced exactly like お (o); mainly used as the object particle; mnemonic: man yelling “Whoa!” with a boomerang in his mouth.

ん (n)

Sole consonant kana, pronounced like final n in “pen”; looks like a lowercase English n.

Dakuten (゛)

Two-stroke mark that voices K→G, S→Z/J, T→D, H→B (e.g., か→が).

Han-dakuten (゜)

Small circle that changes H-row to P-row only (は→ぱ).

Small ゃゅょ

Tiny ya/yu/yo used after an I-row kana to form contracted sounds (きゃ, しゅ, りょ etc.).

Small っ

Mini tsu indicating a doubled consonant / brief pause (e.g., がっこう = gakkou).

Romaji

Latin-letter transcription of Japanese sounds; used for typing and pronunciation guidance.

Hiragana

One of the Japanese syllabaries; 46 basic symbols each representing a single sound.