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