🇯🇵 Japanese for beginners (N5) · Chapter 1

Hiragana, part 1: vowels and the k, s, t rows

Twenty squiggles today and you can already read すし, さけ, たこ and ちかてつ — and the chart is laid out in almost the same order as the Devanagari varnamala you learnt in school.

Study this lesson free in the app →

The basics

Hiragana is the basic Japanese script: 46 characters, each one a whole syllable (ka, shi, tsu), not a single letter.

The problem it solves: Japanese is written with three scripts mixed together. Kanji (Chinese characters) carry meaning, katakana spells foreign words, and hiragana does everything else — grammar endings, particles, and any word whose kanji you don't know yet. Children's books, JLPT N5 questions and every furigana reading above a kanji are in hiragana. Without it you cannot read a single sentence.

The mental model: a grid, exactly like the barakhadi (क, का, कि, की…). Five vowels — a i u e o — run across. Consonant rows run down: k, s, t today, the rest next lesson. Row + column = sound: k-row + i = き (ki). Learn the five vowels and the grid fills itself — with three exceptions: し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu.

Explained

Japanese looks impossible because you see kanji first. But under every kanji sits a hiragana reading, and hiragana is just a 46-box grid.

Today: 20 boxes — the vowels and the k, s, t rows. With only those you can read:

すし (sushi) · さけ (sake, salmon) · たこ (tako, octopus) · ちかてつ (chikatetsu, metro)

The chart you already know

Remember the varnamala chart on your classroom wall? Vowels first — अ आ इ ई उ ऊ — then क ख ग, च, ट, त, प…

The Japanese chart runs a, i, u, e, o, then k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w. That is no coincidence: Buddhist monks who studied Sanskrit through the Siddham script are widely credited with arranging the Japanese sounds in this order.

So an Indian learner has an unfair advantage. You already think in 'consonant + vowel = one akshara'. か is simply क + अ. き is कि. The Japanese grid is a barakhadi with five vowels instead of a dozen.

The grid, rows 1 to 4

        a      i      u      e      o
  -     あ a   い i   う u   え e   お o
  k     か ka  き ki  く ku  け ke  こ ko
  s     さ sa  し SHI す su  せ se  そ so
  t     た ta  ち CHI つ TSU て te  と to

Read it like a multiplication table: row consonant + column vowel.

The three capitalised boxes are the exceptions. Japanese has no 'si', 'ti' or 'tu' sound, so those slots are filled by shi, chi, tsu.

Picture it: vowels and k-row

• あ a — a cross stuck into a round apple. Bite it: 'Aah!'
• い i — two eels standing side by side
• う u — a person doubled over clutching their stomach: 'ooh' (the dash is the head)
• え e — a ninja mid-step, dot for a head, zigzag leg: 'eh?'
• お o — like あ, but a golf ball flies off top-right: 'Oh!'
• か ka — a mosquito (蚊 is literally ka): body hooked, the side dash is its wing
• き ki — a key: two teeth on top, a loop at the bottom
• く ku — a bird's open beak calling 'coo'
• け ke — a keg with a tap sticking out of its side
• こ ko — two coins lying one above the other

Picture it: s-row and t-row

• さ sa — a sari pegged on a cross-shaped line, the curve is the cloth hanging down
• し shi — a fish hook: 'she caught a fish'
• す su — a rope s(w)uing with a loop tied in it
• せ se — a wide mouth with one fang, about to say something
• そ so — a zigzag thread being sewn
• た ta — a little t next to two dashes that look like a sideways a: t + a
• ち chi — a man whose belly is stuffed with cheese (a mirrored 5)
• つ tsu — one big tsunami wave curling over
• て te — an arm reaching out; and 手 (te) means 'hand'
• と to — a toe with a thorn stuck in it

Say the sound out loud while you trace the picture. Sight + sound + story sticks far better than staring at a chart.

How the sounds actually work

Vowels are short and pure. No glide: お is a clean 'o', not 'ow'. え is the 'e' of एक, never 'ee'.

う is unrounded. Say उ with relaxed, nearly flat lips. After k, s, ts it often goes almost silent — です is said des.

T is dental. た, て, と touch the tongue to the teeth like Hindi त, not the curled-back ट that Indian English uses for 'top'.

One kana = one beat (mora). ちかてつ is four equal beats: chi-ka-te-tsu. Rhythm is part of correctness.

Stroke order matters — top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before crossing vertical. It makes handwriting legible and later helps you look up kanji.

Week one, a Japanese class in Pune

Tanaka-sensei holds up flashcards. Riya has learnt today's 20 kana.

先生 (せんせい): これは？ (Kore wa? — And this?) — card: あか

Riya: あ… か. Aka!

先生: はい。'red'。これは？ — card: すし

Riya: Su… si?

先生: Shi. し は 'shi'。

Riya: Sushi!

先生: これは？ — card: ちかてつ

Riya: Chi-ka-te-tsu. Chikatetsu — the metro!

Three cards, three of the exceptions you learnt, and one real word she will see on every station sign in Tokyo.

Mistakes Indian learners make

• Retroflex t. Saying たこ with a ट. Use the dental त.
• Over-rounding う. Hindi ऊ pushes the lips out; Japanese う barely does.
• Reading え as 'ee'. えき (station) is e-ki, not ee-ki.
• Writing si, ti, tu. The romaji is shi, chi, tsu — and つ is one sound, not 't' + 'su'.
• Mixing look-alikes. あ/お (dot), さ/ち (mirror), き/さ (extra bar), い/こ (vertical vs horizontal).
• Living in romaji. If you write 'sushi' in your notes, you are practising English. Write すし.

Words to know

In two minutes

• Hiragana is a syllabary: each character is a full syllable like ka or shi, not a letter.
• The chart is a grid — five vowels a, i, u, e, o across, consonant rows down — just like the barakhadi.
• Vowels are short and pure: a as in 'अ/आ', i as in 'इ', u as an unrounded 'उ', e as in 'एक', o as in 'ओ'.
• Three sounds break the pattern: し = shi, ち = chi, つ = tsu (never si, ti, tu).
• Each kana takes the same length of time — one beat — so さけ is two even beats: sa-ke.
• Learn each character with a picture story, then read real words immediately: あさ, すし, たこ, ちかてつ.
• Stop leaning on romaji within a week; it hides the sounds Japanese actually has.

Test yourself

There are 9 questions, 3 puzzles and 5 recall cards for this lesson in the app — the recall cards come back on later days, just before you would forget.