Lesson 2: Hiragana Part 2 — The Remaining Characters (な-ん)

Turn kana recognition into reading

Lesson 1 introduced all 46 basic hiragana. Here you will strengthen the later rows, distinguish close-looking characters, and learn why びょういん is not read one full-sized kana at a time. Your goal is to read short words and supported sentences while keeping voicing, small kana, and vowel length intact.

Use the same Hepburn-style reading aids as before: shi, chi, tsu, fu. The spellings si, ti, tu, hu belong to other romanization conventions; changing a Latin spelling does not automatically change the Japanese sound. A writing exercise that asks for hiragana needs the kana themselves.

1. Revisit the rows that are easiest to mix up

This review contains 26 characters: 5 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 2 + 1. Together with the first 20 characters, あ through と, they make the 46-character basic set. That is a count of written basic kana, not a promise of 46 distinct English-style syllables or “over 100 new sounds” just from adding marks.

Keep the vowels steady rather than copying the glides in English “hay” or “no.” For ふ, air passes between the lips; avoid a strong English teeth-against-lip f. For the R-row, start with a brief tongue tap near the ridge behind the upper teeth, not a rolled r. Listen to the Marugoto Plus character audio and writing models as you practice.

Inspect the right-hand side when comparing these characters:

In standard handwriting は has three strokes and ほ four. Stroke counts and visible printed connections are different things. Use a numbered model to learn the movement; do not invent a top loop for ね because an English mnemonic says so.

Try it: read ねこ, ふね, いぬ, もの. Check the last character of ふね carefully: it is ね, not れ. These mean cat, boat, dog, and thing.

2. Treat the marks as part of the spelling

With handakuten, the H-row becomes ぱ pa · ぴ pi · ぷ pu · ぺ pe · ぽ po. The two-stroke mark and the circle are different: は / ば / ぱ are ha / ba / pa. The name 半濁点 is conventionally translated “semi-voiced mark”; this terminology does not mean that p is physically halfway between h and b in voicing.

The table has 20 dakuten spellings and five handakuten spellings. Together with the 46 basic characters, that makes 71 displayed spellings before small-kana combinations. It does not mean 71 different pronunciations: in standard Japanese じ/ぢ normally sound alike, as do ず/づ. Regional pronunciations can differ.

For ordinary spellings, じ and ず are much more frequent. Still learn the written forms of particular words: はなぢ (hanaji, nosebleed) contains ぢ, and つづく (tsuzuku, continue) contains づ. Do not substitute the other spelling simply because the sound is similar. A prompt asking you to add dakuten to し yields じ; adding it to ち yields ぢ.

3. Read the small characters and long vowels

A Japanese mora is a timing beat. A full-sized basic kana normally takes one beat. Use these counts to notice missing or extra sounds; natural speech does not give every mora an exactly equal measured duration. Here are three details that change the count or pronunciation:

A small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ joins the preceding i-column kana. Compare きや (ki–ya, two beats) with きゃ (kya, one beat). In the same way, しゅ is shu and びょ is byo. The small character does not add a separate full yu or yo beat.

Small っ marks a held or doubled consonant in the words practiced here. It takes a beat but is not pronounced tsu. がっこう divides as が・っ・こ・う: ga, a held k closure, then a long kō. ざっし divides as ざ・っ・し: za, a held sh sound, then shi. Do not insert a tsu vowel, and do not turn every っ into a silent pause; a fricative such as sh can be lengthened continuously.

Long vowels take two beats. Spelling patterns must be learned with the word. An extra う often lengthens o, as in がっこう gakkō; an extra い often lengthens e, as in せんせい sensei, commonly pronounced with a long e. These are not universal rules for every adjacent おう or えい: word structure and careful speech can matter. Other words use doubled vowel kana, such as おおきい ōkii, big.

In びょういん, small ょ combines with び, then う lengthens the o sound. The following い remains a separate beat. In れんしゅう, do not forget the final う; it makes the u long.

For ん, avoid adding an extra “uh”: ほん has two beats, not ho–nu. Its exact nasal sound depends on the next sound. It normally occurs inside or at the end of ordinary words; informal expressions such as ん? are exceptions to an absolute “never first” rule.

4. Read words with a purpose

The bread word is normally written in katakana, パン; ぱん here is a hiragana reading exercise. A hiragana spelling can be pedagogically useful without being the usual spelling on a real menu. ごはん is cooked rice/a meal; raw rice is こめ. わたし is not the only possible I/me word, and politeness is not determined by a pronoun alone.

Build a small menu with ごはん, さかな, てんぷら, みそしる (misoshiru, miso soup), and みず. Read it in a different order each time. To combine two nouns, use と: てんぷらとみそしる, tempura and miso soup. The order てんぷらとみそしるをおねがいします means “Tempura and miso soup, please.” The next lesson gives more practice choosing request phrases.

5. Find the boundaries in a sentence

The spaces below help you see the chunks. The line beneath each example shows ordinary unspaced writing. Learn the supported examples as patterns; you do not need to invent all the verb forms yet.

わたしの なまえは ゆみです。
わたしのなまえはゆみです。
Watashi no namae wa Yumi desu. — My name is Yumi.

わたしの gives “my,” なまえ means name, and は marks the topic and is read wa. ゆみです identifies the name politely. You can also simply introduce yourself as ゆみです when the context makes the purpose clear. Name spellings vary; ゆみ is the one supplied here.

ねこが にわに います。
ねこがにわにいます。
Neko ga niwa ni imasu. — There is a cat in the garden.

が marks the cat as the subject, にわに gives its location, and います expresses presence for people and animals in this pattern. Do not generalize “all living things use います”: flowers and trees normally use あります. Compare にわにはながあります, there are flowers in the garden.

まいにち ほんを よみます。
まいにちほんをよみます。
Mainichi hon o yomimasu. — I read books every day.

まいにち means every day, ほん book/books, を marks the object and is normally pronounced o, and よみます is polite read. Book versus books depends on context; Japanese does not require an English-style plural ending here.

らいねん にほんへ いきます。
らいねんにほんへいきます。
Rainen Nihon e ikimasu. — I will go to Japan next year.

らいねん supplies the future time. へ, read e as a direction particle, marks Japan as the direction/destination. にほんにいきます is another natural way to express going to Japan. いきます itself is nonpast: context can give a future plan or a habitual action.

In ordinary modern spelling, を mainly appears as a particle; use お for the o vowel in words such as おと, sound. Historical spellings and stylized names are separate cases. The particle reading is not a license to swap the written characters.

Read a short story: ねこのゆめ

The title means The Cat's Dream. Here, the cat's name is みるく, Milk. Read a line, find the familiar words, and then check the translation. ゆめ means dream; あそびます plays; たべます eats; ありません there is not. These glosses support the story rather than requiring you to guess untaught forms.

ねこのなまえはみるくです。 — The cat's name is Milk.
みるくはまいにちにわであそびます。 — Milk plays in the garden every day.
にわにはながたくさんあります。 — There are many flowers in the garden.
よる、みるくはゆめをみます。 — At night, Milk has a dream.
ゆめのなかで、おおきなさかなをたべます。 — In the dream, Milk eats a big fish.
あさ、みるくはおきます。 — In the morning, Milk wakes up.
でも、さかなはありません。ゆめでした。 — But there is no fish. It was a dream.
いまからごはんをたべます。 — Now Milk will eat a meal.

The imagined fish is food, so its absence uses ありません here. で in にわで gives the place of playing, while に in にわにいます gives the location of a cat's presence. The story supplies no gender for Milk; English can simply repeat the name.

Check your reading: where does Milk play? にわ, the garden. What is there? はな, flowers. When does the dream happen? よる, at night. What is Milk's なまえ? みるく.

Before moving on, read は / ば / ぱ, ね / れ, and がっこう / びょういん once more. Next is Essential Phrases, where you will use familiar kana in greetings, requests, and homecoming exchanges.