Japanese Hiragana Pronunciation Guide203

Introduction

Hiragana is one of the two Japanese syllabaries, along with katakana. It is used to write native Japanese words, as well as grammatical particles and inflections. Hiragana is a phonetic system, meaning that each character represents a single sound. There are 46 basic hiragana characters, and each one represents a vowel or a consonant-vowel combination.

Vowels

There are five basic vowel sounds in Japanese: a, i, u, e, and o. These sounds are represented by the following hiragana characters:

Character
Pronunciation


あ
a


い
i


う
u


え
e


お
o

Consonants

There are 19 basic consonant sounds in Japanese. These sounds are represented by the following hiragana characters:

Character
Pronunciation


か
ka


き
ki


く
ku


け
ke


こ
ko


さ
sa


し
shi


す
su


せ
se


そ
so


た
ta


ち
chi


つ
tsu


て
te


と
to


な
na


に
ni


ぬ
nu


ね
ne


の
no


は
ha


ひ
hi


ふ
fu


へ
he


ほ
ho


ま
ma


み
mi


む
mu


め
me


も
mo


や
ya


ゆ
yu


よ
yo


ら
ra


り
ri


る
ru


れ
re


ろ
ro


わ
wa


を
o


ん
n

Diphthongs

There are three basic diphthong sounds in Japanese: ai, ei, and ou. These sounds are represented by the following hiragana characters:

Character
Pronunciation


あい
ai


えい
ei


おう
ou

Consonant Clusters

There are a few consonant clusters in Japanese. These clusters are represented by the following hiragana characters:

Character
Pronunciation


きゃ
kya


きゅ
kyu


きょ
kyo


しゃ
sha


しゅ
shu


しょ
sho


ちゃ
cha


ちゅ
chu


ちょ
cho


にゃ
nya


にゅ
nyu


にょ
nyo


ひゃ
hya


ひゅ
hyu


ひょ
hyo


みゃ
mya


みゅ
myu


みょ
myo


りゃ
rya


りゅ
ryu


りょ
ryo

Pronunciation Tips
Hiragana characters are always pronounced with a short vowel sound.
The consonant sound at the beginning of a word is always pronounced with a strong emphasis.
The consonant sound at the end of a word is often pronounced with a weak emphasis.
The diphthong sounds in Japanese are pronounced with a smooth transition from the first vowel sound to the second vowel sound.
The consonant clusters in Japanese are pronounced with a clear separation between the two consonants.

2025-02-01

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