Hiragana Chart: All 46 Characters with Pronunciation and a 7-Day Plan

Hiragana (ひらがな) is the first Japanese script you should learn. It has 46 basic characters, and each one stands for a sound (a syllable), like ka, mi or to. This guide gives you the full hiragana chart with pronunciation hints, the sound-change marks, two rules that trip up beginners, a 7-day learning plan and 10 words to read.

Prefer Hindi? यह पोस्ट हिंदी में पढ़ें.

If you read Hindi, you already know the idea: Devanagari is also a syllable-based script, where one character carries a whole sound. That is exactly how hiragana works, so many Hindi speakers find it easier than expected.

Why does Japanese have three scripts?

• Hiragana (ひらがな): grammar words, verb endings and everyday Japanese words. Learn this first.
• Katakana (カタカナ): foreign words, such as コーヒー (kōhī, coffee). See the katakana chart.
• Kanji (漢字): characters of Chinese origin that carry meaning, such as 山 (yama, mountain).

Hiragana chart (46 characters)

Each cell shows the character and its romaji. Sound hints: し shi is like “she”, ち chi like “chee”, つ tsu like “tsoo”, and ふ fu is a soft sound between “foo” and “hoo”. を is pronounced “o”, and ん is a light “n” that can sit at the end of a syllable.

Row	1	2	3	4	5
vowels	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
n	な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
h	は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
m	ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
y	や ya	—	ゆ yu	—	よ yo
r	ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
w + n	わ wa	を o (wo)	ん n	—	—

Dakuten (゛) and handakuten (゜): 25 more characters

Two small dots (゛) or a small circle (゜) change the sound. か (ka) with ゛ becomes が (ga), and は (ha) with ゜ becomes ぱ (pa). It is like a switch from a hard sound to a softer, voiced one.

Change	1	2	3	4	5
k → g	が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go
s → z	ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo
t → d	だ da	ぢ ji	づ zu	で de	ど do
h → b	ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo
h → p (゜)	ぱ pa	ぴ pi	ぷ pu	ぺ pe	ぽ po

Combined sounds (yōon): kya, sha, cha

A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ after a character blends two sounds into one: き + ゃ = きゃ (kya). The same rule works for にゃ (nya), ひゃ (hya), みゃ (mya), りゃ (rya), ぎゃ (gya), じゃ (ja), びゃ (bya) and ぴゃ (pya).

ya	yu	yo
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

Two rules to learn early

• Small っ (double consonant): a short pause that doubles the next consonant, as in きって (kitte, postage stamp). Hindi speakers know this from words like “pakka”.
• Long vowels: おばさん (obasan) means “aunt”, but おばあさん (obaasan) means “grandmother”. One long vowel changes the whole meaning, so hold long vowels for twice as long.

How to learn hiragana in 7 days

• Day 1: あ い う え お and the k-row (ka ki ku ke ko). Write and say each character 10 times.
• Day 2: the s-row and t-row. Spend 5 minutes on yesterday’s characters first.
• Day 3: the n-row and h-row.
• Day 4: the m-row, y-row, r-row and わ を ん. You have now seen all 46.
• Day 5: dakuten and handakuten (が ざ だ ば ぱ).
• Day 6: yōon (きゃ しゃ ちゃ …) and the small っ.
• Day 7: read the words below and try to write them without looking at the chart.

Tip: attach each character to a word rather than memorising the chart alone, and practise 15–20 minutes every day rather than two hours once a week.

Reading practice: 10 easy words

Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
あさ	asa	morning
いえ	ie	house
うみ	umi	sea
えき	eki	station
おかね	okane	money
さかな	sakana	fish
ねこ	neko	cat
やま	yama	mountain
みず	mizu	water
ほん	hon	book

Also try ひらがな (hiragana), ありがとう (arigatō, thank you) and こんにちは (konnichiwa, hello).

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to learn hiragana?

With a little practice every day, most people recognise all 46 characters in one to two weeks. Reading at speed takes a bit longer.

Can I read Japanese with only hiragana?

No. Real Japanese mixes hiragana with katakana and kanji. But after hiragana you can read children’s books, text with furigana (small hiragana above kanji) and the pronunciation of many words.

Should I learn hiragana or katakana first?

Hiragana first, then katakana. The sounds are the same and only the shapes differ, so katakana feels faster afterwards.

Related reading

• Katakana Chart: All 46 Characters
• Japanese Numbers 1 to 100
• How to Learn Japanese from Scratch
• Japanese Greetings