Japanese uses three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Hiragana is a great place to begin because it represents basic Japanese sounds.
Your first five hiragana
| Character | Sound | Simple pronunciation hint |
|---|---|---|
| あ | a | like a in “father” |
| い | i | like ee in “see” |
| う | u | close to oo, with relaxed lips |
| え | e | like e in “met” |
| お | o | like o in “more”, without a long glide |
Try saying them aloud, slowly: あ・い・う・え・お.
Furigana in action
Furigana are small reading hints shown above kanji. For example:
日本語を勉強します。
I study Japanese.
Furigana lets beginners understand written Japanese while gradually learning kanji. Later courses will let you hide readings as your confidence increases.
Try it
Take the short demonstration quiz to check what you remember. This lesson is a preview of the future curriculum, not a complete N5 unit.