Hiragana た–ほ: the T, N and H rows

In this lesson you add three more rows to your hiragana chart. When you finish, you will know 30 of the 46 basic hiragana — enough to read many common words for animals, food, the body and the seasons.

row	a	i	u	e	o
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

Three sounds that break the pattern

Most rows follow the simple consonant + vowel pattern, but three characters in this lesson are different. Japanese has no “ti”, “tu” or “hu” sound, so these characters are pronounced — and written in Hepburn romaji — like this:

• ち is chi, like the “chee” in “cheese”.
• つ is tsu, like the “ts” at the end of “cats” followed by a short “u”.
• ふ is fu, a soft sound made by blowing air gently between your lips — somewhere between an English “f” and “h”. Your top teeth do not touch your lower lip.

The T row: た ち つ て と

• た (ta) — 4 strokes: a horizontal line, a slanted line that crosses it, then two short lines on the right that look like こ.
• ち (chi) — 2 strokes: a horizontal line, then a stroke that crosses it, goes down and bulges out to the right like a round belly.
• つ (tsu) — 1 stroke: a wide curve that goes right, then down and back to the left, like a wave.
• て (te) — 1 stroke: a horizontal line that turns sharply and curves down to the left.
• と (to) — 2 strokes: a short slanted stroke, then a stroke that curves down and runs out to the right along the bottom.

The N row: な に ぬ ね の

• な (na) — 4 strokes: a horizontal line, a slanted line that crosses it, a small dash at the upper right, then a vertical stroke on the right that ends in a small loop.
• に (ni) — 3 strokes: a vertical line on the left with a small flick, then two short horizontal lines on the right.
• ぬ (nu) — 2 strokes: a short slanted stroke, then a long stroke that crosses it, circles round and ends in a small loop.
• ね (ne) — 2 strokes: a straight vertical line, then a stroke that zigzags across it, curves round and ends in a small loop.
• の (no) — 1 stroke: start in the middle, go down to the left, then sweep up and round to the right in one smooth swirl.

The H row: は ひ ふ へ ほ

• は (ha) — 3 strokes: a vertical line on the left, a short horizontal line on the right, then a vertical line that crosses it and ends in a small loop.
• ひ (hi) — 1 stroke: a small dip at the start, then a wide bowl shape like a smile, ending with a small flick.
• ふ (fu) — 4 strokes: a small dash at the top, a curved stroke in the middle, then a small dash on the left and one on the right.
• へ (he) — 1 stroke: a small peak, short on the left and long on the right.
• ほ (ho) — 4 strokes: like は, but with an extra horizontal line at the top on the right.

When は and へ are read “wa” and “e”

Two characters in this lesson have a second reading. When は is the topic particle it is read wa, and when へ is the direction particle (“to, towards”) it is read e. For example, これはねこです is Kore wa neko desu (“This is a cat”), and にほんへいきます is Nihon e ikimasu (“I am going to Japan”). Inside ordinary words they keep their normal sounds: はな hana, へた heta.

Similar-looking characters

• ね (ne) and ぬ (nu): both end in a loop, but ね starts with a straight vertical line and ぬ does not.
• は (ha) and ほ (ho): ほ has one more horizontal line at the top.
• は (ha) and け (ke): は ends with a loop; け has no loop.
• た (ta) and な (na): な has a small dash and a loop on the right instead of two short lines.
• さ (sa) and ち (chi): they look almost like mirror images. ち’s second stroke bulges to the right; さ ends with a separate curve.

Common mistakes

• Writing ち as “ti” or つ as “tu”. In Hepburn romaji they are chi and tsu.
• Saying ふ with a strong English “f”. Keep it soft and breathy.
• Reading the particle は as “ha”. In これは it is wa.
• Mixing up ね and ぬ. Look for the straight vertical line at the start of ね.

How to practise

• Read the whole chart from Lesson 1 and this lesson aloud: a i u e o, ka ki ku ke ko … up to ho.
• Write each new character 5–10 times on the worksheet, saying its sound aloud.
• Make flashcards for the look-alike pairs and test yourself on those first.
• Take the quiz, then hide the romaji in the vocabulary list and read the words again.