Hiragana chart
Hiragana is the first alphabet to learn. Every Japanese word can be written in it, and it carries all the grammar: the endings, the particles, the small connecting words.
Practise this → Quick quizzes. Cards you miss come back until you get them right.
The basic 46
With dakuten and handakuten
Two small marks change the sound: ゛ turns k into g, s into z, t into d, h into b; ゜ turns h into p.
Combinations
A small ゃ ゅ ょ after an i-row kana glues onto it and makes one beat, not two.
What trips people up
は as a particle is read WA
Inside a word は is ha (はな, hana, flower). When it marks the topic of a sentence it is read wa.
へ as a particle is read E
Inside a word へ is he (へや, heya, room). When it marks direction it is read e.
を is only a particle
Read o. It appears almost nowhere except marking the object of a verb.
っ is a small tsu, and it is silence
It doubles the next consonant: きって (kitte, stamp) has a beat of held silence where っ is.
ー lengthens a vowel, in katakana
ラーメン is raamen, not ramen. In hiragana a long vowel is written with a vowel: おかあさん.
ん is a full beat
にほん has three beats: ni-ho-n. Rushing ん is one of the most audible beginner accents.