Japanese Basics

This deck is designed to help you build a solid foundation in Japanese by familiarizing you with hiragana, the first of Japan's two core phonetic writing systems. Each card presents a hiragana character and asks you to recall what it is, giving you focused practice in recognizing these essential building blocks of the language. Mastering hiragana is the gateway to reading and writing Japanese, and it unlocks the ability to learn vocabulary, grammar, and eventually kanji more smoothly.

It's an ideal starting point if you're a complete beginner or someone returning to Japanese after a long break and wanting to refresh the basics. Even if you've seen hiragana before, this deck offers a clean, structured way to reinforce your recall and boost your confidence with the full character set.

To get the most out of your study, try working through the cards in short, frequent sessions rather than long cramming marathons — hiragana sticks best when revisited regularly over days and weeks. As you progress, practice writing each character by hand as well; combining recognition with writing deepens memory and helps the shapes feel natural. Pairing this deck with listening practice, such as hearing the corresponding sounds, can also speed up your progress and make the characters feel more alive.

Japanese hiragana is one of the two phonetic syllabaries used in everyday writing. The system begins with five vowels that appear in the order あ (a, as in "father"), い (i, as in "meet"), う (u, with unrounded lips), え (e, as in "bed"), and お (o, as in "go"). These five characters form the foundation from which nearly all other hiragana sounds are built through combinations, and they are the very first characters a learner encounters.

After the vowels come consonants paired with each vowel. The k-row begins with か (ka), continues through き (ki), く (ku), け (ke), and ends with こ (ko). Each of these can be modified by adding a small dakuten mark (゛) in the upper right corner, which voices the consonant: か becomes が (ga), き becomes ぎ (gi), く becomes ぐ (gu), け becomes げ (ge), and こ becomes ご (go). This voicing rule applies consistently to most consonant rows in hiragana.

The s-row follows a similar pattern with さ (sa), す (su), せ (se), and そ (so), but し deserves special attention. Unlike the regular pairing suggested by the vowel order, し is read as "shi" rather than "si". This is one of the irregular readings in Japanese hiragana. Applying the dakuten transforms the s-row into the z-row: ざ (za), じ (ji, not "zi"), ず (zu), ぜ (ze), and ぞ (zo). Mastering these two rows gives learners a solid base for reading hiragana.

Katakana is the second Japanese syllabary, used primarily for foreign loanwords, onomatopoeia, technical and scientific terms, and occasionally for visual emphasis. Its vowel set mirrors hiragana exactly in pronunciation but uses angular, simplified shapes: ア represents "a", イ represents "i", ウ represents "u", エ represents "e", and オ represents "o". Learning these five is usually the fastest part of katakana because the sounds are already familiar from hiragana.

The k-row in katakana matches the same order and pronunciation as hiragana: カ (ka), キ (ki), ク (ku), ケ (ke), and コ (ko). Because Japanese loanwords overwhelmingly use katakana, recognizing these shapes is essential for everyday life. For example, カメラ (kamera, "camera") begins with カ, キッチン (kicchin, "kitchen") begins with キ, クラス (kurasu, "class") begins with ク, ケーキ (keeki, "cake") begins with ケ, and コーヒー (koohii, "coffee") begins with コ.

Each katakana character has a direct hiragana equivalent and the same pronunciation, so katakana study is more about learning new shapes than new sounds. Encountering loanwords in daily Japanese, such as オレンジ (orenji, "orange") or エレベーター (erebeetaa, "elevator"), provides constant practice. Recognizing katakana quickly makes menus, signs, advertisements, and product names much easier to understand.

Japanese has a rich set of greetings that vary by time of day, formality, and the closeness of the relationship. The most common general greeting is こんにちは (konnichiwa), meaning "Hello" or "Good afternoon," used from late morning through evening. In the morning, speakers use おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) in polite situations, while the casual おはよう (ohayou) is appropriate among friends and family. As evening falls, こんばんは (konbanwa) replaces こんにちは for "Good evening." When parting, さようなら (sayounara) signals a longer or more formal farewell, whereas the casual じゃあね (jaa ne) or またね (mata ne) is used among friends.

Expressions of gratitude and apology are equally important. ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) means "Thank you very much" in polite speech, with ありがとう (arigatou) being the casual version. For apologies and getting attention, すみません (sumimasen) is remarkably versatile, functioning as "Excuse me," "I'm sorry," or even a light "Thank you" when someone has gone to trouble for you. A more direct apology is ごめんなさい (gomen nasai), with ごめん (gomen) being its casual form.

Introductions rely on two key phrases. はじめまして (hajimemashite), literally "for the first time," means "Nice to meet you" and is said when meeting someone for the first time. It typically leads into a self-introduction followed by よろしくおねがいします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu), which means "Please treat me well" or "Nice to meet you." Around meals, いただきます (itadakimasu) is said before eating to express gratitude for the food, and ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) is said after finishing. At home, the daily exchange いってきます ("I'm off") and いってらっしゃい ("Take care" or "See you later") bookend departures, while ただいま ("I'm home") and おかえりなさい ("Welcome home") greet arrivals.

Japanese numbers follow two main systems. The basic numbers from one to ten are 一 (いち / ichi), 二 (に / ni), 三 (さん / san), 四 (し or よん / shi or yon), 五 (ご / go), 六 (ろく / roku), 七 (しち or なな / shichi or nana), 八 (はち / hachi), 九 (きゅう or く / kyuu or ku), and 十 (じゅう / juu). Numbers like 4, 7, and 9 have multiple readings, and speakers often choose the alternative reading when the primary one sounds like an unlucky word: し echoes 死 (death), and く echoes 苦 (suffering). Zero is either 零 (れい / rei) in formal contexts or simply ゼロ (zero) borrowed from English.

Larger numbers include 百 (ひゃく / hyaku) for 100, 千 (せん / sen) for 1,000, and 万 (まん / man) for 10,000. Importantly, Japanese groups large numbers in units of 10,000 rather than 1,000, so 100,000 is 十万 (juuman, "ten ten-thousands"), not expressed as "one hundred thousand" as in English. Numbers 11 through 99 follow a simple pattern of tens plus ones: 11 is じゅういち (juu-ichi), and 25 is にじゅうご (ni-juu-go, "two-tens-five"), where the tens digit multiplies じゅう. Some multiples cause sound changes, such as さんびゃく (sanbyaku) for 300 and さんぜん (sanzen) for 3,000.

Japanese also requires counters that match the type of object being counted. The native general counter uses ひとつ (hitotsu), ふたつ (futatsu), みっつ (mittsu), よっつ (yottsu), and いつつ (itsutsu) for one through five, going up to とお (too) for ten, and works for most objects when no specific counter is needed. For people, ひとり (hitori) and ふたり (futari) are irregular for one and two, with さんにん (sannin) from three onward using にん (nin). Flat objects like paper and tickets use まい (mai), long cylindrical objects like bottles and pens use ほん (hon) with sound changes such as いっぽん (ippon), にほん (nihon), and さんぼん (sanbon), and small animals use ひき (hiki) with similar changes like いっぴき (ippiki) and さんびき (sanbiki).

Particles are small words attached to nouns and phrases that define their grammatical role in a sentence. Several core particles deserve attention first. The particle は (written "ha" but pronounced "wa") marks the topic of a sentence, telling the listener what the conversation is about, as in わたしはがくせいです (watashi wa gakusei desu, "As for me, I am a student"). The particle が, by contrast, marks the subject and is used when introducing new or emphasized information, such as in だれがきましたか (dare ga kimashita ka, "Who came?"). The particle を (pronounced "o") marks the direct object of an action verb, while に indicates location of existence, time, or destination, and で marks the location where an action takes place or the means by which it is performed.

Other particles show relationships between nouns or add sentence-level meaning. の connects nouns in a way similar to "'s" or "of" in English, as in わたしのほん (watashi no hon, "my book"). へ (written "he" but pronounced "e") indicates direction of movement, similar to に but emphasizing the path rather than the endpoint. と means "and" when listing nouns or "with" when expressing companionship. The question marker か is placed at the end of a sentence to turn it into a question, and も means "also" or "too," replacing は, が, or を to indicate inclusion.

Several particles handle temporal and spatial ranges or add emphasis. から means "from" and marks a starting point in time or place, while its pair まで means "until" or "up to" and marks an endpoint, often used together to express a span such as "from 9 until 5." The sentence-ending particle よ adds emphasis or conveys new information to the listener, as in おいしいですよ (oishii desu yo, "It's delicious, you know!"). Together, these particles form the structural skeleton of Japanese sentences, and learning them early dramatically improves comprehension and fluency.

The days of the week in Japanese each pair an element or celestial body with the suffix 曜日 (youbi, "day of the week"). 月曜日 (げつようび / getsuyoubi, Monday) is associated with the moon, 火曜日 (かようび / kayoubi, Tuesday) with fire, 水曜日 (すいようび / suiyoubi, Wednesday) with water, 木曜日 (もくようび / mokuyoubi, Thursday) with wood, 金曜日 (きんようび / kinyoubi, Friday) with gold or metal, 土曜日 (どようび / doyoubi, Saturday) with earth, and 日曜日 (にちようび / nichiyoubi, Sunday) with the sun. This element-based system reflects an East Asian tradition and makes the pattern easy to remember once the seven elements are learned.

Months are simpler still. Japanese months are formed by combining a number with 月 (gatsu, "month"): 一月 (いちがつ / ichigatsu) is January, 二月 (にがつ / nigatsu) is February, and so on through 八月 (はちがつ / hachigatsu) for August. There are no separate month names as in English. A few readings shift from the basic numbers, so 四月 is しがつ (shigatsu) rather than よんがつ, and 七月 is しちがつ (shichigatsu) rather than なながつ. These exception readings are worth memorizing, especially since April marks the beginning of the Japanese school and fiscal year.

A handful of survival phrases round out beginner Japanese. "Yes" is はい (hai), also used as a polite "uh-huh," while "No" is いいえ (iie), with ううん (uun) as the casual alternative. The phrase わかりません (wakarimasen) means "I don't understand," and えいごをはなせますか (eigo wo hanasemasu ka) asks "Do you speak English?" To find a place, use …は どこですか ("... wa doko desu ka," "Where is ...?"), and for prices, いくらですか (ikura desu ka, "How much?") is essential when shopping. Politeness markers include おねがいします (onegaishimasu) for general requests and ください (kudasai) for requests following a verb's te-form, as in みずを ください (mizu wo kudasai, "Water, please"). The demonstratives これ (kore, "this"), それ (sore, "that"), and あれ (are, "that over there") form the ko-so-a-do system for indicating distance. Common adjectives include おいしい (oishii, "delicious") and きれい (kirei, "beautiful" or "clean"), and in emergencies, たすけて (tasukete, "Help!") is the word to call out.