Ne No

Hiragana 1

Chapter 10 · Ne No

🌸 Finishing the N Row — ね の

Two characters complete the N row: ね (ne) and の (no). That brings you to twenty-five characters. Today you'll also learn one of the most useful little words in Japanese grammar, の, which works like "of" or "'s", and the sentence-ending ね, which means "isn't it?"

aiueo
(vowels)あいうえお
k +かきくけこ
s +さしすせそ
t +たちつてと
n +なにぬねの

Twenty-five down, twenty-one to go. The H row comes next.

✨ Two New Characters — ね の

ね
ne
like "ne" in net, short ("neh")
2 strokes · stroke order ▸
Memory hook: a curled-up cat with its tail wrapped round it: ne-ko, the Japanese word for "cat".
の
no
like "no" in note, short and pure ("noh")
1 stroke · stroke order ▸
Memory hook: a round, defiant "No!", a mouth saying it, or a no-entry sign.
Look-Alike Warning: ね and ぬ ね (ne) and ぬ (nu) are the most commonly confused pair in hiragana, because both end in a loop at the bottom right. The reliable test is how they begin: ね starts with a straight vertical line on the left, whereas ぬ starts with a slanting stroke. Watch the stroke-order animations for both and compare the openings. (ね also resembles れ and わ, which you'll meet later in the R and W rows.)

📖 Read It — New Words

With twenty-five characters you can read all of these. Remember that each character is one beat.

#WordRomajiEnglishNote
1nekocatne + ko
2nēhey, listena friendly way to get attention
3netsufeverne + tsu
4ane(my) older sistera + ne; for your own sister
5kanemoney; belltwo meanings, one spelling
6tsunohorntsu + no
7inochilifei + no + chi
8nochiafterwards, latera more formal word
9konothis (+ noun)ko + no; needs a noun after it
10sonothat (+ noun)near you
11anothat over there (+ noun)far from both
12ano neyou know… / well…a conversation opener

🔗 The Little Word の — "Of" and "'s"

の joins two nouns, and it works like English "'s" or "of": A の B means "A's B". (Spaces are added below to show the word breaks.)

JapaneseRomajiEnglish
inu no iethe dog's house
neko no tethe cat's paw (hand)
anata no inuyour dog
kono nekothis cat
sono inuthat dog
ano iethat house over there
Real Japanese Tip — Ending a Sentence with ね A small ね on the end of a sentence means "…, isn't it?" or "…, right?" and asks the listener to agree. It's one of the most common sounds in Japanese conversation: あつい ね ("It's hot, isn't it?"), おいしい ね ("It's tasty, isn't it?"). Japanese people use it constantly to share a feeling, so using it makes you sound natural and friendly.

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Hot, Isn't It? — あつい ね

A: atsui ne. It's hot, isn't it?
B: ee, atsui ne. Yes, it's hot, isn't it.

② Whose Cat? — あなた の ねこ？

A: nē, kono neko, anata no? Hey, is this cat yours?
B: ee, sō! Yes, it is!
A: chiisai ne. It's small, isn't it.

③ A Big Dog — あの いぬ

A: ano inu, ookii! That dog over there is big!
B: sō? Is it?
A: ee, ookii ne. Yes, it's big, isn't it.
Review: Reading Back Cover the English and read these again: (what?) · (you) · (country) · (dog) · (fish) · (meat) · (crab) · (summer) · (west) · (inside) · (stomach) · (not).

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Say the whole N row in order:

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na · ni · nu · ne · no

2. How can you tell from ?

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ね begins with a straight vertical line on the left; ぬ begins with a slanting stroke. Check the stroke-order animations to see both.

3. Read and translate: · ·

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neko (cat) · tsuno (horn) · inochi (life)

4. Write in hiragana: neko (cat) · anata no inu (your dog) · ano ne (you know…)

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· ·

5. Translate: ·

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the dog's house · the cat's paw (hand)

6. What does do at the end of a sentence, as in ?

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It means "…, isn't it?" and invites the listener to agree: "It's hot, isn't it?"

Coming Up in Chapter 11 The H row begins: は ひ ふ (ha, hi, fu). Two surprises: fu is spelled with an f but sounds softer than the English "f", and the character は is sometimes read as wa. You'll then read はな (flower), ひと (person), ふね (ship) and ひこうき (aeroplane).