Wa Wo N

Hiragana 1

Chapter 18 · Wa Wo N

🌸 The Last Three — わをん

The final three basic characters are わ (wa), を (wo, said "o") and ん (n). With them you've learned all 46 basic hiragana. Today you'll also meet the third particle, を, and you'll be able to read the everyday greetings that every learner wants first.

	a	i	u	e	o
(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
h +	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ
m +	ま	み	む	め	も
y +	や		ゆ		よ
r +	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
w +	わ				を
n	ん

All 46 basic characters, complete. The empty cells are sounds Japanese doesn't use.

✨ Three New Characters — わをん

わ

like "wa" in wash (short), "wah"

2 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a rolling wave, curling over at the bottom.

を

wo (o)

said exactly like お, "oh"

3 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a person leaning forward and handing you a parcel, because を marks the thing being handed over.

ん

a full beat of "n", as in pen

1 stroke · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: it looks a bit like a slanting "h", but it says n. Think of "n" with a long curling tail.

Look-Alike Warning: わ, れ and ね These three are cousins that share a vertical stroke on the left. ね ends in a loop, れ ends in an open sweep that flicks outward, and わ has a rounder base that curls back up and doesn't flick. Compare われね side by side, and use the stroke-order animations to see how each one ends.

ん Is a Whole Beat ん is the only kana that isn't a vowel or a consonant + vowel: it's a nasal "n" that takes a full beat of its own, like a syllable. So ほん ("book") has two beats, ho-n, and こんにちは has five. It never starts a word. In real speech it changes slightly depending on the sound after it (it can sound like "m" or "ng"), but you can safely say a clear "n" at this stage.

📖 Read It — New Words

With all 46 characters, you can read all of these. Remember that each character is one beat.

#	Word	Romaji	English	Note
1	わたし	watashi	I, me	wa + ta + shi
2	にほん	nihon	Japan	ni + ho + n
3	ほん	hon	book	ho + n: two beats
4	せんせい	sensei	teacher	se-n-se-i: four beats
5	わかる	wakaru	to understand	a very useful verb
6	わるい	warui	bad	the opposite of いい
7	かわ	kawa	river	ka + wa
8	わに	wani	crocodile	wa + ni
9	わらう	warau	to laugh	a verb
10	みかん	mikan	mandarin orange	mi-ka-n: three beats
11	うん	un	yeah (casual)	a casual "yes"
12	ほんとう	hontō	really, true	ほんとう？ = "Really?"

🔗 The Particle を — "The Thing Being Acted On"

The third particle, を, marks the object of a verb: the thing you read, buy, see or make. A を verb = "(do the verb) to A". It's read o, exactly like お, and it's only ever used as a particle. (Spaces are added to show the word breaks.)

Japanese	Romaji (as spoken)	English
ほんをよみます。	hon o yomimasu.	I read a book.
さかなをかいます。	sakana o kaimasu.	I buy fish.
さくらをみます。	sakura o mimasu.	I look at the cherry blossoms.
くるまをつくります。	kuruma o tsukurimasu.	I make a car.

The Three Particles That Change Their Sound You've now met all three: は is read wa (Chapter 11), へ is read e (Chapter 12), and を is read o (today). Everywhere else, these characters are read normally. Together with の, も, に and か, which you already know, you can read the grammar skeleton of a Japanese sentence.

🎎 Greetings You Can Read — あいさつ

Japanese	Romaji	English	When
おはよう	ohayō	good morning	in the morning (casual)
こんにちは	konnichiwa	hello; good afternoon	は is read wa here
さようなら	sayōnara	goodbye	a fairly final goodbye
またね	mata ne	see you!	casual, with friends
おやすみなさい	oyasumi nasai	good night	before bed (おやすみ is casual)
すみません	sumimasen	excuse me; sorry	to get attention or to apologise
よろしく	yoroshiku	nice to meet you (short form)	often with おねがいします later

Real Japanese Tip — Why "Konnichiwa" Ends in は こんにちは is read konnichi wa, and the final は is the particle you learned in Chapter 11, read wa. It began life as part of a longer greeting ("as for today, ..."), which is why the old spelling survived. The same thing happens in こんばんは ("good evening"), which you'll be able to read in the next course.

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Good Morning — おはよう

A: おはよう！ ohayō! Good morning!

B: おはよう。 ohayō. Good morning.

A: またね。 mata ne. See you.

② Excuse Me, Teacher — すみません

A: すみません、せんせい。これ、なに？ sumimasen, sensei. kore, nani? Excuse me, teacher. What is this?

B: それはほん。 sore wa hon. That is a book.

③ Really? — ほんとう？

A: さくらをみますか？ sakura o mimasu ka? Will you see the cherry blossoms?

B: はい、にほんへいきます。 hai, nihon e ikimasu. Yes, I'm going to Japan.

A: ほんとう？ hontō? Really?

B: ええ、ほんとう！ ee, hontō! Yes, really!

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

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

1. Read these aloud: わ · を · ん

Show answer

wa · o (written wo) · n

2. How many strokes do わ, を and ん have?

Show answer

わ has 2, を has 3, ん has 1.

3. Read and translate: わたし · にほん · せんせい

Show answer

watashi (I) · nihon (Japan) · sensei (teacher)

4. Write in hiragana: hon (book) · kawa (river) · mikan (mandarin)

Show answer

ほん · かわ · みかん

5. Read and translate: ほんをよみます。 How is を pronounced?

Show answer

"hon o yomimasu": I read a book. を is read o.

6. What do you say to greet someone in the morning, and what do you say to get a stranger's attention politely?

Show answer

おはよう (ohayō) in the morning; すみません (sumimasen) to say "excuse me".

🏁 Final Challenge — Read a Whole Paragraph

You can now read this short passage in full. Read it aloud, then check the meaning.

わたしはにほんへいきます。
さくらをみます。
それから、すしをかいます。

Show romaji and meaning

Watashi wa Nihon e ikimasu. Sakura o mimasu. Sore kara, sushi o kaimasu.

"I'm going to Japan. I'll look at the cherry blossoms. And then I'll buy sushi."

🎉 Course Complete — あなたができること

You've finished Hiragana 1. You can now read and write all 46 basic hiragana. Here is the journey:

Chapters	You learned…
1–2 · Vowels	How Japanese writing works, and あいうえお.
3–4 · K row	かきくけこ, the softer Japanese k, and your first verbs.
5–6 · S row	さしすせそ, and the "shi" spelling; こ-そ-あ place words.
7–8 · T row	たちつてと, "chi" and "tsu", and your first mini-dialogs.
9–10 · N row	なにぬねの, the possessive の, and ね at the end of a sentence.
11–12 · H row	はひふへほ, and the particles は (wa) and へ (e).
13–14 · M row	まみむめも, polite ます verbs, and the particle も.
15 · Y row	やゆよ, cheap and expensive, and reading with よむ.
16–17 · R row	らりるれろ, the tapped r, ある and いる, colours and numbers.
18 · W and N	わをん, the particle を, and the everyday greetings.

In total that's around 200 words, seven little grammar words (は, へ, を, の, も, に, か), the polite ます ending, and the confidence to read short real sentences. Well done: よくできました！ (yoku dekimashita, "well done").

What Comes Next — Hiragana 2 The next course, Hiragana 2, adds the marks that change sounds: the two small strokes ゛ (dakuten), which turn か into が, さ into ざ, た into だ and は into ば, and the small circle ゜ (handakuten), which turns は into ぱ. After that come the combined sounds (きゃ, しゅ, ちょ), the small っ and long vowels. Those unlock words like ありがとう ("thank you"), ごはん ("rice, meal") and ひがし ("east"). Keep reviewing the chart from this course out loud every day, and がんばって！ ("good luck, keep it up!").

Wa Wo N

🌸 The Last Three — わ を ん

✨ Three New Characters — わ を ん

📖 Read It — New Words

🔗 The Particle を — "The Thing Being Acted On"

🎎 Greetings You Can Read — あいさつ

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Good Morning — おはよう

② Excuse Me, Teacher — すみません

③ Really? — ほんとう？

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

🏁 Final Challenge — Read a Whole Paragraph

🎉 Course Complete — あなたができること

🌸 The Last Three — わをん

✨ Three New Characters — わをん