01 · KANA
Read five more.
Recognise and pronounce か・き・く・け・こ.
INDOMURA JAPANESE
LANGUAGE • LIFE • CULTURE
Foundation · Hiragana 02
I can make
a Japanese sentence.
Today five new hiragana become more than characters. You will hear them, write them, turn them into real words and use those words inside your first reusable Japanese sentence pattern.
か・き・く・け・こ
VOCABULARY
これは ___ です
LISTEN
SPEAK
か
き
く
け
こ
か
Today you'll learn
New sounds. Real words. A whole sentence.
Lesson 03 taught you how Japanese writing begins. Lesson 04 connects writing to communication. By the end, you will not simply recognise ten hiragana — you will use Japanese to identify something in the world around you.
02 · WRITE
Learn the movement.
Watch the correct stroke sequence, then trace and reproduce each character.
03 · WORDS
Read something real.
Combine old and new kana into useful Japanese vocabulary.
04 · SENTENCE
Say something.
Use これは ___ です。 as your first reusable statement pattern.
Five new sounds
か き く け こ
Each sound begins with a light K sound followed by a vowel you already know. Listen first. Then repeat naturally.
か
KA
K + あ
き
KI
K + い
く
KU
K + う
け
KE
K + え
こ
KO
K + お
Hear the pattern
One consonant.
Five familiar vowels.
Follow the line with your eyes. The vowel changes; the K sound remains.
か
き
く
け
こ
KA
KI
KU
KE
KO
LISTEN · FOLLOW · REPEAT
Kana Writing Studio · 書いてみよう
One character at a time.
Choose one kana below. Nothing moves until you press play. Watch the complete stroke order once, slowly, then trace and write it before moving to the next character.
Loading writing guide…
Ready. Press play when you are ready to watch.
か
KA
Watch the first movements establish the left side, then notice how the final stroke sits separately on the right.
Practice: Select → Play → Watch → Trace → Write
Trace → then remember
Let your hand learn what your eyes just saw.
Follow the pale model first. Then reproduce the same character from memory in the blank square.
か · 3 STROKES
か
TRACE
き · 4 STROKES
き
TRACE
く · 1 STROKE
く
TRACE
け · 3 STROKES
け
TRACE
こ · 2 STROKES
こ
TRACE
Words you can begin to read
The characters are already becoming language.
Most of these words use only hiragana from Lessons 03 and 04. Instead of memorising isolated symbols, watch them join together.
き
KI
tree
かお
KAO
face
こえ
KOE
voice
あか
AKA
red
いけ
IKE
pond
えき
EKI
station
ここ
KOKO
here
Aa
Romaji begins to step back from here.
It is still available as support,
but your eyes should increasingly meet Japanese first.
The goal is not to think “E-K-I.”
The goal is to look at
えき
and recognise the Japanese word.
Read it yourself
No romaji this time.
Read each word before you tap it. Then reveal the meaning and check yourself.
Your first reusable pattern
Now turn a word into a sentence.
You already met Japanese sentence order in Lesson 02. Now we use one simple pattern to identify something politely.
これは えき です。
KORE WA EKI DESU
This is a station.
Listen slowly first.
これ
POINTING WORD
“this”
は
TOPIC MARKER
written は,
pronounced “wa” here
えき
INFORMATION
station
です
POLITE ENDING
completes the statement politely
A useful distinction: English often translates です using “is,” but Japanese and English do not build sentences in exactly the same way. For now, think of です as helping this kind of statement sound polite and complete.
You are allowed to use language before you can decode every kana. The れ・は・で・す in this expression belong to future kana lessons. Today you are learning the phrase as spoken Japanese while continuing to master the writing system step by step.
Same structure, new meaning
Keep the frame. Change the information.
A useful pattern becomes powerful when you can reuse it. Listen for what remains the same.
これは えき です。
This is a station.
これは いけ です。
This is a pond.
これは あか です。
This is red.
Build the word
Can you make “station”?
You already know both characters. Put them in the right order.
Build:
えき
Tap two kana.
?
?
Build the Japanese word for “station.”
Build the sentence
From one word to a complete thought.
Arrange the three chunks into: “This is a station.”
TARGET · THIS IS A STATION.
Tap the chunks in the order you want to say them.
Japanese around you
A word from a lesson can suddenly belong to a place.
Japanese learning becomes more powerful when the language stops living only inside a course.
A street, a station, a voice, a colour — ordinary things begin collecting Japanese names. That is how vocabulary gradually becomes part of the world you notice.
Learn the word.
Notice the thing.
Use the Japanese.
Notice the thing.
Use the Japanese.
Everyday Japan mission
You know this place now.
Look at the photograph. Which Japanese word fits what you see?
これは？
Choose the word that means “station.”
One useful expression
Sometimes Japanese can be wonderfully short.
If someone is looking for a place or object, context may already make the subject obvious.
ここです。
KOKO DESU
Here it is. / It is here.
Listen, then say it once without looking at the romaji.
Listening challenge
Understand it at natural speed.
Do not read first. Press play and decide what the speaker said.
Listen once before choosing.
Natural-speed Japanese · Lesson 04
What did you hear?
A glimpse of what comes next
One small sound can turn a statement into a question.
You do not need to study this grammar yet. Just listen to how a tiny か changes the conversation.
A
これは えき ですか。
Is this a station?
B
はい、そうです。
Yes, that's right.
Lesson 05 will teach you how Japanese questions work properly.
Don't leave Lesson 03 behind
Ten hiragana are now yours.
New learning should strengthen old learning. Read across both rows before doing the challenge.
あ
い
う
え
お
か
き
く
け
こ
Which sound is this?
き
Choose the matching sound.
10
/ 46 BASIC HIRAGANA
What I can do now
Japanese is beginning to work for you.
Progress is not the number of pages completed. It is what you can now recognise, understand and say that you could not do before.
I recognise 10 basic hiragana.
I can write か・き・く・け・こ in stroke order.
I can read words such as えき・いけ・ここ.
I understand the pattern これは ___ です。
I can identify something in a simple Japanese statement.
I can follow one sentence at natural listening speed.
Next · Lesson 05