Read five more.
Recognise は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ.
INDOMURA JAPANESELANGUAGE • LIFE • CULTURE
Foundation · Hiragana 06 · IJ-0008
Japanese tells us what the conversation is about.
Today you unlock は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ — and discover why one familiar character can be read two different ways. This is where Japanese sentence structure starts to feel genuinely Japanese.
は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほHA → WATOPICSELF-INTRODUCTION
は
ひ
ふ
へ
ほ
は
Today you’ll learn
Five kana. One sound surprise. One powerful sentence idea.
By the end, you can recognise 30 basic hiragana, hear the difference between normal は = HA and topic-particle は = WA, and use わたしは… correctly.
Meet Japanese ふ.
Hear the softer Japanese FU sound.
Discover は.
Learn why は can be pronounced WA in a sentence.
Introduce yourself.
Use わたしは アレックスです naturally and understand when it can be omitted.
Five new sounds
は ひ ふ へ ほ
Listen first. Repeat naturally. Keep your attention on the Japanese shapes.
は
HA
ひ
HI
ふ
FU
へ
HE
ほ
HO
Hear the row
Five sounds. One rhythm.
はひふへほ
ふ
Sound laboratory
ふ is softer than English “foo.”
Japanese ふ is usually written FU for learners, but the sound is gentler than a strong English “f.”
Aim for a light, soft breathy sound. Do not force either a strong English “foo” or a hard “hoo.”
Kana Writing Studio · 書いてみよう
One character at a time.
Select → Play → Watch → Trace → Write. Each demonstration plays once and remains fully drawn when finished.
Loading writing guide…
Ready.
は
HA
Begin with the left vertical stroke. Keep the right side balanced and leave enough space for the final curve.
Words you can read
Your reading world is getting larger.
Read the Japanese first. Use the meaning only after you have tried to sound it out.
はな
HANA
flower
ふね
FUNE
boat
ほし
HOSHI
star
はこ
HAKO
box
ふく
FUKU
clothes
ほね
HONE
bone
READ WITHOUT ROMAJI
Can you read these before looking back?
はなふねほしはこふくほね
The secret of は
Same character. Different job. Different sound.
When は is simply part of a word, it is normally pronounced HA. When it works as the topic particle, it is pronounced WA.
は
NORMAL KANA → HA
Example: はな — flower
は
TOPIC PARTICLE → WA
Example: わたしは アレックスです。
Written は. Pronounced HA as kana. Pronounced WA when it marks the topic.
わたし
THE TOPIC · ME / I
→
アレックスです。
WHAT WE SAY ABOUT THE TOPIC
わたし は アレックスです。
Natural English: “I’m Alex.”
What is this conversation about?
Japanese often establishes a topic before adding information.
The topic can be a person, object, place, time or idea. は signals: “As for this…” — and the rest of the sentence tells us something about it.
Do not translate は as “is.” Think: “this is what we are talking about.”
Use it now
Three topic sentences.
You do not need to decode every character independently yet. Use the sentence patterns now; later lessons will make more of the writing fully readable.
USE NOW · FULLY DECODE LATER
わたしは アレックスです。
I’m Alex.
わたしは ゆきです。
I’m Yuki.
わたしは がくせいです。
I am a student.
First-meeting conversation
Now listen for は — pronounced WA.
You already know this first-meeting conversation from the previous Foundation step. This time your job is different: listen specifically for the topic particle.
FIRST MEETING · TOPIC FOCUS
A
はじめまして。
First-meeting greeting.
B
はじめまして。
The greeting is returned.
A
わたしは アレックスです。
I’m Alex.
B
わたしは ゆきです。
I’m Yuki.
A
よろしくおねがいします。
A relationship-opening expression.
B
よろしくおねがいします。
The expression is naturally returned.
話
Life in Japan
Japanese does not need to keep saying “I.”
わたしは アレックスです。 is excellent for learning the structure. But once the topic is already obvious, Japanese often leaves it unsaid.
In a real introduction, after はじめまして, simply saying アレックスです。 can be completely natural.
Japanese often trusts context. Say what the listener needs — not everything English would repeat.
Conversation and context
Every conversation already carries shared information.
Japanese often makes strong use of what both people already know. A topic may be stated clearly when needed, then disappear when repeating it would add nothing.
This is why learning Japanese is not only learning words. It is learning how much context people expect each other to carry.
Listening lab
Hear the same sentence at two speeds.
Notice the topic particle, but do not expect it to sound like HA. In this sentence, は is WA.
STEP 01 · CAREFUL · FEMALE
Follow the structure.
Listen for わたし → は → アレックス → です.
STEP 02 · NATURAL · MALE
Hear one complete thought.
Listen for meaning rather than separating every sound.
LISTEN & CHOOSE
Which word did you hear?
Listen once, then choose.
LISTENING CONTRAST
ふね
READING RETRIEVAL
ほし
Cumulative kana review
Thirty basic hiragana are now unlocked.
Six rows now work together. Recognition should increasingly happen directly from the Japanese characters.
あ
い
う
え
お
か
き
く
け
こ
さ
し
す
せ
そ
た
ち
つ
て
と
な
に
ぬ
ね
の
は
ひ
ふ
へ
ほ
30/ 46 BASIC HIRAGANA
What I can do now
I can hear a topic — and understand what Japanese is talking about.
Recognise 30 basic hiragana.
Write は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ in stroke order.
Read words such as はな・ふね・ほし.
Recognise は as HA in ordinary kana use.
Recognise は as WA when it marks the topic.
Use わたしは アレックスです and understand when Japanese may omit わたしは.
Next · IJ-0009
Japanese begins describing everyday things.
Next you unlock the ま-row, expand your reading vocabulary and begin adding simple information about the things around you.
PREVIOUS · IJ-0007
な・に・ぬ・ね・の
Return to the previous Hiragana row
YOU ARE HERE · IJ-0008
は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ
Hiragana · topic particle は
NEXT · IJ-0009
ま・み・む・め・も
Continue the Foundation journey