You can read hiragana.
At the beginning of this Foundation journey, hiragana was unfamiliar. Today you meet the final three characters in the 46-character basic set — then use everything you have learned to read, listen and understand.
Complete the basic hiragana set.
Listen first. Notice that these three do not form a regular five-sound row: わ is WA, を is normally pronounced O when used as the object particle, and ん is the standalone N sound.
Hear the final three together.
One important detail about を
In modern standard Japanese, を is normally heard as o when it marks the object of an action. You may still see it romanised as wo, especially when identifying the kana itself.
Three characters remain.
Select one character. Play the stroke order once. Watch, trace, then write it yourself.
Recognition becomes reading.
Read the Japanese before looking at the English. You now have enough hiragana knowledge to make that habit increasingly useful.
Three characters beginners often mix up.
You have already met all three ideas separately. This milestone places them side by side.
Regular kana · WA
In words such as わたし, this is the ordinary hiragana sound WA.
HA — but particle WA
As a regular kana it is HA. When は functions as the topic particle, it is pronounced WA: わたしは…
Object particle · O
を marks the thing affected by an action and is normally pronounced O in modern standard Japanese.
Now the patterns connect.
Use now · decode fully later
べんきょうします contains sound patterns you have not formally unpacked yet. That is intentional. Learn the expression as useful Japanese now; later lessons will explain the changed sounds and combinations inside it.
You will not understand everything — and that is completely normal.
The visual wall is beginning to open.
Completing the basic hiragana set does not mean every sign or sentence is now readable. Real Japanese also uses katakana, kanji, altered kana sounds and vocabulary you have not learned. But the script is no longer entirely unfamiliar.
Your Foundation lessons begin speaking to each other.
Listen line by line, then hear the full exchange. Notice familiar greetings, the topic marker, your new を, and a practical statement about learning Japanese.
From careful Japanese to natural Japanese.
Careful → natural
Hear the milestone sentence carefully, then at a more natural speed.
Listen & choose
Play the word, then choose what you heard.
Retrieve from sound
Listen first. Can you recognise both words without romanisation?
ほん · みかん
Read before you translate.
Look at each item and let the sound come first. Meaning can follow. This is the beginning of real reading.
Every basic hiragana character has now been introduced.
Hiragana looked unfamiliar and difficult to separate into sounds.
You have encountered and practised the complete 46-character basic hiragana set.
We turn recognition into stronger reading and unlock the additional sounds built from these characters.
I have unlocked the complete basic hiragana set.
Unlocked does not mean mastered.
Fluent reading comes from repeated recognition in words and sentences. Today is the point where practice can become much richer — because every basic hiragana character is now available to you.
Next, familiar kana begin making new sounds.
IJ-0013 begins dakuten: the small marks that transform familiar kana and expand the sounds you can read — without starting a new alphabet.