Hiragana
This is the script Japanese is glued together with: every particle, every verb ending, every word that has no kanji. Learn it first and everything else gets easier.
The 46 basic kana
The gojūon: the sounds every other kana is built from. Each one has its own page, and every cell plays.
a
i
u
e
o
vowel
k
s
t
n
h
m
y
r
w
n-final
The other 58 are the voiced forms and the yōon combinations. See all 104 on one sheet →
The rules that actually trip people up
The chart is the easy half. These are the things that are still wrong six months in.
- は is pronounced wa when it is the topic particle, and へ is e when it marks direction. The spelling never changes; only these grammatical uses shift.
- を is only ever the object particle. It is pronounced o. You will essentially never see it inside a word.
- Small っ doubles the next consonant. きって is kitte, not kitsute. Hold the stop for one beat.
- Long vowels are written out. おかあさん is okāsan; the second あ is a full beat, not decoration. The o sound is usually extended with う: とうきょう, Tōkyō.
How to actually learn it
Roughly a week, if you do it this way.
- Read one row a day from the chart above. Five kana. Look at the stroke order on each page and write each one five times.
- Practice only the rows you have covered so far; you can select them. Recognition first, recall once recognition is fast.
- Add the next row before the previous one feels solid. Interference is the point; it is what forces the shapes apart.
- Dakuten and yōon need no separate study. Once the 46 are automatic, the other 58 are the same shapes with marks.