First things first! Hiragana (Hee-rah-gahnah) is the basic Japanese language alphabet. It has 46 characters total and some of the characters can have marks added to them to change their pronunciation. Don't worry! For English speakers, Japanese sounds are very easy to pronounce, and they follow an easy pattern! Let's start with the first 5 characters, the vowels "Ah, EE, Ooh, Eh, Oh!"
This is the first letter, A. It is pronounced "Ah" as in the 'a' in "fall, call and ball." Say it a few times before you write it. Now, write the letter "Ah" by drawing the horizontal line from left to right, then the vertical line from top to bottom. Last is the curly line at the bottom. Write it 10 times while saying the sound.
This is the second letter, I. It is pronounced "EE" as in "Jeep, Steep, and beep." Say it a few times before you write it. Now, write the letter "I" by drawing the left line from top to bottom, then the right one. Write it 10 times while saying the sound.
This is the third letter, U. It is pronounced "Ooh" as in "Tube, ooze and glue." Say it a few times before you write it. The mark at the top is first, then the smooth curved stroke from top to bottom.
This is the fourth letter, "E." It is pronounced "Eh" like the long 'a' sound in "Cake, bake" or when someone says "Eh?!" Again the mark on top is first. Then it is similar to a "Z" starting on the left at the horizontal top stroke, then down and over.
This is the fifth and final letter we will cover in this lesson. It is "O." Pronounce it like "Oh, Phone, Open." It may look similar to "Ah" but it is different! First make the horizontal top stroke, then then the body is one connected, smooth stroke. Finally, add the dash out at the top.
You're done! You have learned the first 5 characters of the Japanese Hirgana alphabet. Practice writing them smoothly and accurately. Now you can write these words in Japanese:
AOI = Blue. AI = Love. OOI = Many. IE = House. IIE = No!.
（あおい、あい、おおい、いえ、いいえ！）