Alphabet
tap a character to hear itHiragana writes the Japanese parts of a sentence: the endings on verbs, the little words that join things up, and any word whose kanji you have not met yet.
Basic
The forty-six you learn first. The row gives the consonant, the column the vowel.
Voiced
The same shape with two strokes or a small circle added, which voices the consonant: か ka becomes が ga. Only four rows have one.
Combined
A small や ゆ よ folded onto the i-column: き ki plus small や is きゃ kya, one syllable rather than two.
Marks
Characters with no sound of their own — they change the one next to them, so there is nothing to play.
small tsu
doubles the next consonant — がっこう is gakkō
A character marked * is read differently depending on the job it is doing in the sentence — hover or hold it to see how.