Hiragana is almost perfectly phonetic: what you hear is what you write. Almost. There are a handful of slots where the kana and the sound have come apart — historical spellings frozen in place while the pronunciation drifted. Three of them are particles you will use in your very first sentences, and two more are long-vowel spellings. English speakers, spelling by ear, write ×私わ for 私は and ×おうきい for 大きい — and to a Japanese reader those errors are as jarring as writing "wud of" for "would have." This is N5-critical: get these five things right from day one and your writing looks native; get them wrong and it does not.
The three particle spellings: は = wa, へ = e, を = o
Here is the rule, and it is worth carving into memory:
| Written | As a particle, pronounced | Role | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| は | wa (not "ha") | topic marker | 私は — watashi wa |
| へ | e (not "he") | direction marker | 東京へ — Tōkyō e |
| を | o (not "wo") | object marker | 本を — hon o |
These three kana keep their old spelling only in their particle role. Everywhere else they behave normally: は inside a word is "ha" (母 = はは haha, "mother"), へ inside a word is "he" (部屋 = へや heya, "room"). を is the special case — in modern Japanese it appears almost exclusively as the object particle, so for practical purposes you can treat を as "the little 'o' that marks the object."
私は毎朝コーヒーを飲みます。
watashi wa maiasa kōhī o nomimasu
I drink coffee every morning.
今週末、京都へ行きます。
konshūmatsu, Kyōto e ikimasu
I'm going to Kyoto this weekend.
宿題をまだ終わっていない。
shukudai o mada owatte inai
I haven't finished my homework yet.
Why these spellings survive: greetings give it away
These are not arbitrary — they are historical fossils. Centuries ago は really was pronounced closer to "wa" in these positions, and the spelling never caught up with the sound. You can see the fossil in everyday greetings:
- こんにちは ("hello") is literally 今日は — "as for today…" — an unfinished sentence with the topic particle は. That is why it is spelled は and said "konnichiwa."
- こんばんは ("good evening") is 今晩は, the same frozen topic particle.
こんにちは、お元気ですか。
konnichiwa, o-genki desu ka
Hello, how are you?
This is also why the casual texting spelling ×こんにちわ, though you will see it from native speakers online, is technically an error — the は is a real particle. Knowing the origin makes the spelling stick: it is not "a weird exception," it is a topic particle wearing its old clothes.
Long vowels: おう is the default, おお the exception
The long "ō" sound is written, by default, おう — the お-column kana followed by う. This covers the vast majority of words.
| Word | Spelling | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 東京 | とうきょう | Tōkyō |
| 学校 | がっこう | gakkō |
| ありがとう | ありがとう | arigatō |
| お父さん | おとうさん | o-tōsan |
But a short, closed list of words spell the same "ō" sound as おお instead. There is no way to hear the difference — you must learn these by sight. The most common ones:
| Word | Spelling | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 大きい (big) | おおきい | ōkii |
| 多い (many) | おおい | ōi |
| 通り (street) | とおり | tōri |
| 遠い (far) | とおい | tōi |
| 氷 (ice) | こおり | kōri |
| 十 (ten) | とお | tō |
| 狼 (wolf) | おおかみ | ōkami |
So 大きい is おおきい, and ×おうきい is wrong. A rough rule of thumb: the おお-words are mostly native Japanese words (many with a kanji you can lean on), whereas おう dominates the Sino-Japanese vocabulary (東京, 学校). But the safest path is to memorize the おお list — it is short.
この通りをまっすぐ行くと大きい公園があります。
kono tōri o massugu iku to ōkii kōen ga arimasu
If you go straight down this street, there's a big park.
駅はここから遠いですか。
eki wa koko kara tōi desu ka
Is the station far from here?
アイスコーヒーに氷をたくさん入れてください。
aisukōhī ni kōri o takusan irete kudasai
Please put lots of ice in the iced coffee.
A parallel case is the "ē" sound: the default spelling is えい (先生 = せんせい, read "sensē" but spelled sensei), with a tiny set of ええ exceptions like お姉さん (おねえさん, "older sister") and the interjection ええ ("yeah"). See Long-Vowel Conventions for the full picture.
The じ / ぢ and ず / づ split
One more sound-versus-spelling trap. The syllables ji and zu each have two kana, but the defaults win almost every time: write じ for ji and ず for zu. The alternatives ぢ and づ appear only in two narrow situations:
- Rendaku (sequential voicing) inside a compound, where the second element originally began with ち or つ: 鼻 + 血 → 鼻血（はなぢ, "nosebleed"); 三日 + 月 → 三日月（みかづき, "crescent moon").
- A repeated kana where ち/つ voices under its own twin: 続く（つづく, "continue"); 縮む（ちぢむ, "shrink").
続きは明日読みます。
tsuzuki wa ashita yomimasu
I'll read the rest tomorrow.
Everywhere else it is じ/ず: 時間（じかん, "time"), 水（みず, "water"), 静か（しずか, "quiet"). When you are unsure, the default じ/ず is almost always right.
Common mistakes
❌ 私わ日本語を勉強しています。
Wrong — the topic particle is spelled は (read 'wa'), never わ.
✅ 私は日本語を勉強しています。
watashi wa nihongo o benkyō shite imasu
I'm studying Japanese.
❌ 友達と海え行きました。
Wrong — the direction particle is spelled へ (read 'e'), not え.
✅ 友達と海へ行きました。
tomodachi to umi e ikimashita
I went to the beach with a friend.
❌ 毎日ごはんお食べます。
Wrong — the object particle is spelled を (read 'o'), never お.
✅ 毎日ごはんを食べます。
mainichi gohan o tabemasu
I eat rice/a meal every day.
❌ おうきい犬がこうえんにいます。
Two errors — 大きい is おおきい (おお-word, not おう), and 公園 is こうえん (Sino-Japanese, so おう). Don't flip them.
✅ 大きい犬が公園にいます。
ōkii inu ga kōen ni imasu
There's a big dog in the park.
❌ ドラマのつずきが気になる。
Wrong — 続き is つづき: a repeated-kana voicing, so づ, not ず.
✅ ドラマの続きが気になる。
dorama no tsuzuki ga ki ni naru
I can't stop wondering what happens next in the drama.
Key takeaways
- は = wa, へ = e, を = o — but only in their particle role. Inside a word they read normally (母 = haha, 部屋 = heya). This is the single most important N5 spelling rule.
- These are historical fossils; こんにちは (今日は) and こんばんは show the topic particle は still wearing its old spelling.
- The long "ō" sound defaults to おう (東京, 学校, ありがとう); a short list of mostly-native words use おお instead (大きい, 多い, 通り, 遠い, 氷, 十). Memorize the おお list.
- The "ē" sound defaults to えい (先生), with rare ええ exceptions (お姉さん).
- For ji and zu, default to じ / ず; use ぢ / づ only for rendaku compounds (鼻血, 三日月) and repeated-kana voicing (続く, 縮む).
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- は, へ, を as Particles vs KanaN5 — Why the three particle kana は, へ, を are read wa, e, and o instead of ha, he, and wo — a frozen historical spelling you have to know.
- Spelling Long Vowels: おう vs おお, えい vs ええN4 — The spelling decision every hiragana long o and long e forces on you — write おう or おお, えい or ええ — with the finite, memorizable list of native words that break the default and the historical reason they exist.
- Long Vowels in HiraganaN5 — How hiragana spells long vowels by adding a vowel kana — including the えい/おう twist — and why vowel length is phonemic (おばさん 'aunt' vs おばあさん 'grandmother').