Lesson 4 · Hiragana

The N-row — "what?", "meat", and "money"

Five gentle characters (no trick sounds this time). They unlock three words you'll reach for constantly: なに (what), にく (meat), and おかね (money).

Mission check: なに = "what?" and おかね = "money" are the spine of every market, menu, and price question on your trip.

1 · The row

Straightforward: n + each vowel. Every sound is exactly what it looks like.

Two of these are everywhere in Japanese for non-sound reasons too: に also means the number 2 (ni), and の is the language's "of"/possessive marker — you'll see it in half the signs you read. We'll meet those jobs properly later; for now, just the sounds.

2 · Memory hooks

3 · New words

Try a menu sweep in your head: にく (meat), さかな (fish), きのこ (mushroom), たこ (octopus, Lesson 3). You can already skim a real menu's nouns.

4 · Recall — interleaved

N-row mixed with the trickier sounds from earlier rows, so they don't fade.

5 · Go deeper

• Primary source: Tofugu — Learn Hiragana (N-row mnemonics + quiz).
• The map: the N-row in the full hiragana chart — past the halfway mark now.
• Previous: Lesson 3 — T-row.