Lesson 2 · Hiragana

か き く け こ

One character per screen, one check each. Words arrive whenever the characters exist to spell them.

Every character here is a k in front of a vowel you already know, so the sound is not the new part — the shape is. A character and the drill that asks for it are never on screen together.

Scroll

Warm up

The vowels alone, a few passes through.

か — ka

• か

  ka

  A mosquito — wings, body, and the whine.

  

K before あ gives か. Like the “ka” in karma.

き — ki

• き

  ki

  A key.

  

K before い gives き. Like key.

Your first word

えき — station. You have both characters now.

く — ku

• く

  ku

  The mouth of a cuckoo bird popping out: “ku ku, ku ku!”

  

K before う gives く. Like the “coo” in cuckoo.

け — ke

• け

  ke

  A strand of wiggly kelp.

  

K before え gives け. Like the “ke” in kettle.

Another word

いけ — pond.

こ — ko

• こ

  ko

  A couple of co-habitation worms, happy together.

  

K before お gives こ. Like the “co” in cohabitating — or in coin, in British English.

One more word

こえ — voice.

The column together

Pair them up. All five, no vowels in the way.

Read them cold

First time you are asked to read them rather than find them — no options, nothing to eliminate.

Mixed with the vowels

Words

Seventeen of them, all readable with ten characters — including かいけい, which is what you say to get the bill.

Spell every word