Lesson 3 · Hiragana

さ し す せ そ

The s row — and the first character that breaks the pattern.

Four of these are the s you expect. し is not: it is shi, not si. That is the first of a handful of exceptions in the whole system, and it is worth meeting knowingly rather than being surprised by it.

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Warm up

Everything so far — the vowels and the k row.

さ — sa

• さ

  sa

  Two hands stirring a bowl of salsa — thick enough to need both.

  

“sa”, as in salsa. One crossbar — hold on to that, because き has two.

き or さ

The pair you were warned about, on its own. Two crossbars is き; one is さ.

A word

あさ — morning.

し — shi

• し

  shi

  A giant shepherd’s crook, for herding sheep.

  

“shee”, as in sheep — not “see”. This is the exception in the row: s + i would give si, and Japanese does not have that sound.

Another word

しお — salt. On every table and every packet.

す — su

• す

  su

  A swing doing a loop, throwing the kid off — he is going to sue.

  

Like the word sue, or the “su” in suit. Often clipped so short in speech that the vowel almost disappears — です comes out closer to “dess”.

You can read this one

すし — sushi. Two characters you now know, and a word you already knew.

せ — se

• せ

  se

  A mouth with one big vampire fang — someone selling vampire teeth.

  

“se”, as in sell. The left upright is the same stroke you met in け.

A useful one

せき — seat. What the number on your train ticket refers to.

そ — so

• そ

  so

  A mouth slurping soda.

  

“so”, as in soda — or song, in British English. Last of the row: fifteen characters, a third of the way.

Over there

あそこ — over there. Three characters, all yours.

The row together

Pair them up.

Read them cold

No options. Type what you see.

All fifteen

Everything you can read, mixed.

Words

Fifteen characters buys a lot of words.

Spell every word