Hiragana · vowel row
え (e): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
え is the hiragana for e, the fourth of the five vowels. It is written with 2 strokes. Its katakana twin is エ (e).
- Romaji
- e
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play e
How to write え, stroke by stroke
Each frame adds one stroke. The number sits where the stroke starts; strokes run left to right and top to bottom.
- stroke 1
- stroke 2
How to say e
Tip: like 'e' in 'bed'
え in a word
The course introduces え with いえ (house).
The five vowels
Every other kana is one of these five vowels with a consonant in front, so え is the sound you hear at the end of the whole e column. Read the five together until each is automatic:
Course words written with え
2 words from the beginner word lists use え. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- えん円enYenNumbers
- いいえiienoGreetings and polite phrases
え in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where え turns up in running text rather than on its own.
「ひゃくえんです。」
"It's 100 yen." from At the shop
えきで ユミが いう。
At the station Yumi says, from The missing phone
Rules that involve え
Held vowels — two beats, one sound
When a vowel is followed by the same vowel — or お by う, and え by い — you HOLD it for two beats instead of saying it twice. りょうり is 'ryōri', not 'ryo-u-ri'. せんせい is 'sensē'. The extra kana is the length mark; it is not a separate syllable.
- りょうりcooking (おう is a held 'o')
- せんせいteacher (えい is a held 'e')
Built from え
The same sound in katakana
Stroke-order data from KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Practice this in Open Lingo
The Open Lingo Japanese course teaches え with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
- ChartKatakana chartAll 46 basic katakana plus voiced and yōon combinations, with romaji, stroke-order diagrams, example loanwords and audio.
- Word listGreetings and polite phrasesEssential Japanese greetings and polite phrases for beginners, with hiragana, romaji, meaning and audio, taken from the Open Lingo course.
- Word listNumbersJapanese numbers for beginners: Sino-Japanese いち, に, さん, the native ひとつ, ふたつ counting set, and hundreds, thousands and 万, with audio.
- ToolNumbers 1 to 100 and converterJapanese numbers 0 to 100 in kana, kanji and romaji, a converter up to 999,999, and the rules for 4, 7, 9, sound-changing hundreds and 万.