Hiragana · h row
ほ (ho): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
ほ is the hiragana for ho, the o sound of the h row. It is written with 4 strokes. Its katakana twin is ホ (ho).
- Romaji
- ho
- Strokes
- 4
- Listen
- Play ho
How to write ほ, 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
- stroke 3
- stroke 4
How to say ho
Tip: like 'ho' in 'hope'
ほ in a word
The course introduces ほ with ほし (star).
The h row
The h row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ほ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
ほ in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where ほ turns up in running text rather than on its own.
トムは らいげつ にほんに くる。
Tom is coming to Japan next month. from The letter to Tom
けど、トムは いま にほんに いる。
But Tom is in Japan now. from The letter to Tom
Rules that involve ほ
Dakuten — the voicing mark
Two small strokes (゛) on a kana voice it: the shape stays the same but your vocal cords buzz. You'll meet 5 of these in the k→g row.
- か → がvoiced k becomes g
- き → ぎvoiced k becomes g
Handakuten — the circle mark
A small circle (゜) on h-kana flips it to a p-sound — same shape, different breath. Only h-kana take the circle; you'll meet 5 of them in this row.
- は → ぱh-kana with ゜ becomes p
- ほ → ぽh-kana with ゜ becomes p
Built from ほ
With dakuten and handakuten
- ぼbo
- ぽpo
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 ほ 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.