Hiragana · vowel row
い (i): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
い is the hiragana for i, the second of the five vowels. It is written with 2 strokes. Its katakana twin is イ (i).
- Romaji
- i
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play i
How to write い, 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 i
Tip: like 'ee' in 'see'
い in a word
The course introduces い with いう (to say).
The five vowels
Every other kana is one of these five vowels with a consonant in front, so い is the sound you hear at the end of the whole i column. Read the five together until each is automatic:
Course words written with い
6 words from the beginner word lists use い. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- はいhaiyesGreetings and polite phrases
- いち一ichioneNumbers
- いいえiienoGreetings and polite phrases
- いつつ五つitsutsufiveNumbers
- いくつikutsuhow many?, how old?Numbers
- いくらikurahow much?Numbers
い in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where い turns up in running text rather than on its own.
ユミが いう。
Yumi says, from The day off
ユミが いう。
Yumi says, from The trip I didn't want
Rules that involve い
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 い
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 い 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.