Hiragana · k row
き (ki): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
き is the hiragana for ki, the i sound of the k row. It is written with 4 strokes. Its katakana twin is キ (ki).
- Romaji
- ki
- Strokes
- 4
- Listen
- Play ki
How to write き, 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 ki
Tip: like 'kee' in 'key'
き in a word
The course introduces き with かき (persimmon).
The k row
The k row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so き differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with き
3 words from the beginner word lists use き. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- きゅう九kyuunineNumbers
- きっさてん喫茶店kissatencoffee shopFood and drink vocabulary
- きょうだい兄弟kyoudaisiblingsFamily words
き in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where き turns up in running text rather than on its own.
「きて！」
"Come in!" from The trip I didn't want
「はい、いきます！」
"Yes, I'm in!" from The expensive pen
Rules that involve き
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
Yōon — small kana combinations
A small や, ゆ, or ょ after an i-row kana blends them into one mora: one sound, two glyphs. The small kana never separates — it sticks to its neighbor.
- き + ゃ = きゃone blended sound
- き + ょ = きょone blended sound
Built from き
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 き 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.