Hiragana · n row
の (no): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
の is the hiragana for no, the o sound of the n row. It is written with one stroke. Its katakana twin is ノ (no).
- Romaji
- no
- Strokes
- 1
- Listen
- Play no
How to say no
Tip: like 'no' in 'note'
の in a word
The course introduces の with きのこ (mushroom).
The n row
The n row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so の differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with の
6 words from the beginner word lists use の. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- のむ飲むnomuto drinkFood and drink vocabulary
- ここのつ九つkokonotsunineNumbers
- くだもの果物kudamonofruitFood and drink vocabulary
- のみもの飲み物nomimonoa drinkFood and drink vocabulary
- のみますnomimasudrinkFood and drink vocabulary
- おんなのこ女の子onnanokogirlFamily words
の in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where の turns up in running text rather than on its own.
「わたしのだ！」
"It's mine!" from The missing phone
「たのしかった。」
"It was fun." from The trip I didn't want
Built from の
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 の 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.