Hiragana · y row
よ (yo): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
よ is the hiragana for yo, the o sound of the y row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its katakana twin is ヨ (yo).
- Romaji
- yo
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play yo
How to write よ, 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 yo
Tip: like 'yo' in 'yoga'
よ in a word
The course introduces よ with よむ (to read).
The y row
The y row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so よ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with よ
4 words from the beginner word lists use よ. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- よん四yonfourNumbers
- よっつ四つyottsufourNumbers
- よにん四人yo nin4 peopleFamily words
- よんじゅうyonjuufortyNumbers
よ in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where よ turns up in running text rather than on its own.
「にちようび？」
"Sunday?" from The day off
きょうは どようびだ。
Today is Saturday. from Two o'clock at the station
Built from よ
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 よ 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.