Lesson 1 · Day 1 notes

The first 25 hiragana, and a classroom in two languages

Twenty-five characters that are really five sounds in five outfits — then sixteen sentences a teacher actually says, in Japanese and in Arabic at the same time.

≈18 minutes · stroke data from KanjiVG

1.Five sounds, not twenty-five shapes

The chart is laid out as a grid, and that is the whole secret. It is not a list of twenty-five unrelated letters. It is five vowel sounds running down the columns, and a consonant bolted onto the front of each one as you move down the rows.

So you are not memorising twenty-five things. You are learning five vowel sounds — a, i, u, e, o — and then four consonants that ride on top of them. Say the top row out loud once and the other four rows become predictable.

Each character is one syllable, always. Unlike Arabic or English, a hiragana character can never be a bare consonant: か is always ka, never just k. This is why Japanese is written without spaces and still readable — every character is a complete beat.

2.Write them, hear them, use them

Tap any character below. It draws itself in the correct stroke order — numbered, one stroke at a time — says itself aloud, and gives you three real words that begin with it, each one glossed in English and in Arabic. Stroke order is not decoration: it is what makes handwriting legible to a Japanese reader, and getting it wrong is visible in the finished shape.

3.Sixteen sentences, twice over

Sixteen phrases — the things actually said in a classroom, rather than the ones a textbook opens with. Each appears in Japanese and in Modern Standard Arabic, both with a play button.

The Japanese kana you have already learned are highlighted. You can read some of the hiragana on this page already, having started today.

1. 1.Yes.

   Japanese 🔊

   はい

   hai

   Arabic 🔊

   نَعَمْ

   naʿam

2. 2.No.

   Japanese 🔊

   いいえ

   iie

   Arabic 🔊

   لَا

   lā

   Your first fully readable Japanese word — all three characters are in today's chart.

3. 3.Everyone — addressing a group.

   Japanese 🔊

   みなさん

   minasan

   Arabic 🔊

   أَيُّهَا الْجَمِيعُ

   ayyuhā l-jamīʿ

   The さん on the end is the same respectful さん added to people's names. It is what makes this "ladies and gentlemen" rather than a blunt "you lot".

4. 4.Teacher.

   Japanese 🔊

   せんせい

   sensei

   Arabic 🔊

   اَلْمُعَلِّمُ

   al-muʿallim

   Used to address your teacher directly, the way Arabic uses يَا أُسْتَاذُ. You never add さん to it — せんせい is already respectful.

5. 5.Excuse me. / I'm sorry.

   Japanese 🔊

   すみません

   sumimasen

   Arabic 🔊

   عَفْوًا

   ʿafwan

   Does double duty: getting attention, and apologising. Arabic splits the two — عَفْوًا to interrupt, آسِفٌ (āsif) to apologise.

6. 6.How are you?

   Japanese 🔊

   おげんき ですか

   o-genki desu ka

   Arabic 🔊

   كَيْفَ حَالُكَ؟

   kayfa ḥāluka?

   Both languages mark who they are speaking to, but differently. Arabic changes the ending by gender — حَالُكَ to a man, حَالُكِ (ḥāluki) to a woman. Japanese changes nothing for gender; it changes the お instead, which is politeness, not grammar.

7. 7.Yes, I'm well.

   Japanese 🔊

   はい、げんき です

   hai, genki desu

   Arabic 🔊

   نَعَمْ، أَنَا بِخَيْرٍ

   naʿam, anā bi-khayrin

   Note the お has vanished. You put it on the question because it is about the other person; you drop it in the answer because politeness is never pointed at yourself.

8. 8.Did you understand?

   Japanese 🔊

   わかりましたか

   wakarimashita ka

   Arabic 🔊

   هَلْ فَهِمْتَ؟

   hal fahimta?

9. 9.Yes, I understood.

   Japanese 🔊

   はい、わかりました

   hai, wakarimashita

   Arabic 🔊

   نَعَمْ، فَهِمْتُ

   naʿam, fahimtu

   Compare this with number 8 in both languages. Section 4 is entirely about what changed.

10. 10.Have you finished?

    Japanese 🔊

    おわりましたか

    owarimashita ka

    Arabic 🔊

    هَلِ انْتَهَيْتَ؟

    hal-i ntahayta?

    You already read the kasra on هَلِ without thinking about it. It is there because انْتَهَيْتَ opens with hamzat waṣl, which drops out and would leave two unpronounceable consonants colliding.

11. 11.Yes, I've finished.

    Japanese 🔊

    はい、おわりました

    hai, owarimashita

    Arabic 🔊

    نَعَمْ، انْتَهَيْتُ

    naʿam, intahaytu

12. 12.Please write.

    Japanese 🔊

    かいて ください

    kaite kudasai

    Arabic 🔊

    اُكْتُبْ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ

    uktub min faḍlika

    ください is the "please" half and never changes. Swap the word in front of it and you have a different request — exactly as مِنْ فَضْلِكَ stays put while the Arabic command changes.

13. 13.Please wait a moment.

    Japanese 🔊

    ちょっと まって ください

    chotto matte kudasai

    Arabic 🔊

    اِنْتَظِرْ قَلِيلًا مِنْ فَضْلِكَ

    intaẓir qalīlan min faḍlika

    Note the small ょ in ちょっと — written full-size, よ would make it chiyotto.

14. 14.Good morning.

    Japanese 🔊

    おはようございます

    ohayō gozaimasu

    Arabic 🔊

    صَبَاحُ الْخَيْرِ

    ṣabāḥu l-khayr

15. 15.Good afternoon. / Hello.

    Japanese 🔊

    こんにちは

    konnichiwa

    Arabic 🔊

    نَهَارُكَ سَعِيدٌ

    nahāruka saʿīd

    Written with は but pronounced wa — a fossil of older spelling that survives in exactly a few words, this and こんばんは among them. In practice, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ covers the same social slot.

16. 16.Good evening.

    Japanese 🔊

    こんばんは

    konbanwa

    Arabic 🔊

    مَسَاءُ الْخَيْرِ

    masāʾu l-khayr

4.What the two languages disagree about

Sentences 8 and 9 are the same verb twice, once as a question and once as an answer. Watching what each language changes tells you more than either sentence does alone.

Both languages ask by adding one word, and changing nothing else. Japanese hangs か on the end; Arabic puts هَلْ on the front. The words in between stay exactly as they were. English cannot do this — "you understood" has to be reshuffled into "did you understand". Two languages agree with each other and disagree with English.

But they disagree completely about who did it. Japanese わかりました is identical whether I understood or you understood — the sentence simply does not say, and the situation supplies it. Arabic refuses to leave it open, and marks it on the very last vowel of the verb:

The same split runs through everything else on the page. انْتَهَيْتُ versus انْتَهَيْتَ is the identical trick with a different root, and Japanese おわりました again declines to say. Japanese leaves the person to context; Arabic bakes it into the word. Neither is harder — but you have to listen for different things.

Keep the hiragana stroke chart and the classroom phrasebook open while you practise — both are built to print.