The 46 sounds on the so-called hiragana chart are mainly written and pronounced in Japanese. In addition, there are other characters with small dots or circles above the letters, as well with smaller “ぁぃぅぇぉ”, “ゃゅょ”, and “っ”, so in reality, many more sounds can be expressed.
This series will explain the 46 characters on the hiragana chart, 25 hiragana and katakana characters with dots and circles above them, and their pronunciations.
わ, を, ん
Pronunciation of each letter
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「わをん」(“w” sound for わお/”n” for ん)
[わ]
Mouth position: Purse the lips slightly.
Air release: Force air to flow through the gap of the lips.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
[を] (Same as お)
Mouth position: Round your lips slightly.
Air release: Force air to flow through the gap of the lips.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
*を is used only as a particle to express the object of a verb. When written alphabetically, it is sometimes written as “wo” to distinguish it from the vowel お, but it is pronounced the same as the vowel お.
[ん]
[ɴ] – ん itself or at the end of the word/sentence
Mouth position: The back part of the tongue touches the soft palate to shut the airflow.
Air release: Allow air to flow through the nose.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
[m] – ん followed by ば・び・ぶ・べ・ぼ (“b” sound), ぱ・ぴ・ぷ・ぺ・ぽ (“p” sound), and ま・み・む・め・も (“m” sound)
Mouth position: Close the lips, and the back part of the tongue touches the soft palate to shut the airflow.
Air release: Allow air to flow through the nose.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
[n] ん followed by ざ・ず・ぜ・ぞ (“z” sound), た・つ・て・と (“t” sound), だ・づ・で・ど(“d” sound), な・ぬ・ね・の(“n” sound), and ら・り・る・れ・ろ (“r” sound)
Mouth position: The tip of the tongue touches behind the top front teeth.
Air release: Allow air to flow through the nose.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
[ɲ] ん followed by ち (“chi” sound)・じ (“ji” sound)・に (“ni” sound)
Mouth position: The tip of the tongue touches the mouth roof (the hard palate).
Air release: Allow air to flow through the nose.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
[ŋ] ん followed by か・き・く・け・こ (“k” sound) and が・ぎ・ぐ・げ・ご (“g” sound)
Mouth position: The back part of the tongue touches the mouth roof (the hard palate).
Air release: Allow air to flow through the nose.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
[ã (Nasalization)] ん followed by あ・い・う・え・お (vowels), さ・し・す・せ・そ (“s” sound), は・ひ・ふ・へ・ほ (“h” and “f” sound), や・ゆ・よ (“y” sound), わ (“wa” sound”, and を (“o” sound)
Mouth position: Lower the velum (the soft palate).
Air release: Allow air to flow through both the mouth and the nose.
Vocal cord vibration: Yes (Voiced)
わ
“w” sound + [あ]
を
ん
“n” sound
Samples of handwriting
The previous sound: The Japanese ら(“ra”) column
