Can-do goal

By the end of this lesson, you can hear, read and type the five Japanese vowels あ・い・う・え・お without relying on answer choices.

Listen before memorising

Japanese has five stable vowel sounds. Keep each sound short and clean: あ a (open), い i (like the vowel in 'machine'), う u (lightly rounded, not a strong English 'oo'), え e (like 'e' in 'bed'), and お o (a pure 'o', without an English-style glide). Click each character and imitate it.

Form and handwriting

• あ: three strokes; keep the loop open and balanced.
• い: two separate strokes; the second is shorter.
• う: two strokes; do not confuse it with the katakana ウ.
• え: two strokes; the lower stroke changes direction smoothly.
• お: three strokes; distinguish it from あ by the right-hand finishing stroke.

Printed fonts vary slightly. Learn the underlying stroke structure, not one exact computer font.

Contrast the shapes

Compare あ／お carefully. Cover the romaji, say each sound, then reverse the task: hear a sound and write the kana.

Mastery task

Open Practice This Lesson. Complete recognition, listening and recall. This lesson is mastered only after at least five attempts in every mode with 80% accuracy or better.

What comes next

Continue to the か行 only after you can retrieve all five vowels without looking at the chart. Review them again tomorrow to confirm long-term memory.