Ep. 1 — The Five Vowels

あ a (as in “father”) · い i (as in “see”) · う u (as in “food”, lips relaxed) · え e (as in “get”) · お o (as in “go”, short). They always sound the same, which makes Japanese easy to pronounce.

• 🔊

  あい (ai)

  love

• 🔊

  いえ (ie)

  house

• 🔊

  うえ (ue)

  above

💡 トモのワンポイント： Keep each vowel short and clean. No “ay-ee” sounds!

か ka · き ki · く ku · け ke · こ ko. Put a K in front of each vowel. That's the pattern for almost every row!

• 🔊

  かお (kao)

  face

• 🔊

  あか (aka)

  red

• 🔊

  いけ (ike)

  pond