He Ho

Hiragana 1

Chapter 12 · He Ho

🌸 Finishing the H Row — へほ

Two characters complete the H row: へ (he) and ほ (ho). That makes thirty characters. Today you'll meet the second of the three special particles, へ, which is read e and means "to / toward", and you'll be able to build your first sentences with は and へ together.

	a	i	u	e	o
(vowels)	あ	い	う	え	お
k +	か	き	く	け	こ
s +	さ	し	す	せ	そ
t +	た	ち	つ	て	と
n +	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
h +	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ

Thirty down, sixteen to go. The M row comes next.

✨ Two New Characters — へほ

へ

like "he" in hen, short ("heh")

1 stroke · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: an arrow tip pointing up and to the right, heading off toward a destination.

ほ

like "ho" in hoe, short and pure ("hoh")

4 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: Santa's "Ho ho ho!": it's は's "Ha!" with an extra bar, a bigger laugh.

Look-Alike Warnings: ほ and は, へ and く ほ and は are almost the same character. The difference is one extra bar: ほ (ho) has two short bars at the top, and は (ha) has one. That's also why ほ has 4 strokes and は has 3. へ and く are both simple angled strokes: へ (he) is wide and points up, whereas く (ku) is tall and narrow and points left.

📖 Read It — New Words

With thirty characters, you can read all of these. Remember that each character is one beat.

#	Word	Romaji	English	Note
1	へ	e	to, toward	the particle; read "e"
2	ほし	hoshi	star	ho + shi
3	ほか	hoka	other, else	ho + ka
4	ほね	hone	bone	ho + ne
5	ほお	hō	cheek	a long "o": 2 beats
6	ほしい	hoshii	want, would like	an adjective, "(I) want it"
7	ほそい	hosoi	thin, narrow	an adjective
8	ほとけ	hotoke	Buddha	ho + to + ke
9	へそ	heso	belly button	he + so
10	へた	heta	unskilled, poor at	he + ta
11	へい	hei	wall, fence	a garden wall
12	ほう	hō	direction; side	used in comparisons later

🔗 The Particle へ — Read as "e"

Just as は is read wa, the particle へ is read e and means "to / toward": A へいく = "go to A". The character stays へ; only the reading changes. (Spaces are added to show the word breaks.)

Japanese	Romaji (as spoken)	English
えきへいく。	eki e iku.	(I) go to the station.
いえへいく。	ie e iku.	(I) go to the house.
そとへいく。	soto e iku.	(I) go outside.
いぬはいえへいく。	inu wa ie e iku.	The dog goes to the house.
ねこはそとへいく。	neko wa soto e iku.	The cat goes outside.

Real Japanese Tip — へ or に? Japanese people often use に (ni) instead of へ with a place and a verb of movement: えきにいく and えきへいく both mean "go to the station". As a beginner, you can think of へ as "toward" and に as "to / at the exact spot". You'll hear and read both, and nobody will mind which one you pick.

Real Japanese Tip — ほしい, "I Want It" ほしい (hoshii) means "want" and it's very useful to know. A thing you want is "ほしい": ほしい？ ("Do you want it?"), はい、ほしい！ ("Yes, I want it!"). It's an い-adjective, like おいしい and ちいさい.

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Do You Want It? — ほしい？

A: ほしい？ hoshii? Do you want it?

B: はい、ほしい！ hai, hoshii! Yes, I want it!

② Where Do They Go? — いく

A: いぬはいえへいく。 inu wa ie e iku. The dog goes to the house.

B: ねこは？ neko wa? And the cat?

A: ねこはそとへいく。 neko wa soto e iku. The cat goes outside.

③ To the Station — えきへ

A: ねえ、えきへいく？ nē, eki e iku? Hey, are you going to the station?

B: はい、いく！ hai, iku! Yes, I'm going!

Review: Reading Back Cover the English and read these again: はい (yes) · はな (flower; nose) · ひと (person) · ふね (ship) · ひこうき (aeroplane) · はこ (box) · はは (mother) · ひとつ (one thing) · ふたつ (two things) · ひくい (low) · ふく (clothes) · はなし (talk).

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Say the whole H row in order: はひふへほ

Show answer

ha · hi · fu · he · ho

2. How can you tell ほ from は?

Show answer

ほ has two short bars at the top (4 strokes); は has one (3 strokes).

3. Read and translate: ほし · ほね · へそ

Show answer

hoshi (star) · hone (bone) · heso (belly button)

4. Write in hiragana: hoshii (want) · hoka (other) · heta (unskilled)

Show answer

ほしい · ほか · へた

5. Read and translate: いぬはいえへいく。

Show answer

"inu wa ie e iku": The dog goes to the house. (は is read wa and へ is read e.)

6. How is へ pronounced when it's used as a particle, and what does it mean?

Show answer

It's read e, and it means "to / toward".

Coming Up in Chapter 13 The M row begins: まみむ (ma, mi, mu). You'll then read うま (horse), みみ (ear), むし (insect) and まち (town). One more particle is waiting for the end of the course: を.

He Ho

🌸 Finishing the H Row — へ ほ

✨ Two New Characters — へ ほ

📖 Read It — New Words

🔗 The Particle へ — Read as "e"

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Do You Want It? — ほしい？

② Where Do They Go? — いく

③ To the Station — えき へ

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

🌸 Finishing the H Row — へほ

✨ Two New Characters — へほ

③ To the Station — えきへ