ha / は
The first character of the H row — a three-stroke 'ha' that doubles as the most-used particle in Japanese.
Pronunciation
The character は represents the syllable 'ha', a soft 'h' followed by 'a' as in 'father'. It is the first character of the は-row. The particle は (pronounced 'wa' when used as a topic marker) is one of the most fundamental words in Japanese grammar.
は packs in everyday words — 花 (flower), 鼻 (nose), 母 (one's own mother), 箱 (box). But its biggest job is as the topic particle: in that role, は is pronounced wa, not ha (a relic of older Japanese spelling). Whenever you see は after a noun at the start of a clause — 私は学生です — say wa. As a regular kana inside other words, it's the normal ha sound.
How to write は
Trace は on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
A short vertical stroke on the left — straight or with a faint inward curve. Sets the left edge.
A short horizontal stroke at the upper middle — crosses the top of the area to the right of the first vertical.
A long flowing stroke that begins where stroke 2 ends, drops straight down past the bottom of the first vertical, then loops around to the lower right in a closed circle. This loop on the right is は's defining feature — visually similar to ほ but without the small accent mark on top.
Origin
Hiragana は evolved from the cursive form of the kanji 波 (ha) — meaning "wave." The kanji's left water radical (氵) compressed into the small vertical and horizontal strokes; the right side (皮) flowed into the central looping body that defines は.
Common words starting with は
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing は by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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