# あ — hiragana “a”

あ is the hiragana character for the sound “a”. It is written with 3 strokes, and in katakana the same sound is ア.

- Reading: a
- Strokes: 3
- Katakana: ア

## How あ sounds

Like the a in “father”, but shorter.

## Don't confuse it with

お

## Words with あ

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ありがとう | arigatou | thank you |
| ある | aru | to be (of things) |
| あなた | anata | you |
| あう | au | to meet |
| あの | ano | that |
| あたらしい | atarashii | new |

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/hiragana-chart/a/. Last updated 2026-11-01.