# ん — hiragana “n”

ん is the hiragana character for the sound “n”. It is written with 1 stroke, and in katakana the same sound is ン.

- Reading: n
- Strokes: 1
- Katakana: ン

## How ん sounds

The only kana that is a consonant on its own, and Japanese words don’t start with it. It follows the next sound: before m, b or p it sounds like m, so さんぽ (sanpo, a walk) is said “sampo”.

## Words with ん

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| こんにちは | konnichiha | hello |
| こんばんは | konbanha | good evening |
| すみません | sumimasen | excuse me; sorry |
| ごめんなさい | gomennasai | sorry |
| ほん | hon | book |
| じぶん | jibun | myself |

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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/n/. Last updated 2026-11-01.