For みand せ, follow the stroke order as the video shows, and practice.

This is how to draw the character み. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is across, then back and down in a diagonal, through a clockwise loop, and across.
• The second stroke is downward, crossing the first.

み is the hiragana equivalent to ミ in katakana, so it stands for mi. 

せ is the hiragana equivalent to セ in katakana, so it stands for se. Both せ and セ were created from the same kanji, 世, in fact. (せ becomes ぜ, i.e. ze, with the addition of two dots.)

Thus, すみません reads sumimasen. There is no irregularity.

Write すみません in the window below.

You should be able to read はい as hai.

Write はい in the window below.



Your PC should support Japanese characters.

Practice how to write ね, か, が, し and じ, following the video.

This is how to draw the character ね. It is composed of two strokes.

• The first stroke is down.
• The second stroke is across, then diagonally down from right to left, then arcs up to the right, coming down and ending in a clockwise loop.

ね is the hiragana equivalent to ネ in katakana; hence, ne.

This is how to draw the character か. It is composed of three strokes.

• The first stroke is across, then curves down, terminating in a slight upswing.
• The second stroke is down.
• The third stroke is a downward, left-to-right diagonal.

This is hiragana equivalent to カ in katakana.

が is a two-dotted か, which is the hiragana equivalent to カ in katakana. 

So, か stands for ka and が for ga. Both か and カ were created from the same kanji, 加, in fact.

This is how to draw the character し. It is composed of a single stroke.

• The stroke is down, then curves up in a left-to-right diagonal.

し is the hiragana equivalent to シ in katakana. It is pronounced shi. Whether spelled shi or si, the computer will give you し. (Its sound is neither [shi] nor [si] in English, of course.)

Given two dots, し is voiced and becomes じ, i.e. ji. Whether spelled ji or zi, the computer will given you じ. (Its sound is neither [ji] nor [zi] in English, of course.)

Thus, ビール、おねがいします reads biiru onegai-shimasu.

Write ビール、おねがいします in the window below.