Please explain this to me
Hello!
I am just now starting to learn Japanese, so forgive me for being so ignorant.
I am wondering why certain kanji can be written one way but pronounced many ways such as 日 (ひ) pronounced "hi", then 日本 (にほん) which contains 日 but this time it's pronounced "ni"
Is this common in Japanese? For kanji to be pronounced differently depending on what it's next to? And is there any way to know the rule for that if so? Or is it all memorizing?
Thank you very much! :)