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Katakana · カタカナ

The same 46 sounds as hiragana, in angular shapes taken from PIECES of Chinese characters (伊 → イ). Same sound, different job: katakana marks a word as foreign (コーヒー kōhī, コンピューター konpyūtā), or as a sound effect, a scientific name, or emphasis — the way italics work in English. It is also the script that stretches: small vowels bolted onto syllables (ティ ti, ファ fa, ウィ wi) let it write sounds Japanese does not natively have, which hiragana never attempts. If you see it, the word probably came from somewhere else.

Japanese syllabary (from fragments of Chinese characters) · written left to right · used here by Japanese

71 signs

Sign	Hiragana	Name	Roman	IPA	Group	Note
ア	あ	a	`a`	a	あ行 — a i u e o
イ	い	i	`i`	i	あ行 — a i u e o
ウ	う	u	`u`	ɯ	あ行 — a i u e o	Unrounded — lips relaxed, not English 'oo'.
エ	え	e	`e`	e	あ行 — a i u e o
オ	お	o	`o`	o	あ行 — a i u e o
カ	か	ka	`ka`	ka	か行 — ka ki ku ke ko
キ	き	ki	`ki`	ki	か行 — ka ki ku ke ko
ク	く	ku	`ku`	kɯ	か行 — ka ki ku ke ko
ケ	け	ke	`ke`	ke	か行 — ka ki ku ke ko
コ	こ	ko	`ko`	ko	か行 — ka ki ku ke ko
サ	さ	sa	`sa`	sa	さ行 — sa shi su se so
シ	し	shi	`shi`	ɕi	さ行 — sa shi su se so	NOT si — the grid breaks here.
ス	す	su	`su`	sɯ	さ行 — sa shi su se so
セ	せ	se	`se`	se	さ行 — sa shi su se so
ソ	そ	so	`so`	so	さ行 — sa shi su se so
タ	た	ta	`ta`	ta	た行 — ta chi tsu te to
チ	ち	chi	`chi`	t͡ɕi	た行 — ta chi tsu te to	NOT ti.
ツ	つ	tsu	`tsu`	t͡sɯ	た行 — ta chi tsu te to	NOT tu — the hardest mora for English speakers.
テ	て	te	`te`	te	た行 — ta chi tsu te to
ト	と	to	`to`	to	た行 — ta chi tsu te to
ナ	な	na	`na`	na	な行 — na ni nu ne no
ニ	に	ni	`ni`	ni	な行 — na ni nu ne no
ヌ	ぬ	nu	`nu`	nɯ	な行 — na ni nu ne no
ネ	ね	ne	`ne`	ne	な行 — na ni nu ne no
ノ	の	no	`no`	no	な行 — na ni nu ne no
ハ	は	ha	`ha`	ha	は行 — ha hi fu he ho	Said 'wa' when it is the topic particle — the one exception you meet on day one.
ヒ	ひ	hi	`hi`	çi	は行 — ha hi fu he ho	h + i turns palatal, like German ich.
フ	ふ	fu	`fu`	ɸɯ	は行 — ha hi fu he ho	NOT hu, and not English f — blown between the lips.
ヘ	へ	he	`he`	he	は行 — ha hi fu he ho	Said 'e' as the direction particle.
ホ	ほ	ho	`ho`	ho	は行 — ha hi fu he ho
マ	ま	ma	`ma`	ma	ま行 — ma mi mu me mo
ミ	み	mi	`mi`	mi	ま行 — ma mi mu me mo
ム	む	mu	`mu`	mɯ	ま行 — ma mi mu me mo
メ	め	me	`me`	me	ま行 — ma mi mu me mo
モ	も	mo	`mo`	mo	ま行 — ma mi mu me mo
ヤ	や	ya	`ya`	ja	や行 — ya yu yo
ユ	ゆ	yu	`yu`	jɯ	や行 — ya yu yo
ヨ	よ	yo	`yo`	jo	や行 — ya yu yo
ラ	ら	ra	`ra`	ɾa	ら行 — ra ri ru re ro	A tap — halfway between r, l and d. Never an English r.
リ	り	ri	`ri`	ɾi	ら行 — ra ri ru re ro
ル	る	ru	`ru`	ɾɯ	ら行 — ra ri ru re ro
レ	れ	re	`re`	ɾe	ら行 — ra ri ru re ro
ロ	ろ	ro	`ro`	ɾo	ら行 — ra ri ru re ro
ワ	わ	wa	`wa`	wa	わ行 — wa wo
ヲ	を	wo	`wo`	o	わ行 — wa wo	Said 'o'. Survives only as the object particle.
ン	ん	n	`n`	ɴ	ん — on its own	The only mora that is not a syllable — a full beat of nasal on its own.
ガ	が	ga	`ga`	ɡa	が行 — ga gi gu ge go
ギ	ぎ	gi	`gi`	ɡi	が行 — ga gi gu ge go
グ	ぐ	gu	`gu`	ɡɯ	が行 — ga gi gu ge go
ゲ	げ	ge	`ge`	ɡe	が行 — ga gi gu ge go
ゴ	ご	go	`go`	ɡo	が行 — ga gi gu ge go
ザ	ざ	za	`za`	za	ざ行 — za ji zu ze zo
ジ	じ	ji	`ji`	d͡ʑi	ざ行 — za ji zu ze zo	し + ゛ — spelled zi in some systems, always said ji.
ズ	ず	zu	`zu`	zɯ	ざ行 — za ji zu ze zo
ゼ	ぜ	ze	`ze`	ze	ざ行 — za ji zu ze zo
ゾ	ぞ	zo	`zo`	zo	ざ行 — za ji zu ze zo
ダ	だ	da	`da`	da	だ行 — da ji zu de do
ヂ	ぢ	ji	`ji`	d͡ʑi	だ行 — da ji zu de do	Same sound as じ; rare, kept for etymology (はなぢ).
ヅ	づ	zu	`zu`	zɯ	だ行 — da ji zu de do	Same sound as ず; rare.
デ	で	de	`de`	de	だ行 — da ji zu de do
ド	ど	do	`do`	do	だ行 — da ji zu de do
バ	ば	ba	`ba`	ba	ば行 — ba bi bu be bo
ビ	び	bi	`bi`	bi	ば行 — ba bi bu be bo
ブ	ぶ	bu	`bu`	bɯ	ば行 — ba bi bu be bo
ベ	べ	be	`be`	be	ば行 — ba bi bu be bo
ボ	ぼ	bo	`bo`	bo	ば行 — ba bi bu be bo
パ	ぱ	pa	`pa`	pa	ぱ行 — pa pi pu pe po
ピ	ぴ	pi	`pi`	pi	ぱ行 — pa pi pu pe po
プ	ぷ	pu	`pu`	pɯ	ぱ行 — pa pi pu pe po
ペ	ぺ	pe	`pe`	pe	ぱ行 — pa pi pu pe po
ポ	ぽ	po	`po`	po	ぱ行 — pa pi pu pe po

Groups: あ行 — a i u e o (the five vowels, and the order every other row follows) · か行 — ka ki ku ke ko · さ行 — sa shi su se so (the grid breaks at し: there is no si) · た行 — ta chi tsu te to (two breaks in one row — ち is not ti, つ is not tu) · な行 — na ni nu ne no · は行 — ha hi fu he ho (ふ is neither hu nor an English f, and は is said wa as the topic particle) · ま行 — ma mi mu me mo · や行 — ya yu yo (three cells, not five. yi and ye are simply empty) · ら行 — ra ri ru re ro (a tap, somewhere between r, l and d. Never an English r) · わ行 — wa wo (worn down to two, and を survives only as the object particle) · ん — on its own (the one mora that is not a syllable, and no native word begins with it) · が行 — ga gi gu ge go (か行 with ゛) · ざ行 — za ji zu ze zo (さ行 with ゛) · だ行 — da ji zu de do (た行 with ゛— and ぢづ duplicate じず exactly) · ば行 — ba bi bu be bo (は行 with ゛) · ぱ行 — pa pi pu pe po (は行 with ゜— the only row that takes the little circle)

Most used combinations

The sequences you'll meet constantly — learn them as units.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
きゃきゅきょ	kʲa kʲɯ kʲo	A small ゃゅょ fuses with the i-row into ONE mora — きょ is one beat, not two. Full-size きよ would be two.	とうきょう Tōkyō = to-o-kyo-o, four beats
しゃしゅしょ	ɕa ɕɯ ɕo	Same trick on the し row.	しゃしん shashin — photograph
ちゃちゅちょ	t͡ɕa t͡ɕɯ t͡ɕo	And the ち row.	おちゃ ocha — tea

Rules of the system

How the signs behave together.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
っ	ː	The small つ doubles the next consonant and takes a beat of its own — a moment of silence you must actually hold.	きっぷ kippu 'ticket' (3 beats) vs きぷ kipu (2)
ー	ː	The katakana long mark. Length is meaning, so this is not decoration.	ビール bīru 'beer' vs ビル biru 'building'
゛ dakuten	—	Two strokes voice a consonant: か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba. One mark, twenty new sounds — you never learn them as separate letters.	て te → で de
゜ handakuten	—	The little circle turns the は row into p: は ha → ぱ pa. It appears on that row and nowhere else.	ほ ho → ぽ po
ティディファウィ	ti di ɸa wi	KATAKANA ONLY: small vowels are bolted on to write sounds Japanese does not have, for foreign words. パーティー pātī 'party', ディスク disuku 'disc'. Hiragana never does this.

Incompatible combinations

What this writing system does not allow — knowing the impossible prunes the search space.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
yi · ye · wi · wu · we	—	These slots are empty. The や row has only ya/yu/yo and the わ row only wa (and vestigial を) — which is why Japanese renders foreign 'yes' as イエス iesu, spelling the gap around it.
ん at the start	—	No native word begins with ん. It is why the word game しりとり shiritori ends when someone says a word ending in ん — nothing can follow.