| ア a | イ i | ウ u | エ e | オ o |
| カ ka | キ ki | ク ku | ケ ke | コ ko |
| サ sa | シ shi | ス su | セ se | ソ so |
| タ ta | チ chi | ツ tsu | テ te | ト to |
| ナ na | ニ ni | ヌ nu | ネ ne | ノ no |
| ハ ha | ヒ hi | フ fu | ヘ he | ホ ho |
| マ ma | ミ mi | ム mu | メ me | モ mo |
| ヤ ya | ユ yu | ヨ yo |
||
| ラ ra | リ ri | ル ru | レ re | ロ ro |
| ワ wa | ヲ wo |
|||
| ン n |
Katakana Chart
カタカナ
New For you! Test your Katakana skills in Dante's Challenge!
This is the Katakana chart. You may quickly notice that this chart contains the same exact syllables as the Hiragana chart! So what's the difference?
The difference between Hiragana and Katakana
It's pretty simple actually... Katakana is used only for FOREIGN words and names, such as ハンバーガー (hanbāgā / hamburger), or チョコレート (chokorēto / chocolate), or ジョン (John). Hiragana is used only for Japanese words and names, such as こんにちは (Konnichiwa), or たなか (Tanaka). When words and names like "hamburger" and "chocolate" and "John" started making their way into Japan, they needed a way to pronounce these new words. So Katakana was created!
Katakana and Instant Gratification
The neat thing about Katakana is that a lot of times when you read a Katakana word (that you don't know) out loud at a decent speed, you can almost immediately guess what the word is! For example, チーズ [pronounced CHEE-ZU] is the Japanese word for "cheese". Cool, huh?
| ガ ga | ギ gi | グ gu | ゲ ge | ゴ go |
| ザ za | ジ ji | ズ zu | ゼ ze | ゾ zo |
| ダ da | ヂ ji | ヅ zu | デ de | ド do |
| バ ba | ビ bi | ブ bu | ベ be | ボ bo |
| パ pa | ピ pi | プ pu | ペ pe | ポ po |
Same old syllables, with one tiny different rule
For the most part, when you read Katakana, you will follow the same rules as you would when reading Hiragana. However in the case of a double-vowel, in Hiragana it would appear like this: かあ (kaa). With Katakana, a double-vowel would appear like this: カー (kaa). In Katakana, you simply use a "ー" to make a double-vowel. Easy enough to remember, right?
| キャ kya | キュ kyu | キョ kyo |
| シャ sha | シュ shu | ショ sho |
| チャ cha | チュ chu | チョ cho |
| ニャ nya | ニュ nyu | ニョ nyo |
| ヒャ hya | ヒュ hyu | ヒョ hyo |
| ミャ mya | ミュ myu | ミョ myo |
| リャ rya | リュ ryu | リョ ryo |
| with dakuten: | ||
| ギャ gya | ギュ gyu | ギョ gyo |
| ジャ ja | ジュ ju | ジョ jo |
| ヂャ ja | ヂュ ju | ヂョ jo |
| ビャ bya | ビュ byu | ビョ byo |
| with handakuten: | ||
| ピャ pya | ピュ pyu | ピョ pyo |
As with Hiragana, Katakana also uses little characters to create new sounds.
It really is so simple!
At this point, things should be a little less foggy and a little more clear for ya! By mastering Hiragana and Katakana, you are giving yourself the basic tools needed to begin a fruitful journey in your quest to conquer the Japanese language.
Those A-HA! Moments
I hope by now you've had at least one or more A-HA! moments since you began learning Japanese. It's when something inside your head *clicks* and all of a sudden you "get it!" Things you didn't quite understand before all of a sudden make sense because of something NEW you learned.
It's as if you are in a huge garden labyrinth, motivated to find your way through, and you'll stop at nothing! But things start looking the same and you feel like you just keep going over the same beaten path over and over again. You feel like you're not making progress. But you keep going anyway because you're not a quitter!
All of a sudden a huge god-like hand comes down from the heavens and LIFTS you up by the back of your shirt, high into the sky. Now you can SEE EVERYTHING! A-HA!
You can see where you've been and how far you've come. Your perspective grows a little bit wider and reaches a little bit farther. You can see you're headed in the right direction! But only for a quick moment, as you are gently placed back down on the ground. But now that you've had that quick glimpse of insight, you're excited about learning Japanese again! You're ready to KEEP GOING!
Before disappearing back into the clouds, the giant helping hand promises you many more A-HA moments. But only on the condition that you stay motivated to keep going, even if you haven't made a ton of progress in awhile. These A-HA moments make all this studying worth it!
When you have a grasp on how Hiragana and Katakana symbols work, you're ready to put some sentences together!