📖 Quick Guide

Hiragana (ひらがな)

Curvy, flowing script for native Japanese words, particles, and verb endings. Example: (sakura)

Katakana (カタカナ)

Angular, sharp script for foreign words, emphasis, and technical terms. Example: (kōhī / coffee)

Reading the Charts

Each row shares a consonant (k, s, t, etc.). Each column shares a vowel (a, i, u, e, o). Combine them: k + a = か/カ (ka)

LEGEND:
Hiragana
Katakana
romaji Pronunciation
46 CHARACTERS

Basic Kana (五十音 Gojūon)

The 46 fundamental sounds of Japanese. Practice these first!

A I U E O
vowels
a
i
u
e
o
K
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
S
sa
shi
su
se
so
T
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
N
na
ni
nu
ne
no
H
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
M
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
Y
ya
yu
yo
R
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
W
wa
wo
N
n
25 CHARACTERS

Dakuten (濁点) — Voiced Sounds

Add two dots (dakuten) to voice consonants (K→G, S→Z, T→D, H→B), or a circle (handakuten) for H→P

ga
gi
gu
ge
go
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
da
ji
zu
de
do
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
33 CHARACTERS

Combination Sounds (拗音 Yōon)

Combine characters with small や, ゆ, よ to create new sounds like kya, shu, cho

kya
kyu
kyo
sha
shu
sho
cha
chu
cho
nya
nyu
nyo
hya
hyu
hyo
mya
myu
myo
rya
ryu
ryo
gya
gyu
gyo
ja
ju
jo
bya
byu
byo
pya
pyu
pyo

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