Hiragana & katakana: learn kana fast

Japanese is written with three scripts at once: hiragana, katakana and kanji. The first two are the kana, two parallel sets of 46 basic signs that each stand for a whole syllable such as ka, shi or mo. They are completely regular, and they are the first thing to learn.

Learn hiragana first, because grammar, textbooks and the readings printed above kanji all use it. Add katakana straight afterwards, before the first set has time to feel "enough". All romanisation on this page is Hepburn.

What is the difference between hiragana and katakana?

Both sets cover exactly the same sounds. The difference is the job they do.

	Hiragana	Katakana
Look	Rounded, flowing: あ, の, ま	Angular, sparse: ア, ノ, マ
Main use	Native words, particles, verb and adjective endings, readings of kanji	Loanwords, foreign names, sound effects, emphasis
Example	たべます tabemasu, "to eat" (polite)	コーヒー kōhī, "coffee"

Both grew out of kanji more than a thousand years ago: hiragana from whole characters written in cursive, katakana from single parts of characters. That is why a few pairs resemble each other (か and カ, り and リ) and most do not.

The full kana charts

Hiragana

Read each row from left to right. This order, the gojūon (五十音, "fifty sounds"), is also the order of Japanese dictionaries.

	a	i	u	e	o
(vowels)	あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o
k	か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko
s	さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so
t	た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to
n	な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no
h	は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho
m	ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo
y	や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
r	ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro
w	わ wa				を o
n	ん n

Five irregular readings hide in the table: し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu, ふ is fu, and を is pronounced like お. Two signs change sound when used as grammar particles: は is read wa and へ is read e. を is used only as a particle.

Katakana

	a	i	u	e	o
(vowels)	ア a	イ i	ウ u	エ e	オ o
k	カ ka	キ ki	ク ku	ケ ke	コ ko
s	サ sa	シ shi	ス su	セ se	ソ so
t	タ ta	チ chi	ツ tsu	テ te	ト to
n	ナ na	ニ ni	ヌ nu	ネ ne	ノ no
h	ハ ha	ヒ hi	フ fu	ヘ he	ホ ho
m	マ ma	ミ mi	ム mu	メ me	モ mo
y	ヤ ya		ユ yu		ヨ yo
r	ラ ra	リ ri	ル ru	レ re	ロ ro
w	ワ wa				ヲ o
n	ン n

Voiced sounds: dakuten and handakuten

Two small strokes (゛, the dakuten) turn k into g, s into z, t into d and h into b. A small circle (゜, the handakuten) turns h into p. No new shapes are needed.

	a	i	u	e	o
g	が ガ ga	ぎ ギ gi	ぐ グ gu	げ ゲ ge	ご ゴ go
z	ざ ザ za	じ ジ ji	ず ズ zu	ぜ ゼ ze	ぞ ゾ zo
d	だ ダ da	ぢ ヂ ji	づ ヅ zu	で デ de	ど ド do
b	ば バ ba	び ビ bi	ぶ ブ bu	べ ベ be	ぼ ボ bo
p	ぱ パ pa	ぴ ピ pi	ぷ プ pu	ぺ ペ pe	ぽ ポ po

ぢ and づ sound the same as じ and ず and are rare. You will mostly meet them in words like つづく (tsuzuku, "to continue").

Combinations with small や, ゆ, よ

A sign from the i column followed by a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ makes one blended syllable: き + ゃ is きゃ, kya. The size matters: きや is two syllables (kiya), きゃ is one.

	ya	yu	yo
k	きゃ キャ kya	きゅ キュ kyu	きょ キョ kyo
s	しゃ シャ sha	しゅ シュ shu	しょ ショ sho
t	ちゃ チャ cha	ちゅ チュ chu	ちょ チョ cho
n	にゃ ニャ nya	にゅ ニュ nyu	にょ ニョ nyo
h	ひゃ ヒャ hya	ひゅ ヒュ hyu	ひょ ヒョ hyo
m	みゃ ミャ mya	みゅ ミュ myu	みょ ミョ myo
r	りゃ リャ rya	りゅ リュ ryu	りょ リョ ryo
g	ぎゃ ギャ gya	ぎゅ ギュ gyu	ぎょ ギョ gyo
j	じゃ ジャ ja	じゅ ジュ ju	じょ ジョ jo
b	びゃ ビャ bya	びゅ ビュ byu	びょ ビョ byo
p	ぴゃ ピャ pya	ぴゅ ピュ pyu	ぴょ ピョ pyo

Long vowels and the small っ

Vowel length changes meaning in Japanese, so these two details are not optional.

Feature	How it is written	Examples
Long vowel in hiragana	Add a vowel sign: あ after a, い after i, う after u, い or え after e, う or お after o	おかあさん okāsan, mother; おにいさん oniisan, older brother; くうき kūki, air; せんせい sensei, teacher; とうきょう Tōkyō; おおきい ōkii, big
Long vowel in katakana	A dash, ー	コーヒー kōhī, coffee; ラーメン rāmen; ビール bīru, beer
Small っ or ッ	Doubles the next consonant: a short held pause	きって kitte, stamp; がっこう gakkō, school; ベッド beddo, bed

The classic warnings are ビル (biru, a building) against ビール (bīru, a beer), and きて (kite, "come") against きって (kitte, "stamp"). Ordering a building with your dinner is a mistake people remember.

Look-alike kana and how to tell them apart

Pair	How to tell them apart
シ shi / ツ tsu	In シ the two short strokes are stacked on the left and the long stroke sweeps up from bottom left. In ツ the short strokes sit side by side at the top and the long stroke falls from top right. Think of the direction of し and つ.
ソ so / ン n	The same logic with one short stroke: ソ falls from the top like ツ, ン rises from the bottom like シ.
さ sa / ち chi	Near mirror images. ち resembles the digit 5, with its curve bulging to the right; さ faces the other way.
ぬ nu / め me	ぬ ends in a small loop, め does not.
わ wa / れ re / ね ne	All start with the same vertical stroke. わ closes in a round curve, れ kicks outwards at the end, ね ends in a loop.
は ha / ほ ho	ほ has an extra horizontal stroke on top.
る ru / ろ ro	る ends in a loop, ろ does not.
ク ku / ケ ke / タ ta	ク has two strokes, ケ has a long horizontal bar that sticks out, タ is ク with an extra stroke inside.

The fix is always the same: write the pair side by side ten times, then read real words containing them. Stroke order helps more than staring, because the hand remembers which direction a stroke travelled.

When katakana is used

• Loanwords: テレビ (terebi, television), パン (pan, bread), ホテル (hoteru, hotel).
• Foreign names and places: アメリカ (Amerika), ロンドン (Rondon, London), and your own name.
• Sound effects and mimetic words: ドキドキ (dokidoki, a pounding heart).
• Emphasis, much like italics, and many company and product names: トヨタ (Toyota).
• Animal and plant names in scientific or neutral contexts: ネコ (neko, cat).

To write foreign sounds, katakana has extra combinations with small vowels that hiragana rarely uses: ティ (ti) in パーティー (pātī, party), ファ (fa) in ファイル (fairu, file), チェ (che) in チェック (chekku, check), ウィ (wi), ジェ (je), ディ (di). Reading katakana words aloud until the English word behind them appears is a legitimate study method and a decent party game.

How long it takes: a one-week plan

Most learners need a few days per set for recognition and a few weeks of reading before the hesitation goes. A workable week, at 30 to 45 minutes a day:

Day	New material	Practice
1	Hiragana あ to そ (15 signs)	Write each five times, saying it aloud; read あさ asa, すし sushi, かさ kasa
2	Hiragana た to ほ (15 signs)	Review day 1 first; read ねこ neko, はな hana, ひと hito
3	Hiragana ま to ん (16 signs), dakuten	Read whole words: やま yama, みず mizu, でんわ denwa
4	Small ゃ ゅ ょ, long vowels, small っ	Read とうきょう, きょうと, がっこう, ちょっと
5	Katakana ア to ト (20 signs)	Pair each with its hiragana twin
6	Katakana ナ to ン (26 signs)	Drill シ, ツ, ソ, ン until bored
7	Katakana extras (ー, ティ, ファ)	Read a café menu or a list of country names

From day 8, stop reading romaji altogether. Kana you use every day stay; kana you only review in a chart fade within a month.

The mnemonic approach

Picture mnemonics are the fastest way in. You tie the shape to an image and a sound: く looks like the open beak of a bird calling "ku", and の looks like the circle of a "no" sign. Free illustrated sets exist online for both scripts, and inventing your own works even better, because a silly image you made yourself is harder to forget.

Mnemonics are scaffolding. After a few hundred real words you will read の without seeing any sign at all. For signs that refuse to stick, a small Anki deck for a fortnight is enough; kana do not need a year of flashcards.

Typing kana

Japanese is normally typed in romaji on an ordinary keyboard, and the input method converts it. Add "Japanese" in your system's keyboard settings, then:

• Type ka and you get か. The space bar converts to kanji or katakana, Enter confirms.
• ん is typed nn when a vowel or y follows, otherwise n is enough.
• A doubled consonant gives the small っ: kitte becomes きって. On its own it is typed xtu or ltu.
• Small ゃ, ゅ, ょ come from the combination itself: kya gives きゃ. The long-vowel dash ー is the hyphen key.
• On Windows, F7 turns what you just typed into katakana.

On phones, most Japanese people use the flick keyboard: twelve keys, one per row of the chart, flicked in four directions for the other vowels. It follows the gojūon order, so the chart you just learned doubles as the keyboard layout.

What to do next

1. Start a beginner textbook or course that uses kana only. The grammar and vocabulary at JLPT N5 level are a sensible first target.
2. Begin kanji as soon as kana feel steady. Waiting for perfection is a way of postponing.
3. Read something short every day: station names, snack packets, song titles.
4. For an honest view of the road ahead, see how hard Japanese is.