Katakana chart and beginner's guide
Katakana has the same sounds as hiragana, drawn with sharper, straighter strokes. Learners usually pick it up right after hiragana, and it opens up the thousands of English-based words in everyday Japanese.
Tap any character to open its page with an example word and audio, or practice with the interactive chart.
The basic katakana chart
The grid matches hiragana exactly: vowels across the top, consonant rows down the side. If you know あ is “a”, you only need to learn that ア is also “a”.
Dakuten and handakuten
The same two marks work here too: カ ka becomes ガ ga, and ハ ha becomes パ pa. Read the dakuten guide.
Yōon combinations
A small ャ, ュ or ョ blends with the character before it, as in ジュース (jūsu, juice). More about yōon.
What katakana is used for
- Loanwords from other languages: テレビ (terebi, TV), パン (pan, bread), アイス (aisu, ice cream).
- Foreign names and places: アメリカ (Amerika, America), ジョン (Jon, John).
- Emphasis, a bit like bold or italics in English, and in manga sound effects like ドキドキ (dokidoki, a pounding heart).
- Scientific names of plants and animals, and many company names.
コーヒー kōhī: coffee
Katakana's extra rules
The long vowel mark ー
Instead of writing a second vowel, katakana uses a dash to make a vowel long: ケーキ (kēki, cake), ルール (rūru, rule). In vertical text the dash runs vertically.
Combinations for foreign sounds
Small vowels let katakana write sounds Japanese doesn't have natively: ファ (fa), ティ (ti), ディ (di), ウィ (wi), チェ (che), シェ (she) and ヴ (vu). You'll see them in words like パーティー (pātī, party).
Where katakana came from
Katakana began around the same time as hiragana, as a shorthand used by Buddhist monks to note readings beside Chinese texts. Each character is a piece of a kanji: ア comes from the left side of 阿, イ from the left side of 伊, and カ from 加. That's why katakana looks angular and hiragana looks cursive.
Tips for learning katakana
- Pair each one with its hiragana. Some are near twins: か/カ, き/キ, せ/セ, へ/ヘ, り/リ and も/モ.
- Drill the look-alikes on purpose. シ (shi) strokes rise from lower left; ツ (tsu) strokes fall from the top. ソ (so) and ン (n) follow the same rule. See kana that look alike.
- Read menus and packaging. So much katakana is English underneath that real-world reading is quick and rewarding.
- Test yourself daily with flashcards and the quiz.
Questions learners ask
How many katakana characters are there?
There are 46 basic katakana, the same sounds as the 46 hiragana. With dakuten and the small ャ, ュ and ョ there are 104 entries in a full chart, plus extra combinations like ファ (fa) and ティ (ti) for foreign sounds.
What is katakana used for?
Mostly for words borrowed from other languages, like コーヒー (kōhī, coffee), and for foreign names and places. It is also used for emphasis, sound effects, and plant and animal names in science.
Is katakana harder than hiragana?
The sounds are the same, so it is usually quicker to learn. The tricky part is a handful of look-alikes: シ and ツ, ソ and ン, and ク, ケ and タ.
What does the dash ー mean in katakana?
It is the long vowel mark (chōonpu). It stretches the vowel before it, so コーヒー is kō-hī, with both vowels held twice as long.