Katakana Chart: All 46 Characters, Uses and Look-Alikes

Short answer: katakana is the second Japanese phonetic script. It has the same 46 basic sounds as hiragana, written with more angular shapes, and is used mainly for words from other languages, foreign names and emphasis. If you know hiragana, katakana usually takes another one to two weeks.

The 46 basic katakana

	a	i	u	e	o
–	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 (wo)
	ン n

ヲ exists but is rare in practice: the object particle is written in hiragana (を).

Voiced sounds

The same marks as in hiragana: ゛ (dakuten) and ゜ (handakuten).

	a	i	u	e	o
g	ガ ga	ギ gi	グ gu	ゲ ge	ゴ go
z	ザ za	ジ ji	ズ zu	ゼ ze	ゾ zo
d	ダ da	ヂ ji	ヅ zu	デ de	ド do
b	バ ba	ビ bi	ブ bu	ベ be	ボ bo
p	パ pa	ピ pi	プ pu	ペ pe	ポ po

Combined sounds work as in hiragana: キャ (kya), シュ (shu), チョ (cho). A small ッ doubles the next consonant: ベッド (beddo, bed).

Two things only katakana does often

The long vowel mark ー. In katakana a long vowel is usually written with a bar instead of an extra vowel: コーヒー (kōhī, coffee), ケーキ (kēki, cake). In vertical text the bar is vertical.

Extra combinations for foreign sounds. Small ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ build sounds Japanese did not have: ファ (fa), ティ (ti), ウィ (wi), シェ (she), as in パーティー (pātī, party). ヴ is sometimes used for v.

What katakana is used for

• Loanwords: テレビ (terebi, TV), パン (pan, bread), アイスクリーム (aisukurīmu, ice cream).
• Foreign names and places: アメリカ (America), ロンドン (London).
• Company and product names, often by choice.
• Sound words and animal sounds, often in manga: ドキドキ (heart pounding).
• Emphasis, a little like italics.
• Scientific names of plants and animals: ネコ (cat) in a biology text.

Look-alikes to watch

Katakana has a few classic traps:

• シ (shi) and ツ (tsu): shi’s dashes stack on the left, its long stroke rises from the bottom; tsu’s dashes are on top, its long stroke falls from the right.
• ン (n) and ソ (so): the same idea. ン rises from the bottom left; ソ falls from the top.
• ク (ku), ケ (ke), タ (ta) and ワ (wa), ウ (u), フ (fu).
• Katakana that look like kanji: カ (ka) and the kanji 力 (power), ロ (ro) and 口 (mouth), エ (e) and 工, ニ (ni) and 二, ハ (ha) and 八, タ (ta) and 夕. In real text, context tells you which one you are reading. See similar-looking kanji.

Where katakana comes from

Katakana was made from parts of kanji, often one side of the character. ア comes from 阿, イ from 伊, ウ from 宇, エ from 江 and オ from 於. That is why katakana is angular: it keeps strokes from the kanji, while hiragana comes from flowing cursive forms.

Writing English words in katakana

There is no exact one-to-one mapping from English, so learn the common patterns:

• Final consonants get a vowel: “bed” is ベッド, “milk” is ミルク.
• “-er” at the end is often ー: “computer” is コンピューター.
• l and r both use the r row: “lemon” is レモン.

The best check is to look up how the word is commonly written, since there is often an established spelling.

How to learn katakana

Use the same routine as for hiragana: a row a day, read real words (menus and product names are full of them), and practise the look-alikes side by side. Then move to kanji: start with what kanji are and the JLPT N5 kanji list, or open the study app or the iPhone app.