Chapter 3 — Katakana

Katakana is the second phonetic script. It represents exactly the same set of sounds as hiragana — the forty-six base characters map one-to-one. What differs is the function. Katakana is used primarily for foreign loanwords, foreign names, scientific terminology, onomatopoeia, and emphasis (roughly analogous to italics in English). It also has a set of extensions that hiragana lacks, allowing it to approximate foreign sounds that do not exist in native Japanese phonology.

The characters are built from straight, angular strokes. They are visually sharper than hiragana. Several pairs look dangerously similar to each other, and this chapter addresses those head-on.

From this chapter onward, there is no romanization. All Japanese is written in Japanese script.

3.1 The Basic 46 Characters

The katakana grid follows the same vowel-row structure as hiragana. Each character represents one mora.

ヲ appears in the table for completeness but is rarely used in modern katakana. The particle を is written in hiragana.

Confusable Pairs

Katakana has several character pairs that look nearly identical. Misreading any of these will cause constant errors. Study the differences carefully.

ソ vs ン

Both have two short strokes and one longer stroke. The difference is stroke direction.

• ソ: The two short strokes are at the top, angled downward to the right. The long stroke sweeps down and to the right from the upper area. Think of it as everything flowing downward.
• ン: The two short strokes are at the lower left, angled upward to the right. The long stroke sweeps upward from the lower left to the upper right. Think of it as everything flowing upward.

A useful mnemonic: ン looks like a smiling face tilted to the side — the strokes move upward like a grin. ソ drops downward.

シ vs ツ

The same directional logic applies here.

• シ: Three short strokes arranged vertically on the left side, with the long stroke sweeping upward to the right. The short strokes are stacked top to bottom. The overall movement is bottom-left to upper-right — the same direction as ン.
• ツ: Three short strokes arranged horizontally across the top, with the long stroke sweeping downward to the right. The overall movement is top to bottom-right — the same direction as ソ.

The pairing is consistent: シ and ン share the upward sweep. ツ and ソ share the downward sweep. If you remember that ン and シ go up, and ソ and ツ go down, you will not confuse them.

ウ vs ワ

• ウ: Has a short horizontal stroke at the top, then two downward strokes forming a shape like a wide "u." Three strokes total.
• ワ: Looks like ウ but missing the top horizontal stroke. Two strokes only. The shape is more open at the top.

ク vs タ

• ク: Two strokes. A short angled stroke at the upper left, and a longer curved stroke sweeping down.
• タ: Three strokes. Similar to ク but with an additional horizontal stroke cutting across the middle. If you see the crossbar, it is タ.

ヌ vs ス

• ヌ: Has a more rounded loop at the bottom, with the stroke crossing over itself. The loop closes.
• ス: The bottom stroke trails off to the right without looping back. The stroke does not cross itself. The tail is open.

3.2 Dakuten, Handakuten, and Combinations

The voicing system works identically to hiragana. Dakuten (゛) voices the consonant; handakuten (゜) applies only to ハ行, producing パ行.

Dakuten

Handakuten (パ行)

| ハ → パ | ヒ → ピ | フ → プ | ヘ → ペ | ホ → ポ |

Combination Characters (拗音)

Small ャ, ュ, ョ combine with イ段 characters to form contracted sounds, exactly as in hiragana. The small character and the preceding character together occupy one mora.

Voiced and semi-voiced combinations:

3.3 Extensions for Foreign Sounds

Katakana has a capability that hiragana does not: it can represent sounds from foreign languages that fall outside native Japanese phonology. This is done by combining standard katakana with small vowel characters (ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ) or by using the character ヴ.

These extensions are not obscure. You will encounter them constantly in everyday Japanese, because loanwords are everywhere.

ティ and ディ

Native Japanese has no pure "ti" or "di" sound — タ行 produces チ in the イ段 position, and ダ行 produces ヂ. To represent the foreign sounds:

• ティ — as in パーティー (party)
• ディ — as in ディスク (disk)

ファ行 — the "f" sounds

Native Japanese only has フ in ハ行. To represent "fa," "fi," "fe," "fo":

• ファ — as in ファイル (file)
• フィ — as in フィルム (film)
• フェ — as in カフェ (cafe)
• フォ — as in フォーク (fork)

ヴ — representing "v"

The character ヴ (ウ with dakuten) was created to represent the English "v" sound. Combined with small vowels:

• ヴァ, ヴィ, ヴ, ヴェ, ヴォ

In practice, ヴ is increasingly falling out of use. Many speakers pronounce it identically to バ行, and recent style guides — including a 2024 Japanese government recommendation — favor replacing ヴァ行 with バ行. You will see both. ヴァイオリン and バイオリン both appear in the wild. Recognize both spellings.

トゥ and ドゥ

Native Japanese maps ツ to the ウ段 of タ行. To represent the pure "tu" and "du" sounds:

• トゥ — as in トゥモロー (tomorrow)
• ドゥ — as in ドゥー (do, as in hairdo)

ウィ, ウェ, ウォ

The ワ行 historically had more characters, but they dropped away. For foreign "wi," "we," "wo" sounds:

• ウィ — as in ウィキペディア (Wikipedia)
• ウェ — as in ウェブ (web)
• ウォ — as in ウォーター (water)

シェ, ジェ, チェ

These fill gaps in the native sound inventory:

• シェ — as in シェフ (chef)
• ジェ — as in ジェット (jet)
• チェ — as in チェック (check)

3.4 Long Vowels with ー

In hiragana, long vowels are written by adding a vowel character: おかあさん, おにいさん. Katakana uses a different mechanism: the 長音符 (ちょうおんぷ), a horizontal bar: ー.

This bar extends any vowel by one mora. It is simple and unambiguous.

The bar always extends the vowel of the preceding mora. After コ, it extends the オ sound. After ヒ, it extends the イ sound. There is no ambiguity.

When writing vertically (as in some signs and books), the bar rotates to become vertical: ｜.

3.5 Reading Loanwords

Katakana loanwords are mostly from English, though words from Portuguese, Dutch, German, French, and other languages also appear. The process of adapting foreign words into Japanese phonology follows consistent rules. Understanding these rules lets you decode unfamiliar katakana words and predict how an English word will be rendered.

Consonant clusters get broken up

Japanese phonology does not allow consonant clusters (two consonants in a row without a vowel between them). When English words contain clusters, Japanese inserts vowels to separate them. The default inserted vowel after most consonants is ウ, except after チ and ヂ (which take イ) and after ツ (which already contains ウ).

• strike → ストライク (ス・ト・ラ・イ・ク)
• cream → クリーム
• plan → プラン
• stress → ストレス

Final consonants get a vowel

English words frequently end in a consonant. Japanese adds a vowel:

• cake → ケーキ (the final "k" gets イ)
• bed → ベッド (the final "d" gets オ, and the "d" sound is geminated)
• bus → バス (the final "s" gets ウ)
• cup → カップ
• milk → ミルク

The choice of added vowel follows a pattern: after "t" and "d," オ is added. After most other consonants, ウ is added. After "ch" and "j," イ is added.

No distinction between L and R

Both English "l" and "r" map to ラ行. This is a one-way compression — the distinction is lost entirely.

• light → ライト
• right → ライト
• glass → グラス
• green → グリーン
• rice → ライス
• lemon → レモン

V → バ行 (or ヴァ行)

As noted in 3.3, the "v" sound is usually rendered as バ行:

• video → ビデオ
• vitamin → ビタミン
• violin → バイオリン (or ヴァイオリン)
• vanilla → バニラ

"Th" → サ行 or ザ行

English "th" has no equivalent in Japanese. The voiceless "th" (as in "think") becomes サ行, and the voiced "th" (as in "this") becomes ザ行:

• theme → テーマ (note: from German, not English)
• therapy → セラピー
• smooth → スムーズ

Common patterns and surprises

Some loanwords have been in Japanese so long that their pronunciation has drifted, or they were borrowed from a language other than English:

False friends — words that changed meaning

Some loanwords have shifted in meaning from the original English:

Do not assume a katakana word means the same thing as its English source. Check.

3.6 Recognition Practice

Common Loanwords by Category

Work through these lists. For each word, read the katakana aloud, then check the meaning. If you find yourself converting to English letter-by-letter, slow down and read the katakana as Japanese.

Food and Drink

Technology

Places and Buildings

Everyday Words

Reading Passages

Read each passage and try to understand the content before checking the notes below.

Passage 1 — Cafe Menu

ドリンクメニュー

コーヒー（ホット / アイス）　　　　　¥350 カフェラテ（ホット / アイス）　　　　¥420 エスプレッソ　　　　　　　　　　　　¥300 ミルクティー　　　　　　　　　　　　¥380 オレンジジュース　　　　　　　　　　¥350 コーラ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　¥280

フードメニュー

チーズケーキ　　　　　　　　　　　　¥480 チョコレートケーキ　　　　　　　　　¥500 クロワッサン　　　　　　　　　　　　¥280 ハムサンド　　　　　　　　　　　　　¥450

This is a standard cafe menu. ホット means hot, アイス means iced. フード is "food." ハムサンド is a ham sandwich (サンド is a shortening of サンドイッチ). クロワッサン is "croissant," borrowed from French.

Passage 2 — Tech Product Listing

スマートウォッチ　モデルX

スクリーンサイズ：1.5インチ バッテリー：さいだい５にちかん カラー：ブラック、シルバー、ネイビー ブルートゥースせつぞくで、スマートフォンのメールやメッセージをかくにんできます。 ヘルスモニターきのうつき。ランニング、ウォーキング、スイミングなどのアクティビティをきろく。 かかく：¥29,800

This listing mixes katakana loanwords with hiragana for grammatical elements and some native vocabulary. スクリーンサイズ is "screen size." インチ is "inch." バッテリー is "battery." カラー is "color." ブルートゥース is "Bluetooth." ヘルスモニター is "health monitor." アクティビティ is "activity."

Passage 3 — Travel Advertisement

トロピカルリゾート　バリ　５にち４はくツアー

プライベートビーチのあるラグジュアリーホテルにごしゅくはく。 オプショナルツアー：シュノーケリング、サーフィン、スパ・マッサージ。 ランチビュッフェつき。 ホテルからエアポートまでのシャトルバスサービスあり。 おひとり　¥128,000〜

This is a package tour advertisement for Bali. トロピカルリゾート is "tropical resort." ラグジュアリー is "luxury." プライベートビーチ is "private beach." オプショナルツアー is "optional tour." シュノーケリング is "snorkeling." ビュッフェ is "buffet." シャトルバス is "shuttle bus." エアポート is "airport."

Vocabulary List with Pitch Accent

The following list covers key vocabulary from this chapter. Pitch accent notation uses the downstep number system introduced in Chapter 1.

Looking Ahead

You now have both phonetic scripts. Hiragana handles native Japanese vocabulary and grammar. Katakana handles loanwords, foreign names, and a handful of other functions. Together they provide a complete phonetic writing system for the language.

But Japanese does not stop at phonetic scripts. In the next chapter, you begin kanji — the logographic characters borrowed from Chinese that form the third and most demanding component of the writing system.