Katakana chart, with audio and a quiz
Katakana spells the same sounds as hiragana, mostly for words borrowed from other languages (コーヒー, テレビ) and names. Learn it after hiragana.
115 characters in total. ← Hiragana chart · How kana works
Practise katakana
0/46 basic learned · 0/115 in totalPick a few rows, then answer. A character counts as learned after 3 right in a row. Ten minutes a day gets you through the basic 46 in one to two weeks.
Sign in to use the kana trainer
Quiz yourself until every character is automatic. The trainer remembers which ones you know and which need more practice. Free with a Google account.
Basic katakana
The 46 core characters. Read each row left to right: a, i, u, e, o.
Voiced sounds
Two small marks (゛) turn k→g, s→z, t→d, h→b. A small circle (゜) turns h→p. ぢ and づ sound the same as じ and ず and are rare.
Combined sounds
A small ャ ュ ョ after an i-sound makes one beat: キ + ャ = キャ (kya).
Sounds for foreign words
Small vowels make sounds Japanese did not have: ファ (fa), ティ (ti), ウェ (we). You will see these in words like パーティー and フォーク.
Look-alikes to watch
- シ has its two short strokes on the left and a long stroke that sweeps up. ツ has them along the top and a long stroke that falls down.
- ソ and ン work the same way: ソ’s short stroke is on top and the long stroke falls; ン’s is on the left and the long stroke sweeps up.
- ク closes into a corner at the top; in ケ the top line crosses past the long stroke; タ has an extra short stroke inside.
- ウ has a dot on top, ワ does not, フ is a single stroke.
- コ opens left, ユ has a longer bottom line, ロ is closed.
- チ has a short stroke on top that tilts; テ has two flat lines.
The quiz uses these as wrong options on purpose, so you learn to tell them apart.