HIRAGANA & KATAKANA
INDEX
Hiragana chart
3
Katakana chart
4
Intro to Hiragana (
) and Katakana (
)
Hiragana worksheets
5
7
Long vowels, little tsu
17
Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo
19
Particles wa, e and o
20
Punctuation marks
21
Let’s write in Hiragana!
Write the Yamanote stations in Hiragana!
22
23
24
Family members
Katakana worksheets
25
Long vowels, little tsu
35
Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo
36
Let’s write in Katakana!
37
38
Other composed sounds
Write the following words in romaji or katakana.
39
Write the country names and capitals in Katakana.
40
Let’s read the menu!
41
Let’s write in Hiragana and Katakana!
42
Reply using Hiragana and Katakana!
43
Hiragana chart
a
i
u
e
o
a
i
u
e
o
k
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
s
sa
shi
su
se
so
t
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
n
na
ni
nu
ne
no
h
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
m
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
y
ya
r
ra
w
wa
n
n
g
ga
gi
gu
ge
go
z
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
d
da
ji
zu
de
do
b
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
p
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
ky
kya
kyu
kyo
gya
gyu
gyo
sh
sha
shu
sho
ja
ju
jo
ch
cha
chu
cho
ny
nya
nyu
nyo
hy
hya
hyu
hyo
bya
byu
byo
my
mya
myu
myo
pya
pyu
pyo
ry
rya
ryu
ryo
yu
ri
yo
ru
re
ro
wo
3
Katakana chart
a
i
u
e
o
a
i
u
e
o
k
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
s
sa
shi
su
se
so
t
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
n
na
ni
nu
ne
no
h
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
m
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
y
ya
r
ra
w
wa
n
n
g
ga
gi
gu
ge
go
z
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
d
da
ji
zu
de
do
b
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
p
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
ky
kya
kyu
kyo
gya
gyu
gyo
sh
sha
shu
sho
ja
ju
jo
ch
cha
chu
cho
ny
nya
nyu
nyo
hy
hya
hyu
hyo
bya
byu
byo
my
mya
myu
myo
pya
pyu
pyo
ry
rya
ryu
ryo
yu
ri
yo
ru
re
ro
(wo)
4
Intro to Hiragana (
) and Katakana (
)
When you first start learning Japanese, Hiragana and Katakana might
seem very intimidating. At Coto Japanese Academy, we believe that if you
learn how to write Japanese at your own pace in a relaxed atmosphere, you
will soon realize how fun it is to write with Hiragana and Katakana!
Origins of Characters
Do you know about the history and the origin of Hiragana and Katakana?
Originally, the Japanese ancestors did not have a writing system. Around the fifth century, they
starting using kanji, ideograms that were adopted from China and Korea. They only used the
phonetic reading of the kanji, regardless of their meaning. At that time, the ideograms were
called manyogana (
).
However, kanji’s characters are composed of many strokes. They take longer to write, as we
are sure you have noticed by now! Due to their difficulty, those ideograms were slowly
simplified into kana alphabets, namely Hiragana and Katakana. They are called syllabograms,
as each character corresponds to one sound in the Japanese language. According to
historians, the change was initiated by Buddhist priests who thought kanji was unable to
accurately represent the Japanese language, and that a phonetic alphabet would be better.
Examples of Change
On the left is the manyogana, and on the right are simplified hiragana and katakana forms.
•
(a)
•
(i)
•
(u)
(e)
•
•
(o)
This change is thought to have taken place between the eighth and ninth century. Hiragana
can be considered a simplified calligraphy form of the kanji’s strokes. On the other hand,
katakana is taken from a single element of a kanji. In some cases, the Hiragana and
Katakana are created from different ideograms.
5
Among Hiragana and Katakana, some express the same sound and have similar shapes,
such as
and . However, some can be dissimilar, such as
and . Hiragana is said to be
cursive while katakana is more angular. Do take note that one sound can have more than one
hiragana. In 1900 the two kana scripts, hiragana, and katakana were codified. This led to the
clear establishment of rules for the Japanese system in 1946.
Difference between Hiragana and Katakana
Why is there 2 syllabic Japanese scripts? In the event that the difference is stylistic, you will
learn that hiragana is used to write native Japanese words. Those words will have no kanji
representation or the ideogram is too ancient or too difficult to write. This kana script is also the
one used to write grammatical elements such as particles:
(wo)
(ni)
(he, also read
e)
(ga)
(ha)…
On the contrary, Japanese use katakana to write words of foreign origin and foreign names. If
you like to read manga in Japanese, you will have certainly noticed that katakana is also used
to represent onomatopoeia and emphasis.
Have you heard of the word “furigana”? Furigana is Hiragana and Katakana characters
written in small forms above kanji in order to show pronunciation. Furigana is used in kids’
books and Japanese language textbooks for learners, in order to teach the reading of unknown
kanji.
6
Hiragana worksheets
2
a
i
1
3
2
1
1
u
2
1
e
o
2
2
3
1
Love
House
Blue
Up, above
Good
Many
7
2
ka
1
ki
1
2
3
3
4
1
ku
ke
2
1
3
1
ko
2
ga
Ka hiragana
gi
gu
ge
go
Persimmon
Study of language
Keys
P.M. (time)
Autumn
(Metal) nail
8
Sa hiragana
sa
shi
su
2
1
3
1
2
1
3
se
2
1
1
so
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
Sushi
There
Elephant
Slope
Wind
Alcohol
9
Ta hiragana
ta
chi
tsu
2
1
3
4
2
1
1
1
te
to
1
2
da
ji
zu
de
do
Land
Later
Bamboo
Desk
Map
Tyding up
10
Na hiragana
na
ni
nu
2
1
3
4
2
1
3
2
1
1
ne
no
2
1
Cat
Mushroom
Dog
Eggplant
Meat
Summer
11
Ha hiragana
ha
3
2
1
1
hi
fu
he
1
2
4
3
1
2
ho
1
3
4
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
12
Boat
Sunny place
Flower
Hat
Wall
Hippopotamus
13
Ma hiragana
ma
3
1
2
1
mi
mu
me
mo
2
1
2
1
2
3
3
2
1
Ear
Eye
Peach
City
Water
Cloud
14
Ra hiragana
1
ra
2
ri
1
2
1
ru
2
1
re
1
ro
Frog
Dish
Bath
Chestnut
Black
Beautiful
15
Ya hiragana
ya
yu
1
2
1
1
2
yo
wa
2
3
1
2
2
wo
1
n
3
1
Mountain
Snow
Evening, night
Night time
I, me
Read a book
16
Long vowels, little tsu
There are long vowels such as ā, ī, ū, ē and ō in Japanese.
The
column
Long vowels such as ā, kā, sā, and tā (those of the first column), are represented by adding
(a) to the first syllable:
ā,
kā,
sā, etc.
The
column
Long vowels such as ī, kī, chī (those of the second column), are represented by adding
(i) to the first syllable:
ī,
kī,
mī, etc.
The
column
Long vowels such as ū, sū, yū (those of the third column), are represented by adding
(u) to the first syllable:
ū,
sū,
yū, etc.
The
column
Long vowels such as rē, kē, sē, tē (those of the fourth column), are represented by adding
(i) and not
(e) to the first syllable:
rē,
kē,
sē, etc.
But there are exceptions like the following:
ē (yes),
nē (I say),
onēsan
(an elder sister).
The
column
Long vowels such as ō, kō, sō, tō (those of the fifth column), are represented by adding
(u) and not
(o) to the first syllable:
ō,
kō,
sō, etc.
But there are exceptions like the following:
(far),
ōi (numerous),
Ōsaka,
tōri (street),
ōkii (big),
tōi
tōru (to pass through).
Little tsu
(double consonant, i.e.: kk, pp, ss, tt)
When two consonants (except for "n") are in a row, the first consonant is represented by a
little tsu
written in the bottom half of the line when written horizontally, or to the right if written
vertically. E.g.:
ippai,
mittsu,
katta.
17
kōkō
kōen
imōto
ginkō
sōko
bōshi
sensē
tokē
gakusē
ēgo
kippu
zutto
ikkai
annai
tannin
18
Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo
When a small “ya”, “yu”, “yo" is added to a syllables in the “i” column - except for vowel “i” itself
- we get a contracted sound. Although contracted sounds are written with two hiragana
characters, they are pronounced as a single syllable. The “i” sound in the first syllable decays
and the consonant is followed by the “y” sound and the vowel.
ya
yu
yo
(ki)
(ya)
(kya)
(ki)
(yu)
(kyu)
(ki)
(yo)
(kyo)
19
Particles wa, e and (w)o
The three particles (grammatical markers) in Japanese, wa (topic maker), e (direction maker),
and wo (direct object maker), are represented respectively by the Hiragana characters of
(ha),
(he), and
While we write
(wo), due to historical circumstances.
,
and
, the pronunciation respectively is wa, e, and o.
Therefore:
o when used as a particle is written
(wo), not
(o).
e when used as a particle is written
(he), not
(e).
wa when used as a particle is written
(ha), not
(wa).
E.g:
Watashi wa hon wo
Tōkyō e
yomimasu.
ikimasu.
wa tashi
wa
nihonjin
o
wo
tabemasu.
he
kashi
ijitsu ni
shibuya
desu.
(I am Japanese)
(I eat sweets)
e
20
ikimasu.
(I go to Shibuya on weekdays)
Punctuation marks
Kutōten (puntuation marks) is a generic term that refers both to full stops (maru, ) and
commas (ten, )
Punctuation marks can make a huge difference in the meaning of a sentence depending on
where they are placed. Just like in English, adding a punctuation mark can change the meaning
of a sentence.
For example : "Eats, shoots and leaves" versus "Eats shoots and leaves."
In Japanese, it is not customary to separate words with spaces, which makes it easier for
misunderstandings to arise. Several punctuation marks may be used in order to prevent these
kinds of misunderstandings.
1.
Koko de, hakimono o nuide kudasai.
(
)
Please take your shoes off here.
2.
Koko de wa, kimono o nuide kudasai .
(
)
Please take your kimono (clothes) off here.
21
Let’s write in Hiragana!
22
Write the Yamanote stations in Hiragana!
Tōkyō
Kanda
Yūrakuchō
Akihabara
Shimbashi
Okachimachi
Ueno
Hamamatsuchō
Uguisudani
Tamachi
Takanawa (Gateway)
Nippori
Shinagawa
Nishi-Nippori
Ōsaki
Tabata
Gotanda
Komagome
Meguro
Sugamo
Ebisu
Ōtsuka
Shibuya
Ikebukuro
Harajuku
Mejiro
Yoyogi
Takadanobaba
Shin-Ookubo
Shinjuku
23
Family members
く
kazoku
family
obāsan
grandmother
ojīsan
grandfather
okāsan
mother
otōsan
father
onīsan
elder brother
onēsan
elder sister
watashi
I, me
Grandfather
Grandmother
Father
Mother
Elder brother
Elder sister
Younger brother
Younger sister
24
otōto
younger brother
imōto
younger sister
Katakana worksheets
a
1
2
1
i
2
1
u
e
o
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
Wear
Air
25
Ka katakana
2
Ka
1
ki
1
3
2
2
ku
ke
1
1
2
3
ko
ga
gi
gu
ge
go
Khaki
Eco
Core
Cake
Ego
Car
26
Sa katakana
2
sa
shi
3
1
1
2
3
1
su
2
2
1
se
so
1
2
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
Quiz
Caesar
Case
Sausage
Size
Sauce
27
Ta katakana
2
1
ta
3
1
chi
tsu
3
2
1
2
3
1
te
to
2
3
1
2
da
ji
zu
de
do
Date
Card
Two
Test
Darts
Cheek
28
Na katakana
1
2
na
1
ni
2
1
nu
2
1
ne
no
2
4
3
1
Banana
Nice
Needs
Night
Canoe
Note
29
Ha katakana
1
ha
hi
2
1
2
1
fu
he
1
ho
1
3
2
4
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
30
Curve
Boat
Copy
Part-time job
Cover
Pair
31
Ma katakana
1
ma
mi
2
1
2
3
1
mu
2
1
me
mo
2
1
2
3
Memo
Mom
Mini skirt
Gum
Madam
Motor
32
Ra katakana
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
3
Retro
Little
Lemon
Color
Lamp
Rugby
33
Ya katakana
ya
yu
2
1
1
2
1
yo
2
3
2
wa
o
1
1
2
3
1
n
2
Jeans
Bread
Hawaii
Wine
Yoga
Utopia
34
Long vowels, little tsu
Long vowels in writing katakana
In Katakana long vowels are represented uniformly by drawing a dash after the first syllable. A
horizontal dash is drawn when written horizontally and a vertical dash is used when written
vertically.
ā,
kī,
sū,
te,
nō, etc.
Little tsu
(double consonant, i.e.: kk, pp, ss, tt)
In Katakana, the little
(tsu) has the same function as in Hiragana. When two consonants
except for “n” are in a row, the first consonant is represented by a little
lower half of horizontal line or to the right in a vertical column.
E.g.:
koppu,
katto,
beddo, etc.
kōhī
kēki
karendā
reddo
burakku
35
(tsu) written in the
Sounds composed with ya, yu, yo
ya
yu
yo
(ki)
(ya)
(kya)
(ki)
(yu)
(kyu)
(ki)
(yo)
(kyo)
36
Let’s write in Katakana!
37
Other composed sounds
ye
kwa
wi
we
wo
kwi
kwe
kwo
gwa
she
je
che
tsa
ti
tse
tso
fe
fo
ve
vo
tu
tyu
di
du
dyu
fa
fi
fyu
va
vi
vu
vyu
38
Write the following words in romaji or katakana.
famirī
vanpaia
dyuetto
vintēji
gōrudenwīku
fōkusongu
39
Write the country names and capitals in Katakana.
(Country name)
(Capital)
40
Let’s read the menu!
350
400
350
600
350
700
450
1000
400
550
700
550
500
550
350
300
450
450
650
700
41
Let’s write in Hiragana and Katakana!
A: konnichiwa! kyō wa iitenki desune.
___________________________________________________________________
_______
B: sōdesune. kinō wa nani o shimashitaka.
___________________________________________________________________
_______
A: karaoke ni ikimashita. Tanoshikatta desu yo!
___________________________________________________________________
_______
B: sore wa yokatta desune. A san wa chokorēto ga suki desuka.
___________________________________________________________________
_______
A: hai, suki desu! daisuki desu!
___________________________________________________________________
_______
B: sō desu ka. ja, kore dōzo tabete kudasai. oishii desuyo.
___________________________________________________________________
_______
42
Reply using Hiragana and Katakana!
✏
Your name
___________________________________________________________________
_______
✏
Your Country
___________________________________________________________________
_______
✏
Your hometown
___________________________________________________________________
_______
✏
Your job
___________________________________________________________________
_______
✏
Your teacher’s name
___________________________________________________________________
_______
✏
Foods you like
___________________________________________________________________
_______
✏
Drinks you like
___________________________________________________________________
43