Hiragana and Katakana: Charts, Reading Rules and Practice

Read kana as sound sequences, including small っ and long vowels. Use a chart, contrast words, and transfer the skill to a short menu or message.

Start by connecting each character with a sound and a familiar word. Learn to read small groups, review them in a different order, and practise words rather than reciting a chart from beginning to end.

Hiragana and katakana at a glance

Katakana is not a translation of hiragana. For example, ねこ and ネコ represent the same sounds; the script choice can change how the word is presented. Many borrowed words have conventional katakana spellings that you need to learn as words.

The basic kana chart

Read each cell aloud, then cover one script and try to recognize the other. The romanization is a reading aid, not a complete pronunciation guide.

There is also ん / ン, commonly romanized as n. Its pronunciation depends on the sounds around it. The modern basic chart has gaps in the y and w rows; you do not need to fill them with invented syllables.

*As the object particle, を is usually pronounced like お. In the same way, は is pronounced wa when it marks a topic, and へ is pronounced e as a direction particle. Their readings inside ordinary words follow the word. Compare は and が, を, and に and へ.

Learn the marks and small characters

Dakuten and handakuten

The two small marks ゛change the consonant in several rows. The small circle ゜appears on the h row to produce p sounds.

Learn じ and ず in common words. The less frequent spellings ぢ and づ also exist, so spelling cannot always be worked out from sound alone.

Small ゃ, ゅ, and ょ

A small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ joins an i-row character to make a contracted sound. Katakana uses small ャ, ュ, and ョ in the same way.

• きゃ / キャ — kya

• しゅ / シュ — shu

• ちょ / チョ — cho

• りょ / リョ — ryo

きゃ and きや are different. The first uses a small ゃ; the second has a full-size や and is read as two separate units. Try りょこう (travel) and しゃしん (photograph).

Small っ and ッ

Small っ signals a brief consonant closure or hold before the next consonant. It is not read as an ordinary tsu.

• きて — kite: come, in the te-form

• きって — kitte: postage stamp

• がっこう — gakkō: school

• ベッド — beddo: bed

Use audio to hear the difference. The extra timing can distinguish words, so do not simply skip the small character.

Long vowels

Vowel length can change a word. Hiragana often writes a long vowel with another vowel character; the spelling depends on the word. Katakana commonly uses the long-vowel mark ー.

• おばさん — obasan: aunt; a middle-aged woman

• おばあさん — obāsan: grandmother; an elderly woman

• こうこう — kōkō: high school

• コーヒー — kōhī: coffee

Learn the written form and pronunciation together. The romanization in this guide uses a macron, such as ō, to show a long vowel where useful.

Characters that are easy to confuse

Study a proper handwriting model when practising strokes. Fonts and handwriting can look different, especially for characters such as き and さ. Aim to recognize both common printed and handwritten forms.

A practical study session

1. Choose five characters and listen to their sounds.

2. Read a few words made from characters you know.

3. Mix up the cards or chart positions and try again.

4. Write from memory, then compare with a model.

5. Review the difficult characters the next day.

When reading becomes easier, hide the romaji. Keep handwriting practice short and specific: rewrite the characters you confuse instead of copying every row repeatedly.

Reading practice

Read the words before checking the answers.

1. ねこ

2. みず

3. がっこう

4. しゃしん

5. コーヒー

6. コンビニ

7. ベッド

8. タクシー

Answers

1. neko — cat

2. mizu — water

3. gakkō — school. Notice small っ and the long final vowel.

4. shashin — photograph. しゃ is a contracted sound.

5. kōhī — coffee. Both long-vowel marks matter.

6. konbini — convenience store

7. beddo — bed. Small ッ marks the consonant hold.

8. takushī — taxi

Now read one sentence: カフェで本を読みます。If 本 or 読 is new, the readings are ほん and よ. The sentence means “I read a book at a café.” You can use kana to learn the reading while gradually recognizing the kanji.

After kana

Begin basic Japanese sentence structure while continuing to review kana. The beginner roadmap shows how to combine reading, grammar, listening, and short personal sentences.

Check whether recognition transfers to a whole word

Recognising き and よ separately does not mean that you will read きょう correctly. A small ょ joins the preceding kana; it is different from full-size よ. Similarly, the small っ in きって changes the timing of the following consonant. It is not a decorative mark to skip.

The input exercises on this site preserve these distinctions. They do not silently treat every missing small kana as correct. When you miss one, compare the entire word rather than only the final letter.

A written check cannot establish pronunciation accuracy. Add a short recording from a reliable learning resource and compare your timing. Then read an unfamiliar item on a menu or a short message so that you are testing a new sequence rather than a chart you have memorised.

Practise the next step

• Japanese Reading Practice: A Café Order Slip with Quantities and a Total

• Japanese Time Words: Today, Tomorrow, Last Week, and Next Week

Open today’s learning and review schedule.