Writing system in Japanese
Let's learn the writing system in Japanese !

3 writing systems
There are 3 types of writing systems in Japanese. They are called "Hiragana", "Katakana", and "Kanji". Around the 5th century, Japanese people started to use Chinese characters "Kanji" to represent Japanese language. Then, around the 9th century, they simplified shapes of certain Kanji and created "Hiragana" and "Katakana" which are phonetic letters (indicating just the sounds).
Today, Japanese writing consists of these 3 kind of characters.
Kanji
Hiragana
Katakana
漢 Kanji
- Each kanji represents a meaning and has several different pronunciations.
- They are used for nouns, adjectives, verbs etc.
- The number of commonly used kanji in Japan is about 2000 ! Japanese children learn about 1000 kanji in primary school and another 1000 kanji in junior high school.
あ ア Hiragana / Katakana
- Hiragana and katakana writings are phonetic letters (indicating just the sounds). Therefore, learning hiragana and katakana means learning Japanese pronunciation as well.
- There are 46 letters of hiragana and 46 letters of katakana, both representing the same 46 sounds. That means, each sound can be written in 2 ways (hiragana and katakana).
- Katakana is mainly used for words with foreign origins.
A Rōmaji
There is an official way to transcribe Japanese sounds into the Roman alphabet (English alphabet) which is called Rōmaji. You can read all Japanese sentences on this site without having to learn the Japanese writing system, because all the Japanese sentences are transcribed in Rōmaji !
In Noriko's Japanese Lessons, you learn hiragana, katakana, and rōmaji.
You can learn hiragana and katakana at the same time. If it's too much, you can start with hiragana first, which is used more frequently.
Learning Hiragana is highly recommended because the verb conjugation is closely connected to the Hiragana chart. Knowing Hiragana will really help you when you learn verb conjugation !
At the beginning, the Japanese writing system may seem complicated to English speakers. But actually, it doesn't take a long time to memorize 92 letters (46 hiragana and 46 katakana). On the other hand, remember that there is no "irregular spelling" in Japanese words. Once you master the 92 letters, you can write words just as how you pronounce them. Simple ! Don't give up !


Punctuations
Punctuation
、 equivalent to comma , : It's called "ten" and is used for the pause in a sentence.
。 equivalent to period . : It's called "maru" and is used to mark the end of a sentence.
「」 equivalent to quotation marks " " : It's called "kagi kakko" and is used to quote.
( ) equivalent to parentheses ( ) : It's called "kakko" and is used to add information.
? ! aren't used in formal Japanese writing. However, they could be used in casual writing.
Space
In Japanese sentences, there is no space between words. But on this site, the space is sometimes inserted between words in order to see the sentence structure more clearly.

Hiragana & Katakana Chart
There are 5 vowels in Japanese. Basic 46 Hiragana / Katakana chart shows the 5 vowels and 41 combination of consonants and vowel sounds. Click on letters to listen to the sounds.
Basic 46 Hiragana chart
5 vowels
あ
い
う
え
お
K
か
き
く
け
こ
S
さ
し
す
せ
そ
T
た
ち
つ
て
と
N
な
に
ぬ
ね
の
H
は
ひ
ふ
へ
ほ
M
ま
み
む
め
も
Y
や
ゆ
よ
R
ら
り
る
れ
ろ
W
わ
を
ん
25 Hiragana with marks 〝 and °
G
が
ぎ
ぐ
げ
ご
Z
ざ
じ
ず
ぜ
ぞ
D
だ
ぢ
づ
で
ど
B
ば
び
ぶ
べ
ぼ
P
ぱ
ぴ
ぷ
ぺ
ぽ
Additional 33 Hiragana combinations
(Contracted sounds)
K
きゃ
きゅ
きょ
S
しゃ
しゅ
しょ
C
ちゃ
ちゅ
ちょ
N
にゃ
にゅ
にょ
H
ひゃ
ひゅ
ひょ
M
みゃ
みゅ
みょ
R
りゃ
りゅ
りょ
G
ぎゃ
ぎゅ
ぎょ
J
じゃ
じゅ
じょ
B
びゃ
びゅ
びょ
P
ぴゃ
ぴゅ
ぴょ
Basic 46 Katakana chart
25 Katakana with marks 〝 and °
Additional 33 Katakana combinations
(Contracted sounds)
How do I to write hiragana and katakana?
Click on the link below to download the worksheets. These sheets will help you learn the proper stroking and the formation of each character. Let's practice !
Download Files
The following hiragana letters look different depending on the font being used. The examples are shown below. On this site, I only use the font, Handwriting style, because it most accurately represents the authentic handwriting of Japanese letters. Please use the font on this website (and my hiragana chart) as a model.
The font used on this website.
Please use this font as a model.


Some fonts show certain hiragana
letters this way.

Let's transcribe these words in rōmaji.
Q1
わたし
watashi
Check
Q2
あなた
anata
Check
Q3
くるま
kuruma
Check
Q4
とけい
tokei
Check
Q5
みんな
minna
Check
Q6
ホチキス
hochikisu
Check
Q7
レタス
retasu
Check
Q8
ワイン
wain
Check
Q9
ネクタイ
nekutai
Check
Q10
ココア
kokoa
Check
Let's transcribe these words in hiragana.
Q1
tsukue
つくえ
Check
Q2
saifu
さいふ
Check
Q3
niwa
にわ
Check
Q4
otera
おてら
Check
Q5
musume
むすめ
Check
Let's transcribe these words in katakana.
Q1
shiatoru
シアトル
Check
Q2
karaoke
カラオケ
Check
Q3
resutoran
レストラン
Check
Q4
Maikeru
マイケル
Check
Q5
Maikurosofuto
マイクロソフト
Check

Marks
and ゜
〝
When you add the mark〝 (called "ten ten") to consonants K, S, T, H, they become G, Z, D, B.
゜
The mark ゜(called "maru") can only be added to H. When the "maru" is added, the H becomes P.
These marks should be added on the upper right corner of each letter.
K
か
き
く
け
こ
S
さ
し
す
せ
そ
T
た
ち
つ
て
と
H
は
ひ
ふ
へ
ほ
G
が
ぎ
ぐ
げ
ご
Z
ざ
じ
ず
ぜ
ぞ
D
だ
ぢ
づ
で
ど
B
ば
び
ぶ
べ
ぼ
P
ぱ
ぴ
ぷ
ぺ
ぽ
" ji " and " zu "
You have 2 choices of letters describing the sounds "ji" and "zu". For the sound, "ji", the letter じ is most often used and ぢ is used in some exceptional cases. For the sound "zu", the letter ず is most often used and づ is used in some exceptional cases.
Let's transcribe these words in rōmaji.
Q1
ともだち
tomodachi
Check
Q2
びん
bin
Check
Q3
みず
mizu
Check
Q4
でんわ
denwa
Check
Q5
ごみ
gomi
Check
Q6
テレビ
terebi
Check
Q7
プリン
purin
Check
Q8
パソコン
pasokon
Check
Q9
ブルゾン
buruzon
Check
Q10
ベトナム
Betonamu
Check
Let's transcribe these words in hiragana.
Q1
kagi
かぎ
Check
Q2
kodomo
こども
Check
Q3
megane
めがね
Check
Q4
hanabi
はなび
Check
Q5
jikan
じかん
Check
Let's transcribe these words in katakana.
Q1
Gojira
ゴジラ
Check
Q2
pazuru
パズル
Check
Q3
gaido
ガイド
Check
Q4
piza
ピザ
Check
Q5
beruto
ベルト
Check

Contracted sounds
When one of the 3 letters, や(ya), ゆ(yu), よ(yo) is written small after "i" vowel letters (see below)...
Hiragana
き
し
ち
に
ひ
み
り
Katakana
キ
シ
チ
ニ
ヒ
ミ
り
Rōmaji
ki
shi
chi
ni
hi
mi
ri
They become contracted sounds.
They are pronounced as if you are pronouncing these two letters at the same time:
e.g: きゃ Try to pronounce "ki" and "ya" at the same time...! → kya
e.g: しゅ Try to pronounce "shi" and "yu" at the same time...! → shu
e.g: ちょ Try to pronounce "chi" and "yo" at the same time...! → cho
Let's transcribe these words in rōmaji.
Q1
ひゃく
hyaku
Check
Q2
きんぎょ
kingyo
Check
Q3
しゃしん
shashin
Check
Q4
しゅみ
shumi
Check
Q5
おちゃ
ocha
Check
Q6
シャツ
shatsu
Check
Q7
シャンペン
shanpen
Check
Q8
キャベツ
kyabetsu
Check
Q9
チュニジア
Chunijia
Check
Q10
ジョイス
Joisu
Check
Let's transcribe these words in hiragana.
Q1
kyonen
きょねん
Check
Q2
shujitsu
しゅじゅつ
Check
Q3
kaisha
かいしゃ
Check
Q4
chairo
ちゃいろ
Check
Q5
kyaku
きゃく
Check
Let's transcribe these words in katakana.
Q1
chaperu
チャペル
Check
Q2
kyandoru
キャンドル
Check
Q3
Jon
ジョン
Check
Q4
manikyua
マニキュア
Check
Q5
anchobi
アンチョビ
Check

Double vowels / Double consonants
Double vowels
In Japanese, there are double vowels (long vowels) and single vowels (short vowels). Double vowels are transcribed as follows:
In Rōmaji
Put a straight line mark ( ‾ ) on top of double vowels.
In Hiragana
Add a double sound vowel letter.
for double vowel "O", add う instead of お.
In Katakana
Put a straight line to transcribe the second vowel.
The distinction between double vowels and single vowels is very important because double or single vowels make a completely different word !
Double consonants
To transcribe the double consonant sound ( kk, tt, ss, pp, etc), write a small つ right before the letter of which the consonant should be doubled.This つ is not pronounced, but indicates that the following consonant is doubled. This rule applies to both hiragana and katakana.
Let's transcribe these words in rōmaji.
Q1
ぼうけん
bōken
Check
Q2
きっぷ
kippu
Check
Q3
くうこう
kūkō
Check
Q4
まあまあ
māmā
Check
Q5
いっかげつ
ikkagetsu
Check
Q6
ゲーム
gēmu
Check
Q7
アップルパイ
appuru pai
Check
Q8
グーグル
gūguru
Check
Q9
カーテン
kāten
Check
Q10
ロック
rokku
Check
Let's transcribe these words in hiragana.
Q1
nichiyōbi
にちようび
Check
Q2
massugu
まっすぐ
Check
Q3
yukkuri
ゆっくり
Check
Q4
obāsan
おばあさん
Check
Q5
yūki
ゆうき
Check
Let's transcribe these words in katakana.
Q1
Robāto
ロバート
Check
Q2
kurippu
クリップ
Check
Q3
sūpā
スーパー
Check
Q4
sakkā
サッカー
Check
Q5
daietto
ダイエット
Check

Exception
Exceptional use of hiragana for certain particles
Case 1
To transcribe the particle of subject/topic "wa", the letter は is used. In this case, は is exceptionally pronounced as "wa".
Case 2
To transcribe the particle of destination "e", the letter へ is used. In this case, へ is exceptionally pronounced as "e".
Case 3
The letter を is used exclusively as the particle of the direct object. You can't use お in this case even though the pronunciation is the same.
Other exceptional pronunciations
To transcribe foreign sounds which do not exist in Japanese, we write these vowel combinations in small letters in katakana. In rōmaji, these foreign sounds are written as follows in parentheses.
Let's practice some more !
Let's transcribe these words in rōmaji.
Q1
びょういん
byōin
Check
Q2
いっぷん
ippun
Check
Q3
ぎゅうにゅう
gyūnyū
Check
Q4
やっきょく
yakkyoku
Check
Q5
しゃかい
shakai
Check
Q6
スイッチ
suicchi
Check
Q7
スポーツ
supōtsu
Check
Q8
コーラ
kōra
Check
Q9
ポケット
poketto
Check
Q10
メッセージ
messēji
Check
Let's transcribe these words in hiragana.
Q1
Chūgoku
ちゅうごく
Check
Q2
ryokō
りょこう
Check
Q3
benkyō
べんきょう
Check
Q4
chotto
ちょっと
Check
Q5
yūbinkyoku
ゆうびんきょく
Check
Let's transcribe these words in katakana.
Q1
erebētā
エレベーター
Check
Q2
Yūchūbu
ユーチューブ
Check
Q3
chokorēto
チョコレート
Check
Q4
magukappu
マグカップ
Check
Q5
bābekyū
バーベキュー
Check

How did you do on the Japanese writing system ?
Take your time to master them. It's worth it !