Katakana chart and practice

ア is a as in father, the katakana twin of あ. Katakana is what Japanese uses for words borrowed from other languages, so you will meet ア in a lot of familiar-sounding words.

イ is the ee in see, short. Two strokes, and it leans left where its hiragana twin い stands straight.

ウ is oo with relaxed lips, the katakana twin of う.

エ is the e in bed. Three straight lines — katakana is full of straight lines, which is the quickest way to tell the two alphabets apart.

オ is the o in more, cut short. It is ホ with the side strokes trimmed off.

カ is the ka in car. It is hiragana か without the little mark on the right.

キ is key. It keeps the crossbars of hiragana き but straightens them out.

ク is coo, short. Careful with this one: ク, ワ and フ are three very similar corners.

ケ is the ke in kettle. It is ク with a stroke through it.

コ is the co in coffee. Two strokes making three sides of a box.

サ is the sa in saw. It is hiragana さ straightened into three strokes.

シ is she, not see. Its two short strokes come in from the left, almost level — that is what separates it from ツ.

ス is soo, said quickly. It turns up at the end of a lot of borrowed words — バス (basu), a bus.

セ is the se in set. It is hiragana せ with the middle stroke dropped.

ソ is so. Its short stroke falls from the top; ン has one that rises. That single angle is the whole difference.

タ is the ta in taco. It is ク with one extra stroke inside.

チ is chee, like the start of cheese. Same sound as hiragana ち, different alphabet.

ツ is the ts in cats plus oo, one beat. Its short strokes come down from above, where シ has them coming in from the side.

テ is the te in ten. Two bars and a hook, like a simplified hiragana て.

ト is the to in tot. A line with one tick — you will see it in トイレ (toire), the restroom.

ナ is the na in nachos. Two strokes, like a cross leaning right.

ニ is knee, and it is also the kanji for two — which is easy to remember, since it is two lines.

ヌ is noo, as in noodle. It is ス with an extra stroke.

ネ is ne as in nest. It starts with the same ノ stroke as several of its neighbors.

ノ is no. A single diagonal stroke, and it hides inside several other katakana.

ハ is ha as in hot. Two strokes leaning apart, like a roof.

ヒ is he, the English word. Two strokes making a shape like a boot.

フ sits between foo and hoo. One corner stroke — compare it with ワ and ク, which are its close cousins.

ヘ is he as in hen. It is drawn the same as hiragana へ, which makes it the one character you get twice for free.

ホ is ho as in hope, cut short.

マ is the ma in mama. You will meet it in トマト (tomato).

ミ is me. Three short strokes, so the number 3 works as a memory hook here too.

ム is moo. It shows up in ゲーム (geemu), a game, where the final u is barely voiced.

メ is meh. It is just an x.

モ is mo as in more, cut short. It is ナ with an extra bar.

ヤ is ya as in yacht. The y row is short in katakana too — ヤ, ユ and ヨ.

ユ is you. Look for it in ユニット (yunitto), a unit, and other borrowed words that start with a u sound.

ヨ is yo. Three lines and a spine, like a capital E facing the other way.

ラ sits between ra and la, made with one quick tap of the tongue.

リ is that quick tap with an ee. Two strokes standing side by side.

ル is roo. Two strokes that curve out at the bottom.

レ is reh. One stroke, like a check mark.

ロ is roh. It is a closed box — and it is also the kanji for mouth.

ワ is wa as in water. It is the only one of its row still in ordinary use.

ヲ is said o, and you will almost never see it. When Japanese needs this sound it writes the hiragana を instead.

ン is a hummed n and takes a full beat of its own. Its short stroke rises from below; ソ has one that falls from above.