Hiragana and katakana
Two kana alphabets with the same sounds — only the shapes and uses differ.
What are they?
- Japanese mixes hiragana, katakana and kanji.
- Hiragana and katakana are syllabaries: each character is one syllable (one beat).
- Both have the same set of sounds. あ and ア are both "a".
Hiragana
- Round, curvy shapes.
- Used for grammar endings, particles and native words that are not written in kanji.
- e.g. ありがとう (arigatō, thank you)
Katakana
- Straight, angular shapes.
- Used for loanwords, foreign names, sound effects and emphasis.
- e.g. コーヒー (kōhī, coffee), テレビ (terebi, TV)
Learning order
- Most learners start with hiragana, then move on to katakana.
- The rules below (basic kana, dakuten, yōon …) work the same way in both.