Japanese alphabet
Romaji (below each character) is the English-style reading.
Japanese uses three writing systems
- Hiragana — Curved, flowing characters. Used for native Japanese words, grammar (particles, verb endings), and when Kanji is not used. Every word can be written in Hiragana; it’s the first script learners usually study.
- Katakana — Angular, straight strokes. Used mainly for loanwords (e.g. コーヒー “koohii”, coffee), foreign names, and emphasis (like italics). Same sounds as Hiragana, different shapes.
- Kanji — Characters borrowed from Chinese. Used for most nouns, verb stems, and adjectives. Not shown here; practice Hiragana and Katakana first.
Hiragana (ひらがな)
Native words and grammar. The 46 basic characters (gojūon) are shown below. Pronunciation is under each character in romaji.
Katakana (カタカナ)
Loanwords and foreign names. Same 46 sounds as Hiragana, different shapes.