Japanese Hiragana Katakana Kanji

Japanese language learning information including:

Hiragana - pronunciation and writing
Katakana - pronunciation and writing
Kanji - grades 1-6 (教育漢字 Kyōiku kanji)
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Japanese Sounds in Romaji

This page explains how to write the 69 basic sounds of Japanese in romaji. The following table contains the basic sounds along with the 33 combination sounds.
 
Japanese Sounds Written in Romaji
Consonants Vowels
n w r y m h n t s k
n wa ra ya ma ha
wa		 na ta sa ka a a
    ri   mi hi ni chi shi ki i i
    ru yu mu fu nu tsu su ku u u
    re   me he
e		 ne te se ke e e
  wo ro yo mo ho no to so ko o o
          b   d z g    
          ba   da za ga   a
          bi     ji gi   i
          bu     zu gu   u
          be   de ze ge   e
          bo   do zo go   o
          p            
          pa           a
          pi           i
          pu           u
          pe           e
          po           o
Combination Japanese Sounds
    r   m h n ch sh k    
    rya   mya hya nya cha sha kya   ya
    ryu   myu hyu nyu chu shu kyu   yu
    ryo   myo hyo nyo cho sho kyo   yo
          b     j g    
          bya     jya gya   ya
          byu     jyu gyu   yu
          byo     jyo gyo   yo
          p            
          pya           ya
          pyu           yu
          pyo           yo
Reading order - the table above should be read in the following order.
  • read the table from top to bottom and then from right to left
  • a  i  u  e  o .... ka  ki  ku  ke  ko .... etc.
  • read the ya, yu, yo combination sounds from top to bottom and then from right to left
  • ya  yu  yo .... kya  kyu  kyo .... sha  shu  sho .... etc.
Basic Japanese sounds - the basic Japanese sounds, written here in romaji, are formed by combining a consonant with a vowel.
  • a few examples of forming Japanese sounds
  • k  +  a  =  ka
  • n  +  u  =  nu
  • r  +  o  =  ro
  • w  +  a  =  wa
Combination Japanese sounds - the combination Japanese sounds, written here in romaji, are formed with a consonant and either ya, yu, or yo.
  • the combination Japanese sounds are formed with either ya, yu, yo, and a consonant
  • k  +  ya  =  kya
  • n  +  yu  =  nyu
Exceptions - there are exceptions to the pronunciation of Japanese sounds, 7 for the basic sounds and 9 for the combination sounds. All exceptions are shown in the gray areas of the table.
  • shi, chi, tsu, and ji are exceptions to the basic pronunciation pattern
  • tsu  is pronounced as in the Japanese word  tsunami
  • hu is only pronounced as hoo in hoop, however, fu is used when typing on a keyboard to get the hiragana, katakana, and kanji equivalent of the sound hu. For example, Japanese people pronounce France as huransu, but type furansu when typing it on a keyboard.
  • ha can also be pronounced as wa
  • he can also be used as e
  • sha, shu, sho, cha, chu, and cho all pronounce the "y" sound but drop the "y" when writing in romaji
Sound equivalents - each sound written in romaji has written hiragana and katakana equivalents.
  • example of sound written in romaji, hiragana, and katakana
  • sound bop = romaji a = hiragana あ = katakana ア
Conversation examples - using romaji, you can easily begin communicating in Japanese
  • conversation examples written in romaji and Japanese
  • Good afternoon. (hello)
  • ko + n + ni + chi + wa = Konnichi wa.
  • こんにちは。
  • How are you?
  • o + ge + n + ki + de + su + ka = Ogenki desu ka?
  • お元気ですか。
  • Fine, thank you.
  • ge + n + ki + de + su = Genki desu.
  • 元気です。
  • How about you?
  • a + na + ta + wa = Anata wa?
  • あなたは。
  • Goodbye. (long-term)
  • sa + yo + u + na + ra = Sayounara.
  • さようなら。