Katakana is one of two syllabaries used in Japanese writing. It contains forty five basic kana, along with several modified characters to represent the full range of Japanese pronunciation. The characters of Katakana developed from shorthand forms of Chinese logographic characters alongside Hiragana. Katakana and Hiragana are both still in use today, and share many similar glyphs, such as Hirigana's か and Katakana's カ, both refering to the sound ka. Katakana has less frequent usage than Hiragana, and is mostly used for loanwords, onomatopoeia, and emphasis.
Katakana is composed of:
Types 1, 2, and 3 are called "gojuuon," while type 4 is called "youon." Extended kana is a unique feature of Katakana, as the analogous Hiragana digraphs are not used.
| vowels | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
ア a | イ i | ウ u | エ e | オ o | basic gojuuon |
カ ka | キ ki | ク ku | ケ ke | コ ko |
サ sa | シ shi | ス su | セ se | ソ so |
タ ta | チ chi | ツ tsu | テ te | ト to |
ナ na | ニ ni | ヌ nu | ネ ne | ノ no |
ハ ha | ヒ hi | フ fu | ヘ he | ホ ho |
マ ma | ミ mi | ム mu | メ me | モ mo |
ヤ ya | – | ユ yu | – | ヨ yo |
ラ ra | リ ri | ル ru | レ re | ロ ro |
ワ wa | – | – | – | ヲ wo | gojuuon with dakuten |
ガ ga | ギ gi | グ gu | ゲ ge | ゴ go |
ザ za | ジ ji | ズ zu | ゼ ze | ゾ zo |
ダ da | ヂ ji | ヅ zu | デ de | ド do |
バ ba | ビ bi | ブ bu | ベ be | ボ bo |
パ pa | ピ pi | プ pu | ペ pe | ポ po | youon |
キャ kya | – | キュ kyu | – | キョ kyo |
シャ sha | – | シュ shu | – | ショ sho |
チャ cha | – | チュ chu | – | チョ cho |
ニャ nya | – | ニュ nyu | – | ニョ nyo |
ヒャ hya | – | ヒュ hyu | – | ヒョ hyo |
ミャ mya | – | ミュ myu | – | ミョ myo | youon with dakuten |
ギャ gya | – | ギュ gyu | – | ギョ gyo |
ジャ ja | – | ジュ ju | – | ジョ jo |
ヂャ ja | – | ヂュ ju | – | ヂョ jo |
ビャ bya | – | ビュ byu | – | ビョ byo |
ピャ pya | – | ピュ pyu | – | ピョ pyo | other |
ン n | ッ sokuon | ヰ wi |
ヱ we |
ヿ koto |
This list contains some common extended Katakana digraphs used in the quiz above. A more complete list can be found at the German Wikipedia article
|
ティ – ti ディ – di ファ – fa フィ – fi シェ – she ジェ – je ウィ – wi |
ウェ – we フォ – fo フェ – fe チェ – che デュ – dyu ウォ – wo |
イェ – ye トゥ – tu クォ – kwo ツァ – tsa ツェ – tse ツォ – tso |
フュ – fyu ヴィ – vi ヴ – vu ヴェ – ve ヴォ – vo ドゥ – du |
"ナムダイヒカンセオンボサツ。ナムアミダブツ。" reads as "Namu Daihi Kanseon Bosatsu. Namu Amida Butsu."