Katakana Chart
Katakana has 46 basic characters, 25 with dakuten or handakuten and 33 combinations. Foreign words add 33 more sounds, such as ティ (ti), ファ (fa) and ヴ (vu), listed in the government's 1991 loanword notice.
How to use
- Read the chart row by row, the same way as hiragana: each row shares one consonant and each column one vowel.
- Scroll to the two loanword tables for sounds the basic set cannot spell, such as ティ for ti, ファ for fa and ウィ for wi.
- Tap any character or example word to hear it, then switch to Quiz and choose the loanword range to practice them.
How it works
Every basic katakana matches a hiragana with the same sound: ア = あ, カ = か, ン = ん. Katakana is used for foreign words, names, sound effects, and emphasis. The chart has the same 46 basic characters, 25 voiced forms and 33 small ヤ, ユ, ヨ combinations as the hiragana chart.
Japanese has sounds that the old table could not write, so loanword spelling uses small vowels attached to a base character: テ + ィ makes ティ (ti), フ + ァ makes ファ (fa), and ヴ + ェ makes ヴェ (ve). The small letter is always written small.
The extended kana come from the Japanese government notice 「外来語の表記」 (Cabinet Notice No. 2, 1991). Table 1 holds 13 kana in general use. Table 2 holds 20 more for writing a foreign sound closely, which is common in place names and personal names. Each word is only one example, and spellings vary by field.
Which spelling will you see?
The notice says Table 2 kana can be replaced by simpler ones when closeness is not needed. In everyday text you will meet both versions of the same word.
| Closer to the original | Simpler spelling | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ヴァイオリン | バイオリン | violin |
| ウィスキー | ウイスキー | whisky |
| ウェディングケーキ | ウエディングケーキ | wedding cake |
| インタヴュー | インタビュー | interview |
| トゥールーズ | ツールーズ | Toulouse |
The long vowel mark
Katakana lengthens a vowel with the bar ー instead of repeating the vowel: コーヒー is koohii, and ラーメン is raamen. The bar is also used at the end of English words ending in -er, -or or -ar, such as コンピューター (computer).
Look-alike pairs worth drilling
- シ shi and ツ tsu: the two short strokes of shi lie flatter, those of tsu stand more upright.
- ソ so and ン n: the strokes of so slant downward, while the long stroke of n sweeps upward.
- ク ku and ワ wa, and ス su and ヌ nu, are close when handwritten.
- The long mark ー is a short bar in Japanese text, but a vertical line in vertical writing.
Sources: Agency for Cultural Affairs, 外来語の表記 (Cabinet Notice No. 2, 1991)Last reviewed 2026-10-17
FAQ
How many katakana characters are there?
There are 46 basic characters, the same count as hiragana. This chart adds 25 voiced forms and 33 small ヤ, ユ, ヨ combinations, and then 33 extra loanword sounds from the 1991 government notice.
How do you write "ti" or "fa" in katakana?
Use ティ for ti and ファ for fa. They combine a base kana with a small vowel, and both are in Table 1 of the notice, so they are standard in modern text. Words like パーティー (party) and ファイル (file) use them.
Is ヴ read as v or b?
The official table lists ヴ as the sign for v. Most Japanese speakers pronounce it close to b, which is why ヴァイオリン and バイオリン both appear. Both are read the same way in practice.
How is this page different from the hiragana chart?
The basic grid has the same sounds in the other script. This page adds the two loanword tables with example words, and a quiz range for them. The hiragana page instead lists small and obsolete characters.
Can I type half-width katakana here?
This page is a reference chart, not a converter. The Japanese tool for converting between full-width and half-width kana is a separate page.