Spelling with kana – Japanese basics

The 46 basic kana are extended with two small marks and with small versions of a few kana. With these, kana can spell every sound of the language. The rules are the same for hiragana and katakana, except for long vowels.

Voicing marks

Two small strokes, ゛ (dakuten, often called tenten), voice a consonant. A small circle, ゜ (handakuten, or maru), turns h into p.

Mark	Change	Kana
゛	k → g	が ga, ぎ gi, ぐ gu, げ ge, ご go
゛	s → z	ざ za, じ ji, ず zu, ぜ ze, ぞ zo
゛	t → d	だ da, ぢ ji, づ zu, で de, ど do
゛	h → b	ば ba, び bi, ぶ bu, べ be, ぼ bo
゜	h → p	ぱ pa, ぴ pi, ぷ pu, ぺ pe, ぽ po

Katakana takes the same marks: カ ka → ガ ga, ハ ha → パ pa. In compound words, the second part often gains the voicing mark: 本 hon "book" + 棚 tana "shelf" makes 本棚 hondana "bookshelf".

Small ゃ, ゅ and ょ

A kana from the i column (き, し, ち, に, ひ, み, り, and ぎ, じ, び and ぴ with the marks) followed by a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ makes a single beat: き + ゃ is きゃ kya, not ki-ya. Note the spellings しゃ sha, ちゃ cha and じゃ ja. The small kana is written at half size, and the size matters:

Written	Romanization	Beats	Meaning
びよういん	biyōin	bi-yo-o-i-n, five	beauty salon
びょういん	byōin	byo-o-i-n, four	hospital

Small っ

A small っ doubles the consonant after it, holding it for a beat: a pause in がっこう gakkō "school" and きって kitte "stamp", a drawn-out s in ざっし zasshi "magazine". Before ch, romanization writes t: まっちゃ matcha. At the end of an exclamation it marks a sudden stop: あっ "oh". Katakana uses ッ the same way: ベッド beddo "bed".

Long vowels

In hiragana, a long vowel is spelled with an extra vowel kana. Katakana uses a dash, ー, as a rule; a few words keep a vowel kana by custom, such as エイト eito "eight", and technical writing often drops a final ー: コンピュータ beside コンピューター.

Sound	Hiragana	Example	Katakana example
ā	ああ	おかあさん okāsan "mother"	カード kādo "card"
ī	いい	おにいさん onīsan "older brother"	チーズ chīzu "cheese"
ū	うう	くうき kūki "air"	スーパー sūpā "supermarket"
ē	ええ, usually えい	おねえさん onēsan "older sister", せんせい sensei "teacher"	ケーキ kēki "cake"
ō	おう, sometimes おお	こうこう kōkō "high school", おおきい ōkii "big"	ノート nōto "notebook"

えい is usually said as a long e, but romanized as written: せんせい sensei. A long o is nearly always おう; a few words use おお, among them おおきい ōkii "big", おおい ōi "many", とおい tōi "far", とおる tōru "pass through" and こおり kōri "ice".

は, へ and を as particles

The particles は, へ and を are read wa, e and o. Everywhere else, は and へ keep their usual sounds: はな hana "flower", へや heya "room". を is used only as a particle; the sound o inside words is written お. The greetings こんにちは and こんばんは end in the particle は, so they are spelled with は and said wa.

私は駅へ行きます。
Watashi wa eki e ikimasu.
I'm going to the station.
毎朝パンを食べます。
Maiasa pan o tabemasu.
I eat bread every morning.
こんにちは。
Konnichiwa.
Hello.

じ, ぢ, ず and づ

じ and ぢ are both said ji, and ず and づ are both said zu. じ and ず are the usual spellings. ぢ and づ appear mainly in two cases:

A sound repeated: ちぢむ chijimu "shrink", つづく tsuzuku "continue".
A compound whose second part starts with ち or つ and becomes voiced: はな "nose" + ち "blood" makes はなぢ hanaji "nosebleed", and て "hand" + つくり "making" makes てづくり tezukuri "handmade".

Romanization

This guide uses Hepburn romanization, which spells sounds the way English speakers expect. Its main rules:

Kana	Hepburn	Example
し, ち, つ, ふ	shi, chi, tsu, fu	すし sushi
じ, ぢ	ji	じしょ jisho "dictionary"
ず, づ	zu	つづく tsuzuku "continue"
ん	n; n' before a vowel or y	きんようび kin'yōbi "Friday"
っ	Doubles the next consonant; t before ch	がっこう gakkō, まっちゃ matcha
Long vowels	A line over the vowel: ā ī ū ē ō	とうきょう Tōkyō
いい, えい	As written: ii, ei	おおきい ōkii, せんせい sensei
は, へ, を as particles	wa, e, o	わたしは watashi wa

The lines over long vowels are often dropped in everyday use, as in Tokyo, or the vowel is spelled as it is typed, as in Toukyou. Another system, Kunrei, writes si, ti, tu, hu and zi; Japanese keyboards accept both spellings.