Katakana Intro

Before I start off chapter 4, I'm going to introduce you to katakana. I was going to include it along with chapter 4, but I realized that would make it ridiculously long! lol So I decided to make it a separate entry. Katakana nowadays is mostly used for foreign words or names.

Katakana - カタカナ

[KA] -- [KI] -- [KU] -- [KE] -- [KO]
[カ] --- [キ] --- [ク] ---- [ケ] --- [コ]

[SA] -- [SHI] -- [SU] -- [SE] -- [SO]
[サ] ---- [シ] --- [ス] --- [セ] --- [ソ]

[TA] -- [CHI] -- [TSU] -- [TE] -- [TO]
[タ] ----- [チ] ---- [ツ] --- [テ] ---- [ト]

[NA] -- [NI] -- [NU] -- [NE] -- [NO]
[ナ] ---- [ニ] --- [ヌ] --- [ネ] ---- [ノ]

[HA] -- [HI] -- [FU] -- [HE] -- [HO]
[ハ] --- [ヒ] --- [フ] --- [ヘ] ----- [ホ]

[MA] -- [MI] -- [MU] -- [ME] -- [MO]
[マ] ----- [ミ] --- [ム] ---- [メ] ----- [モ]

[YA] -- [YU] -- [YO]
[ヤ] ---- [ユ] --- [ヨ]

[RA] -- [RI] -- [RU] -- [RE] -- [RO]
[ラ] ---- [リ] ---- [ル] --- [レ] ---- [ロ]

[WA] -- [O]
[ワ] ---- [ヲ]*

[N]
[ン]

*This is special "o" (also written as "wo") that is only used as a particle.


There are some katakana characters that look similar to each other. They are "シ - shi" and "ツ - tsu", and "ソ- so" " リ- ri" and "ン - n". Make sure to study these to make sure you don't confuse them with each other. As with hiragana, if you add the 'tenten', it changes the sound of the character.

For example:

[KA] [KI] [KU] [KE] [KO] ---becomes---> [GA] [GI] [GU] [GE] [GO]
[カ] [キ] [ク] [ケ] [コ] ----------------------- [ガ] [ギ] [グ] [ゲ] [ゴ]

[SA] [SHI] [SU] [SE] [SO] ---becomes---> [ZA] [JI] [ZU] [ZE] [ZO]
[サ] [シ] [ス] [セ] [ソ] ----------------------- [ザ] [ジ] [ズ] [ゼ] [ゾ]

[TA] [CHI] [TSU] [TE] [TO] ---becomes---> [DA] [JI] [ZU] [DE] [DO]
[タ] [チ] [ツ] [テ] [ト] ------------------------- [ダ] [ヂ] [ヅ] [デ] [ド]

[HA] [HI] [FU] [HE] [HO] ---becomes---> [BA] [BI] [BU] [BE] [BO]
[ハ] [ヒ] [フ] [ヘ] [ホ] ----------------------- [バ] [ビ] [ブ] [ベ] [ボ]

It's also the same for 'maru' for changing the sound for 'h' characters.

[HA] [HI] [FU] [HE] [HO] ---becomes---> [PA] [PI] [PU] [PE] [PO]
[ハ] [ヒ] [フ] [ヘ] [ホ] ------------------- [パ] [ピ] [プ] [ペ] [ポ]

Small ya (ヤ), yu (ユ) and yo (ヨ):

[KYA] [KYU] [KYO] ------> [GYA] [GYU] [GYO]
[キャ] [キュ] [キョ] ------- [ギャ] [ギュ] [ギョ]

[SHA] [SHU] [SHO] ------> [JA] [JU] [JO]
[シャ] [シュ] [ショ] ----- [ジャ] [ジュ] [ジョ]

[CHA] [CHU] [CHO]
[チャ] [チュ] [チョ]

[NYA] [NYU] [NYO]
[ニャ] [ニュ] [ニョ]

[HYA] [HYU] [HYO]
[ヒャ] [ヒュ] [ヒョ]

[BYA] [BYU] [BYO]
[ビャ] [ビュ] [ビョ]

[PYA] [PYU] [PYO]
[ピャ] [ピュ] [ピョ]

[MYA] [MYU] [MYO]
[ミャ] [ミュ] [ミョ]

[RYA] [RYU] [RYO]
[リャ] [リュ] [リョ]

For a long vowel with katakana, you use "ー" instead a vowel character.

Topic Study

Here are 20 new words for you to memorize that used katakana. These words are called がいらいご(gairaigo) which means "foreign origin words".

1. アメリカ - amerika - America
2. テレビ - terebi - Television
3. ステレオ - sutereo - Stereo
4. ラジオ - rajio - Radio
5. カメラ - kamera - Camera
6. ペン - pen - Pen
7. ノート - nōto - Notebook
8. コーラ - kōra - Cola
9. ジュース - juusu - Juice
10. コーヒー - kōhii - Coffee
11. パン - pan - Bread
12. ハンバーガー - hanbaagaa - Hamburger
13. ホットドッグ - hottodoggu - Hot dog
14. ポップコーン - poppukōn - Popcorn
15. チョコレート - chokoretto - Chocolate
16. アイスクリーム - aisukuriimu - Ice cream
17. スクールバス - sukuurubasu - School bus
18. オートバイ/バイク - ōtobai/baiku - motorcycle
19. タイプライター - taipuraitaa - Typewriter
20. コンピューター - konpyuutaa - Computer

Katakana are sometimes used for Japanese words to add emphasis to them. One example of this could be:

これは何ですか。- Kore wa nan desu ka? - What is this?

-- compared to --

コレは何ですか。- Kore wa nan desu ka? - What is this?!