Hiragana vs Katakana: What's the Difference?
Hiragana and katakana are both kana: phonetic scripts where each character generally represents a syllable-like sound, not a whole word or idea (unlike kanji). Japanese text normally mixes hiragana, katakana and kanji together.
What each script is typically used for
- Hiragana is generally used for native Japanese words, grammatical parts of a sentence (particles, verb endings) and words that are not usually written in kanji.
- Katakana is generally used for loanwords borrowed from other languages, foreign names, onomatopoeia, and sometimes for emphasis, similar to italics.
How they look different
Hiragana characters tend to have more curved, flowing strokes (for example あ, さ, ぬ). Katakana characters tend to look more angular and simpler (for example ア, サ, ヌ). Both scripts have 46 basic characters mapped to the same set of sounds, plus dakuten/handakuten marks (゛/゜) and small-character combinations (きゃ, ファ, etc.).
Do they sound the same?
Yes — hiragana あ and katakana ア are both pronounced “a”. The two scripts are different ways of writing the same set of sounds, though each is generally used in the different contexts described above.
Compare the hiragana chart and katakana chart side by side, or try the mixed quiz to practice telling them apart.