Name: Class:

Katakana
Workbook
 Katakana Chart

a  i  u  e  o
 ka  ki  ku ke
ko
 sa  shi su  se  so
 ta  chi  tsu  te  to
 na  ni  nu  ne  no
 ha  hi  fu  he  ho
 ma mi ! mu " me # mo
$ ya % yu & yo
' ra ( ri ) ru * re + ro
, wa - wo . n

ga  gi  gu  ge  go
 za  ji  zu ze
zo
 da   de  do
 ba  bi  bu  be  bo
 pa  pi  pu  pe  po

       
  
kya gya sha ja cha nya hya bya pya mya rya

     
 
kyu gyu shu ju chu nyu hyu byu pyu my ryu

       
  
kyo gyo sho jo cho nyo hyo byo pyo myo ryo
a






  
i
 
  
u
 
  
e
 
  
o
 
ka   
 
  
ki
 
  
ku
 

ke

ko

 The Small tsu (
) and Long Vowel Sounds

In katakana a long vowel sond is represented with a dash ( ). When we write katakana
words in romaji we also use a dash, either beside or on top of the letter we want to extend.




The small tsu ( ) is also used to represent the double constants. When we say the word

aloud, the small tsu ( ) gives a small jump in the word. When written in romajii, the small
tsu ( ) doubles the first letter of the next character.

Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their



English translation. The first one is done for you.

  kukki- cookie


 


  
sa
 
  
shi
 

su

  
se
 
  
so
 
Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their


English translation.

 
 

 
ta   
 
  
chi
 
  
tsu
 
  
te
 
  
to
 
Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their

 
English translation.




Read the following romaji words and write them in katakana. See if you can guess their
English translation.

tsuna
sofuto
chiita-
na   
 
  
ni
 
  
nu
 
  
ne
 
  
no
 
Read the following romaji words and write them in katakana. See if you can guess their
English translation.

tenisu
nekutai
no-to

Similarities

  
shi tsu so no
These four characters are very similar. Study how they are written for
clues as to how they are different. Remember,  is written from
bottom to top, while  
, 
and are all written top to bottom.
ha   
 
  
hi
 
  
fu
 
  
he
 
  
ho
 
ma
 
! ! !
mi

" " "

mu
! !
# # #
me
" "
$ $ $
mo
# #
 Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their

 
English translation.


 


% % %
ya
$ $
& & &
yu
% %
' ' '
yo
& &
ra ( ( (
' '
) ) )
ri
( (
* * *
ru
) )
+ + +
re
* *
, , ,
ro
+ +
 Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their



English translation.

 
  
   

- - -
wa
, ,
. . .
wo
- -
/ / /
n
. .
Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their
English translation.
 
 


 
 Chon Chon
and Maru 
In the same way as hiragana, new sounds are formed when we add a chon chon or a maru
to regular katakana.

Old Sound
 
K
G
S
Z/J
T
D
H
B P

0 0 0
ga
//
1 1 1
gi
00
2 2 2
gu
11
3 3 3
ge
22
4 4 4
go
33
 za 5 5 5
4 4
6 6 6
ji
5 5
7 7 7
zu
6 6
  
ze
7 7
8 8 8
zo
8 8
9 9 9
da
99
: : :
de
::
; ; ;
do
;;
Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their


English translation.

 
! "
#
$%
ba < < <
< <
= = =
bi
= =
> > >
bu
> >
? ? ?
be
? ?
@ @ @
bo
@ @
pa A A A
A A
B B B
pi
B B
C C C
pu
C C
D D E
pe
D D
F F F
po
E E
Read the following romaji words and write them in katakana. See if you can guess their
English translation.

basu
pasuta
supi-do
gamu
messeji-
yu-za-

Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can guess their

 &
English translation.

'(
)%
*
 + ,
- .

Test Yourself
Fill out the blanks in this katakana table.

 

 
 
 
   
 
  

 

 Combined Sounds


As with hiragana to make combined sounds, always use the /010 in combination with

/010
an sound of any of the katakana. The initial sound is written as a standard size symbol,
while the are written smaller, half size.

kya

 gya  
kyu

 gyu  
kyo

 gyo  

sha   ja  
shu   ju  
sho   jo  

cha   nya  
chu   nyu  
cho   nyo  

hya

 bya  
hyu

 byu  
hyo

 byo  

pya   mya  
pyu   myu  
pyo   myo  

rya  
ryu  
ryo  

Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji. See if you can

23  #
guess their English translation.

- 4 !3 
!5
Read the following romaji words and write them in katakana. See if you can guess their
English translation.

menu-
indonisha
konpyuta-
 Extra Combined Sounds
As katakana is used to create Japanese words from English words, more combined sounds
are needed to be able to represent all of the sounds in the English language. Not every
sound is able to be created (for example the TH sound), but these sounds are useful to be

7
able to say tricker English sounds in Japanese.

These sounds are made by adding a small vowel to the original symbol. :90 0;08<
tso   fi  
fo   ti  
wo   di  
vo   wi  
quo   vi  

she   tsa  
je   fa  
che   va  
tse  
we  
ve   dyu  

Read the following katakana words and write them in romaji.. See if you can guess their

*6

7
English translation.

48 5
49
5
Read the following romaji words and write them in katakana.. See if you can guess their
English translation.

pa-ti-
foruku
disukaunto
 Crossword Practice
Fill out the crossword below with the English translation of the katakana clues.

3 4 5

7 8

9 10

11

Down
' #

! 12 13 14

?? 
1.
2.
4. 
 Across
5.
8. >)%
 * 15
3. =,. 
10.
 
16 6.
 

13.

7.
  
14.
'(
9.
>. 
11.
!
)2
% /
15.
12.
16.
 Match the Word
 (Chi-zu) Cheese





!"

#$

%

&' 

("!) *"+

,-.

-/0

1

#/23

-44



 Names
Read the following katakana names and write how you would say them in English. The first
one is done for you.

4 sho-na Shona

5

6
4/5
!3

17

5
7/8
9
"


#/
8
#/:"
; <5
6
9/%5
 Map Work

Read the place names written in katakana on the map above and write then English names
for the countries in the spaces below.

a b c d
e f g h
i j k l
m n o p
 Word Search
In the word search below find the Japanese words from the English list. You might find it
useful to write the Japanese word beside the English word before you begin. All of the words
have been used in the last few pages. Test yourself to see how many words you remember.

       !" #  $
#    % & ' (
' ) * 
#  $  + , ) -
' .  /
 "   0  " 1
 , " " 
 2  3  ) % /  2  
 2   3 3 & "    &
 4    4 " 3
5 ) ' "
" # 6 $  & & 1 & 0 
$   2   7 
   "
Pocket Sweater Tomato
Bed Popcorn Cream
Racquet Petrol Notebook
Concert Steak Pink
Motorbike Toast Lunch
Cassette Player Tie Pizza
Toilet Test Bell
Radio Soup Pie
Present Television Door
Hamburger Christmas
Dress Stereo