Level 5: Katakana Part 1 · ア to ノ

What you’ll learn

25 new kana

• ア a
• イ i
• ウ u
• エ e
• オ o
• カ ka
• キ ki
• ク ku
• ケ ke
• コ ko
• サ sa
• シ shi
• ス su
• セ se
• ソ so
• タ ta
• チ chi
• ツ tsu
• テ te
• ト to
• ナ na
• ニ ni
• ヌ nu
• ネ ne
• ノ no

15 words

How it works

ー makes it long

In katakana a long vowel is a dash, ー. It makes the vowel before it long: one extra beat. Hiragana adds a vowel (おばあさん); katakana uses the dash.

• ケ・ー・キ · kēki · 3 beats · cake
• ノ・ー・ト · nōto · 3 beats · notebook

Small ッ

A small ッ works exactly like っ: a one-beat pause that doubles the next consonant.

• サ・ッ・カ・ー · sakkā · 4 beats · soccer

Two little marks in katakana too

The two little marks work exactly like in hiragana: カ→ガ, サ→ザ, ト→ド. The little circle works the same way too, on the ハ row you’ll meet in E-06.

• ギター · gitā · guitar
• ドア · doa · door
• デザート · dezāto · dessert

Evil twins: シ and ツ

In print they look almost the same. シ (shi): two dashes on the left, lying flatter, and the long stroke goes UP from the bottom left. Rin rolls her eyes up: “Sheesh!” ツ (tsu): two dashes on top, standing upright, and the long stroke falls DOWN from the top right. Mikan looks down: “Tsk!” Same trick for ソ: down, like ツ.

• シ · shi · the long stroke goes up
• ツ · tsu · the long stroke falls down

The trap

Skiing, or “I like it”?

すき (suki), short and in hiragana, means “I like it!”. スキー (sukī), with a long ー, is skiing. When Rin says “すき!” about sushi, Tadashi does not need his skis.

• すき · suki · 2 beats: I like it! · hiragana, short
• スキー · sukī · 3 beats: skiing · katakana, long ー

Mini test

5 questions. Get 4 right and the level’s mini test box ticks itself.

Homework for the comments

In the comments: write 3 words from this level in katakana, from memory. No copying!

Example: ケーキ、ギター、ココア