Russian usually writes words with Cyrillic letters; Japanese commonly combines three scripts in one sentence.
The idea
Hiragana represents sounds and writes particles and verb endings, as in は and べます. Katakana also represents sounds and often writes loanwords such as パン. Kanji often carries word meaning, as in 水. Small furigana above kanji gives its reading: 水 is read みず here.
| Script | Example |
|---|---|
| ひらがな | は、べます |
| カタカナ | パン |
| 漢字 | 水 |
Examples
- 私はパンを食べます。I eat bread.
- これは日本の本です。This is a Japanese book.
- 猫が水を飲みます。The cat drinks water.
- 友達とコーヒーを飲みます。I drink coffee with a friend.
- 今日は学校に行きます。Today I go to school.
- バスで駅へ行きます。I go to the station by bus.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No Japanese device voice is available. You can still read the text and use the linked listening resources.
Watch out
A kanji is not simply a letter with one fixed sound: its reading can change with the word. Nor does katakana mark every foreign word.
Try it yourself
パンはどちらですか。（ひらがな／カタカナ）
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カタカナ
パン is katakana, commonly used for this loanword.
水はどちらですか。（かんじ／カタカナ）
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かんじ
水 is kanji; みず is its reading in hiragana.
「みず」を漢字で書いてください。
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水
水 is the kanji for the word read みず here.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Japanese sentences where available. We keep your score.
パンはどちらですか。（ひらがな／カタカナ）
水はどちらですか。（かんじ／カタカナ）
「みず」を漢字で書いてください。
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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In the examples, find one item in each script, then read 水 using its furigana.