Recognise ア イ ウ エ オ in Katakana, then read them in useful words and sentences. Each kana has a sound; the table links the written form to its reading.

The idea

ア イ ウ エ オ are a, i, u, e and o, matching the vowels of あ い う え お. Katakana commonly writes loanwords and foreign place names. Read アイデア as a-i-de-a, with separate vowel beats.

Patterns to compare
KanaReading (romaji)
アa
イi
ウu
エe
オo

Examples

  • アイスを食たべます。I eat ice cream.
  • イタリアへ行いきます。I go to Italy.
  • ウクレレを弾ひきます。I play the ukulele.
  • エアコンを使つかいます。I use the air conditioner.
  • オレンジを買かいます。I buy an orange.
  • いいアイデアです。That is a good idea.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

ウ and ワ look alike, but ウ has a short stroke at the top. Katakana spells Japanese pronunciation, so a loanword need not sound exactly like its source word.

Try it yourself

  1. Fill the blank with one Katakana character: ＿イス (aisu).

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    ア

    ア represents a; アイス is read aisu.

  2. Fill the blank with one Katakana character: ＿タリア (itaria).

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    イ

    イ represents i; イタリア is read itaria.

  3. Fill the blank with one Katakana character: ＿クレレ (ukurere).

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    ウ

    ウ represents u; ウクレレ is read ukurere.

  4. Write eakon in Katakana.

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    エアコン

    エアコン is read eakon: エ = e; ア = a; コ = ko; ン = n.

Use it today

Cover the table and read two example sentences aloud. Write one word from memory, then check each target kana against the table.