Wa Wo N

Katakana 1

Chapter 18 Β· Wa Wo N

🌿 The Last Three β€” γƒ― ヲ ン

The final three of the 46 basic katakana: γƒ― (wa), ヲ (wo) and ン (n). After this chapter you have the complete basic katakana set. Romaji is shown for everything, one last time.

✨ Your Three New Characters β€” γƒ― ヲ ン

γƒ―
wa
like "wa" in water ("wah")
2 strokes Β· stroke order β–Έ
Memory hook: a water bucket: the hat of ウ taken off, leaving just the bucket. Hiragana twin: わ.
ヲ
wo
pronounced just o ("oh"), the same as γ‚ͺ
3 strokes Β· stroke order β–Έ
Memory hook: a wobbly ヨ: three bars with a slash through them. Rare: see below. Hiragana twin: γ‚’.
ン
n
a nasal "n" that takes a full beat on its own
2 strokes Β· stroke order β–Έ
Memory hook: a nod: a tiny mark on the left and a long nod upward. Hiragana twin: γ‚“.
KatakanaHiragana twinRomaji
wa
wo (pronounced o)
n
ヲ Is Rare In hiragana, γ‚’ is everywhere, because it marks the object of a sentence. Its katakana twin ヲ is very rarely seen: katakana is mostly for single words, not sentences, so it has no grammar job. You may meet it in stylised writing, for example ヲタク, a playful spelling of otaku. Learn to recognise it, but don't worry about writing it.
ン: A Beat of Its Own ン is a syllable by itself: it takes one full beat, never starts a word, and its sound shifts slightly with what follows (like the n in ten, the m in ham or the ng in sing). Count it: ワむン is wa-i-n, three beats; ラーパン is ra-a-me-n, four beats.

⚠️ The Last Look-Alike: γ‚½ versus ン

Both have two strokes and a short mark beside a long stroke. The difference is the direction of the long stroke.

CharacterShort strokeLong strokeSound
a dot at the top, more uprightstarts at the top and runs downso
a dot at the left, more sidewaysstarts at the bottom and sweeps upn
One More: γƒ―, ウ and フ γƒ― (wa) has an extra short stroke at the left; ウ (u) has a tick on top; フ (fu) has neither. With this, all the look-alike pairs of katakana 1 are covered.

πŸ“– Read It β€” Real Words

#WordRomajiEnglishNote
1wainwinewa-i-n: three beats
2rāmenramenra-a-me-n: four beats
3remonlemonre-mo-n
4resutoranrestaurantre-su-to-ra-n: five beats
5sainsign; autographsa-i-n
6hintohinthi-n-to
7HawaiHawaiiha-wa-i
8FuransuFrancefu-ra-n-su
9wanwanwoof woofthe dog sound from Chapter 1
10tentotentte-n-to
11ranchilunchra-n-chi
12mintomintmi-n-to
13rainline (LINE chat app)ra-i-n
Real Katakana Look at ラむン: it's both the English line and the name of Japan's most popular chat app, LINE. And ワンワン, the dog's bark from Chapter 1, now reads as wa-n-wa-n. You can read the sample sentence from Chapter 1 too: the katakana part, γ‚³γƒΌγƒ’γƒΌ, is yours.

✍️ Try It Yourself β€” γ‚Œγ‚“γ—γ‚…γ†

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Read aloud: Β· Β·

Show answer

wa Β· wo (pronounced o) Β· n

2. Read aloud and translate: Β· Β·

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wain (wine) · rāmen (ramen) · remon (lemon)

3. Read aloud and translate: Β· Β·

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resutoran (restaurant) Β· sain (sign) Β· hinto (hint)

4. Read aloud and translate: Β· Β·

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Hawai (Hawaii) Β· Furansu (France) Β· ranchi (lunch)

5. How can you tell from ?

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γ‚½: the long stroke runs down from the top. ン: the long stroke sweeps up from the bottom.

6. Write in katakana: wain · rāmen · remon (check the stroke order).

Show answer

Β· Β·

πŸŽ“ Course Complete β€” γŠγ‚γ§γ¨γ†οΌ

You have learned all 46 basic katakana, with plenty of real loanwords along the way. Here is the whole journey in one table.

ChapterNew charactersYou can now…
1You can now what katakana is for, and read the first three characters.
2You can now read all five vowels.
3You can now read the K row start and stretch vowels with γƒΌ.
4You can now finish the K row: γ‚±γƒΌγ‚­, γ‚³γ‚³γ‚’.
5You can now start the S row: γ‚’γ‚€γ‚Ή, γ‚Ήγ‚­γƒΌ.
6You can now finish the S row: γ‚½γƒΌγ‚Ή, γ‚·γƒΌγ‚½γƒΌ.
7You can now tell γ‚· from ツ: γ‚Ώγ‚―γ‚·γƒΌ, ツをー.
8You can now finish the T row: γƒ†γ‚Ήγƒˆ, γƒˆγƒΌγ‚Ήγƒˆ.
9You can now start the N row: γƒ„γƒŠ, テニス.
10You can now finish the N row: γƒŽγƒΌγƒˆ, ネクタむ.
11You can now start the H row: γ‚³γƒΌγƒ’γƒΌ, γƒŠγ‚€γƒ•.
12You can now finish the H row: γƒ˜γ‚’, ホース.
13You can now start the M row: γƒžγ‚Ήγ‚―, γƒžγ‚€γ‚―.
14You can now finish the M row: をニパ, パキシコ.
15You can now read the Y row: タむダ, ヨーヨー.
16You can now start the R row: カパラ, をパγƒͺγ‚«.
17You can now finish the R row: カレー, γƒˆγ‚€γƒ¬.
18You can now read ワむン, ラーパン and the rest.
What Next? Not yet covered, and the subject of Katakana 2: the voiced marks γ‚› and γ‚œ (ガ パ ビ γ‚Ί …) that give you ビール, テレビ and スーパー; the small ッ; combined sounds such as キャ and γ‚·γƒ₯; and the extra foreign sounds like ティ and フゑ. After that you can start on the Japanese Basic Conversation courses with a full set of kana behind you.