Wa Wo N

Katakana 1

Chapter 18 · Wa Wo N

🌿 The Last Three — ワヲン

The final three of the 46 basic katakana: ワ (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 — ワヲン

ワ

like "wa" in water ("wah")

2 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a water bucket: the hat of ウ taken off, leaving just the bucket. Hiragana twin: わ.

ヲ

pronounced just o ("oh"), the same as オ

3 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a wobbly ヨ: three bars with a slash through them. Rare: see below. Hiragana twin: を.

ン

a nasal "n" that takes a full beat on its own

2 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a nod: a tiny mark on the left and a long nod upward. Hiragana twin: ん.

Katakana	Hiragana twin	Romaji
ワ	わ	wa
ヲ	を	wo (pronounced o)
ン	ん	n

ヲ Is Rare In hiragana, を 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: ワイン is wa-i-n, three beats; ラーメン is ra-a-me-n, four beats.

⚠️ The Last Look-Alike: ソ versus ン

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

Character	Short stroke	Long stroke	Sound
ソ	a dot at the top, more upright	starts at the top and runs down	so
ン	a dot at the left, more sideways	starts at the bottom and sweeps up	n

One More: ワ, ウ and フワ (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.

📖 Read It — Real Words

#	Word	Romaji	English	Note
1	ワイン	wain	wine	wa-i-n: three beats
2	ラーメン	rāmen	ramen	ra-a-me-n: four beats
3	レモン	remon	lemon	re-mo-n
4	レストラン	resutoran	restaurant	re-su-to-ra-n: five beats
5	サイン	sain	sign; autograph	sa-i-n
6	ヒント	hinto	hint	hi-n-to
7	ハワイ	Hawai	Hawaii	ha-wa-i
8	フランス	Furansu	France	fu-ra-n-su
9	ワンワン	wanwan	woof woof	the dog sound from Chapter 1
10	テント	tento	tent	te-n-to
11	ランチ	ranchi	lunch	ra-n-chi
12	ミント	minto	mint	mi-n-to
13	ライン	rain	line (LINE chat app)	ra-i-n

Real Katakana Look at ライン: 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, コーヒー, is yours.

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

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

1. Read aloud: ワ · ヲ · ン

Show answer

wa · wo (pronounced o) · n

2. Read aloud and translate: ワイン · ラーメン · レモン

Show answer

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

3. Read aloud and translate: レストラン · サイン · ヒント

Show answer

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

4. Read aloud and translate: ハワイ · フランス · ランチ

Show answer

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

5. How can you tell ソ from ン?

Show answer

ソ: 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

ワイン · ラーメン · レモン

🎓 Course Complete — おめでとう！

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

Chapter	New characters	You can now…
1	Meet Katakana: アイウ	You can now what katakana is for, and read the first three characters.
2	エオ	You can now read all five vowels.
3	カキク + ー	You can now read the K row start and stretch vowels with ー.
4	ケコ	You can now finish the K row: ケーキ, ココア.
5	サシス	You can now start the S row: アイス, スキー.
6	セソ	You can now finish the S row: ソース, シーソー.
7	タチツ	You can now tell シ from ツ: タクシー, ツアー.
8	テト	You can now finish the T row: テスト, トースト.
9	ナニヌ	You can now start the N row: ツナ, テニス.
10	ネノ	You can now finish the N row: ノート, ネクタイ.
11	ハヒフ	You can now start the H row: コーヒー, ナイフ.
12	ヘホ	You can now finish the H row: ヘア, ホース.
13	マミム	You can now start the M row: マスク, マイク.
14	メモ	You can now finish the M row: アニメ, メキシコ.
15	ヤユヨ	You can now read the Y row: タイヤ, ヨーヨー.
16	ラリル	You can now start the R row: カメラ, アメリカ.
17	レロ	You can now finish the R row: カレー, トイレ.
18	ワヲン	You can now read ワイン, ラーメン and the rest.

What Next? Not yet covered, and the subject of Katakana 2: the voiced marks ゛ and ゜ (ガパビズ …) that give you ビール, テレビ and スーパー; the small ッ; combined sounds such as キャ and シュ; and the extra foreign sounds like ティ and ファ. After that you can start on the Japanese Basic Conversation courses with a full set of kana behind you.

Wa Wo N

🌿 The Last Three — ワ ヲ ン

✨ Your Three New Characters — ワ ヲ ン

⚠️ The Last Look-Alike: ソ versus ン

📖 Read It — Real Words

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

🎓 Course Complete — おめでとう！

🌿 The Last Three — ワヲン

✨ Your Three New Characters — ワヲン