Vowel
アイウエオ — The Vowel Row
01
Why start here?
Katakana has the same five vowel sounds as hiragana — ア イ ウ エ オ sound exactly like あ い う え お. What changes is the shape: katakana is built from sharp, straight strokes made for fast reading. Master these five and every other katakana is just a consonant plus one of them: カ = k + a, サ = s + a, タ = t + a.
Memory trick: read them aloud “ah, ee, ooh, eh, oh” — the very same vowel ladder you know from hiragana. Only the angular shapes are new.
02
Pronunciation at a glance
03
Loanwords that begin with a katakana vowel
Katakana vowels rarely stand alone — they're the front door to thousands of loanwords. Here are everyday words that open with each vowel.
アメリカamerikaAmerica
アイスaisuice cream
イタリアitariaItaly
イメージimējiimage, impression
ウールūruwool
ウェブwebuweb (internet)
エネルギーenerugīenergy
エリアeriaarea
オレンジorenjiorange
オフィスofisuoffice
04
What's next
Once you can read and write all five vowels, move to the カ-row (カ キ ク ケ コ) — the same vowels with a “k” in front. From there the katakana chart fills in one consonant family at a time, just like hiragana.