pa / パ
The first of the P row — ハ with a handakuten (゜) becomes “pa.” Opens bread, party, and passport.
Pronunciation
The character パ represents the syllable 'pa'. It is ハ with the handakuten — a small circle at the upper right that hardens 'h' to 'p'. The handakuten is unique to the は-row in both hiragana and katakana. Extremely common in loanwords — bread, party, computer, passport, and many more.
パ is ハ (ha) plus the handakuten ゜ — a small circle at the upper right that makes the sound “p.” It opens loanwords like パン (bread), パーティー (party), パスタ (pasta), パソコン (PC), パスポート (passport).
How to write パ
Trace パ on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
Write ハ exactly: two diagonals parting from the upper centre — one to the lower left, one to the lower right.
Add the handakuten (゜): a single small circle at the upper right — stroke 3 — sitting clearly above the body.
Origin
Katakana パ shares its shape with ハ, taken from the kanji 八 (“eight”). The handakuten ゜ is a later mark — a small circle that turns “ha” into “pa.”
Common words starting with パ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing パ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
Reading is only half of it. Drill the katakana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.