Hiragana Translator (Romaji to Hiragana)
This hiragana converter turns romaji, Japanese written in Latin letters, into hiragana, and turns hiragana or katakana back into Hepburn romaji. It handles double consonants, ん and long vowels.
How to use the hiragana converter
- Type Japanese in romaji, the Latin-letter spelling of Japanese: arigatou, sakura, konnichiwa. Hepburn spellings (shi, chi, tsu, fu) and Kunrei spellings (si, ti, tu, hu) both work.
- Press Convert to get hiragana. The katakana version is shown underneath.
- Paste hiragana or katakana to go the other way. The tool switches direction by itself when it sees kana.
- Copy the result into a message, flashcard or document.
This tool converts sounds, not meaning. Typing the English word “love” will not give you the Japanese word for love. Type the Japanese word in romaji (ai) and you will get あい. For English names, see the Katakana Converter, since Japanese writes foreign names in katakana.
How romaji to hiragana conversion works
Hiragana is a syllabary: each character stands for a syllable, usually a consonant plus a vowel. The tool reads your romaji from left to right and always takes the longest match it can find, so kya becomes きゃ (one syllable, written with a small ゃ) rather than き + や. A few special rules handle the rest:
- Double consonants become a small っ: kitte → きって, matcha → まっちゃ (tch counts as a double consonant).
- n becomes ん when no vowel or y follows it: shinbun → しんぶん. Type n’ to force ん before a vowel or y: kon’ya → こんや, not こにゃ.
- m before b, m or p also becomes ん, so the older spelling shimbun works too.
- Long vowels are written out: ō or ou → おう, ū → うう.
- Small kana can be typed with x: xa → ぁ, xtsu → っ.
gakkou → ga + (double k) + ko + u → が + っ + こ + う → がっこう
Particles are a known trap. The topic particle is pronounced wa but written は, and the object particle is pronounced o but written を. Type ha and wo where you mean those particles: watashi ha → わたし は.
Hiragana chart
| a | i | u | e | o | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | あ a | い i | う u | え e | お o |
| k | か ka | き ki | く ku | け ke | こ ko |
| s | さ sa | し shi | す su | せ se | そ so |
| t | た ta | ち chi | つ tsu | て te | と to |
| n | な na | に ni | ぬ nu | ね ne | の no |
| h | は ha | ひ hi | ふ fu | へ he | ほ ho |
| m | ま ma | み mi | む mu | め me | も mo |
| y | や ya | ゆ yu | よ yo | ||
| r | ら ra | り ri | る ru | れ re | ろ ro |
| w | わ wa | を wo | |||
| n | ん n | ||||
Two small marks change the consonant. Dakuten (゛) voices it: か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba. Handakuten (゜) turns h into p: は ha → ぱ pa. Combined syllables use a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ: き ki + ゃ → きゃ kya.
Examples
Everyday phrases
arigatou gozaimasu (“thank you very much”) → ありがとう ございます. ohayou (“good morning”) → おはよう. Japanese is normally written without spaces, but the tool keeps any spaces you type so you can follow along.
Words with tricky sounds
kitte (“stamp”) → きって, with the small っ marking the pause. kitto (“surely”) → きっと. Compare kite (“come”) → きて, without the pause. A missing っ changes the word, so listen for it.
Reading kana back
Paste ひらがな and you get hiragana. Paste がっこう and choose macrons to get gakkō, the Hepburn spelling used in dictionaries.
Where hiragana fits in Japanese writing
Japanese mixes three scripts. Kanji (Chinese characters) carry most meanings, hiragana writes grammar endings, particles and native words without common kanji, and katakana writes foreign words and names. A sentence like 私は学生です (“I am a student”) uses kanji for “I” and “student” and hiragana for は and です. Children learn hiragana first, and it is the first script most learners study. Our guide to Hiragana vs Katakana vs Kanji: How Japanese Writing Works explains how the three work together.