Katakana · vowel row
エ (e): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
エ is the katakana for e, the fourth of the five vowels. It is written with 3 strokes. Its hiragana twin is え (e).
- Romaji
- e
- Strokes
- 3
- Listen
- Play e
How to write エ, stroke by stroke
Each frame adds one stroke. The number sits where the stroke starts; strokes run left to right and top to bottom.
- stroke 1
- stroke 2
- stroke 3
How to say e
Tip: like 'e' in 'egg'
In words
The course does not attach an example word to エ when it introduces it; you will meet it in the lessons that follow.
The five vowels
Every other kana is one of these five vowels with a consonant in front, so エ is the sound you hear at the end of the whole e column. Read the five together until each is automatic:
Built from エ
The same sound in hiragana
Stroke-order data from KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Practice this in Open Lingo
The Open Lingo Japanese course teaches エ with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
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- Word listGreetings and polite phrasesEssential Japanese greetings and polite phrases for beginners, with hiragana, romaji, meaning and audio, taken from the Open Lingo course.
- Word listNumbersJapanese numbers for beginners: Sino-Japanese いち, に, さん, the native ひとつ, ふたつ counting set, and hundreds, thousands and 万, with audio.
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