Katakana · vowel row
イ (i): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
イ is the katakana for i, the second of the five vowels. It is written with 2 strokes. Its hiragana twin is い (i).
- Romaji
- i
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play i
How to write イ, 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
How to say i
Tip: like 'ee' in 'see'
In words
The course does not attach an example word to イ 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 イ is the sound you hear at the end of the whole i column. Read the five together until each is automatic:
Built from イ
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 イ with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
- ChartHiragana chartAll 46 basic hiragana plus dakuten and yōon combinations, each with romaji, stroke-order diagram, a pronunciation tip and audio.
- 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.
- ToolNumbers 1 to 100 and converterJapanese numbers 0 to 100 in kana, kanji and romaji, a converter up to 999,999, and the rules for 4, 7, 9, sound-changing hundreds and 万.