Typing Kana in Reviews & Lessons

Our answer fields convert romaji (Latin letters) into kana for you, so you can stay focused on the reading instead of wrestling with your operating system’s IME. Use the tips below to quickly enter the hiragana or katakana a prompt expects.

Type in romaji — we’ll convert it

Just type the syllable you hear or see using regular keyboard letters. As you type, we transform the text into hiragana by default: typing kore becomes これ, asa becomes あさ, and so on. Loanword-friendly spellings like she → しぇ or fa → ふぁ work as well, so you can cover the sounds that show up in katakana vocabulary without memorising special codes.

Tip: When you need the syllable ん, press n twice (nn). We intentionally wait for a second keystroke so that typing na still turns into な instead of んあ. Finish with nn or type a vowel/ya/yu/yo right away to get the right kana automatically.

Small っ and yōon pairs

Double the next consonant to get a small っ: kitte becomes きって. For combinations like きゃ or しょ, type the full romaji syllable (kya, sho, etc.) and we’ll render the small ゃ/ゅ/ょ for you. These shortcuts also work when a reading expects katakana; the converter maps them to キッテ and キャ automatically.

Katakana answers happen automatically

When the correct reading is katakana (or mixes katakana with hiragana), we switch the input mode for you. You’ll see the placeholder change to カタカナ..., and anything you type gets converted into katakana on the fly. Mixed answers — for example, katakana loanwords with a trailing hiragana okurigana — keep the required script for each character, so you can just keep typing in romaji and trust the converter to match the card.

Long vowels use the chōonpu (ー). Type any dash key (-, –, etc.) and we normalise it to ー automatically, so ko-hi- becomes コーヒー with no extra effort.

Need a refresher on kana?

During reviews there’s a かな button labelled “Kana cheat sheet.” It opens a compact chart of the hiragana/katakana tables plus reminders about ん and っ. Use it whenever you need to confirm a pattern or you’re not sure how a romaji sequence will convert.