Hiragana to romaji converter
Paste hiragana or katakana and get Hepburn romaji straight away.
Hiragana or katakana
こんにちは。ありがとうございます。コーヒーをください。Romaji
Short answer
To convert hiragana to romaji, paste your kana into the box above. The converter writes each syllable in Hepburn romanization, so ありがとう becomes arigatou, or arigatō with macrons switched on. Katakana input works the same way. It runs in your browser and, because it needs no dictionary, it starts instantly.
Kana to romaji examples
These cases show how the rules apply.
| Kana | Romaji | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| しんぶん | shinbun | Plain ん is n |
| しんよう | shin'yō | n' before a vowel or y |
| がっこう | gakkō | Small っ doubles the consonant |
| マッチャ | matcha | tch before ch |
| コーヒー | kōhī | Katakana long mark gives a macron |
| わたしは | watashi ha | Kana by kana: は stays ha, see the note below |
How to convert hiragana to romaji
- Paste kana. Enter hiragana, katakana or a mix. Kanji are not converted on this page.
- Choose the vowel style. Macrons give tōkyō. Plain vowels give toukyou.
- Copy the result. Press Copy romaji.
This page converts kana one by one
Because this tool only sees kana, it cannot tell whether は is the particle wa or part of a word. It writes ha. If your text has kanji or you want particles read as spoken, use Japanese to romaji, which analyzes the sentence first.
Reading the output
Hepburn is built for English readers: sh, ch and ts stand for sounds that have single kana. Long vowels are written as ā, ī, ū, ē, ō or by repeating the vowel. The pair おう is usually ō, and おお is also ō, though some words keep ou or oo. To go the other way and type kana, use romaji to hiragana.
A short kana refresher
Hiragana is used for native words and grammar. Katakana is used for foreign loanwords, emphasis and sound effects. Both have the same 46 basic sounds, plus dakuten, handakuten and small kana. If you are learning to read them, a good first step is to write the romaji for a word and then check it against the kana. The furigana explainer shows how kana help with kanji.
Frequently asked questions
Does it convert katakana to romaji?
Yes. Katakana is accepted, including the long vowel mark, which becomes a macron or a repeated vowel depending on your setting. For example ラーメン becomes rāmen with macrons or raamen with plain vowels, and the small ッ doubles the following consonant.
Why is は written ha and not wa?
This page works from the spelling of each kana and does not parse the sentence. Use the Japanese to romaji page if you want particles written as they sound.
Can I convert kanji here?
No. Use the Japanese to romaji or the kanji to hiragana page, which load a dictionary to read kanji. Both of those pages read kanji with the dictionary, then give hiragana or romaji, so use them for ordinary Japanese text.
Does it work offline?
Once the page has loaded, yes. This tool needs no dictionary or network. It is a small script on the page, so after the first load you can even disconnect and keep converting kana without any problems.
Which spelling does it use?
Modified Hepburn: shi, chi, tsu, fu, ji. That is the style most learners meet in textbooks and dictionaries. The macron option follows the textbook form, while the plain option writes long vowels as they are spelled in kana.
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