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Learn Hiragana and Katakana GIFT Memberships

い and イ

Pronunciation

“E” in Eat.

Though the letter “i” is usually used to represent these in Roman characters, the sound represented by them is actually more like the “E” in “EAT”.

い Memorization Story

The hiragana い looks like a person’s arms to me. The right one is flexing up for them to EAT the pizza they’re holding.

イ Memorization Story

The katakana イ, on the other hand, looks like the EVIL eye of an EAGLE.

Writing

 
 

We start on the top LEFT for い, and make sure to sweep up the bottom towards the right, making it FLOW right into the second shorter stroke, which also goes top to bottom. Make sure to curve the second stroke out a bit as well.

For the katakana イ, we swoop down from the top right, and then draw a straight line BELOW it, giving us a small “i” with a swooping line instead of a dot on top.

Font Examples

い　　イ

い　　イ

い　　イ

い　　イ

い　　イ

 

Typing

Hiragana い
Type the letter “i”.

Katakana イ
Type "i" and press the F7 key, or press spacebar until the katakana appears. 

Word(s)

あい 

love

いい

good

 

We don’t have enough characters to read the katakana イ yet, but we’ll encounter it plenty later on!

 

 

Historical Form

Hiragana
以→い

HISTORICAL VERSION

 

Katakana
伊→イ

PART BORROWED

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ToKini Kana Introduction Page あ・ア い・イ う・ウ え・エ お・オ Consonant Vowel Combinations か・カ き・キ く・ク け・ケ こ・コ Kana Reading Practice 1 さ・サ し・シ す・ス せ・セ そ・ソ た・タ ち・チ つ・ツ て・テ と・ト Kana Reading Practice 2 な・ナ に・ニ ぬ・ヌ ね・ネ の・ノ は・ハ ひ・ヒ ふ・フ へ・ヘ ほ・ホ Kana Reading Practice 3 ま・マ み・ミ む・ム め・メ も・モ や・ヤ ゆ・ユ よ・ヨ Kana Reading Practice 4 ら・ラ り・リ る・ル れ・レ ろ・ロ わ・ワ を・ヲ ん・ン Kana Reading Practice 5 Dakuten, Han-Dakuten, and Sokuon Kana Reading Practice 6 Kana Combinations Kana Reading Practice 7 Special Katakana Combinations The End Kana Worksheets