Japanese in romaji, word by word
Romaji is Japanese written in the Latin alphabet. This converter uses modified Hepburn, the standard in textbooks, dictionaries and signs, and splits the text into words the way English-language books do: watashi wa nihongo o benkyō shite imasu.
Particles are written as they are pronounced (は → wa, へ → e, を → o), names and places are capitalised, and you can choose how long vowels look: Tōkyō, Tokyo or Toukyou.
How Hepburn romaji works
The converter uses modified Hepburn, the system used in most textbooks, dictionaries and signs. These are the rules that surprise learners most.
| Kana | Romaji | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| し・ち・つ・ふ | shi, chi, tsu, fu | Not si, ti, tu, hu. |
| じ・ぢ / ず・づ | ji / zu | Both pairs are written the same. |
| しゃ・ちゃ・じゃ | sha, cha, ja | Small ゃゅょ combine with the consonant. |
| っ | kippu, zasshi, matcha | Doubles the next consonant; before ch it is t. |
| ん | shinbun, kin'en | n, with an apostrophe before a vowel or y. |
| おう・とう / ー | Tōkyō, kōhī | Long vowels take a macron (or Tokyo / Toukyou, your choice). |
| えい | sensei | Written ei, not ē. |
| は・へ・を (particles) | wa, e, o | Written as pronounced, as separate words. |
| です・ます | desu, ikimasu | です is a separate word; ます joins its verb. |
Words with more than one reading
The meaning decides the reading, so the converter marks these words for you to check.
| Word | Readings |
|---|---|
| 今日 | きょう (today) · こんにち (nowadays, こんにちは) |
| 明日 | あした · あす (formal) · みょうにち (very formal) |
| 一日 | いちにち (one day) · ついたち (the 1st) |
| 人気 | にんき (popularity) · ひとけ (sign of people) |
| 上手 | じょうず (skilful) · うわて (superior) · かみて (stage right) |
| 方 | かた (person, polite) · ほう (direction, side) |
| 市場 | いちば (a market place) · しじょう (the market, economics) |
| 日本 | にほん · にっぽん (both correct; にほん is more common) |
How the converter works
- A Japanese tokenizer (kuromoji, with the IPADIC dictionary) splits your text into words and gives each one its dictionary reading. Nothing is generated by AI.
- Fixed rules then correct what dictionaries get wrong most often: numbers with counters (3月, 15日, 10分, 20歳), repeated kanji with 々 (人々), 〜中 meaning "throughout" (一日中) and 雨が降る versus 電車を降りる.
- Words whose reading depends on meaning (今日, 一日, 人気…), names and words missing from the dictionary are marked for you to check. Tap any word to pick another reading or type your own; every view updates at once.
- Before each release the converter is tested on sentences with known readings, including numbers, okurigana, katakana, names and literary text, and the romaji rules are tested case by case.
Readings come from a dictionary, not from understanding the text. Names, rare words and words with several readings can come out wrong, which is why they are marked. Romaji word spacing follows common textbook practice; some books split words slightly differently.
Frequently asked questions
What is furigana?
Furigana are small hiragana (sometimes katakana) printed above or next to kanji to show their reading. They help children, learners and anyone reading unfamiliar kanji.
How do I add furigana to Japanese text?
Paste the text, press Convert and open the Furigana tab. Copy it as 漢字(かんじ) brackets for plain text, or as HTML <ruby> for web pages, slides and worksheets that support ruby text.
Can I convert kanji to hiragana?
Yes. The Hiragana tab shows the whole text in hiragana. You can keep katakana loanwords as they are or convert them too.
Which romaji system does it use?
Modified Hepburn, the system used by most textbooks, dictionaries and signs in Japan. Long vowels can be shown with macrons (Tōkyō), without (Tokyo), or spelled as typed on a keyboard (Toukyou).
Why are some words underlined?
They can be read in more than one way (今日 is きょう or こんにち), are names, or aren't in the dictionary. Tap one to see the options and pick the reading that fits.
Is it free? Is there a limit?
It's free and unlimited, with no sign-up. You can convert up to 10,000 characters at a time.
Is the reading always correct?
For ordinary text it is right almost all of the time, but a dictionary can't always know which reading the writer meant. Check the marked words, especially names.
Sources
- kuromoji: Japanese morphological analyzer (IPADIC dictionary)
- ALA-LC Romanization Tables (Library of Congress): Japanese, modified Hepburn
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