| Hiragana Image: | Japanese Hiragana kyokashotai KA.svg |
| Katakana Image: | Japanese Katakana kyokashotai KA.svg |
| Transliteration: | ka |
| Transliteration Dakuten: | ga |
| Transliteration Handakuten: | (nga) |
| Hiragana Manyogana: | 加 |
| Katakana Manyogana: | 加 |
| Other Manyogana: | 可 何 加 架 香 蚊 迦 |
| Dakuten Manyogana: | 我 何 賀 |
| Spelling: | 為替のカ (Kawase no "ka") |
Ka (hiragana: か, katakana: カ) is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both represent pronounced as /[ka]/. The shapes of these kana both originate from 加.
The character can be combined with a dakuten, to form が in hiragana, ガ in katakana and ga in Hepburn romanization. The phonetic value of the modified character is pronounced as /[ɡa]/ in initial positions and varying between pronounced as /[ŋa]/ and pronounced as /[ɣa]/ in the middle of words.
A handakuten (゜) does not occur with ka in normal Japanese text, but it may be used by linguists to indicate a nasal pronunciation pronounced as /[ŋa]/.
か is the most commonly used interrogatory particle. It is also sometimes used to delimit choices.
が is a Japanese case marker, as well as a conjunctive particle. It is used to denote the focus of attention in a sentence, especially to the grammatical subject.
| Form | Rōmaji | Hiragana | Katakana |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal k- (か行 ka-gyō) | ka | か | カ |
| kaa kā | かあ, かぁ かー | カア, カァ カー | |
| Addition of dakuten g- (が行 ga-gyō) | ga | が | ガ |
| gaa gā | があ, がぁ がー | ガア, ガァ ガー |
The Hiragana か is made with three strokes:
The Katakana カ is made with two strokes:
| Other kana based on Braille か | ||||||||
| か / カ ka | が / ガ ga | かあ / カー kā | があ / ガー gā | きゃ / キャ kya | ぎゃ / ギャ gya | きゃあ / キャー kyā | ぎゃあ / ギャー gyā | |