Hiragana – Part 2: Dakuten & Combinations

A – Flashcard Practice

Click each card to flip it. Dakuten (゛) voice a consonant. Handakuten (゜) create the P-row. Combination cards show two characters that merge into one sound.

B – Type the Reading

Type the romaji for each character or combination. Notes: ぢ = ji · づ = zu · じゃ = ja · しゃ = sha.

Dakuten ゛— voicing the consonant

The two small strokes (゛) are called dakuten (濁点, "voiced mark"). Adding them to k/s/t/h characters voices the consonant: k→g, s→z, t→d, h→b.
This is not a new alphabet — it is a systematic modification. Every voiced character corresponds directly to its unvoiced base: か(ka)→が(ga), さ(sa)→ざ(za), etc.
ぢ and づ are the voiced versions of ち(chi) and つ(tsu), but in modern Japanese they are pronounced identically to じ(ji) and ず(zu). They appear mainly in words where a compound creates rendaku (sequential voicing), e.g. 鼻血 hanaji (nosebleed).

Handakuten ゜— the P-row

The small circle (゜) is the handakuten (半濁点, "semi-voiced mark"). It only applies to the H-row, converting h→p: は→ぱ(pa), ひ→ぴ(pi), etc.
Historically, the H-row was originally a P-row in Old Japanese (/pa, pi, pu, pe, po/). Over centuries the sounds shifted to /f/ then /h/. The handakuten restores the ancient /p/ sound.

Yōon (拗音) — combination characters

Yōon are formed by combining a consonant-row character with a small version of や(ya), ゆ(yu), or よ(yo). The small size signals that the two characters form a single mora (one beat), not two.
The /i/ vowel of the first character disappears: き(ki) + ゃ(ya) = きゃ(kya). The consonant blends with the y-glide and the second vowel.
しゃ = sha (not "shiya") and じゃ = ja (not "jiya"). The palatalisation that makes し = shi carries through to the combination.
Voiced combinations follow the same logic: ぎゃ(gya), じゃ(ja), びゃ(bya), ぴゃ(pya) — the dakuten/handakuten on the first character applies to the whole combination.

Dakuten & Handakuten

Base	a	i	u	e	o
g (か→)	がga	ぎgi	ぐgu	げge	ごgo
z (さ→)	ざza	じji	ずzu	ぜze	ぞzo
d (た→)	だda	ぢji*	づzu*	でde	どdo
b (は→)	ばba	びbi	ぶbu	べbe	ぼbo
p (は→゜)	ぱpa	ぴpi	ぷpu	ぺpe	ぽpo

* ぢ and づ are pronounced identically to じ (ji) and ず (zu) in modern standard Japanese.

Yōon — Combination Characters

First character (consonant + i) + small や/ゆ/よ = one merged sound.

きゃkya

きゅkyu

きょkyo

しゃsha

しゅshu

しょsho

ちゃcha

ちゅchu

ちょcho

にゃnya

にゅnyu

にょnyo

ひゃhya

ひゅhyu

ひょhyo

みゃmya

みゅmyu

みょmyo

りゃrya

りゅryu

りょryo

ぎゃgya

ぎゅgyu

ぎょgyo

じゃja

じゅju

じょjo

びゃbya

びゅbyu

びょbyo

ぴゃpya

ぴゅpyu

ぴょpyo