Katakana – 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: ヂ = ji · ヅ = zu · ジャ = ja · シャ = sha.

Dakuten ゛— voicing in loanwords

Dakuten works identically in katakana as in hiragana — two small strokes voice the consonant: K→G, S→Z, T→D, H→B. But in katakana its impact is far greater, because voiced sounds appear constantly in foreign loanwords.
Common everyday katakana words that require dakuten: ガス (gas), ドア (door), バス (bus), ビール (beer), ゲーム (game), ゾーン (zone), デザイン (design), ブログ (blog).
ヂ and ヅ are virtually never used in modern katakana. Unlike hiragana where they appear in compound voicing (rendaku), katakana loanwords always use ジ (ji) and ズ (zu) instead. ヂ/ヅ survive only in a handful of proper nouns such as タカラヅカ (Takarazuka).

Handakuten ゜— the P-row

The small circle (゜) converts the H-row to P: ハ→パ(pa), ヒ→ピ(pi), フ→プ(pu), ヘ→ペ(pe), ホ→ポ(po). The P-row is very frequent in katakana loanwords: パーティー (party), ピザ (pizza), プール (pool), ペット (pet), ポスト (postbox).
P also appears inside number compounds: ロッピャク (600), ハッピャク (800). These use ピャ, a handakuten yōon combination.

Yōon (拗音) — essential for foreign sounds

Yōon are formed by combining an i-column character with a small ャ, ュ, or ョ. The two characters form a single mora. In katakana this is essential for representing sounds that don't exist in the base Japanese syllable set.
English "sh" becomes シャ/シュ/ショ: シャワー (shower), シュークリーム (cream puff), ショッピング (shopping).
English "ch" becomes チャ/チュ/チョ: チャンス (chance), チューリップ (tulip), チョコレート (chocolate).
English "j" becomes ジャ/ジュ/ジョ: ジャズ (jazz), ジュース (juice), ジョギング (jogging).
Without yōon, Japanese could not approximate these sounds — there is no single base katakana character for "sha", "chu", or "jo". The yōon system provides the flexibility needed to write foreign words.

Dakuten & Handakuten

Base	a	i	u	e	o
g (カ→)	ガga	ギgi	グgu	ゲge	ゴgo
z (サ→)	ザza	ジji	ズzu	ゼze	ゾzo
d (タ→)	ダda	ヂji*	ヅzu*	デde	ドdo
b (ハ→)	バba	ビbi	ブbu	ベbe	ボbo
p (ハ→゜)	パpa	ピpi	プpu	ペpe	ポpo

* ヂ and ヅ are pronounced identically to ジ (ji) and ズ (zu). They are virtually unused in modern katakana.

Yōon — Combination Characters

First character (consonant + i) + small ャ/ュ/ョ = one merged sound.

キャkya

キュkyu

キョkyo

シャsha

シュshu

ショsho

チャcha

チュchu

チョcho

ニャnya

ニュnyu

ニョnyo

ヒャhya

ヒュhyu

ヒョhyo

ミャmya

ミュmyu

ミョmyo

リャrya

リュryu

リョryo

ギャgya

ギュgyu

ギョgyo

ジャja

ジュju

ジョjo

ビャbya

ビュbyu

ビョbyo

ピャpya

ピュpyu

ピョpyo