🇯🇵 JAPANESE
Hiragana Part 2 – Study & Learn
Dakuten · Handakuten · Yōon · Flashcards & reading practice
Dakuten, Handakuten & Yōon
These three modifications extend the base 46 hiragana to cover all sounds in the Japanese language. Each follows a simple, predictable rule — once you understand the pattern, you can read and write every sound.
DAKUTEN (゛) VOICED MARKS
Adding two small dots (゛) to the top-right of a character voices the consonant. The four unvoiced rows become voiced: K→G, S→Z, T→D, H→B. So か (ka) becomes が (ga), さ (sa) becomes ざ (za), and so on.
HANDAKUTEN (゜) SEMI-VOICED
A small circle (゜) added to the H-row creates the P sound: は→ぱ, ひ→ぴ, ふ→ぷ, へ→ぺ, ほ→ぽ. The P-row exists only because of handakuten — there is no base P-row in the original Gojūon.
YŌON 拗音 CONTRACTIONS
Adding a small ゃ, ゅ, or ょ after an i-column character (き, し, ち, に…) creates a contracted sound. The two characters are pronounced as one syllable: き+ゃ = きゃ (kya). The small size of ゃゅょ signals they are part of the previous character.
KEY PATTERNS AT A GLANCE
Three types of modification — each with a visible marker.
か→がdakuten
は→ぱhandakuten
き+ゃyōon kya
ぢ / づrare forms
ぢ and づ sound like じ and ず but appear in specific compound words (e.g. はなぢ nosebleed, つづく to continue).
All Characters & Combinations
Click any card to reveal its romaji reading. Yōon combinations (two characters = one sound) are shown together on the front.
Reading Practice
Each character or combination appears in 2 simple sentences. Romaji is shown above each sentence. Highlighted characters are the one being practised — yōon combinations are highlighted as a unit.