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Dakuten and Handakuten: What ゛ and ゜ Do to Japanese Kana

Two small marks add 25 hiragana. Dakuten turns k, s, t and h rows into g, z, d and b; handakuten turns the h row into p. Learn the base row first, then the mark.

Inku editorial team · · 4 min read

The two short strokes ゛ (dakuten) change a kana's consonant to its voiced partner: か (ka) becomes が (ga), さ (sa) becomes ざ (za), た (ta) becomes だ (da), and は (ha) becomes ば (ba). The small circle ゜ (handakuten) appears only on the は row and turns h into p: は (ha) becomes ぱ (pa). The vowel never changes, and the same marks work the same way in katakana.

What the two marks are

Unicode, the standard behind digital text, calls ゛ the “voiced sound mark” and ゜ the “semi-voiced sound mark”. Its data file also records が as か plus the voiced mark, and ぱ as は plus the semi-voiced mark. That matches how to read them: find the base kana you already know, then apply the mark.

Both marks sit at the upper right of the character. They are small, so the most common reading error is simply not noticing them. Train your eye to check that corner before you read the base shape.

The full set: 25 marked hiragana

Only four rows take dakuten, and only one row takes handakuten.

  • か row → が row: が ぎ ぐ げ ご (ga gi gu ge go)
  • さ row → ざ row: ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ (za ji zu ze zo)
  • た row → だ row: だ ぢ づ で ど (da ji zu de do)
  • は row → ば row: ば び ぶ べ ぼ (ba bi bu be bo)
  • は row → ぱ row: ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ (pa pi pu pe po)

Katakana follows the same pattern: カ becomes ガ, ハ becomes バ or パ. Katakana also has ヴ, which is ウ with dakuten. Japan's loanword spelling guidelines list it for a v sound in words such as ヴァイオリン (vaiorin, “violin”), and note that バ, ビ, ブ, ベ and ボ can generally be written instead, as in バイオリン.

Three things that surprise beginners

The は row voices to b, not to a voiced h. The other three rows pair neatly: k with g, s with z, t with d. The は row breaks the pattern. Dakuten gives b, and handakuten gives p. Learn it as its own fact rather than trying to make it fit.

じ and ぢ sound the same, and so do ず and づ. Most words use じ and ず. The national spelling standard, 現代仮名遣い, keeps ぢ and づ mainly for two cases. One is when the sound repeats, as in ちぢむ (chijimu, “to shrink”) and つづく (tsuzuku, “to continue”). The other is when a compound voices a ち or つ, as in はなぢ (hanaji, “nosebleed,” from はな and ち) and みかづき (mikazuki, “crescent moon”).

A word can gain a mark inside a compound. This is called sequential voicing. The Tokyo University of Foreign Studies module on sequential voicing uses くすり (kusuri, “medicine”). Put め (me, “eye”) in front and you get めぐすり (megusuri, “eye drops”). If a familiar word looks unfamiliar with a mark added, check whether it is the second half of a compound.

Say the difference, not just see it

Reading the mark is half the job. The other half is producing a real voiced sound. The TUFS module on k and g explains that in Japanese, the difference depends on whether your vocal cords vibrate. If your g sounds like k, listeners may hear かっこう (kakkou) when you meant がっこう (gakkou, “school”).

Try this: put your fingers on your throat and say か, then が. You should feel a buzz on が and none on か. Do the same with さ/ざ, た/だ, and は/ば.

Common mix-ups to drill

  • ば vs ぱ: strokes mean b, a circle means p. At small sizes, look closely.
  • ふ vs ぶ vs ぷ: the base ふ is already busy, so the marks are easy to miss.
  • つ vs づ: づ (zu) is uncommon, so meeting it can feel like an error.
  • シ vs ジ, ツ vs ヅ: in katakana, the extra marks can blur into the base strokes.

If you are still building the base chart, the guide to learning hiragana in three days gives a schedule. For katakana, see hiragana vs katakana.

Check the base rows, then the marks

Every marked kana is built on a base shape, so the base rows need to be automatic first. Open Inku's interactive hiragana chart and turn romaji off. Go through the か, さ, た and は rows. Read each base kana, click it to check the sound, then say its voiced version aloud. For the は row, also say the p version. The chart plays the 46 base kana with your device's Japanese voice. When the rows feel solid, take a ten-question round on the kana practice page.

Sources

Prepared by our editorial team with AI assistance. Product details are checked against the sources below.

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