Two Little Marks That Change the Sound
Add two tiny strokes and k turns to g, s to z, t to d, h to b or p. Here is how to read and type them without a pause.
Yesterday you finished the plain hiragana set with わ, を and ん. Today we add two small marks that sit in the top right corner of a kana and change its sound. They are called 濁点（だくてん）— the voicing mark — and 半濁点（はんだくてん）— the semi-voicing mark.
The two marks
濁点（だくてん）looks like two tiny strokes: ゛. It voices a consonant. か becomes が, さ becomes ざ, た becomes だ, は becomes ば.
半濁点（はんだくてん）is a small circle: ゜. It only attaches to the h-row and turns h into p: は → ぱ, ひ → ぴ, ふ → ぷ, へ → ぺ, ほ → ぽ.
That is the whole system. Four rows voice with ゛, and one row splits into two possibilities with ゛ or ゜.
Row by row
か row → が row か き く け こ → が ぎ ぐ げ ご
さ row → ざ row さ し す せ そ → ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ
Note: し becomes じ, not "zi" in sound. It is ji.
た row → だ row た ち つ て と → だ ぢ づ で ど
ぢ and づ are rare in modern Japanese. You will mostly see じ and ず. When you do see ぢ or づ, they are usually in the middle of a word after a sound change — for example はなぢ（鼻血）is a nosebleed.
は row → ば row and ぱ row は ひ ふ へ ほ → ば び ぶ べ ぼ (voiced) は ひ ふ へ ほ → ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ (semi-voiced)
Typing them
On a Japanese keyboard or IME, you type the same romanisation you would expect:
- が = ga, ざ = za, だ = da, ば = ba, ぱ = pa
- じ = ji (or zi), づ = du (or zu in some IMEs)
The tricky ones are ぢ (di) and づ (du). If you type "ji" you get じ. If you type "di" you get ぢ. Most of the time you want じ, so default to ji.
Words to type today
Try typing these. Each one uses a voiced or semi-voiced kana.
- かばん（かばん）— bag. The ば is voiced h.
- えんぴつ（えんぴつ）— pencil. The ぴ is semi-voiced h.
- かぎ（かぎ）— key. The ぎ is voiced k.
- みず（みず）— water. The ず is voiced s.
- まど（まど）— window. The ど is voiced t.
- ぶた（ぶた）— pig. The ぶ is voiced h.
If you are in your city, the same marks appear on signs and menus everywhere — かばん in a shop window, えんぴつ on a stationery packet. The shapes are small but they carry a lot of meaning.
A small warning
Do not confuse ば (ba) with ぱ (pa). The circle is not decorative. はし（はし）means chopsticks, ばし（ばし）is not a common word on its own, but ぱし（ぱし）is also not. The point is that the mark changes the word. かばん is a bag; かぱん is not a word. Get the mark right and the word is right.
Drill for today
- Write the five kana of each voiced row once: が ざ だ ば ぱ.
- Type the six words above without looking at the romanisation.
- Say each word out loud as you type it.
That is ten minutes. Tomorrow the shapes change completely, but the sounds stay the same.
None of this is being saved
Signed in, we would remember every character you have looked at — and write you reading you can actually get through, built from exactly those.
Remember this 要点
The two small marks — ゛ and ゜ — turn k, s, t and h rows into g, z, d, b and p, and you type them with ga, za, da, ba, pa.
Today's words 語彙
Three questions 確認
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Create free account Log inYou have just spent ten days on hiragana shapes. Tomorrow you meet ア カ サ タ ナ — the same sounds you already know, but in strokes that look nothing like them. The question is: can your brain accept a second set of shapes for sounds it already owns?
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