Dakuten and handakuten explained
The two small marks that turn k into g, s into z, t into d and h into b or p — what they are called, how they change pronunciation, and where they never appear.
2 min read · Updated Sep 19, 2026
Once you know the 46 basic characters, 25 more sounds cost you almost nothing. They are written with the same shapes plus a diacritic.
Dakuten: the two strokes
Dakuten (濁点), informally ten-ten, is a pair of short strokes at the top right. It voices the consonant:
| Plain | Voiced | Change |
|---|---|---|
| か (ka) | が (ga) | k → g |
| さ (sa) | ざ (za) | s → z |
| た (ta) | だ (da) | t → d |
| は (ha) | ば (ba) | h → b |
Voicing means your vocal cords engage. Say k then g with a hand on your throat and you can feel the difference — that is the whole rule.
Handakuten: the small circle
Handakuten (半濁点), informally maru, is a small circle, and it appears on the h-row only: は → ぱ (pa), ひ → ぴ (pi), ふ → ぷ (pu), へ → ぺ (pe), ほ → ぽ (po).
The two that trip people up
じ (ji) and ぢ (ji) are pronounced the same in modern standard Japanese, as are ず (zu) and づ (zu). The じ/ず pair does nearly all the work; ぢ and づ survive in a small set of words where a compound causes a sound change, like はなぢ (hanaji, nosebleed) from はな + ち.
You need to recognise ぢ and づ. You will rarely need to choose them.
Keep reading
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Kana that look alike — and how to stop confusing them
The specific hiragana and katakana pairs beginners mix up, what actually distinguishes each pair, and why stroke order fixes most of them.
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How to learn hiragana in three days
A realistic three-day plan for the 46 basic hiragana, built around five characters at a time, immediate recall testing and reading real words on day two.