ひらがな②（濁音・拗音） — Hiragana II: Voiced Sounds & Combinations

Completing Hiragana: The Power-Ups

Congratulations on learning the basic 46 hiragana! Here is wonderful news: you are not going to learn 46 brand-new characters in this chapter. Instead, you will learn a few small marks and tricks that transform the characters you already know into every remaining sound of Japanese. Think of them as power-ups: two little dots here, a small circle there, some miniature characters — and suddenly your 46 kana can write over 100 sounds.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to read every hiragana word in existence. Let's finish the job!

1. Dakuten ゛— The Voicing Dots

The dakuten (濁点) is a pair of small dashes, like a quotation mark, placed at the top-right of a kana: か → が. It "voices" the consonant — your vocal cords switch on. Feel your throat as you say "k" then "g": that buzz is what the dots add!

Note the irregulars, which follow the same pattern as し (shi) and ち (chi):

• じ = "ji" (from shi), and ず = "zu" (from su).
• ぢ and づ also read "ji" and "zu" — but they are rare! Modern Japanese almost always uses じ and ず. You will meet ぢ/づ only in a few special words like はなぢ (hanaji, nosebleed) and つづく (tsuzuku, to continue).

Practice: がっこう (gakkō, school) · かぎ (kagi, key) · かぞく (kazoku, family) · だいがく (daigaku, university) · たべもの (tabemono, food)

2. Handakuten ゜— The P Circle

The handakuten (半濁点) is a small circle, used only on the h-row, turning "h" into "p":

Memory trick: the circle is a little ping-pong ball. So the h-row has three costumes: は ha (plain), ば ba (dots), ぱ pa (ball).

Practice: てんぷら (tenpura, tempura) · えんぴつ (enpitsu, pencil) · さんぽ (sanpo, a walk)

3. Yōon — Combination Sounds with Small ゃ・ゅ・ょ

Here is the last big piece of the puzzle. Take any kana from the i-column (き, し, ち, に, ひ, み, り, ぎ, じ, び, ぴ) and attach a small や, ゆ or よ. The two characters blend into one single beat:

き (ki) + small ゃ = きゃ (kya) — one smooth sound, not "ki-ya".

The し, ち and じ combinations drop the "y" in romaji (sha, cha, ja — not "shya"). That is just how they are spelled; the sound is the same idea.

Size matters! Compare carefully:

• びょういん (byōin) = hospital — small ょ, "byo" is one beat
• びよういん (biyōin) = hair salon — full-size よ, "bi-yo" is two beats

Mixing these up is a classic (and funny) beginner mistake — you don't want to ask directions to a hospital when you need a haircut! When handwriting, make the small character clearly half-size, tucked into the bottom-left.

Practice: おちゃ (ocha, tea) · きょう (kyō, today) · じゅぎょう (jugyō, class/lesson) · しゃしん (shashin, photo) · りょこう (ryokō, travel)

4. Small っ — The Double Consonant

A small つ (っ), called the sokuon, is not pronounced at all by itself. Instead, it creates a tiny one-beat pause — a held breath — before the next consonant. In romaji we show it by doubling the consonant:

To feel it, say "book-keeper" — that little catch between "book" and "keeper" is exactly the small っ. And it changes meaning:

• おと (oto) = sound  vs  おっと (otto) = husband
• かた (kata) = shoulder  vs  かった (katta) = bought

Like the small ゃゅょ, write っ clearly half-size and tucked low.

5. Long Vowels — Stretching the Sound

A long vowel lasts two full beats instead of one. In hiragana, you stretch a vowel by adding another vowel character right after it:

The two surprises are worth repeating: long "e" is usually written with い (せんせい), and long "o" is usually written with う (きょう, ありがとう). A handful of old words use お instead — most famously おおきい (ōkii, big), とおい (tōi, far) and おおさか (Ōsaka). Learn those as exceptions when you meet them.

And remember from the intro chapter: length changes meaning! おばさん (obasan, aunt) vs おばあさん (obāsan, grandmother) — one beat can add forty years!

6. Pronouncing ん Like a Native

You know ん takes a full beat. One extra tip: its exact sound gently shifts depending on what follows — before b/p/m it sounds like "m" (しんぶん shinbun, newspaper, sounds like "shimbun"), and at the end of a word it is a soft nasal "n". You do not need to force this — it happens naturally when you speak at normal speed. Just never skip its beat: にほん (nihon) is three beats, ni-ho-n.

7. Grand Reading Practice

You can now read one hundred percent of hiragana. Prove it! Cover the romaji and read aloud:

If ぎゅうにゅう made you pause — that's normal! Break it into beats: ぎゅ・う・にゅ・う, gyu-u-nyu-u, four even beats. Slow and steady wins every time.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Dakuten ゛ voices a consonant: k→g, s→z, t→d, h→b. Handakuten ゜ makes h→p.
• じ (ji) and ず (zu) are the standard spellings; ぢ and づ are rare exceptions.
• Small ゃゅょ blend with i-column kana into one beat: きゃ kya, しゃ sha, じょ jo… Watch the size: びょういん (hospital) vs びよういん (hair salon)!
• Small っ = a one-beat pause, written as a doubled consonant: きって (kitte).
• Long vowels take two beats: long e is usually written with い (せんせい), long o with う (ありがとう). Exceptions like おおきい exist.
• ん always keeps its own beat and softly adapts to the following sound.
• You can now read all hiragana. From here on, lean on the kana and let romaji fade into the background. Next stop: katakana — the same sounds in their "uppercase" costume!