Phase 1 · 4 min
Hiragana in one week
Rows, marks, combinations
The 46 base hiragana are arranged in a grid called 五十音 (gojūon): five vowel columns by ten consonant rows. Learn one row a day. Write each character on the canvas, then drill recall in Review.
Dakuten and handakuten
Two small marks turn a base kana into a new sound. The dakuten ゛ (two dots) voices a consonant: か ka → が ga, さ sa → ざ za, た ta → だ da, は ha → ば ba. The handakuten ゜ (small circle) turns は-row into p: は → ぱ pa. That gives 25 more sounds without any new shapes.
From Urdu
Dakuten works like the dots in Urdu script: ب vs پ vs ت are one base shape with different dots. か→が is the same idea. Voiced = the sound you make when your throat buzzes (ک→گ, ت→د, س→ز, پ→ب).
From Thai
Thai has voiced and voiceless pairs too (ก/ค vs ด, ต vs ด). が is the ง-free hard g, ば is บ, だ is ด, ぱ is ป. Japanese has no aspirated series, so never add the breath of ข or ท.
Youon (contracted sounds)
A small ゃ ゅ ょ after an い-column kana merges into one beat: き + ゃ = きゃ kya. Compare きや (ki-ya, two beats) and きゃ (kya, one beat). The small っ doubles the next consonant: きって kitte.
びょういん / びよういん
byouin / biyouin
hospital / beauty salon
Small ょ vs full よ. The Listen tab drills this pair.
Check yourself
1 / 4
゛ (dakuten)
4 + 71 kana cards
Add them to spaced repetition
Cards in this lesson (4)
゛ (dakuten)
゛ (dakuten)
Voices the consonant: か→が, さ→ざ, た→だ, は→ば
゜ (handakuten)
゜ (handakuten)
は-row becomes p: は→ぱ
きゃ
kya
kya: one beat, small ゃ
っ (small tsu)
(small tsu)
Doubles the next consonant: きって kitte