Dakuten and handakuten: the two small marks

Instead of inventing new characters for “voiced” consonants (like shifting from a K sound to a G sound), Japanese adds one of two small marks to the top-right corner of a basic character.

Dakuten (゛)

Often called tenten or “quote marks”. The dakuten makes your vocal cords vibrate, turning a soft, breathy consonant into a heavier, voiced one. Put your fingers on your throat and say “k” then “g”: you'll feel the difference.

Change	Hiragana	Katakana
K → G	か → が	カ → ガ
S → Z	さ → ざ	サ → ザ
T → D	た → だ	タ → ダ
H → B	は → ば	ハ → バ

Watch the irregular ones: し (shi) becomes じ (ji), and ち (chi) and つ (tsu) become ぢ (ji) and づ (zu), which sound the same as じ and ず.

Handakuten (゜)

Often called maru, this tiny circle is only used on the H row. It turns the breathy H sound into a sharp P sound: は ha → ぱ pa, ひ hi → ぴ pi, ふ fu → ぷ pu, へ he → ぺ pe, ほ ho → ぽ po.

The full charts

Hiragana: Dakuten & handakuten

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

Katakana: Dakuten & handakuten

ガga ギgi グgu ゲge ゴgo ザza ジji ズzu ゼze ゾzo ダda ヂji ヅzu デde ドdo バba ビbi ブbu ベbe ボbo パpa ピpi プpu ペpe ポpo

Examples

がっこう (gakkō): school
みず (mizu): water
でんわ (denwa): telephone
ぶた (buta): pig
さんぽ (sanpo): a walk
ピアノ (piano): piano

Tips

Learn the basic characters first. Dakuten add no new shapes, only a rule.
Don't confuse ゛ and ゜ at small sizes: ぶ (bu) and ぷ (pu) differ only in that mark.
In katakana, ヴ (vu) uses a dakuten on ウ to write a “v” sound for foreign words.

Questions learners ask

What is the difference between dakuten and handakuten?

Dakuten (゛, two short strokes) makes a consonant voiced: k→g, s→z, t→d, h→b. Handakuten (゜, a small circle) is only used on the h row and turns it into p.

What are tenten and maru?

They are the everyday names for the marks. Tenten (“dot dot”) is the dakuten and maru (“circle”) is the handakuten.

When do you use ぢ and づ instead of じ and ず?

Rarely. ぢ and づ mostly appear when a word starting with ち or つ is joined to another and its first sound becomes voiced, as in はなぢ (hanaji, nosebleed: はな + ち), or when the same kana repeats, as in つづく (tsuzuku, to continue).