Hi everyone!  We covered the basic hiragana(ひらがな) the other day.  (You can read about the first lesson on Hiragana from:https://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/lets-learn-how-to-read-japanese/) As you know, there were total 48, well, minus 2 (ゐ & ゑ ) 46 hiragana’s that I introduced.  Let’s review them first. Let’s see if you can read the following words:

しま

いも

こころ

き

え

はは

ちち

These words are read as follows:

しま(shima)- island

いも(imo)-potato

こころ(kokoro)-heart

き(ki)-tree

え(e)-picture

はは(haha)-mother

ちち(chichi)-father

Today, we will continue to learn more Hiragana’s.  I will cover specificially, Dakuon(だくおん) & Han-dakuon(はんだくおん) today.

Dakuon(だくおん) & Han-dakuon(はんだくおん) are just different type of sounds in Japanese. Besides the basic 46 sounds above, we also have additional sounds, for example, dakuon(だくおん)’s are sounds, such as, GA(が), GI(ぎ), GU(ぐ), GE(げ), GO(ご) and also, ZA(ざ), JI(じ), ZU(ず), ZE(ぜ), ZO(ぞ). etc. You notice that these words have Dakuten marker  (゛)  which is Dakuten (だくてん) in Japanese added to the basic hiragana that you already learned.

GA(が) is shown as  ゛ + か　＝＞ this becomes が and pronounced as GA.

゛ + き　＝＞ this becomes ぎ and pronounced as GI, and so on.

Let me show you all the Dakuon’s.

They are:

GAが, GIぎ, GUぐ, GEげ, GOご

ZAざ, ZIじ, ZUず, ZEぜ, ZOぞ

DAだ, JIち”, ZUず, ZEぜ, DOど

BAば, BIび, BUぶ, BEべ, BOぼ

So, let’s practice Dakuon’s now.  Try reading the following words below.

かば

ろば

じかん

かばん

かざり

These words are read as follows:

かば(kaba) – hippopotamus

ろば(roba)-donkey

じかん(jikan)-time

かばん(kaban)-bag

かざり(kazari)-decoration

Han-Dakuon’s (はんだくおん) are another different type of sounds in Japanese. We only have 5 of them to worry about here. They are PA, PI, PU, PE, PO.  In Japanese, they are ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ.  You noticed here again, ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ, all have Handakuon marker、 ゜(We call this handakuten(はんだくてん)in Japanese) added to the basic hiragana,は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ。

゜ + は =>  becomes ぱ(pa)

゜ + ひ =>  becomes ぴ(pi)

゜ + ふ =>  becomes ぷ(pu)

゜ + へ =>  becomes ぺ(pe)

゜ + ほ =>  becomes ぽ(po)

Let’s practice some of the words that contain the above Han-dakuon’s now.

はっぱ

えんぴつ

ぽけもん

ぷりん

しっぽ

These words are read as follows:

はっぱ(happa) – leaf

えんぴつ(enpitsu)-pencil

ぽけもん(Pokemon)-Pokemon

ぷりん(purin)-pudding

しっぽ(shippo)-tail

Now, let’s review the Dakuon’s and Han-dakuon’s we learned today in the following video. Please keep in mind that in this video, they call dakuten (dakuon markers, ゛ ) as てんてん(tenten), and also handakuten (Handakuon marker、 ゜) as まる(maru).

Now, you have increased your vocabularies even more!  Enjoy learning, and remember, if you have any questions, please leave me your comment!