In Japanese, diacritical marks like the dakuten and handakuten are considered markers that indicate if a sound is vocalised or plosive, respectively.

Handaku-ten (“Half vocalised” = “Plosive”)

半濁点・はんだくてん

『○ ﾟ』は→ぱ、ひ→ぴ、ふ→ぷ、へ→ぺ、ほ→ぽ

ha→pa, hi→pi, fu→pu, he→pe, ho→po



Daku-ten (“Vocalised” = Hum while you say the sound)

濁点・だくてん

『○ ﾞ』

は→ば、ひ→び、ふ→ぶ、へ→べ、ほ→ぼ

ha→ba, hi→bi, fu→bu, he→be, ho→bo



か→が、き→ぎ、く→ぐ、け→げ、こ→ご

ka→ga, ki→gi, ku→gu, ke→ge, ko→go



た→だ、ち→ぢ、つ→づ、て→で、と→ど

ta→da, chi→ji, tsu→dzu, te→de, to→do



さ→ざ、し→じ、す→ず、せ→ぞ、そ→ぞ

sa→za, shi→ji, su→zu, se→ze, so→zo

Ya, Yu, and Yo are used to modify the syllables ending in い like “ki” and “shi” to become “kya” and “sha.”



『○ゃ』

き＋や→きゃ

ki+ya → kya



し＋や→しゃ

shi+ya → sha



ち＋や→ちゃ

chi+ya → cha



み＋や→みゃ

mi + ya → mya



に＋や→にゃ

ni + ya → nya



ひ＋や→ひゃ

hi + ya → hya

『○ ﾞゃ』

ぎゃ gya

びゃ bya

じゃ ja, jya

『○ゅ』

き＋ゆ→きゅ

ki+yu → kyu



し＋ゆ→じゅ

shi+yu → shu



ち＋ゆ→ちゅ

chi+yu → chu



み＋ゆ→みゅ

mi + yu → myu



に＋ゆ→に

ni + yu → nyu



ひ＋ゆ→ひゅ

hi + yu → hyu



『○ ﾞゅ』

ぎゅ gyu

びゅ byu

じゅ ju, jyu

『○ょ』

き＋よ→きょ

ki+yo → kyo



し＋よ→じょ

shi+yo → sho



ち＋よ→ちょ

chi+yo → cho



み＋よ→みょ

mi + yo → myo



に＋よ→にょ

ni + yo → nyo



ひ＋よ→ひょ

hi + yo → hyo

『○ ﾞょ』

ぎょ gyo

びょ byo

じょ jo, jyo

『○ ﾟゃ』

ひゃ→ぴゃ

hya → pya

『○ ﾟゅ』

ひゅ→ぴゅ

hyu → pyu

『○ ﾟょ』

ひょ→ぴょ

hyo → pyo

そくおん

The glottal stop called Small tsu

『・っ・』

Small tsu っ is one rhythmic unit in Japanese and is considered a glottal stop when coming after a vowel 『・っ』



Small tsu っ is considered a consonant doubler or consonant extender when coming before a consonant 『っ・』

いらっしゃいませ roughly, “ear-ah-shy-ee-ma-se”

いらっしゃい

the small tsu before the “sha” 「っしゃ」 creates and invites extra timing for the “sha” to come in earlier and slightly longer than just one mora (one rhythmic unit).

So glottal stopper っ really has two functions, depending on what precedes or follows.

うぁっ！ Uatt! (sounds like “uah!” with a sudden halt in the throat). The small tsu is not pronounced, it just cuts/halts the voice of the vowel. For contrast,

「たった。」”Tatta” in this case doubles the second consonant “t sound” and expands the duration of this word slightly.

Next: Read about The Four Kinds of Kanji

Check out: What is Japanese Complete?

Learn About: The Benefits of Language Blending

Internalize: Success Habits for Language Learning

Mastery: Get Access to Japanese Complete