The katakana dakuon and handakuon chart below shows all 25 voiced and semi-voiced katakana characters — the sounds you get by adding a dakuten (゛) or handakuten (゜) mark to basic katakana. Each card shows the character with romaji pronunciation. Tap any character to hear it spoken in natural Japanese.
ダクオン · ハンダクオンKatakana Dakuon & Handakuon
Tap any character to hear its pronunciation
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Dakuon (゛) adds voicing to K, S, T, H rows. Handakuon (゜) only applies to the H-row, turning ハ→パ. 25 characters total — identical sounds to hiragana dakuon/handakuon.
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What Are Katakana Dakuon and Handakuon?
Katakana dakuon (濁音) are voiced katakana sounds made by adding two small dots — a dakuten (゛) — to certain basic katakana characters. Katakana handakuon (半濁音) are semi-voiced sounds made by adding a small circle — a handakuten (゜) — to the H-row only. The sounds are identical to hiragana dakuon and handakuon — the only difference is the script. Together they add 25 new katakana sounds to your reading ability without learning any new pronunciation.
Which Katakana Rows Get a Dakuten?
The same 4 rows that take a dakuten in hiragana also take it in katakana:
- K row → G row · カ→ガ、キ→ギ、ク→グ、ケ→ゲ、コ→ゴ
- S row → Z row · サ→ザ、シ→ジ、ス→ズ、セ→ゼ、ソ→ゾ
- T row → D row · タ→ダ、テ→デ、ト→ド
- H row → B row · ハ→バ、ヒ→ビ、フ→ブ、ヘ→ベ、ホ→ボ
💡 Note: ヂ (ji) and ヅ (zu) in the D row sound identical to ジ and ズ in modern Japanese. In katakana they appear very rarely — almost exclusively in loanwords that need to distinguish the sounds — but you should still recognise them.
What About Katakana Handakuon?
The handakuten (゜) works only on the H row — same rule as hiragana. It turns every h-sound into a p-sound: ハ→パ、ヒ→ピ、フ→プ、ヘ→ペ、ホ→ポ. The P row (パ行) is extremely common in katakana loanwords — words like パン (pan, bread), ピザ (piza, pizza), and ポスター (posutaa, poster) use it constantly.
Why Are Katakana Dakuon So Important?
Because katakana is used heavily for foreign loanwords, the dakuon and handakuon rows come up constantly in everyday reading. Words like ゲーム (geemu, game), ジュース (juusu, juice), バス (basu, bus), and ビール (biiru, beer) all rely on voiced katakana characters. Skipping these 25 sounds means you will struggle to read even the most basic loanwords on menus, signs, and product labels.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Them?
If you already know basic katakana, one or two days is enough. You are not learning new shapes — just recognising a small mark on characters you already know. The logic is identical to hiragana dakuon, so if you studied those first it will feel very familiar. Focus on the B row and G row first — they appear most often in loanwords. Then drill the P row, since it is unique to handakuon and very frequent in katakana vocabulary. Use the chart above, tap through each row out loud, and you will have all 25 locked in quickly.