Handakuten in Japanese: How ゜Changes は into ぱ

You already know the unmarked hiragana of the は row:

Then a new character appears in a word you are reading:

It looks almost like は (ha), but there is a small circle in the top-right corner. That circle is called handakuten: ゜.

The short answer

On the は row, handakuten changes the sounds to the p-row. The practical reading rule is simple: no mark gives an h or f sound, two marks ゛ (dakuten) give a b sound, and a small circle ゜ (handakuten) gives a p sound.

So は (ha), ば (ba), and ぱ (pa) share one base shape. The mark tells you which sound to read. If you still need the two-dot mark, keep dakuten ゛ beside this lesson as the paired contrast.

One base shape, three readings

Look closely at the three-way contrast on one shape:

This three-way contrast appears across the entire は row.

The whole system on the は row

Start with the unmarked kana, then add dakuten ゛ to the same shapes:

Now add handakuten ゜ instead, and the same five shapes become the p-row:

Read each set across. The base stays the same, and only the mark decides between h, b and p:

You do not need fifteen unrelated shapes. Five base shapes plus the marks cover the whole system.

Official beginner kana charts list the p-row (ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ) beside the h-row and b-row, which is why this circle is taught as its own reading skill.

Read the mark before guessing the sound

Imagine you see this character in a word:

First identify the base shape: へ (he). Then notice the circle ゜. That tells you ぺ (pe).

Now compare a character with the same base and a different mark:

The base is still へ (he), but this time you see ゛, so you read べ (be).

And with no mark at all, the base reads as itself:

Put the three side by side and the system is easy to see:

When reading quickly, the small mark is not decoration. It changes the kana.

A visual shortcut

When you see a character from the は row, check the top-right corner. If nothing is there, read the base sound:

If you see two short marks ゛, read the b-row:

If you see a circle ゜, read the p-row:

This gives you a repeatable recognition strategy: base shape first, then the mark.

Read some useful words

Meet the circle inside beginner vocabulary.

ぱん (pan)

The first character is ぱ (pa), not は (ha) and not ば (ba). The circle tells you to read pa. In everyday Japanese this word is usually written パン in katakana, but the handakuten principle is the same.

ぺん (pen)

This word is normally written in katakana as ペン, but the hiragana ぺ (pe) uses the same handakuten principle. The base character is へ (he); with the circle it becomes ぺ (pe).

ぴかぴか (pikapika)

The word begins with ぴ (pi) and uses it again in the middle: ぴかぴか (pikapika).

ぽかぽか (pokapoka)

Look for ぽ (po) twice in ぽかぽか (pokapoka).

ぷりん (purin)

This word is normally written プリン in katakana, but the first hiragana here shows the sound clearly: ぷ (pu). The circle changes ふ (fu) into ぷ (pu).

Common mistakes

Confusing ゛ and ゜

These two marks are small, but they are not interchangeable.

Compare the pairs directly. The base is the same; only the mark differs:

If you intend to write pa but write ば, you have written ba instead. The mark must be recognizable.

Handakuten owns the circle and the p-row. The two-dot mark and the wider voiced rows stay with the dakuten lesson.

Overlooking the circle

A beginner may see ぱ, recognize the large shape as は, and immediately read ha. But the character is ぱ (pa). The circle is part of the spelling.

When reading, train yourself to check the whole character before deciding its sound.

Making the circle look like dakuten

When handwriting ぱ, the handakuten should look clearly different from ば. Practise contrasting triples rather than writing the p-row alone:

If the last two characters in each row look too similar, make the circle clearer.

Practise handakuten

Recognition practice

Read each character before checking the answer line beneath it. The clue in each answer tells you which mark decided the sound.

Ask yourself what clue gave you the answer: no mark, dakuten ゛, or handakuten ゜?

Choose the correct kana

1. Which character is pa? A. は　B. ば　C. ぱ
2. Which character is bi? A. ひ　B. び　C. ぴ
3. Which character is pu? A. ふ　B. ぶ　C. ぷ
4. Which character is he? A. へ　B. べ　C. ぺ
5. Which character is po? A. ほ　B. ぼ　C. ぽ

Answers

Read the words

Try these without looking at the romaji first:

Now identify every handakuten character: ぱん → ぱ; ぴかぴか → ぴ, ぴ; ぽかぽか → ぽ, ぽ.

Write the p-row

Write the hiragana requested. Start from the base kana each time, then add the circle: pa from は, pi from ひ, pu from ふ, pe from へ and po from ほ.

Now write the whole p-row. Underneath it, write the dakuten row, then the unmarked row at the bottom:

You should see immediately which row has circles, which has dakuten, and which has no marks.

Fix the mark

Each item is supposed to represent the sound in parentheses. Rewrite it correctly.

1. ば (pa): the base shape is right, but the mark is wrong.
2. び (pi): the base shape is right, but the mark is wrong.
3. ぶ (pu): the base shape is right, but the mark is wrong.
4. べ (pe): the base shape is right, but the mark is wrong.
5. ぼ (po): the base shape is right, but the mark is wrong.

Corrected forms

The difference between the incorrect and correct answers is tiny on the page, but it changes the sound every time.

Keep this in mind

The は row has a useful three-way system. It starts unmarked:

Adding dakuten ゛ gives the voiced b-row:

Adding handakuten ゜ instead gives the p-row:

So when you see ぽ, you do not need to memorize it as an unrelated character. Recognize ほ (ho), notice ゜, and read ぽ (po). Learn the base shape, check the mark, then choose the sound.

Continue learning

If the two-line mark is still unfamiliar, review What Are the Two Dots on Japanese Hiragana? Dakuten Explained.

For another case where a tiny visual difference changes how kana is read, continue with How to Read Combination Hiragana in Japanese: Small ゃゅょ.

If you are still building the bigger picture of Japanese writing, review Japanese Alphabets Explained: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.

To practise recognition on a full chart, use the kana chart.