Once you can recognize the 46 basic Hiragana and Katakana characters, Japanese sound rules introduce several regular variations. Rather than memorizing endless random charts, the Kana Sound Bridge organizes these variations into six clear decoding principles: voiced dakuten, semi-voiced handakuten, small glide combinations, double consonants, long vowels, and extended Katakana loanword patterns.
Open the interactive Kana Sound Bridge in the app
How the Six Sound Lessons Work
- Understand the visual mark. Notice whether the kana has two diagonal strokes (dakuten), a small circle (handakuten), or a small helper character.
- Count the mora beats. Japanese rhythm relies on beats (mora). Most kana take one beat; long vowels and double consonants add or hold a beat.
- Check both scripts. Each sound rule works identically across Hiragana and Katakana.
- Practice decoding words in context. Move quickly from isolated syllables to high-frequency beginner words like みず (water), きっぷ (ticket), and コーヒー (coffee).
Lesson 1: Voiced Sounds
Two small tick marks (dakuten ゛) transform unvoiced consonants into voiced equivalents: K becomes G, S becomes Z, T becomes D, and H becomes B. Pay special attention to じ (ji) and ず (zu), which use natural Japanese consonant sounds.
Worked Examples
- g family: が ぎ ぐ げ ご / ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ = ga gi gu ge go; compare か/が (ka/ga).
- z family: ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ / ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ = za ji zu ze zo. Compare す/ず (su/zu), し/じ (shi/ji).
- d family: だ ぢ づ で ど / ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド = da ji zu de do. Compare て/で (te/de). Spelling, not a listening-only distinction, separates じ/ぢ and ず/づ.
- b family: ば び ぶ べ ぼ / バ ビ ブ ベ ボ = ba bi bu be bo. Compare ハ/バ (ha/ba).
- みず (water, word-mizu): み / ず = mi / zu, two beats. み is unmarked; ず has dakuten.
- バス (bus, word-basu): バ / ス = ba / su, two beats. バ has the two strokes; ハ would read ha.
Lesson 2: Semi-Voiced Sounds
A small circle mark (handakuten ゜) transforms H-row consonants into crisp P-sounds: は, ひ, ふ, へ, ほ become ぱ, ぴ, ぷ, ぺ, ぽ (pa, pi, pu, pe, po) in Hiragana and パ, ピ, プ, ペ, ポ in Katakana.
Worked Examples
- Hiragana contrasts: は/ば/ぱ = ha/ba/pa; ひ/び/ぴ = hi/bi/pi; ふ/ぶ/ぷ = fu/bu/pu; へ/べ/ぺ = he/be/pe; ほ/ぼ/ぽ = ho/bo/po.
- Katakana contrasts: ハ/バ/パ = ha/ba/pa; ヒ/ビ/ピ = hi/bi/pi; フ/ブ/プ = fu/bu/pu; ヘ/ベ/ペ = he/be/pe; ホ/ボ/ポ = ho/bo/po.
- パ has a circle; バ has two strokes. ぽ and ポ both read po, unlike ホ (ho) or ボ (bo).
- パン (bread, word-pan): パ / ン, two beats. パ is the p token; ン is the nasal beat.
- The ending ぷ in きっぷ (ticket, word-kippu) reads pu, not ふ (fu) or ぶ (bu). Do not decode its small っ timing yet.
Lesson 3: Small Combinations
Combining an I-vowel kana with a small ゃ, ゅ, ょ (ya, yu, yo) creates contracted glide sounds called yōon. Crucially, the combination takes only one rhythmic beat: き + small ゃ = きゃ (kya), not two separate syllables.
Worked Examples
- Joined tokens in both scripts: ちゃ/チャ (cha), しゃ/シャ (sha), じょ/ジョ (jo), ちょ/チョ (cho), びょ/ビョ (byo), きょ/キョ (kyo), きゅ/キュ (kyu), じゅ/ジュ (ju). Each joined token takes one beat.
- きょ = kyo (one); きよ = き / よ (two). シャ = sha (one); シヤ = シ / ヤ (two). Full-size や/ゆ/よ and ヤ/ユ/ヨ remain separate.
- ちゃ = cha: two written characters, one mora. おちゃ (tea, word-ocha) = お / ちゃ, two beats, not お / ち / ゃ.
- でんしゃ (train, word-densha) = で / ん / しゃ, three beats: ん gets its own beat; しゃ stays joined.
- びょういん (hospital, word-byouin-hospital) begins with joined びょ, not just び. Here identify that first token only; its full length and segmentation are introduced in L5.
Lesson 4: Small Tsu
A small っ or ッ (sokuon) represents a momentary glottal pause before a consonant (k, s, t, p). It occupies one full rhythmic beat of silence, doubling the following consonant in romaji: きっぷ (ki-p-pu = ticket).
Worked Examples
- Compare full-size つ (tsu) with small っ (consonant timing). Katakana ツ is full-size tsu; ッ is the small counterpart with the same timing principle.
- きっぷ (ticket, word-kippu) = き / っ / ぷ, three beats. Hold the p closure for っ; き / つ / ぷ would add a tsu vowel and is not this spelling.
- まっすぐ (straight ahead, word-massugu) = ま / っ / す / ぐ, four beats. Sustain s across the small-tsu slot into す; do not lengthen u or add another su syllable.
- ちょっと (a little, word-chotto) = ちょ / っ / と, three beats: joined ちょ, t closure, then と.
- ゆっくり (slowly, word-yukkuri) = ゆ / っ / く / り, four beats: prepare the k closure during っ.
- がっこう (school, word-gakkou-school) also has closure before k. Its full long-vowel treatment follows in L5; no new Katakana word is required to practice ッ.
Lesson 5: Hiragana Long Vowels
Long vowels in native Japanese hold a vowel sound for two full beats. In Hiragana, an extra vowel character indicates elongation: おおかみ (oo-ka-mi) or おとうさん (o-too-san, where う elongates the O-sound).
Worked Examples
- いえ (home, word-ie-home) = い / え, two beats with separate i and e. いいえ (no, word-iie) = い / い / え, three beats: hold i across two, then separate e. Do not lengthen home into no.
- いい (good, word-ii-good) = い / い, two beats of one i quality. おおきい (big, word-ookii-big) = お / お / き / い, four: long o and long final i.
- がっこう (school, word-gakkou-school) = が / っ / こ / う, four beats: k closure then long o. びょういん (hospital, word-byouin-hospital) = びょ / う / い / ん, four: joined びょ, long o, separate i, nasal beat.
- せんせい (teacher, word-sensei) = せ / ん / せ / い, four beats; the draft careful-speech model has long final e. がくせい (student, word-gakusei) = が / く / せ / い, four, also a selected long-e cue. These are word-specific cues pending review, not a universal ei rule.
- ゆうびんきょく (post office, word-yuubinkyoku-post-office) = ゆ / う / び / ん / きょ / く, six: long initial u, independent ん, joined きょ.
- どう (how, word-dou) = ど / う (2), long o; だいじょうぶ (all right, word-daijoubu) = だ / い / じょ / う / ぶ (5), separate a then i, long o; ぎんこう (bank, word-ginkou-bank) = ぎ / ん / こ / う (4), long o.
- きょう (today, word-kyou-today) = きょ / う (2), long o; きのう (yesterday, word-kinou-yesterday) = き / の / う (3), long o; きゅう (nine, word-kyuu-nine) = きゅ / う (2), long u; じゅう (ten, word-juu-ten) = じゅ / う (2), long u.
- ちいさい (small, word-chiisai-small) = ち / い / さ / い (4), long initial i but separate a then i; あたらしい (new, word-atarashii-new) = あ / た / ら / し / い (5), long final i; おいしい (delicious, word-oishii-delicious) = お / い / し / い (4), separate o then i, long final i; どうして (why, word-doushite-why) = ど / う / し / て (4), long initial o.
- あう (meet) = あ / う and かう (buy) = か / う: separate a then u, not long a. These contrasts are introduced examples, not additions to the vocabulary course. Slashes mark timing slots; hold long vowels continuously.
Lesson 6: Katakana Length And Combinations
In Katakana loanwords, vowel elongation is indicated by a horizontal dash called the chōonpu (ー). Katakana also creates special vowel combinations (like ファ for fa, ティ for ti, ウィ for wi) to represent foreign sounds accurately.
Worked Examples
- コーヒー (coffee, word-koohii) = コ / ー / ヒ / ー, four beats. コー holds o across two beats; ヒー holds i across two. Keep the spelling and existing koohii romaji.
- タクシー (taxi, word-takushii) = タ / ク / シ / ー, four beats: final i is long. Keep takushii; do not guess length from the English loanword.
- キャ = kya (one beat); キヤ = キ / ヤ (two). Small ャ/ュ/ョ joins the base: キャ/キュ/キョ = kya/kyu/kyo, one beat each. ッ takes a consonant-timing beat, not a spoken tsu syllable.
- ファ = fa (one joined token); フア = フ / ア (two separate beats). Small ァ matters. ティ = ti (one joined token); テイ = テ / イ (two written timing slots), not the ti token. Small ィ matters.
- チェ = che (one joined token), using small ェ. ファ, ティ, チェ are deliberately limited introduced extensions. No recordings, listening tests or additional word entries are included.
Where to Go Next
Mastering these six sound principles unlocks confident reading for all 300 JLPT N5 vocabulary words and 100 N5 kanji compound readings. Return to the main learning guide to review the core kana rows or continue to Beginner Vocabulary Words 1-50.