LLearn Japanese

What is it called when a consonant gains a dakuten or handakuten when paired with another kanji?

Like in 人々 or 一発 (hito changes to bito, hatsu changes to patsu)

I’m trying to find and learn about how this works, since I think I saw a video about it in my youtube recommendations too, but I have no clue what to search for

If someone could help me, I’d be glad

2 comments

  2. Rendaku 連濁

    The occurrence of rendaku in Japanese is sporadic and largely unpredictable, and therefore the words that use it have to be memorized. It does follow a few patterns, though:

    1. Usually only kun’yomi words (native Japanese words) use rendaku, while on’yomi words (Chinese borrowings) rarely undergo rendaku (though it does happen occasionally).

    2. Voiced consonants don’t like to be near each other, so it won’t change if either the previous or following consonants has a dakuten.

    3. Words meaning “A & B” don’t undergo rendaku.

    4. Recent additions to the Japanese language don’t undergo rendaku.

Leave a Reply
— Previous article

New spot near me!! Much needed.
Next article —

How to learn kanji properly?

You May Also Like