They are both ‘ja’. I’m using the app kana to help me study katakana and hiragana but whenever it tells me to write out “ja” how do I know which one is the correct one? Is it the one with chi? Or the one with shi?
You’re never going to see ぢゃ in a real life word. It will always be じゃ
じゃ is the default, ぢゃ is an exception. When something that is normally spelled ちゃ becomes voiced, via rendaku, when it becomes part of a compound word. Like ぼんぢょう.
What others said, but also small point but they’re different sounds. じゃ is a fricative, similar to the “s” in measure. ぢゃ is an affricate, meaning it’s a combination of “d” and the same “s” sound mentioned before, as in the word “judge”
ETA: although tbf I do believe じゃ is often affricated especially in initial position.
I saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/11sutb3/landlord_ignoring_my_emails_and_not_returning_my/) on JapanLife complaining they didn’t get their 敷金 (Shikikin/deposit) back after they moved out…
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You’re never going to see ぢゃ in a real life word. It will always be じゃ
じゃ is the default, ぢゃ is an exception. When something that is normally spelled ちゃ becomes voiced, via rendaku, when it becomes part of a compound word. Like ぼんぢょう.
What others said, but also small point but they’re different sounds. じゃ is a fricative, similar to the “s” in measure. ぢゃ is an affricate, meaning it’s a combination of “d” and the same “s” sound mentioned before, as in the word “judge”
ETA: although tbf I do believe じゃ is often affricated especially in initial position.