Lesson 13 of 16
Puffs of air: P
A small circle (handakuten, ゜) turns the h row into the p row. Think of the circle as a puff of air popping out of your lips.
Pronunciation
How it sounds
p is a crisp puff, like the p in pen. In Japanese it appears less often than other sounds: in sound-effect words and, most of all, in words borrowed from other languages (which are written in katakana, our next topic).
Reading tips
Easy to mix up
A circle means p and two dashes mean b: ぱ versus ば. The circle appears only on the h row.
Before a p, ん sounds like m, which is why さんぽ is said sampo.
は with a circle: pa.
ひ with a circle: pi.
ふ with a circle: pu.
へ with a circle: pe.
ほ with a circle: po.
Real vocabulary
Words you can read now
えんぴつ
enpitsu
pencil
さんぽ
sanpo
stroll
てんぷら
tenpura
tempura
ぴかぴか
pikapika
sparkling clean
ぽかぽか
pokapoka
pleasantly warm
ぺこぺこ
pekopeko
very hungry