D
ダヂヅデド — The D Row
01
Why ダ, デ, ド carry the D row
The D row is the T row with a dakuten (゛): タ→ダ, チ→ヂ, ツ→ヅ, テ→デ, ト→ド, voicing “t” into “d.” In real use, ダ デ ド do nearly all the work. ヂ (“ji”) and ヅ (“zu”) sound exactly like ジ and ズ, and modern Japanese spells those sounds with ジ/ズ — so the two D-row members are rarely written.
T row + ゛ = D row: write the base katakana, then add two ticks at the upper right. Focus on ダ デ ド — they're everywhere. Treat ヂ and ヅ as “read it, rarely write it”: their sounds (ji, zu) are normally spelled ジ and ズ.
02
Pronunciation at a glance
03
Loanwords built on the D row
ダ, デ, and ド open a wide field of loanwords (ヂ and ヅ have essentially none). Here are two for each.
ダンスdansudance
ダイヤdaiyadiamond
デパートdepātodepartment store
データdētadata
ドアdoadoor
ドルdorudollar
04
What's next
Next is the バ-row (バ ビ ブ ベ ボ) — the H row with a dakuten, voicing “h” into “b.” Then the P row finishes the voiced sounds with a handakuten.