Z
ザジズゼゾ — The Z Row
01
Why the Z row is just the S row + ゛
The Z row is the S row with a dakuten (゛): サ→ザ, シ→ジ, ス→ズ, セ→ゼ, ソ→ゾ. The ticks voice “s” into “z.” The one reading to remember: シ→ジ is “ji,” not “zi” — exactly the hiragana し→じ shift. The shapes are the S row you already know, including ジ's left marks and ゾ's downward sweep.
S row + ゛ = Z row: write the base katakana, then add two ticks at the upper right. Just remember シ→ジ is “ji,” and that ジ ends up with two pairs of marks — the original two down the left, plus the dakuten two at the top.
02
Pronunciation at a glance
03
Loanwords built on the Z row
The Z row turns up across everyday loanwords. Here are two for each character.
ピザpizapizza
デザインdezaindesign
ジュースjūsujuice
ジーンズjīnzujeans
ズボンzubontrousers, pants
クイズkuizuquiz
ゼロzerozero
ゼリーzerījelly
ゾウzouelephant
ゾーンzōnzone
04
What's next
Next is the ダ-row (ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド) — the T row with a dakuten. Two of its members, ヂ (ji) and ヅ (zu), overlap in sound with ジ and ズ and are rare in modern writing.