Question:
what are the signs ( looks like this " and another one like an o) beside the hiraganas?and how do they change the sound of a hiragana? like ko -> go ?
Answer:
the little sign is called dakuten (voicing mark). i don't know if you are familiar with the concept of voicing, but the only difference between k and g, s and z, t and d... is that you vibrate the vocal cords when you say the second ones (g, z, d) but not the first (k, s, t). in the japanese alphabet they decided to indicate this difference with two little lines besides the hiragana (the same happens for katakana).
the little stroke on the o comes from the original chinese character that originated the hiragana (you can see a picture of it here
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co…
the o is the bottom right character)
hope this helps :)
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