あHirakata
ま Stroke order

Hiragana M-Row stroke order: ま み む め も

The M-row has the one character people most often write in the wrong order: も. Its curved vertical stroke comes first, before both crossbars. ま uses the opposite order (crossbars first), which is why these two are worth practising side by side.

M-Row characters

(ma) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Both crossbars first, then the vertical that loops at the bottom. Compare with も, which goes the other way.

(mi) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The first stroke makes the loop and the long tail. The short second stroke cuts across the tail.

(mu) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Crossbar, then the stroke that drops, loops and sweeps right, then the dot.

(me) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The short left stroke first, then the long stroke that crosses it and curls round. Compare with ぬ.

(mo) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

The curved vertical comes first, then the two crossbars. This is the most common stroke-order mistake in hiragana.

Contracted sounds

Contracted sounds are two characters: the full-size base followed by a small ゃ, ゅ, ょ. Write the base exactly as usual, then the small character in the lower half of the next square, at about half size. Its strokes are the same as the full-size version, just smaller.

(mya) 5 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

(myu) 4 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

(myo) 4 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

Keep going

Learn what each character looks like and how to remember it in the hiragana M-Row mnemonics article, then drill recognition with M-Row flashcards. The same row in katakana is here.

Previous rowH-Row: は ひ ふ へ ほ
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