あHirakata
サ Stroke order

Katakana S-Row stroke order: サ シ ス セ ソ

This row has the most-confused pair in katakana: シ and ソ (with ツ and ン from other rows). The stroke order explains the difference. シ's long stroke sweeps up from the bottom left. ソ's long stroke falls down from the top right. Learn the direction and the shapes stop looking the same.

S-Row characters

(sa) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Crossbar, the short left vertical, then the longer right stroke that falls to the left.

(shi) 3 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

Two dots down the left side, then the long stroke sweeping up from the bottom left. Compare with ツ.

(su) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The corner stroke that falls down to the left, then the short stroke on the right.

(se) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The stroke across with a hook at the end, then the vertical that turns right along the bottom.

(so) 2 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2

The dot first, then the long stroke falling from the top right. Compare with ン, whose long stroke goes up.

Dakuten and handakuten

ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ are written exactly like the characters above, then finished with two short ticks (dakuten) at the top right. The left tick comes first, and both always come after the rest of the character.

(za) 5 strokes

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

(ji) 5 strokes

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

(zu) 4 strokes

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

(ze) 4 strokes

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

(zo) 4 strokes

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

Contracted sounds

Contracted sounds are two characters: the full-size base followed by a small ャ, ュ, ョ. 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.

(sha) 5 strokes

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

(shu) 5 strokes

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

(sho) 6 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6

(ja) 7 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7

(ju) 7 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7

(jo) 8 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

Keep going

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

Previous rowK-Row: カ キ ク ケ コ
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