The Easiest Way to Write “n”, “shi”, “so”, and “tsu” in Katakana Correctly : Using Equilateral Triangles

Hi, I am Shingo SATO, a native speaker with more than 10 years of experience teaching Japanese.

In this post, I will show you the easiest way to write “n,” “shi,” “so,” and “ts” in katakana correctly.

These four katakana are similar, but it is not difficult to distinguish between them if you keep the points in mind.

I have come up with the method using equilateral triangles.

In this day and age, it may be rare to write letters by hand, but you may need to write your name, and if you are studying Japanese, I can understand why you would want to be able to write at least hiragana and katakana properly.

 For more information, please continue reading.

How to write “n” and “shi”, “so” and “tsu”

In this section, I will explain how to write the four katakana characters by dividing them into the following two groups based on their shapes.

In other words, if the shapes are similar and they are in the same group.

1. “n” and “shi
2. .”so” and “tsu”

The result is as follows

You may be worried because the letters look different from the ones you usually see in textbooks, but there is no need to worry at all. Even from my point of view as a native speaker, the letters are beautiful and cannot be read incorrectly.

Let’s take a look at how to write them in order.

How to write “n” and “shi”

First of all, for “n” and “shi”, we use equilateral triangles as shown in the following image.

Now, let’s look at “n” first.

How to write “n”

First, let’s look at how to write “n”.

The first stroke is as follows.

The second stroke completes it.

The two key points are as follows.

1. The left side of the first and second strokes are aligned.
2. When the first stroke is extended, it touches the rightmost part of the second stroke.

Look at the image to see what I mean by the first point.

As shown in the image, the left edge of the first and second strokes (the position to be written out) are aligned.

Also, as you can see in the image below, if you extend the first stroke (in your imagination), it will hit the right edge of the second stroke of “N”.

This completes the “N”!

How to write “shi”

The same equilateral triangle is used for “shi”.

The first stroke is shown in the following image. Actually, this image is exactly the same as the image of the first stroke of “n”.

The second stroke follows.

The third stroke, which is the same as the second stroke of “n”, completes “shi”.

There are three key points, of which the second and third points are almost the same as “n”.

1. The first and second strokes are parallel.
2. The left side of the first to third strokes are aligned.
3. When the first stroke is extended, it hits the rightmost part of the third stroke.

If you have difficulty with the first stroke, you may be able to write it as if you were writing the first two strokes of the katakana character “mi”. When I was a child, I also had difficulty writing “shi”, but after I was advised to imagine “mi”, the problem disappeared!

How to Write “so” and “tsu”

The second group is “so” and “tsu”.

Here we use the equilateral triangle in the following image.

Let’s start with “so.”

How to Write “so”

The first stroke of “so” is as follows.

The second stroke completes it.

The two key points are as follows.

1. The top of the first and second strokes are aligned.
2. When the first stroke is extended, it touches the bottom of the second stroke.

Look at the image to see what I mean.

As shown in the following image, the tops of the first and second strokes (the position to be written out) are aligned.

Also, if you stretch the first stroke (in your imagination), it will hit the bottom of the second stroke of “so”.

This completes the “so”!

How to Write “tsu”

The same equilateral triangle is used for “tsu”.

The first stroke is shown in the following image. This image is the one I used for the first stroke of “so”.

The second stroke follows.

The third stroke completes “tsu”.

There are three points, of which the second and third points are almost the same as “so”.

1. The first and second strokes are parallel.
2. The left side of the first to third strokes are aligned.
3. When the first stroke is extended, it hits the rightmost part of the second stroke

The angle between the first and second strokes is quite important, so it is recommended to write while imagining an equilateral triangle.

Conclusion

In this post, I introduced the easiest way to correctly write “n”, “sh”, “so”, and “ts” in katakana.

The points were as follows:

1. Divide into two groups based on the shapes.
2. Use equilateral triangles.
3. The letters look different from the ones you usually see in textbooks, but there is no need to worry.

If you write in this way, it will look like the following image.

I hope this helps you in writing these katakana correctly!

For Tips to learn hiragana and katakana, please read this post: 3 Tips to Learn Hiragana and Katakana Fast

For recommended app to learn Katakana, please refer to 5 Japanese Learning Apps Recommended by a Native Speaker or the following post.

App Review: Katakana Memory Hint from The Japan Foundation