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つ and ツ

Pronunciation

“Tsu” sound similar to a combination of the sound of 'Two" and "Tsk".

These characters are the first to represent a sound that is a bit NEW for native English speakers. It is KIND of like “Two”, but instead of pushing your tongue OFF the back of your palate, you instead leave it there, and push air through, giving you a tsss sound. There IS NO 'Tuu' sound in native Japanese words.

Take a listen to the native version.

つ Memorization Story

The hiragana つ looks like the SHOES on TWO feet skidding to a stop in the dirt or gravel. 

ツ Memorization Story

You may feel like you’ve seen this katakana somewhere before. That’s because we’ve already learned its look-alike. シ (Shi).

THIS is シ’ｓ imposter! The ツ FOX. The important thing to look out for when spotting a ツ Fox wearing a Sheep suit, is that the eyes are nearly VERTICAL, as is the evil GRIN, which runs almost vertically down the side of its long face.

We’ll learn the word for FOX in Japanese a bit later on, and it DOES have a つ in it, so that’s helpful.

Writing

 
 

The hiragana つ is essentially the same as the BOTTOM PART of the last character we learned: ち. The whole thing is angled up to the right a bit, thus why the shoes in our story were skidding to a stop. 

There are a number of important differences between the katakana シ and ツ that help Japanese people differentiate them. While シ is written TOP to bottom, with nearly HORIZONTAL lines, ツ is written LEFT TO RIGHT, with nearly VERTICAL strokes.

 

Font Examples

つ　　ツ

つ　　ツ

つ　　ツ

つ　　ツ

つ　　ツ

Typing

Hiragana つ
Type the letters “tsu” or "tu".

Katakana ツ
Type "tsu" or "tu" and press the F7 key, or press spacebar until the katakana appears. 

Word(s)

つち

dirt, soil

スーツ

suit

くつ

shoes

 

Historical Form

Hiragana
川→つ

HISTORICAL VERSION

This looks nearly identical to the katakana as well.

Katakana
川 or 州→ツ

PART BORROWED

We can see WHY the katakana ツ is written with more vertical strokes from this kanji that it is based on!

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ToKini Kana Introduction Page あ・ア い・イ う・ウ え・エ お・オ Consonant Vowel Combinations か・カ き・キ く・ク け・ケ こ・コ Kana Reading Practice 1 さ・サ し・シ す・ス せ・セ そ・ソ た・タ ち・チ つ・ツ て・テ と・ト Kana Reading Practice 2 な・ナ に・ニ ぬ・ヌ ね・ネ の・ノ は・ハ ひ・ヒ ふ・フ へ・ヘ ほ・ホ Kana Reading Practice 3 ま・マ み・ミ む・ム め・メ も・モ や・ヤ ゆ・ユ よ・ヨ Kana Reading Practice 4 ら・ラ り・リ る・ル れ・レ ろ・ロ わ・ワ を・ヲ ん・ン Kana Reading Practice 5 Dakuten, Han-Dakuten, and Sokuon Kana Reading Practice 6 Kana Combinations Kana Reading Practice 7 Special Katakana Combinations The End Kana Worksheets