ni / に
The second of the N row — three quick strokes 'ni' that double as the all-purpose location particle.
Pronunciation
The character に represents the syllable 'ni', a soft 'n' followed by 'i'. Part of the な-row. The particle に ('to', 'at', 'in') is one of the most common words in Japanese.
に sits second in the N row and shows up everywhere — 二 (two), 肉 (meat), 西 (west). More importantly, it's the entirety of the location/time particle に, which marks where something is, where you go to, when something happens, and a dozen other relations. After は (topic) and を (object), に is the third particle every beginner masters.
How to write に
Trace に on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
A short horizontal stroke at the upper left — sets the upper bound.
A short curved vertical stroke on the left that drops down with a small flick to the lower right.
A second horizontal stroke at the bottom right — parallel to the first, slightly longer. The two horizontals stacked above and below the small left curve give に its distinctive two-shelf shape.
Origin
Hiragana に traces back to the cursive form of the kanji 仁 (ni) — meaning "benevolence" or "humanity." The kanji's left radical (亻, person) compressed into the small curved left stroke; the two horizontals on the right preserve the stacked rhythm of the kanji's right side.
Common words starting with に
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing に by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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