su / す
The middle of the S row — a looping 'su' that anchors verbs of being, doing, and waiting.
Pronunciation
The character す represents the syllable 'su', a soft 's' followed by 'u' (with relaxed lips). In casual speech the 'u' is sometimes nearly silent, especially at the end of words like 'desu' (です) which is often pronounced more like 'dess'. Part of the さ-row.
す sits third in the S row and forms the stem of essential verbs: する (to do), 〜ます (the polite ending), 住む (to live). It's everywhere in conversational Japanese — once you can read it, every textbook example sentence becomes that much more legible. The shape is two strokes that produce an unmistakable loop.
How to write す
Trace す 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 top — straight or with a slight downward slant. Quick.
A long vertical stroke that drops down through the horizontal, then loops around at the bottom — a closed circle on the lower left that finishes with a flick to the lower right. The loop is す's defining feature; without it, the character looks like a simple cross.
Origin
Hiragana す comes from the cursive form of the kanji 寸 (sun) — a small unit of measure. The kanji's vertical stroke survived intact; its top horizontal and small ticking marks flowed together into the looping body that distinguishes す today.
Common words starting with す
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing す by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
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