Ta Chi Tsu

Katakana 1

Chapter 7 · Ta Chi Tsu

🌿 The T Row Begins — タ チ ツ

Three new characters: タ (ta), チ (chi) and ツ (tsu). As in hiragana, the middle two are not quite the Roman "ti" and "tu": it's chi and tsu. This is also the chapter where we settle the famous katakana look-alike, シ versus ツ. Romaji is shown for everything.

✨ Your Three New Characters — タ チ ツ

タ
ta
like "ta" in taco ("tah")
3 strokes · stroke order ▸
Memory hook: a table seen from the side: a slanted top, a leg and a support. Hiragana twin: た.
チ
chi
like "chee" in cheese, short ("chee")
3 strokes · stroke order ▸
Memory hook: a child's swing: a bar across the top and a rope hanging down with a bend. Hiragana twin: ち.
ツ
tsu
like the "tsu" of tsunami ("tsoo")
3 strokes · stroke order ▸
Memory hook: a tsunami: three drops of spray falling down from a wave. Hiragana twin: つ.
KatakanaHiragana twinRomaji
ta
chi
tsu

⚠️ The Big One: シ versus ツ

These two trip up almost everyone, so here is the pair side by side. Both have three strokes. The difference is the direction.

CharacterShort strokesLong strokeSoundPicture to remember
nearly horizontal, lying down like sideways eyessweeps up from the bottom leftshia crying she, tears falling sideways
more vertical, standing uprightsweeps down from the toptsua tsunami, spray falling down
More Look-Alikes ツ also resembles ソ (so), which you met last chapter: ソ has only two strokes and ツ has three. And タ (ta) looks like ク (ku) with an extra stroke inside: タ has three strokes, ク has two. When you read, don't judge a character in isolation: the whole word usually tells you which one it must be.

📖 Read It — Real Words

#WordRomajiEnglishNote
1takushītaxita-ku-shi-i: four beats
2TaiThailand; tieta-i; context tells you which
3tsuātourtsu-a-a: three beats
4sūtsusuitsu-u-tsu
5takosutacosta-ko-su
6āchiarcha-a-chi
7chīkucheek (blusher); teakchi-i-ku
8tsuta(drill)a sound drill: tsu-ta
Final Consonants English has the sound "ts" at the end of words like suits and cats, but Japanese has no way to stop on a consonant, so it adds a vowel: suit becomes sū-tsu. Look at タイ too: it's both "Thailand" and "tie", and only the context tells you which is meant.

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Read aloud: · ·

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ta · chi · tsu

2. Read aloud and translate: ·

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takushī (taxi) · tsuā (tour)

3. Read aloud and translate: · ·

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sūtsu (suit) · takosu (tacos) · āchi (arch)

4. How do you tell from ?

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シ: short strokes lying sideways, long stroke sweeping up. ツ: short strokes upright, long stroke sweeping down.

5. How many strokes do , and have?

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ソ has two; シ and ツ each have three.

6. Write in katakana: takushī · tsuā · sūtsu (check the stroke order).

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· ·

Coming Up in Chapter 5 Two more T sounds: テ (te) and ト (to), completing the T row. You'll read テスト (test), コート (coat), トースト (toast) and スタート (start).