Hiragana · s row
せ (se): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
せ is the hiragana for se, the e sound of the s row. It is written with 3 strokes. Its katakana twin is セ (se).
- Romaji
- se
- Strokes
- 3
- Listen
- Play se
How to write せ, stroke by stroke
Each frame adds one stroke. The number sits where the stroke starts; strokes run left to right and top to bottom.
- stroke 1
- stroke 2
- stroke 3
How to say se
Tip: like 'se' in 'sell'
In words
The course does not attach an example word to せ when it introduces it; you will meet it in the lessons that follow.
The s row
The s row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so せ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with せ
4 words from the beginner word lists use せ. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- せん千senthousandNumbers
- はっせんhasseneight thousandNumbers
- すみませんsumimasenExcuse meGreetings and polite phrases
- いらっしゃいませirasshaimaseWelcome (shop greeting)Greetings and polite phrases
せ in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where せ turns up in running text rather than on its own.
「すみません。」
"Excuse me." from At the shop
トムは まだ きません。
Tom hasn't come yet. from At the airport
Rules that involve せ
Dakuten — the voicing mark
Two small strokes (゛) on a kana voice it: the shape stays the same but your vocal cords buzz. You'll meet 5 of these in the k→g row.
- か → がvoiced k becomes g
- き → ぎvoiced k becomes g
Built from せ
With dakuten
- ぜze
The same sound in katakana
Stroke-order data from KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Practice this in Open Lingo
The Open Lingo Japanese course teaches せ with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
- ChartKatakana chartAll 46 basic katakana plus voiced and yōon combinations, with romaji, stroke-order diagrams, example loanwords and audio.
- Word listGreetings and polite phrasesEssential Japanese greetings and polite phrases for beginners, with hiragana, romaji, meaning and audio, taken from the Open Lingo course.
- Word listNumbersJapanese numbers for beginners: Sino-Japanese いち, に, さん, the native ひとつ, ふたつ counting set, and hundreds, thousands and 万, with audio.
- ToolNumbers 1 to 100 and converterJapanese numbers 0 to 100 in kana, kanji and romaji, a converter up to 999,999, and the rules for 4, 7, 9, sound-changing hundreds and 万.