Katakana · n row
ニ (ni): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
ニ is the katakana for ni, the i sound of the n row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its hiragana twin is に (ni).
- Romaji
- ni
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play ni
How to write ニ, 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
How to say ni
Tip: like 'nee' in 'knee'
Literally the kanji 二 — two strokes, and 'ni' means two.
ニ in a word
The course introduces ニ with ニュース (news).
The n row
The n row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ニ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
ニ in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where ニ turns up in running text rather than on its own.
わたしは ニュースを みます。
I watch the news. from At the airport
Built from ニ
Combinations (yōon) with small ャ ュ ョ
- ニャnya
- ニュnyu
- ニョnyo
The same sound in hiragana
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 ニ with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
- ChartHiragana chartAll 46 basic hiragana plus dakuten and yōon combinations, each with romaji, stroke-order diagram, a pronunciation tip 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.