Katakana · s row
ソ (so): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
ソ is the katakana for so, the o sound of the s row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its hiragana twin is そ (so).
- Romaji
- so
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play so
How to write ソ, 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 so
Tip: like 'so' in 'sort'
One drop, one downward sweep. Its own twin (ン) arrives with the last row.
ソ in a word
The course introduces ソ with ソース (sauce).
The s row
The s row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ソ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Built from ソ
With dakuten
- ゾzo
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 ソ with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
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