Katakana · y row
ユ (yu): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
ユ is the katakana for yu, the u sound of the y row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its hiragana twin is ゆ (yu).
- Romaji
- yu
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play yu
How to write ユ, 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 yu
Tip: like 'you'
A boxy U tipped on its side.
ユ in a word
The course introduces ユ with ユーモア (humor).
The y row
The y row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ユ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
ユ in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where ユ turns up in running text rather than on its own.
ユミが いう。
Yumi says, from The day off
ユミが いう。
Yumi says, from The trip I didn't want
Built from ユ
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 ユ 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.