The ta row and the na row

Two more rows, two more surprises

た ち つ て と is ta chi tsu te to, and な に ぬ ね の is na ni nu ne no. The first row has two signs that break the pattern: the second is chi, not ti, and the third is tsu, not tu. The second row keeps its promise from beginning to end, which makes it the easiest row in the whole set.

Four strokes and two strokes. The first looks like a small cross with a hook beside it.

One stroke, one stroke, two strokes. Three of the simplest signs in the whole set.

Four strokes and three. Both start at the top left, as almost every sign does.

Two strokes, two, then one. The first ends in a little loop, and the last is one looping stroke on its own.

なつsummer

ねこcat

Three exceptions in the whole of hiragana is a small price. Learn them as words rather than as rules: ち in chikatetsu, つ in tsuki, し in sushi. A sound that lives in a word you use is a sound you keep.