Ni (kana) explained

Hiragana Image:	Japanese_Hiragana_kyokashotai_NI.svg
Katakana Image:	Japanese_Katakana_kyokashotai_NI.svg
Transliteration:	ni
Hiragana Manyogana:	仁
Katakana Manyogana:	仁
Other Manyogana:	二 人 日 仁 爾 迩 尼 耳 柔 丹 荷 似 煮 煎
Unicode:	U+306B, U+30CB
Flag1:	6
Spelling:	日本のニ (Nippon no ni)

に, in hiragana, or ニ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. The hiragana is written in three strokes, while the katakana in two. Both represent pronounced as //ni// although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is pronounced as /[ɲi]/.

Notably, the katakana (ニ) is functionally identical to the kanji for two (二), pronounced the same way, and written similarly.

に is used as a particle, with a similar function to the English "to", "in", "at", or "by":

Form	Rōmaji	Hiragana	Katakana
Normal n- (な行 na-gyō)	ni	に	ニ
	nii, nyi nī	にい, にぃ にー	ニイ, ニィ ニー
Addition yōon ny- (にゃ行 nya-gyō)	nya	にゃ	ニャ
	nyaa nyā	にゃあ, にゃぁ にゃー	ニャア, ニャァ ニャー
	nyu	にゅ	ニュ
	nyuu nyū	にゅう, にゅぅ にゅー	ニュウ, ニュゥ ニュー
	nyo	にょ	ニョ
	nyou nyoo nyō	にょう, にょぅ にょお, にょぉ にょー	ニョウ, ニョゥ ニョオ, ニョォ ニョー

Stroke order

The hiragana に is made with three strokes:

1. A vertical stroke from top to bottom.
2. A short, horizontal stroke to the upper right of the first stroke, going from left to right.
3. Another short, horizontal stroke at the bottom right of the first stroke, going from left to right.

The katakana ニ is made with two strokes:

1. At the top, a horizontal stroke from left to right.
2. Another, longer horizontal stroke under the first stroke

Other communicative representations

• Full Braille representation

• Computer encodings

See also

• Japanese grammar

References

Handbook of Japanese Grammar - Masahiro Tanimori (Tuttle 1994)