The Cursive Alphabet: How to Form Every Letter

The four cursive stroke families

An undercurve swings up from the baseline to the midline — the stroke that begins most cursive words. A downcurve travels up, over to the left, and back down, tracing the oval that opens the round letters. An overcurve goes up and over like a small hill before dropping to the baseline. Loops are the fourth piece: the same strokes, carried above the midline or below the baseline and closed on the way back.

Teach the families in that order. Undercurve letters come first because they contain the entry stroke every word needs, and because i, u and w are three letters for one movement.

Undercurve letters: i, u, t, w, e, l, b, h, k, f

All ten start the same way — up from the baseline to the midline — and then differ in height, retrace, or loop.

• i — up, retrace straight down, exit. Dot it after the whole word.
• u — the i stroke twice, with no lift between them.
• t — up to about three-quarters height, straight down, exit. Cross it last.
• w — like u, but the exit finishes at the midline with a small flat stroke.
• e — the same climb with a loop in it; the loop is all that separates e from i.
• l — e's loop taken to the top line.
• b — l's tall loop, down to the baseline, then w's flat midline exit.
• h — a tall loop down to the baseline, then one overcurve hump.
• k — a tall loop, then a small bump at the midline and a kick out.
• f — up to the top line, down through the baseline, loop back. The only letter looping both above and below.

The common fault here is height, not shape: t drawn as tall as l, or e's loop squeezed shut so it reads as i. Guide lines fix both faster than any correction does.

Downcurve letters: a, c, d, g, o, q

These six begin at the midline with the same oval, so a child who can write a good c already owns most of the family.

• a — oval closed at the baseline, retrace up, straight down, exit.
• c — the oval opened: around, down, and a short exit at the baseline.
• d — the oval, then a tall retrace to the top line and back down.
• g — the oval, then down through the baseline into a loop.
• o — the oval closed at the top, exiting flat at the midline like w and b.
• q — the oval, then a tail below the line that hooks right, the reverse of g.

Watch the start point. Beginners often open the oval from the bottom, print-style, which makes every round letter arrive at the next letter from the wrong place.

Overcurve letters: n, m, v, x, y, z

The overcurve is a hill: up over the midline, then down. Repeat it and you have the hump letters.

• n — over, down, over, down, exit: two humps of equal width.
• m — the same movement three times.
• v — over, slant down to the baseline, up, and a flat midline exit.
• x — over, slant down, exit. Cross it after, the way you cross t.
• y — over, down, then a loop below the baseline and back up.
• z — over, down, a small kick at the baseline, then a loop below it.

Width is the thing to watch: n and m collapse into each other when the humps narrow, and a hurried m grows a fourth hump. Counting the humps aloud while writing is the standard fix.

The awkward letters: r, s, p, j and f

Five letters do not sit cleanly in any family, and they are where most cursive practice time goes.

• r — up to the midline, a small shoulder, a short flat top, then down. Drawn too round it becomes a hump; drawn too flat it becomes i.
• s — up, then curve back down and close a small pocket at the baseline. There is no straight retrace anywhere in it.
• p — up, straight down below the baseline, retrace all the way up, then the bowl at the midline.
• j — up, down through the baseline into a loop like g and y. Dot it after the word.
• f — the fifth, described above: it is the only letter that loops in both directions, and the one worth practising on its own line.

None of these five are worth rushing: they turn up in almost every sentence a child writes.

Uppercase cursive letters, and which ones do not join

Capitals are taught last, and for good reason: a page uses one capital per sentence and a few names, while lowercase letters do all the work. Cursive capitals are also the least standardized part of the alphabet — programs disagree about the flourishes, and none of that matters for legibility.

The rule worth knowing is which capitals connect. A capital that finishes on the baseline flows straight into the next letter. A capital that finishes at the top of the letter leaves the pencil in the wrong place, so it stands alone and the next letter starts fresh from the baseline. Programs vary at the edges, but that group always includes O, V, W, B, D and P.

A few capitals also look nothing like their printed forms — G, Q and Z most of all, with the traditional cursive Q shaped much like the numeral 2. Show both versions side by side before asking a child to write either.

How to print the cursive alphabet to trace

A reference chart tells you what the letters look like; tracing is what puts them in the hand. Our cursive writing practice generator prints the alphabet in lowercase, uppercase, or matched pairs, with every traced model row followed by a blank copy row — trace it, then write it yourself underneath. Switch it to the joins sheet for the connections, or type your own words when a child is ready for real spellings.

Two other sheets support it. Three-line handwriting practice sheets give the baseline and dotted midline that cursive letter heights depend on, and printed letter tracing worksheets are the right tool if a child's print letters are still effortful — cursive stacks on top of print, and it will not repair it. If you are not sure a child is ready at all, when kids should learn cursive covers the readiness signs.

Where letters meet: a note on joins

The alphabet is the vocabulary; the joins are the grammar. Once individual letters are reliable, practice moves to the connections, because that is the only part of cursive that print does not already teach.

Three exits cover every join:

• Baseline exits — most letters, including a, c, d, h, i, k, l, m, n, t and u. The next letter starts low, which is the default.
• Midline exits — o, v, w and b end high with a flat stroke, so the next letter starts high. This is why oo, wr and br look wrong to a beginner who has only practised baseline joins.
• Descender exits — f, g, j, p, q, y and z return to the baseline out of their loop before joining.

Drill the joins as units: th, sh, ch, oo, ee, er and ing turn up constantly, and a child who writes them without thinking is writing cursive rather than assembling it.

Frequently asked questions