Cursive A (Capital & Lowercase)

How to Write a Capital A in Cursive

1. Start at the top right. Put your pencil just under the top line, on the right side of where the letter will sit. This is where the oval begins and where the downstroke will be.
2. Circle back to the left. Curve up over the top and down the left side in a counterclockwise oval. The top of the oval should brush the top line.
3. Round off on the baseline. Let the oval sit on the baseline, then swing back up the right side to where you started, closing the shape at the top.
4. Pull the downstroke. Without lifting, draw a straight, slanted line from the top line down to the baseline along the right edge of the oval.
5. Add the exit tail. Finish with a small upturn to the right on the baseline. In a word, this tail carries straight into the next letter.

How to Write a Lowercase a in Cursive

1. Start just below the midline. Begin at the top right of a small oval. In a word, the stroke from the previous letter rises and curves over to this point.
2. Make the oval. Curve left and down, counterclockwise, round the bottom on the baseline and come back up toward the midline.
3. Close it at the top. Bring the stroke back to its starting point so the top of the oval is shut. A gap here is the most common reason an a reads as a u.
4. Come straight down. Trace a short slanted stroke from the midline to the baseline on the right side of the oval.
5. Swing out. End with a small exit stroke that curves up to the right, ready to join the next letter.

Common Mistakes With Cursive A

Cursive A is short and simple, but a few small slips change how the whole word reads.

• Drawing a printed A. The pointed tent shape with a crossbar belongs to print. The traditional cursive capital is an oval with a downstroke, nothing more.
• Leaving the top open. If the oval doesn't close at the top, the lowercase a looks like a u and the capital looks like a large U. Close the shape before you pull the downstroke.
• Making the stem too tall. On the lowercase a, the downstroke starts at the midline. Push it up to the top line and you've written a d.
• Turning the oval clockwise. Ovals in cursive run counterclockwise from the top right. Going the other way leaves your pencil on the wrong side for the downstroke.
• Skipping the tail. Without the little exit stroke, the next letter has nothing to join to and the word looks broken.
• A round, upright oval. Keep the oval leaning with the slant of the downstroke. A circle that stands straight up makes the letter look tipped over.

How A in Cursive Connects to the Next Letter

Both forms of A join the next letter in this style. The capital A ends with the same small tail as the lowercase, so you can keep your pencil down and run straight into the next letter, as in Amy or Anna.

Joining into a lowercase a is the tricky part. Because the a starts at the top of its oval and not on the baseline, the connecting stroke has to climb past the oval and hook over to the left before it drops into the circle. In banana you make this move three times, which makes it a perfect drill.

After o, w, v and b, the join leaves from the midline instead of the baseline. Carry that high stroke across to the top of the a, as in boat, and start the oval right there without dipping down first.

Copy and Paste Cursive A Symbols

These are Unicode characters that look like script letters, not real handwriting. They paste into bios, chats and captions, but they sit side by side like any typed letter and never join up.

• 𝒜𝓃ℊℯ𝓁Copy
• 𝒜𝓂𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃ℊCopy
• 𝒜𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈Copy
• 𝒜𝓁𝓁 ℳ𝒾𝓃ℯCopy

Words That Start With A to Practice

A starts hundreds of everyday words, so you'll never run out of practice material. Begin with short words, then try ones where a sits in the middle and has to be joined from both sides.

• Short words: ant, apple, arm, ask, add, age, art, air
• Longer words: animal, after, always, answer, address, alarm, autumn, arrow
• A in the middle: banana, cat, hand, boat, road, dream, panda, salad
• Names and places: Amy, Anna, Adam, Alex, Aaron, Africa, Alaska, April

Warm up with a row of joined a's before each session. It trains the oval-and-downstroke motion you'll reuse for d and g.