Cursive T (Capital & Lowercase)

How to Write a Capital T in Cursive

1. Start the stem at the top line. Place your pencil on the top line, a little right of center. This is where the stem and the top bar will meet.
2. Slant down to the baseline. Pull a straight stroke down and slightly to the left, following the same slant as the rest of your writing.
3. Curl left at the bottom. When you reach the baseline, round off to the left and finish with a small upturned hook, like the bottom of a J that never closes.
4. Lift and add the top bar. Go back up and start just below the top line on the left with a tiny hook. Curve up onto the top line and run the bar across to the right.
5. Check the overlap. The bar should sit across the top of the stem with more of it on the left than the right. If the stem pokes out above the bar, start it a touch lower next time.

How to Write a Lowercase t in Cursive

1. Make the upstroke. From the baseline, or from the end of the previous letter, swing up and to the right past the midline.
2. Stop short of the top line. End the upstroke about halfway between the midline and the top line. The lowercase t is taller than an i but shorter than an l.
3. Retrace straight down. Come back down over the same line. There's no loop in a cursive t, so the up and down strokes should sit on top of each other.
4. Curve out of the baseline. Round off at the bottom and swing up to the right, ready to join the next letter.
5. Cross at the midline. After finishing the word, or right away, add a short cross stroke at the midline. Keep it short and level.

Common Mistakes With Cursive T

Cursive T looks simple, which is exactly why small errors stand out. Watch for these.

• Looping the lowercase t. Writing a loop on the way up turns the t into an l with a line through it. Retrace the stem instead.
• Making the t as tall as an l. If the stem touches the top line, the t and the l start to look alike. Stop about halfway up.
• Adding a cross to the capital. A small bar through the middle of the stem turns a cursive capital T into a capital F. Leave the stem clean.
• A flat, stiff top bar. The bar starts with a little hook and bends up onto the top line. A ruler-straight bar makes the T look printed.
• Forgetting the cross. In fast writing the cross gets skipped, and an uncrossed t reads like a tall i without a dot.
• A cross that drifts. The cross belongs at the midline. Too high and it floats, too low and it can be mistaken for a plus sign.

How Cursive T Connects to Other Letters

In this traditional style the capital T does not join the next letter. The stem ends in a curl that points back to the left, so you lift your pencil and start the next letter fresh, as you can see in Tom and Texas. Leave a small, even gap.

The lowercase t joins on both sides. The stroke from the previous letter runs straight up into the stem, and the curve at the bottom leads into whatever comes next, as in letter. With a double t, write both stems first and cross them at the end so the bars line up.

After o, w, v and b the join is unusual: the connecting stroke leaves at the midline and runs across into the stem, where it doubles as the cross. Look at note. You don't need a second cross on that t.

Copy and Paste Cursive T Symbols

These are Unicode characters that only look handwritten. You can paste them into bios, captions and messages, but they are separate letters, so they won't link up like real joined writing.

• 𝒯ℯ𝒶 𝒯𝒾𝓂ℯCopy
• 𝒯𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉Copy
• 𝒯𝒾𝓃𝓎Copy
• 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝒴ℴ𝓊Copy

Words That Start With T

Real words are where the t really gets practiced, because most of the work is deciding when to cross. Start short, then add doubles and middle t's.

• Short words: top, ten, tea, tap, toy, tin, two, tub
• Longer words: table, tiger, turtle, ticket, today, travel, tomato, teacher
• Double t and middle t: letter, butter, little, kitten, water, after, note, boat
• Names and places: Tom, Tina, Tyler, Theo, Texas, Tokyo, Toronto, Tuesday

Cross every t in a word only after the whole word is written. Your hand keeps moving and the crosses come out more even.