Cursive Lowercase Letters
The 26 small letters — the ones you write most. Grouped by the stroke each one starts with, with the tall letters, descenders and bridge letters called out, and a printable practice sheet.
Once these are comfortable, the capital letters come next, and cursive words puts the lowercase letters together into whole words.
Three stroke families
Every lowercase letter starts with one of three strokes. Learn the stroke, and its whole family opens up — which is why the beginner’s guide teaches them in this order rather than from a to z.
Undercurve letters
These letters begin with a stroke that swings up from the baseline: i, u, w, t, j, p, r, s, e, l, b, h, k and f. Learn i and u first — every other letter in the group is built on that same entry stroke.
Downcurve (oval) letters
These letters begin at the midline with a counter-clockwise curve that rounds down and back up: a, d, g, o and q close the oval, c leaves it open. Master that curve once and you have six letters.
Heights and joins
Short letters
Thirteen letters live entirely between the baseline and the midline — half the alphabet, and the height everything else is measured against.
Tall letters
Loop up to the top line. t and d rise too, but stop short with a slim loop.
Descender letters
Drop below the baseline. g, j, y, z loop left; f, q loop right; p loops narrowly.
Bridge letters
End at the midline and join with a short level stroke; the next letter starts up there, which is the second of the four kinds of join.
Cursive lowercase letters practice sheet
Every lowercase letter once as a model and three times in grey to write over. Prints on one page.
Cursive lowercase letters a–z
Model, then trace
Name ______________________ Date __________
cursivealphabet.pro — free cursive practice sheets
Lowercase letter questions
Which lowercase cursive letters should I learn first?
Start with i, u, w and t. They share one entry stroke — the undercurve — and they teach the retrace and the exit tail that every other letter uses. Add e, l and b for loops, then the oval group a, c, d, g, o and q, then the overcurve group n, m, v, x, y and z.
Which lowercase cursive letters go below the line?
Seven letters have descenders: f, g, j, p, q, y, z. Four of them (g, j, y, z) loop to the left, f and q loop to the right, and p makes only a narrow loop to the left.
Which lowercase cursive letters are tall?
b, h, k, l loop all the way up to the top line. t and d count as tall too, but they stop a little short of it, with a much narrower loop.
What are the bridge letters in cursive?
b, o, v, w. They finish at the midline instead of the baseline, so they join the next letter with a short, level bridge stroke. The letter after a bridge letter starts from the midline — which is why "be", "on" and "we" feel different to write than "he", "an" and "ie".