Ra Ri Ru

Hiragana 1

Chapter 16 · Ra Ri Ru

🌸 The R Row Begins — らりる

The last big consonant row is r, with ら (ra), り (ri) and る (ru). That makes forty-one characters, and today you can read the words for cherry blossom, car, bird, and the two key verbs ある and いる ("to exist").

	a	i	u	e	o
(vowels)	あ	い	う	え	お
k +	か	き	く	け	こ
s +	さ	し	す	せ	そ
t +	た	ち	つ	て	と
n +	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
h +	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ
m +	ま	み	む	め	も
y +	や		ゆ		よ
r +	ら	り	る	れ	ろ

Forty-one down, five to go: れ, ろ, わ, を and ん.

✨ The Japanese "R" — A Tap of the Tongue

The Japanese "r" is neither an English "r" nor an "l". It's a quick tap of the tip of the tongue against the ridge behind your upper teeth, like the "d" in ladder or the "tt" in American butter. (Many Scottish speakers already make a similar tap in very.) Say "ladder" quickly and listen for that tap: that is the sound in ra, ri, ru, re and ro. Don't curl your tongue back like an English "r".

✨ Three New Characters — らりる

ら

a tapped "r" + "ah", like "la" in lava, but quicker ("rah")

2 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a rabbit, with a short ear on top and a curved back.

り

a tapped "r" + "ee", like "ree" in reed, but quicker ("ree")

2 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: two reeds growing side by side, one shorter than the other.

る

a tapped "r" + "oo", like "roo" in kangaroo, but quicker ("roo")

1 stroke · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a kangaroo curled up, with its pouch (the loop) at the bottom.

Look-Alike Warnings: り and い, ら and ち, る and ろ り and い: in い (i), the left stroke is the tall one, and in り (ri) the right stroke is the long one. ら and ち: both have 2 strokes, but ら starts with a short slanting dash, and ち starts with a horizontal bar. る and ろ: ろ (ro) is next chapter's character, and it looks just like る but without the loop at the bottom, so watch for the loop.

📖 Read It — New Words

With forty-one characters, you can read all of these. Remember that each character is one beat.

#	Word	Romaji	English	Note
1	さくら	sakura	cherry blossom	sa + ku + ra
2	くるま	kuruma	car	ku + ru + ma
3	そら	sora	sky	so + ra
4	りす	risu	squirrel	ri + su
5	とり	tori	bird	to + ri
6	さら	sara	plate, dish	sa + ra
7	ある	aru	to exist, to be (things)	for objects that don't move
8	いる	iru	to be, to exist (people, animals)	for living things
9	みる	miru	to see, to watch	a verb
10	のる	noru	to ride, to get on	a verb
11	つくる	tsukuru	to make	a verb
12	かえる	kaeru	to return, to go home	also means "frog"

Real Japanese Tip — ある and いる, Two Words for "To Be There" Japanese uses two verbs for "exist", depending on what exists. いる is for living things that move (people and animals): ねこがいる (there is a cat). ある is for things (objects, plants, events): さらがある (there is a plate). You'll hear both constantly, so it's worth learning the pair now. (The small が, which marks the subject, comes in the next course.)

Real Japanese Tip — さくら and Hanami さくら (cherry blossom) is the most famous flower in Japan. Each spring, people gather under the trees for はなみ (hanami, "flower viewing"): picnics beneath the blossom, usually in late March and early April. You can already read さくら, はな (flower) and みる (to see), so you have the three words you need for it.

🎎 Polite Verbs Ending in る — Two Groups

Verbs ending in る come in two groups, and they make the polite form differently. In the first group, you drop る and add ます. In the second, you change る → り and then add ます. For now, learn these as vocabulary; the conversation courses will explain how to tell the groups apart.

Dictionary form	Polite form	Romaji	English	How
みる	みます	mimasu	see, watch	drop る
いる	います	imasu	be (living things)	drop る
ある	あります	arimasu	be (things)	る → り
のる	のります	norimasu	ride	る → り
つくる	つくります	tsukurimasu	make	る → り
かえる	かえります	kaerimasu	return, go home	る → り

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Is the Cat There? — ねこ、いますか？

A: ねこ、いますか？ neko, imasu ka? Is the cat there?

B: はい、います。 hai, imasu. Yes, it is.

② A Plate — さら、ある？

A: さら、ある？ sara, aru? Do we have a plate?

B: ええ、ある。 ee, aru. Yes, we do.

A: ちいさい？ chiisai? Is it small?

③ Cherry Blossoms — さくら

A: さくら、みますか？ sakura, mimasu ka? Will you see the cherry blossoms?

B: はい、みます！ hai, mimasu! Yes, I will!

A: いつ？ itsu? When?

B: ことし！ kotoshi! This year!

Review: Reading Back Cover the English and read these again: やま (mountain) · ゆき (snow) · ゆめ (dream) · やさい (vegetables) · やすみ (holiday) · やすい (cheap) · よこ (side) · よむ (to read) · よく (often) · ゆうめい (famous).

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Read these aloud: ら · り · る

Show answer

ra · ri · ru

2. How many strokes do ら, り and る have, and how do you pronounce the Japanese "r"?

Show answer

ら has 2, り has 2, る has 1. The "r" is a quick tap of the tongue, like the "d" in ladder.

3. Read and translate: さくら · くるま · そら

Show answer

sakura (cherry blossom) · kuruma (car) · sora (sky)

4. Write in hiragana: risu (squirrel) · tori (bird) · sara (plate)

Show answer

りす · とり · さら

5. Which verb would you use for "there is a cat", and which for "there is a plate"?

Show answer

A cat is a living thing: いる (iru). A plate is an object: ある (aru).

6. Make these polite: みる · ある · のる

Show answer

みます (drop る) · あります (る → り) · のります (る → り)

Coming Up in Chapter 17 Two characters finish the R row: れ (re) and ろ (ro). You'll then read これ (this), それ (that), あれ (that over there), ろく (six) and くろ (black), which completes the "this / that" word family.

Ra Ri Ru

🌸 The R Row Begins — ら り る

✨ The Japanese "R" — A Tap of the Tongue

✨ Three New Characters — ら り る

📖 Read It — New Words

🎎 Polite Verbs Ending in る — Two Groups

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Is the Cat There? — ねこ、いますか？

② A Plate — さら、ある？

③ Cherry Blossoms — さくら

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

🌸 The R Row Begins — らりる

✨ Three New Characters — らりる