Re Ro

Hiragana 1

Chapter 17 · Re Ro

🌸 Finishing the R Row — れろ

Two characters complete the R row: れ (re) and ろ (ro). That makes forty-three characters, with only three left. Today completes the "this / that" word family (これ, それ, あれ), gives you the colours, and lets you read most of the numbers from 1 to 10.

	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-three down, three to go: わ, を and ん.

✨ Two New Characters — れろ

れ

a tapped "r" + "eh", like "re" in rest, but quicker ("reh")

2 strokes · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a rescue worker with a long cape streaming out behind.

ろ

a tapped "r" + "oh", like "ro" in road, but quicker ("roh")

1 stroke · stroke order ▸

Memory hook: a winding road, twisting twice on its way up the hill.

Look-Alike Warnings: る and ろ, and the れ-ね-わ Cousins る and ろ are the same shape, except る has a loop at the bottom (the kangaroo's pouch) and ろ doesn't. Check the loop every time. れ, ね and わ are three cousins that all start with a vertical line on the left. ね ends in a loop, whereas れ ends in an open sweep, and わ (next chapter) is a rounder cousin. We'll compare れ and わ side by side in Chapter 18.

📖 Read It — New Words

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

#	Word	Romaji	English	Note
1	これ	kore	this (thing)	near me
2	それ	sore	that (thing)	near you
3	あれ	are	that over there	far from both; also "Huh?"
4	ろく	roku	six (6)	ro + ku
5	れい	rei	zero (0)	re + i
6	いろ	iro	colour	i + ro
7	くろ	kuro	black	ku + ro
8	しろ	shiro	white	shi + ro
9	きいろ	kiiro	yellow	three beats: ki-i-ro
10	ひろい	hiroi	wide, spacious	an adjective
11	ふるい	furui	old (not for people)	an adjective
12	それから	sore kara	and then, after that	so + re + ka + ra

🎨 Colours — いろ

You can now read five colours. Add い to turn a colour into an adjective that describes something: あか → あかい ("red").

Colour (noun)	Romaji	Adjective	English
あか	aka	あかい	red
あお	ao	あおい	blue
くろ	kuro	くろい	black
しろ	shiro	しろい	white
きいろ	kiiro	きいろい	yellow

🔢 Numbers You Can Read Now

Most of the numbers from 0 to 9 are written with characters you now know. Only 3, 5 and 10 are missing: they need ん, ご (a voiced sound) and a combined sound, which come later.

Number	Hiragana	Romaji	Note
0	れい	rei	also ゼロ in katakana
1	いち	ichi	Chapter 7
2	に	ni	just the one character
4	し	shi	often said yon (よん) instead
6	ろく	roku	new today
7	なな / しち	nana / shichi	two readings
8	はち	hachi	ha + chi
9	く	ku	often said kyū (きゅう) instead

Real Japanese Tip — Unlucky Numbers: 4 and 9 The number 4 (し) sounds like the word for "death" (死), and 9 (く) can sound like "suffering" (苦), so Japanese speakers often avoid them. They say よん for 4 and きゅう for 9 instead. Some hospitals and apartment blocks even skip the 4th floor, and gift sets often come in threes and fives rather than fours.

Real Japanese Tip — それから and これから それから (sore kara) means "and then, after that", and it's the connector you'll use to tell a story in order. Its partner これから (kore kara) means "from now on" or "after this". You can read both already.

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Is This a Cat? — これは？

A: これはねこ？ kore wa neko? Is this a cat?

B: いいえ、いぬ。 iie, inu. No, a dog.

A: そうか。 sō ka. I see.

② Where's the Plate? — あれ？

A: あれ？さら、ない！ are? sara, nai! Huh? The plate isn't here!

B: そこにある。 soko ni aru. It's there.

③ A White Dog — しろいいぬ

A: あのいぬ、しろいね。 ano inu, shiroi ne. That dog over there is white, isn't it.

B: ええ、しろいね！ ee, shiroi ne! Yes, it's white!

Review: Reading Back Cover the English and read these again: さくら (cherry blossom) · くるま (car) · そら (sky) · りす (squirrel) · とり (bird) · さら (plate) · ある (to be there) · いる (to be there, alive) · みる (to see) · のる (to ride) · つくる (to make) · かえる (to return).

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

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

1. Say the whole R row in order: らりるれろ

Show answer

ra · ri · ru · re · ro

2. How many strokes do れ and ろ have, and how can you tell ろ from る?

Show answer

れ has 2, ろ has 1. る has a loop at the bottom; ろ doesn't.

3. Read and translate: これ · それ · あれ

Show answer

kore (this, near me) · sore (that, near you) · are (that over there)

4. Write in hiragana: kuro (black) · shiro (white) · kiiro (yellow)

Show answer

くろ · しろ · きいろ

5. Read these numbers: ろく · なな · はち · and write "2" in hiragana.

Show answer

6 · 7 · 8, and 2 is に.

6. What does それから mean?

Show answer

"And then" or "after that".

Coming Up in Chapter 18 The last chapter: わ (wa), を (wo / o) and ん (n). You'll finish with わたし (I), にほん (Japan), こんにちは (hello), さようなら (goodbye) and おはよう (good morning), plus the third particle, を, and a "Course Complete" summary.

Re Ro

🌸 Finishing the R Row — れ ろ

✨ Two New Characters — れ ろ

📖 Read It — New Words

🎨 Colours — いろ

🔢 Numbers You Can Read Now

💬 Mini-Dialogs

① Is This a Cat? — これは？

② Where's the Plate? — あれ？

③ A White Dog — しろい いぬ

✍️ Try It Yourself — れんしゅう

🌸 Finishing the R Row — れろ

✨ Two New Characters — れろ

③ A White Dog — しろいいぬ