Hiragana · r row
ら (ra): hiragana stroke order and pronunciation
ら is the hiragana for ra, the a sound of the r row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its katakana twin is ラ (ra).
- Romaji
- ra
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play ra
How to write ら, stroke by stroke
Each frame adds one stroke. The number sits where the stroke starts; strokes run left to right and top to bottom.
- stroke 1
- stroke 2
How to say ra
Tip: tongue tap — 'la' and 'ra' sit between
ら in a word
The course introduces ら with さくら (cherry blossom).
The r row
The r row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ら differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with ら
3 words from the beginner word lists use ら. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- いくらikurahow much?Numbers
- いくらですかikura desu kaHow much is it?Numbers
- いらっしゃいませirasshaimaseWelcome (shop greeting)Greetings and polite phrases
ら in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where ら turns up in running text rather than on its own.
「いいから、たべて。」
"Never mind that, eat." from The pudding
「これは いくらですか。」
"How much is this?" from At the shop
Built from ら
The same sound in katakana
Stroke-order data from KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Practice this in Open Lingo
The Open Lingo Japanese course teaches ら with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
- ChartKatakana chartAll 46 basic katakana plus voiced and yōon combinations, with romaji, stroke-order diagrams, example loanwords and audio.
- Word listGreetings and polite phrasesEssential Japanese greetings and polite phrases for beginners, with hiragana, romaji, meaning and audio, taken from the Open Lingo course.
- Word listNumbersJapanese numbers for beginners: Sino-Japanese いち, に, さん, the native ひとつ, ふたつ counting set, and hundreds, thousands and 万, with audio.
- ToolNumbers 1 to 100 and converterJapanese numbers 0 to 100 in kana, kanji and romaji, a converter up to 999,999, and the rules for 4, 7, 9, sound-changing hundreds and 万.