Katakana · r row
ラ (ra): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
ラ is the katakana for ra, the a sound of the r row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its hiragana twin is ら (ra).
- Romaji
- ra
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play ra
How to write ラ, 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: tap the roof of your mouth — between 'r' and 'l'
フ with a hat on.
ラ in a word
The course introduces ラ with カメラ (camera).
The r row
The r row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ラ differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with ラ
One word from the beginner word lists use ラ. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- ラーメンraamenRamenFood and drink vocabulary
ラ in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where ラ turns up in running text rather than on its own.
ラーメンは ごひゃくえんです。おいしいです。
The ramen is five hundred yen. It's good. from The expensive pen
しちじに たなかさんと えきの ラーメンの みせに いきます。
At seven I go with Tanaka to the ramen shop at the station. from The expensive pen
Built from ラ
The same sound in hiragana
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 ラ with tracing practice, a listening drill and spaced review, then uses it in real words within the same lesson.
Keep going
- ChartHiragana chartAll 46 basic hiragana plus dakuten and yōon combinations, each with romaji, stroke-order diagram, a pronunciation tip 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.