Katakana · r row
ル (ru): katakana stroke order and pronunciation
ル is the katakana for ru, the u sound of the r row. It is written with 2 strokes. Its hiragana twin is る (ru).
- Romaji
- ru
- Strokes
- 2
- Listen
- Play ru
How to write ル, 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 ru
Tip: tapped 'r' + oo
A river forking at the bottom.
ル in a word
The course introduces ル with ホテル (hotel).
The r row
The r row keeps one consonant and runs through the five vowels, so ル differs from its neighbours only in the vowel. Reading the row as a set fixes the pattern:
Course words written with ル
One word from the beginner word lists use ル. Each links to the list it belongs to.
- ビールbiirubeerFood and drink vocabulary
ル in a sentence
From the beginner stories, where ル turns up in running text rather than on its own.
ゆうべ、ぼくは ケンと ビールを のんだ。
Last night I drank beer with Ken. from The day off
Built from ル
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 ル 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.