る (ru) – Hiragana

Pronunciation

– Pronounced as the Japanese ‘ru’. This can be a difficult kana to pronounce for new students. There’s no direct word in the English language that has this sound, it’s rather a cross between the English ‘r’ and the English ‘l’. Imagine a sort of soft ‘r’ where your tongue doesn’t roll, then add the Japanese ‘u’ at the end of it – ‘ru’.

About

る, in hiragana, or ル in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora. The hiragana is written in one stroke; the katakana in two.

Mnemonics

Mnemonic 1: This symbol looks like the letter b. It happens to be a very valuble letter b, made of gold, and encrusted with gems, including a large ruby at its base

Mnemonic 2: This character looks like the number 3. Located within the curl at the bottom of the three is a sack containing three ‘rubies’.