The Last Two Rows: や ゆ よ and ら り る れ ろ
Finish the basic forty-six with the y- and r-rows, then train your eye on the r-row's single-stroke shapes inside real words.
The end of the set is in sight
After today, only three characters remain before you can read every basic hiragana. That is worth pausing on. You have been at this for a week. The m-row from yesterday — ま み む め も — should now feel like old furniture. Today adds two rows: the y-row, which is short, and the r-row, which is short in stroke count but tricky in shape.
The y-row: や ゆ よ
Three characters. That is the whole row.
- や (ya) — as in やま（やま）mountain
- ゆ (yu) — as in ゆき（ゆき）snow
- よ (yo) — as in よる（よる）night
The y-row is small because Japanese dropped two of its possible y-sounds long ago. You will not see や ゆ よ as often as the other rows, but they appear in very common words. よる（よる）night is one you will meet constantly. So is よむ（よむ）to read.
A note on shape: や has a small loop and a long tail. ゆ is round with a vertical stroke through it. よ is a horizontal line with a loop and a tail. They do not resemble each other much, which is a relief.
The r-row: ら り る れ ろ
Five characters, and they are the ones that make people slow down. They share a family resemblance: a single stroke that curves, loops, or hooks. If you glance too quickly, る and ろ look like the same character. They are not.
- ら (ra) — as in さくら（さくら）cherry blossom
- り (ri) — as in りんご（りんご）apple
- る (ru) — as in みる（みる）to see
- れ (re) — as in これ（これ）this
- ろ (ro) — as in いろ（いろ）color
The difference between る and ろ is the loop. る has a complete loop at the bottom; ろ does not — it ends in a hook. Write them side by side ten times and the difference will stick.
Reading practice: the r-row inside words
Single characters are easy. The r-row gets hard when it sits between other kana. Read these aloud, then type them.
- よる（よる）night — the よ is wide, the る is small.
- みる（みる）to see — a very common verb. みる（みる）.
- とる（とる）to take — と is simple, る is the one to watch.
- よむ（よむ）to read — よ then む. No r-row here, but it pairs with よる in daily life.
- くれる（くれる）to give (to me) — two れ and one る. Type it slowly.
If you are in your city or anywhere else, the same drill works: say the word, picture the kana, type it. The goal is not speed yet. The goal is not stopping.
The shapes that trip people
Most confusion in the r-row comes from る and ろ, and from れ and わ (which you will meet tomorrow). For now, focus on る versus ろ. A useful test: る has a loop that closes. ろ does not. Say the word よる（よる）night and picture the closed loop. Say いろ（いろ）color and picture the open hook.
Another pair: ら and う. ら has a small stroke on top; う has a dot. They are different characters entirely.
A short drill
Set a timer for two minutes. Write these words in hiragana, then check:
- night — よる
- to see — みる
- cherry blossom — さくら
- apple — りんご
- this — これ
- color — いろ
If you got all six, you are ready for tomorrow. If not, the r-row is the one to review. It is normal to mix up る and ろ for a few days. The fix is repetition, not insight.
What is left
Tomorrow closes the basic set with わ, を, and ん. That is three characters, and one of them — を — only appears as a particle. It is the character people type wrong under pressure because they never see it in isolation. We will deal with it directly.
None of this is being saved
Signed in, we would remember every character you have looked at — and write you reading you can actually get through, built from exactly those.
Remember this 要点
The y-row has only three characters, and the r-row's る and ろ differ by a single loop — write them side by side until the difference is automatic.
Today's words 語彙
Three questions 確認
Reading as a guest
A free account keeps your reading streak and adds today's XP to your Nihoner level.
Create free account Log inTomorrow you meet を — the one character that almost never appears except as a particle. Do you know why it is typed so often but read so rarely on its own?
Read day 9 →