# る — hiragana “ru”

る is the hiragana character for the sound “ru”. It is written with 1 stroke, and in katakana the same sound is ル.

- Reading: ru
- Strokes: 1
- Katakana: ル

## How る sounds

The Japanese r is one light tap of the tongue, somewhere between r, l and d.

## Don't confuse it with

ろ

## Words with る

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| する | suru | to do |
| ある | aru | to be (of things) |
| くる | kuru | to come |
| みる | miru | to see |
| いる | iru | to be (of people and animals) |
| できる | dekiru | to be able to do |

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/hiragana-chart/ru/. Last updated 2026-11-01.