Hiragana: Lesson 42 - ‘れ’ [RE]

Pronunciation:
‘れ’ is romanized ‘RE’.

Words with ‘れ’:
‘れ’ at the beginning:

• 霊 / れい (rei -> spirit; soul)
• ０ / れい (rei -> zero)
• 歴史 / れきし (rekishi -> history)
• 隷属 / れいぞく (reizoku -> fridge)

Hiragana: Lesson 41 - ‘る’ [ru]

Pronunciation:
‘る’ is romanized ‘ru’.

Words with ‘る’:
‘ る’ at the beginning:

• るっさい (russai -> noisy; loud; fussy; annoying; troublesome; tiresome; bossy)
• るんるん気分/るんるんきぶん (runrunkibun -> euphoric mood; exuberant mood)
• 類/るい (rui -> kind; sort; class; family; genus)

‘ る’ in the middle:

• 古い/ふるい (furui -> old (not person); aged; ancient; antiquated; stale; threadbare)
• 狡い/ずるい (zurui -> sly; cunning; dishonest; sneaky; crafty)
• 悪い/わるい (warui -> bad; poor; inferior; evil; sinful; unprofitable; unbeneficial; at fault; to blame; in the wrong; sorry)
• 軽い/かるい (karui -> light (i.e. not heavy); feeling light (i.e. offering little resistance, moving easily); nimble; agile; non-serious; minor; unimportant; trivial; slight; small; gentle; soft; easy; simple)

Hiragana: Lesson 40 - ‘り’ [ri]

Pronunciation:
‘り’ is romanized ‘ri’.

Words with ‘り’:
‘り’ at the beginning:

• 利子/りし (rishi -> interest (bank))
• 林檎/りんご (ringo -> (uk) apple; apple tree; malus pumila)
• 理科/りか (rika -> science)
• 力士/りきし (rikishi -> sumo wrestler; rikishi; strong man)
• 率/りつ (ritsu -> rate; ratio; proportion; percentage)
• 陸生/りくせい (rikusei -> rerrestrial)

Hiragana: Lesson 38 - ‘よ’ [yo]

Pronunciation:
‘よ’ is romanized ‘yo’ and pronounced ‘yo’ as in ‘your’.

Words with ‘よ’:
‘よ’ at the beginning:

• ように (youni -> in order to (e.g., meet goal); so that; take care (so as); hoping or wishing for something)
• 良く/よく (yoku -> nicely; properly; well; skilled in)
• 読み/よみ (yomi -> reading)
• 弱い/よわい (yowai -> weak; frail; delicate; tender; unskilled; weak (wine))
• 読む/よむ (yomu -> to read)

Hiragana: Lesson 37 - ‘ゆ’ [yu]

Pronunciation:
‘ゆ’ is romanized ‘yu’ and pronounced ‘you’ as in ‘you’.

Words with ‘ゆ’:
‘ゆ’ at the beginning:

• 雪/ゆき (yuki -> snow)
• 夢/ゆめ (yume -> dream)
• 夕食/ゆうしょく (yuushoku -> evening meal; dinner)
• 百合/ゆり (yuri -> lily)
• 弓/ゆみ (yumi -> bow (and arrow))
• 指/ゆび (yubi -> finger)

‘ゆ’ in the middle:

• 深雪/みゆき (miyuki -> deep snow)
• 声優/せいゆう (seiyuu -> voice actor or actress (radio, animation, etc.))

Hiragana: Lesson 36 - ‘や’ [ya]

Remember this character? We introduced it too early back then in Hiragana Lesson 7: ‘き’ [ki]. It was when we were talking how some characters may be combined with yo-on. This is the original character. Y section has only up to 3 characters (a, u, o) compared to other groups who have 5 type of characters that ends in: a, i, u, e, o.

Hiragana: Lesson 34 - ‘め’ [me]

Pronunciation:
‘め’ is romanized ‘me’ and prononced ‘me’ as in ‘met’.

Words with ‘め’:
‘め’ at the beginning:

• めがね (megane -> glassess)
• 回る / めぐる (meguru -> spin; rotate; round)
• 迷惑 / めいわく (meiwaku -> nuisance; trouble; annoyance)
• 目 / め (me -> eye)
• 目指す / めざす (mezasu -> aim)

‘め’ in the middle:

• 運命 / うんめい (unmei -> fate; destiny)

Hiragana: Lesson 32 - ‘み’ [mi]

Pronunciation:
‘み’ is romanized ‘mi’.

Words with ‘み’:
‘み’ at the beginning:

• 水 / みず (mizu -> water)
• 見る / みる (miru -> look; see)
• みかん (mikan -> orange)

Hiragana: Lesson 30 - ‘ほ’ [ho], ‘ぼ’ [bo] & ‘ぽ’ [po]

Pronunciation:
‘ほ’ is romanized (pronounced) ‘ho’ as in 'hop'.

Words with ‘ほ’:
‘ほ’ at the beginning:

• 星 / ほし (hoshi -> star)
• 微笑む / ほほえむ (hohoemu -> smile)
• 本/ ほん (hon -> hon)