Lesson 2.10 (Hiragana) Question, ふ

こんにちは (Konnichiwa) EarleyGrave,

Good question! 

I can't say for sure as to why ふ has been written that way in 2.10; however, I do know that both of these ways of writing ふ are correct. 

Some hiragana characters like さ (sa), き (ki), ふ (fu), そ (so) and ゆ (yu) may be written a little differently from time to time, and there are a number of reasons for this:

• font
• personal preference

It's more common write ふ with four strokes when handwriting; however, depending on the font, you'll also see ふ written with the first two strokes connected. You may see ふ written in this way in places like blog posts or in newspapers. This is also how ふ is written in calligraphy. 

Personal preference also plays a factor. Just like how you might write your "y" or "g" a little differently to your friend, in Japanese, everyone's handwriting has some slight variation. It's up to you whether you write ふ with the first two strokes connected, or in four separate strokes, but it's always good to know how to read and write both variations, just incase you come across the other style of writing it. 

I hope this helped! Please let me know if you have any more questions!

勉強を頑張ってください！ (Benkyō o ganabtte kudasai!)