Hiragana flashcards: all 46 characters

The 46 hiragana

Cover the romaji and say each sound out loud before you check it.

The voiced sounds

Once you know the 46, the rest of hiragana comes from small marks. Two short strokes (dakuten) make a sound voiced: か ka becomes が ga, さ sa becomes ざ za, た ta becomes だ da, and は ha becomes ば ba. A small circle (handakuten) turns the h row into p: は ha becomes ぱ pa.

A small ゃ, ゅ or ょ after an i-sound character makes a combined sound: き ki + ゃ is きゃ kya. A small っ doubles the next consonant: きって kitte (stamp).

A one week plan

• Days 1 to 4: learn two rows a day, in chart order (あ to よ). Review every character you have learned so far before adding new ones.
• Day 5: the ら row and the last three (わ, を, ん).
• Day 6: the voiced sounds and combined sounds below the chart.
• Day 7: read real words. Try simple words like ねこ (neko, cat) and さかな (sakana, fish) instead of single characters.
• After that: keep the cards in a spaced repetition app for a few weeks so the hard ones (ぬ and め, る and ろ, わ and れ and ね) come back until they stick.

Stop using romaji as soon as you can. Once you can read the 46, switch every card and note to hiragana, or the romaji will keep doing the reading for you.

Next: vocabulary decks

With hiragana done, you are ready for katakana and then a vocabulary deck. For your own textbook or class notes, StudyCards AI turns a PDF or notes into flashcards in about a minute, and you can export them to Anki.

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