Hiragana Test: Check Your Hiragana Flashcards Progress
Three quick hiragana quizzes, from the basic 46 to dakuten and spelling rules, with a guide for anything you miss.
Think you know your hiragana? Find out in a few minutes. These three quizzes test everything you've practised with your hiragana flashcards, from the basic 46 to the tricky spelling rules.
Each quiz takes a couple of minutes, and after each one you'll find a link to the guide for anything you missed.
What Does This Hiragana Test Cover?
| Quiz | Covers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The 46 basic characters, especially look-alikes | ぬ (nu) |
| 2 | Dakuten, the little dots, and ぢ (ji) and づ (zu) | が (ga) |
| 3 | Small っ (tsu), long vowels, combinations and particles | きょう (kyou, today) |
Do them in order. If the first quiz is a struggle, practise a bit more with your flashcards before trying the next one.
Why Test Yourself at All?
Testing isn't just a way to check your score. Every time you pull an answer out of memory, you make it stronger. That's exactly why flashcards work so well.
A test also shows you where your gaps are. Most learners find they know most characters well, and that a small handful cause nearly every mistake. Once you know which ones, you can fix them in a few days instead of drilling everything again.
Finally, it's motivating. Seeing that you can read the whole chart is a great feeling after a week or two of practice.
How Should You Take the Test?
- Cover the romaji. If you can see the answer, you're not testing yourself.
- Say each answer out loud before you click. It forces you to commit.
- Don't rush. Accuracy matters more than speed for now. Speed comes later with reading practice.
Quiz 1: Can You Read the Basic 46?
Most mistakes here are look-alikes, like ぬ (nu) and め (me), so the quiz is full of them.
Missed some? Hiragana Look-Alikes shows what tells each pair apart.
Still learning the rows? Follow the 7-day plan.
Quiz 2: Do You Know the Dakuten Sounds?
The 25 sounds made with the little dots and circle, plus the ぢ (ji) and づ (zu) spellings.
Missed some? Dakuten and Combinations covers every row.
Quiz 3: Can You Handle the Spelling Rules?
Small っ (tsu), long vowels, combinations and particles: the rules that change how a word sounds.
Missed some? Each rule is explained in Hiragana Spelling Rules and Combinations.
Bonus: Can You Read These Words?
One word for each rule. Read it, say it, then press play to check.
| Word | Meaning | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| さかな (sakana) | fish | Basic characters |
| ねこ (neko) | cat | Look-alike ね (ne) |
| かぞく (kazoku) | family | Dakuten |
| えんぴつ (enpitsu) | pencil | Handakuten |
| ざっし (zasshi) | magazine | Small っ (tsu) |
| おかあさん (okaasan) | mother | Long vowel |
| しゃしん (shashin) | photo | Combination |
| こんにちは (konnichiwa) | hello | Particle は (wa) |
What Should You Do With Your Results?
| Your score | Next step |
|---|---|
| All right | Move on to katakana or JLPT N5 words. |
| One or two wrong | Read the guide for that topic, then drill the rows in the flashcards. |
| Three or more wrong | Go back a step: run that set of rows in the flashcards for a few days, then retake the quiz. |
How Do Hiragana Flashcards Help You Fix Mistakes?
A quiz tells you what you don't know. Flashcards fix it. In the hiragana flashcards, tick only the rows with the characters you missed and run short rounds.
The ones you get wrong keep coming back until you get them right. Your accuracy is tracked, so you can see the improvement day by day.
- Take all three quizzes and note what you missed.
- Read the guide for each topic you missed.
- Drill just those rows in the flashcards for three days.
- Read ten real words a day with those characters.
- Retake the quizzes at the end of the week.
How Long Until You Pass All Three?
If you've followed a daily plan, many learners pass Quiz 1 after one to two weeks of hiragana flashcards. Quiz 2 usually follows a few days later.
Quiz 3 takes the longest, because it needs reading practice, not just character practice. Give it another week of reading real words.
What Mistakes Do People Make When Testing Themselves?
- Testing in chart order. A real test is shuffled. Shuffle your flashcards too.
- Guessing fast to finish. Slow down and look for the detail that matters: a loop, the dots, a small character.
- Only testing single characters. Reading words is the real goal. Quiz 3 checks it.
- Never retesting. Take the quizzes again in a week to see what stuck.
- Getting discouraged. A few wrong answers are normal, and they're useful. They tell you exactly what to practise next.
What Comes After Hiragana?
- Build speed: Hiragana Reading Practice, then the Hiragana Words flashcards.
- Type it: Typing Hiragana.
- Practise in a group: Hiragana Flashcard Games.
- Learn katakana: Hiragana vs Katakana explains what changes, then try the katakana flashcards.
- Start on vocabulary: if you got through all three quizzes, you're ready to read JLPT N5 words in hiragana. Try the JLPT N5 flashcards.
Where Can You Practise for Free?
The hiragana flashcards on JLPTCARDS.com are free for the 46 basic characters and the dakuten sets, with audio for every character. The combination sets are part of Premium.
Prefer paper? Print the free printable hiragana flashcards.
Practise the Most-Missed Characters
Tap a card to flip it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I've really learned hiragana?
If you can read every character in a shuffled round without hesitating, and read simple words out loud, you've got it. These three quizzes check both.
What score should I aim for?
Aim to get every question right. One or two misses just tell you which guide to read next.
Can I retake the quizzes?
Yes. Reload the page to reset them. Retake a quiz after a few days of practice to see how much you've improved.
What should I study after hiragana?
Katakana next, then JLPT N5 vocabulary. Katakana goes quickly because the sounds are the same.
What if I keep failing the same quiz?
Go back one step. Drill the rows from that quiz in the flashcards every day for three days, read the guide again, then retake it.
How long should hiragana take?
Many learners get the basics in one to two weeks with daily hiragana flashcards, and the extra sounds in another week.
Keep Your Hiragana Sharp
Passed all three? Well done: you can now read hiragana, which is a real milestone. Keep it sharp with a quick round of hiragana flashcards a few times a week while you move on to katakana and vocabulary.
New to all this? Start with Hiragana Flashcards: How to Learn Hiragana in 2 Weeks, or open the free hiragana flashcards on JLPTCARDS.com and begin with the あ (a) row.