Every flashcard in flangu is the same basic object: two sides and a set of content attached to those sides. This article describes each piece of that content and what it does.
The two sides
A flashcard has a front and a back.
The front holds the word or phrase you want to learn. The back holds its translation. Each side has its own language assigned, shown as a flag in the top corner of the card panel.
The language assignment matters for more than display. It determines which voice is used for audio playback, and it is part of the key the app uses to look up and store linguistic metadata.
Metadata
After a card is created, flangu attaches a set of linguistic metadata to it. This metadata lives on both sides and is organized into four named sections. You access each section by tapping its icon in the icon row at the bottom of each card panel.
Synonyms and Alternatives
The front side shows 
Synonyms: words in the same language as the front that share a similar meaning.
The back side shows 
Alternatives: other valid translations of the front word that were not used as the primary back. These are not the same as synonyms. Synonyms are words with similar meaning; alternatives are different but equally correct translations.
For example, if the front is "fast," synonyms might include "quick" and "rapid." If the back is "schnell" (German), alternatives might include "rasch" or "flott."
Definition
Each side can have its own 
Definition: a short explanation of what the word means in that side's language. The front definition explains the word in the source language. The back definition explains it in the target language.
Not every card has a definition. Words classified as full sentences or questions do not receive one, as these do not have definitions in the linguistic sense.
Example sentences
Each side can have multiple 
Example sentences showing the word used in context.
The examples are displayed in a carousel: swipe left or right to move between them. Both sides of the card share a synchronized position in the carousel, so if you are on example 2 on the front, the back also shows example 2.
Note
Free users see one example sentence per side. Additional examples require flangu Pro.
Each example sentence has its own audio. Tap the sentence to hear it spoken.
Pronunciation
The Pronunciation section shows a written representation of how the word sounds: romanization for scripts that use non-Latin characters, or an IPA transcription where applicable.
This is separate from audio. Pronunciation is text. Audio is synthesized speech, described in the next section.
Audio
Every card panel has a 
speaker icon. Tapping it plays a synthesized spoken pronunciation of that side's text. This is text-to-speech (TTS) audio, generated on demand the first time you tap the icon and cached for instant playback on every subsequent tap.
Audio is generated separately for each side. Each individual example sentence also has its own audio: tap the sentence to hear it spoken.
Vocabulary image
Eligible cards show an 
image icon on the front panel. Tapping it generates an illustrative vocabulary image for the concept the word represents.
Not every card is eligible. Images are generated for concrete, visualizable concepts: primarily nouns, proper nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Abstract parts of speech, full sentences, and questions are not eligible and will not show the image icon.
Note
Vocabulary images are a Pro feature.
Part of speech
Each card is assigned a part of speech label, shown in abbreviated form directly on the card panel below the word. For example: n. for noun, v. for verb, adj. for adjective.
| Abbreviation | Full label |
|---|---|
n. |
Noun / Proper noun |
v. |
Verb |
adj. |
Adjective |
adv. |
Adverb |
pron. |
Pronoun |
prep. |
Preposition |
conj. |
Conjunction |
det. |
Determiner |
num. |
Numeral |
intj. |
Interjection |
phr. |
Phrase |
idm. |
Idiom |
sent. |
Sentence |
ques. |
Question |
The part of speech is assigned by the AI at the time metadata is generated. It is not directly user-editable.
The part of speech affects what metadata a card receives. Sentences and questions do not get definitions. Nouns, proper nouns, verbs, and adjectives are eligible for a vocabulary image; other parts of speech are not.
Phrase and sentence cards
A card's front and back aren't limited to single words. Anything up to 500 characters can go in either side, so you can create cards for set expressions, idioms, full sentences, or questions the same way you'd create one for a single word.
Longer input is classified as one of four parts of speech: phr. (phrase), idm. (idiom), sent. (sentence), or ques. (question). That classification determines what metadata the card receives:
- Translation, synonyms, alternatives, example sentences, pronunciation, and TTS audio are generated for these cards the same as for any other.
- Sentence and question cards do not receive a definition, as explained above.
- None of the four are eligible for a vocabulary image; only nouns, proper nouns, verbs, and adjectives are.
Scheduling is unaffected by length or part of speech. FSRS-6 treats a sentence card exactly like a single-word card — see The FSRS-6 algorithm.
The Personal Tutor also offers quick-action prompts tailored to phrases and idioms, such as origin and usage explanations.
Card state
Below the card content, flangu displays the card's current status badge: a colored label that shows where the card is in the learning schedule.
| Label | Color | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| New | Blue | The card has not been reviewed yet. |
| Learning | Red | The card is in an active learning phase. This covers both cards being learned for the first time and cards that were forgotten and are being relearned. |
| Due | Green | The card has been learned and is scheduled for review right now (or is overdue). |
| Upcoming | Gray | The card has been learned but is scheduled for review in the future. |
The state changes after each review based on how you rated the card. The full explanation of how states transition and what they mean for scheduling is covered in the Reviews section.