🇰🇷 한글

The Korean alphabet

Hangul was invented in the 1440s by King Sejong the Great and his scholars, and published in 1446 as the Hunminjeongeum, "The Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People". It is one of the very few writing systems designed deliberately from scratch: consonant shapes sketch the mouth and tongue positions that make each sound, and vowels are built from a dot (heaven), a horizontal line (earth) and a vertical line (human). Letters (jamo) are grouped into square syllable blocks, so 한 = ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ.

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Basic consonants 14

ㄱ

g · giyeok

between g in 'go' and k in 'skate'; k at the end of a syllable [k ~ ɡ] 가방 gabang — bag Shape: the back of the tongue blocking the throat.

ㄴ

n · nieun

n in 'no' [n] 나무 namu — tree Shape: the tongue tip touching the ridge behind the teeth.

ㄷ

d · digeut

between d in 'dog' and t in 'stop'; t at the end of a syllable [t ~ d] 다리 dari — leg; bridge ㄴ with an extra stroke on top.

ㄹ

r · rieul

a light tapped r between vowels; l at the end of a syllable [ɾ ~ l] 라면 ramyeon — instant noodles Romanised r at the start of a syllable and l at the end.

ㅁ

m · mieum

m in 'moon' [m] 물 mul — water Shape: the closed mouth.

ㅂ

b · bieup

between b in 'boy' and p in 'spin'; p at the end of a syllable [p ~ b] 바다 bada — sea

ㅅ

s · siot

s in 'sun'; sh before i (시 = 'shee'); t at the end of a syllable [s ~ ɕ] 사람 saram — person Shape: a tooth.

ㅇ

— / ng · ieung

silent at the start of a syllable; ng in 'sing' at the end [∅ / ŋ] 아이 ai — child A placeholder when a syllable starts with a vowel: 아, 이, 우. Final ㅇ: 강 gang "river".

ㅈ

j · jieut

between j in 'jam' and ch in 'chip' (softer); t at the end of a syllable [tɕ ~ dʑ] 자동차 jadongcha — car

ㅊ

ch · chieut

ch in 'chip', with a puff of air [tɕʰ] 친구 chingu — friend ㅈ with a stroke on top = aspirated.

ㅋ

k · kieuk

k in 'kite', with a puff of air [kʰ] 코 ko — nose ㄱ with an extra stroke = aspirated.

ㅌ

t · tieut

t in 'top', with a puff of air [tʰ] 토끼 tokki — rabbit ㄷ with an extra stroke = aspirated.

ㅍ

p · pieup

p in 'pen', with a puff of air [pʰ] 포도 podo — grapes

ㅎ

h · hieut

h in 'hat' [h] 하늘 haneul — sky Often weakened or silent between vowels.

Double consonants 5

ㄲ

kk · ssanggiyeok

tense k with no puff of air, like the k in 'skate' said sharply [k͈] 꽃 kkot — flower "Ssang" means "double".

ㄸ

tt · ssangdigeut

tense t with no puff of air, like the t in 'stop' said sharply [t͈] 딸 ttal — daughter Never used at the end of a syllable.

ㅃ

pp · ssangbieup

tense p with no puff of air, like the p in 'spin' said sharply [p͈] 빵 ppang — bread Never used at the end of a syllable.

ㅆ

ss · ssangsiot

tense, hissing s [s͈] 쌀 ssal — rice (uncooked) Compare 살 sal "flesh" with 쌀 ssal "rice".

ㅉ

jj · ssangjieut

tense j/ch with no puff of air [t͈ɕ] 짜다 jjada — to be salty Never used at the end of a syllable.

Basic vowels 10

ㅏ

a · a

a in 'father' [a] 아버지 abeoji — father Vertical vowel: written to the right of the consonant (가).

ㅑ

ya · ya

ya in 'yard' [ja] 야구 yagu — baseball An extra stroke adds a y-sound.

ㅓ

eo · eo

u in 'cup', or the o in British 'hot' with relaxed lips [ʌ] 어머니 eomeoni — mother

ㅕ

yeo · yeo

yu in 'yum' [jʌ] 여름 yeoreum — summer

ㅗ

o · o

o in 'go' without the w-glide, lips rounded [o] 오이 oi — cucumber Horizontal vowel: written below the consonant (고).

ㅛ

yo · yo

yo in 'yoga' [jo] 요리 yori — cooking

ㅜ

u · u

oo in 'food' [u] 우유 uyu — milk

ㅠ

yu · yu

you [ju] 유리 yuri — glass (material)

ㅡ

eu · eu

'oo' said with lips spread flat, as in a grimace [ɯ] 음악 eumak — music Represents the flat earth in the original design.

ㅣ

i · i

ee in 'see' [i] 이름 ireum — name Represents a standing human in the original design.

Compound vowels 11

ㅐ

ae · ae

e in 'bed' (a little more open) [ɛ] 개 gae — dog ㅏ + ㅣ. Most Seoul speakers no longer distinguish ㅐ from ㅔ.

ㅒ

yae · yae

ye in 'yes' [jɛ] 얘기 yaegi — talk; story ㅑ + ㅣ. Rare.

ㅔ

e · e

e in 'bed' [e] 게 ge — crab ㅓ + ㅣ.

ㅖ

ye · ye

ye in 'yes' [je] 예 ye — yes (polite) ㅕ + ㅣ.

ㅘ

wa · wa

wa in 'wand' [wa] 사과 sagwa — apple ㅗ + ㅏ.

ㅙ

wae · wae

we in 'wet' [wɛ] 왜 wae — why ㅗ + ㅐ.

ㅚ

oe · oe

we in 'wet' (today sounds almost the same as ㅙ and ㅞ) [we ~ ø] 회사 hoesa — company ㅗ + ㅣ.

ㅝ

wo · wo

wo in 'won' [wʌ] 원 won — won (currency) ㅜ + ㅓ.

ㅞ

we · we

we in 'wet' [we] 웨이터 weiteo — waiter ㅜ + ㅔ. Rare.

ㅟ

wi · wi

wee in 'week' [wi] 귀 gwi — ear ㅜ + ㅣ.

ㅢ

ui · ui

ㅡ gliding into ㅣ; often just i or e in speech [ɰi] 의사 uisa — doctor ㅡ + ㅣ. Pronounced e when it means "of" (의).

Hangul is famously easy — many learners can sound out words after a single weekend. There are 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels; the 5 double consonants and 11 compound vowels are built from those. The parts to focus on are the three-way consonant contrast (plain ㄱ, aspirated ㅋ, tense ㄲ), how consonants change at the end of a syllable, and the sound changes between syllables (e.g. 한국어 is pronounced hangugeo). Reading is quick to learn; understanding comes from vocabulary.

How to learn it fast

Learn the consonant families by shape: an extra stroke adds aspiration (ㄱ→ㅋ, ㄷ→ㅌ, ㅂ→ㅍ, ㅈ→ㅊ) and doubling makes the sound tense (ㄱ→ㄲ, ㄷ→ㄸ, ㅂ→ㅃ, ㅅ→ㅆ, ㅈ→ㅉ).
Vowels are either vertical (ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ — written to the right of the consonant) or horizontal (ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ — written below it). An extra short stroke adds a y-sound: ㅏ→ㅑ, ㅓ→ㅕ, ㅗ→ㅛ, ㅜ→ㅠ.
Every syllable block starts with a consonant. If the syllable starts with a vowel sound, a silent ㅇ fills the slot: 아 a, 오 o.
At the end of a syllable (batchim), consonants collapse into just seven sounds: k, n, t, l, m, p, ng. So 옷, 옫, 옺, 옻 are all pronounced ot.
A final consonant moves over when the next syllable starts with ㅇ: 음악 is pronounced eu-mak, 한국어 is han-gu-geo. Read whole words aloud rather than block by block.
Practise the three-way contrast in minimal pairs: 불 bul "fire", 풀 pul "grass", 뿔 ppul "horn".

Did you know?

Hangul was created under King Sejong the Great and published in 1446; South Korea celebrates Hangul Day on October 9, and North Korea celebrates Chosŏn'gŭl Day on January 15.
The basic consonant shapes depict the speech organs: ㄱ shows the back of the tongue blocking the throat, ㄴ the tongue touching the ridge behind the teeth, ㅁ the mouth and ㅇ the throat.
The original alphabet had 28 letters; four of them have since fallen out of use.
Unicode contains 11,172 precomposed modern Hangul syllable blocks.
Korean was long written in Chinese characters (hanja); Hangul only became the main writing system in the 20th century, and South Korean newspapers today use hanja only occasionally.

Quick quiz: which sound is this?

Questions

How many letters are in the Hangul?

40.

How long does it take to learn the Korean alphabet?

Most learners can recognise every letter within one to two weeks of short daily practice, and read slowly but accurately within a month. Reading real text — even very simple text — is what makes the letters automatic.

What's the best way to learn it?

Learn the consonant families by shape: an extra stroke adds aspiration (ㄱ→ㅋ, ㄷ→ㅌ, ㅂ→ㅍ, ㅈ→ㅊ) and doubling makes the sound tense (ㄱ→ㄲ, ㄷ→ㄸ, ㅂ→ㅃ, ㅅ→ㅆ, ㅈ→ㅉ). Vowels are either vertical (ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ — written to the right of the consonant) or horizontal (ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ — written below it). An extra short stroke adds a y-sound: ㅏ→ㅑ, ㅓ→ㅕ, ㅗ→ㅛ, ㅜ→ㅠ. Every syllable block starts with a consonant. If the syllable starts with a vowel sound, a silent ㅇ fills the slot: 아 a, 오 o.