Korean text (called Hangul) might look like a bunch of complex squiggles, but it's actually one of easiest writing systems in the world. It was invented in 1443 by King Sejong specifically to make reading and writing accessible for the masses. What's more is that the language uses consistent phonetic spelling, so once you learn the simple characters and rules of Hangul, you can read any Korean text with ease.
First Letters
Let's introduce two starter letters first. We have some fun mnemonic devices to help you remember the pronunciation of each character. Click/tap on letters to hear their pronunciation.
ㄴ looks like a nose.
Syllable Blocks
Letters in Hangul cannot stand alone and are instead arranged into square blocks, with each block representing one syllable. Blocks must contain at least one consonant followed by one vowel. Try reading these together:
Hangul blocks may also feature one or two final consonants after the vowel,
which are called "batchim" (받침 lit. "support").
More Letters
We'll stick with a single vowel for now, but introduce a few more consonants to challenge you:
ㄷ looks like a door.
ㄹ is a tricky letter for English speakers. It is a flicked R sound when it
is at the start of a syllable, and like an L sound made on the roof of your
mouth when it is at the end of a syllable. Many learners find it helpful to
think of initial ㄹ as being somewhere between R and L.
ㅇ is silent when it is at the start of a syllable/block, but makes an ng
sound when it is at the end (as a batchim). Now try reading these blocks:
Stressed and Aspirated Consonants
Some consonants have "tensed" versions which are written as double letters and/or aspirated versions which have a small extra stroke:
ㄱ looks like a gun.
ㄲ looks like a stronger double-barreled gun.You can hear the difference, but tensed consonants have a tighter, more abrupt sound, and a higher tone. Aspirated consonants have a burst of air when pronounced. If you hold your hand in front of your mouth, you should feel a puff of air when pronouncing these (that you don't feel with tensed or regular consonants).
Compound Vowels
Certain vowels can also be combined to make compound vowels (diphthongs). For example:
ㅗ looks like a net you hit the ball over.
Now that we have some more vowels we can form a lot of real Korean words:
Y-Vowels
Some vowels have a variation that includes a Y sound at the beginning. These
are called "Y-vowels". They are written with an extra stroke:
ㅜ looks like a root going into the ground.
Note that Y-vowels do not combine with other vowels and thus cannot form compound vowels.
Now you've learned all the basic rules of Hangul, it's a piece of cake! Feel free to review what you've learned so far before moving on to learn more letters and pronunciation rules below.
Letter Interactions and Sound Changes
Hangul has a number of pronunciation rules that evolved to make words easier to pronounce. Here are the most common ones:
ㅅ "Sh" Sound
ㅅ looks like a summit.
ㅆ looks like double mountain summits next to each other.When the ㅅ or it's tensed version ㅆ comes before the vowel ㅣ, the sound
changes to an "sh" sound. This also applies when ㅅ/ㅆ comes before any of
the other "y" vowels: ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ ㅒ ㅖ.
T-Stop Consonants
ㅈ looks like a jet.
When the consonants ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ, and ㅌ appear at the end of a
syllable block (as batchim), they are pronounced as a T-stop sound. Your tongue
stops at the position and doesn't release:
ㄹ Assimilation
ㅎ looks like a head with a hat.
When the consonants ㄴ and ㄹ appear together in the same word, they both
take on a ㄹ sound to make pronunciation easier:
ㅇ Replacement
ㅂ looks like a bucket with water in it.
When a syllable with a badchim is followed by a syllable starting with ㅇ, the
batchim jumps over to the next syllable and becomes the initial consonant of
that syllable.
In the case of double batchim, only the final consonant jumps over:
The only exception to this rule is that ㅇ can't replace itself.
Palatalization of ㅌ and ㄷ
When ㅌ or ㄷ appear as batchim and are followed by 이, they transform
into affricate sounds:
ㅌ+이→ㅊ(ch sound)ㄷ+이→ㅈ(j sound)
Note that this does not apply when ㅌ or ㄷ are in the initial position of a
syllable.
ㅎ Aspiration
ㅍ looks like pillars.
Last but not least, when a letter which has an aspirated variant appears next to
ㅎ it becomes aspirated.
ㄱ→ㅋㄷ→ㅌㅂ→ㅍㅈ→ㅊ
Note that T-stops next to ㅎ also take on the aspirated ㅌ sound:
Remaining Letters
We've covered most of the Hangul alphabet already, but check our complete list of letters on the consonants and vowels pages to learn the remaining letters at your own pace.