Read Hangul in
one sitting.
Get started reading Korean in minutes, no prior experience needed.
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.
ㅏ looks like someone sticking out their arm for a handshake.
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 looks like a rattlesnake.
ㅇ looks like nothing.
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.ㅋ looks like a key.
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.
ㅐ looks like a gate.
ㅗ and ㅐ.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.
ㅜ.ㅏ.ㅗ.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.ㅣ looks like a tree.
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.
ㅊ looks like a champion.
ㅌ looks like a trident.
ㅂ looks like a bucket with water in it.
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.
ㅓ looks like somoeone holding an oar.
ㅓ.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.ㅡ looks like a ruler used to measure a foot.
ㅁ looks like a mouth.
ㅎ looks like a head with a hat.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
Only a handful of letters are left, and every one of them follows a pattern you have already seen.
Remaining Tensed Consonants
Just like ㄱ → ㄲ, three more consonants have tensed versions written as
double letters:
ㄷ looks like a door.ㄸ looks like a double-door.ㅂ looks like a bucket with water in it.ㅃ lookes like two buckets, how boring.ㅈ looks like a jet.ㅉ looks like two jets jammed together.Remaining Basic Vowels
ㅔ completes the basic vowels, and ㅒ and ㅖ are the Y-versions of ㅐ
and ㅔ:
ㅔ looks like a roadsign with a left turn.
ㅐ.에.In modern Korean ㅐ and ㅔ (and likewise ㅒ and ㅖ) are pronounced
almost identically, so you only need to learn which spelling each word uses.
Remaining Compound Vowels
The rest of the compound vowels are built exactly like ㅙ was — two vowels
written together and pronounced as one glide:
ㅗ and ㅏ.ㅜ and ㅓ.ㅗ and ㅣ.ㅜ and ㅣ.ㅜand ㅔ.ㅡ and ㅣ.ㅚ, ㅙ and ㅞ all sound the same in everyday speech, so again only the
spelling differs. ㅢ is the odd one out: it has no English equivalent, and it
is often pronounced like ㅣ or ㅔ depending on the word.
Double batchim are limited too: only eleven pairs are legal — ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ
ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅄ — plus ㄲ and ㅆ, the only tensed
letters that can close a syllable (ㄸ, ㅃ and ㅉ never appear as batchim).
That's the entire Hangul alphabet — every consonant and every vowel. Bookmark the consonants and vowels pages as a reference: they list every letter with its mnemonic and pronunciation so you can review any of them at your own pace.
Now teach your hands.
You can read it — next you need to write it. Every quiz in the app asks you to type Korean back on the same 2-set (두벌식) keyboard Koreans use, so it's worth ten minutes learning where the letters live before you meet your first word list.