Basics

Korean from the start

Learn to read Hangul, hear every letter, and read short guides to how Korean works.

63Letters to learn

2Charts

32Guides

Letters

Hangul writes Korean with 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels, plus doubled and combined forms. Letters aren't written in a row but stacked into square syllable blocks: ㅎ, ㅏ and ㄴ make 한 han, and ㄱ, ㅡ and ㄹ make 글 geul. Every block starts with a consonant; when a syllable starts with a vowel, a silent ㅇ holds the place, as in 아 a.

Read the guide: How Hangul works

Review these lettersSign up to learn them with spaced repetition, as you do words.

Tap a letter to hear it and see how it's written.

Basic vowels

10 letters

Upright vowels (ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ) go to the right of the consonant, flat ones (ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ) under it. A second short stroke adds a y: ㅏ a, ㅑ ya. Each is shown with a silent ㅇ, as a vowel is written at the start of a syllable: 아, 야.

aeooueui

Basic consonants

14 letters

In the order of Korean dictionaries. ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ and ㅈ are said softly, near k, t, p and ch at the start of a word and like g, d, b and j between vowels; ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ and ㅊ are the same sounds with a strong puff of air. Each is shown with its name and recorded with ㅏ: 가 ga; ㅇ, silent at the start, is recorded as a final: 앙 ang.

Tense consonants

5 letters

A doubled consonant is tense: said with a tight throat and no puff of air, like the k of sky or the p of spy, but harder. Plain, aspirated and tense sounds tell words apart: 불 bul fire, 풀 pul grass, 뿔 ppul horn.

Compound vowels

11 letters

Vowels written together. ㅐ and ㅔ add ㅣ to ㅏ and ㅓ; the w-vowels start with ㅗ or ㅜ and say it as w: ㅗ and ㅏ make ㅘ wa.