Hang Eul

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)
Consonants (/)
giyeok g/k
nieun n
digeut d/t
rieul r/l
mieum m
bieup b/p
shiot s
[ k/g ]
[n]
[ t/d ]
[ l/r ]
[m]
[ p/b ]
[s]
ieung ng
jieut j/ch
chieut ch/ch
kiuek k
tieut t
pieup p
hieut h
[ /- ] [ / ] [ ]
Vowels (/)
[ k ]
[ t ]
[ p ]
[h]

a ae ya yae eo/ e yeo/y
[a]
[]
[ ja ]
[ j ]
[]
[e]
[ j ]

ye o wa wae oe yo u
[ je ]
[o]
[ wa ]
[ w ]
[ we ]
[ jo ]
[u]

wo/w we wi yu eu/ ui/i i
[ w ]
[ we ]
[ wi ]
[ ju ]
[]
[ j ]
[i]
Created by Simon Ager, Omniglot.com the guide to writing systems and languages
Lesson 1
Congratulations on your decision to start learning the Korean script!You will see that being able to read Korean will baffle your friends and enrich your life. Also, you will no longer be an analphabet when travelling to Korea. Even though Korean may look just like Chinese or Japanese to the untrained eye, it is actually much easier, because the characters are a combination of just 24 letters and a few simple variations, rather than a few thousand more or less random drawings. So even going at a relaxed pace of 4 letters per lesson, you will have learned everything you need to read Korean after just a few lessons, while the Japanese or Chinese scripts take years to master! Let's start! The first Korean letter you should learn is Bieup:
This is a consonant and it's pronounced as p or b. Listen to Bieup. Of course you can't read anything with just this one consonant, so here's a vowel to go with it:
This is the vowel a as in father. Listen to it here. Now, in order to combine them into a Korean character, all you have to do is to try to fit them into an imaginary little square box. This is done by writing the letter right next to , like this:
Can you guess how this character is pronounced? Move your mouse cursor over it and you'll see: it's pronounced "ba" and it's the Korean word for a bar. Easy, isn't it? Now, the next important letter is Nieun:
This is a regular n. Listen to Nieun.Can you guess how to write na now?
Every character represents one syllable, so if you wanted to write baba for example, you would need two characters, one for each ba. Now it's time for a little exercise. Try to read and understand the following word. As before, hover over it in order to see the solution (you might need to allow Javascript)
Every Korean syllable has to start with a consonant. That makes it easy to identify the beginning and end of syllables, but what about syllables that start with a vowel, such as the beginning of the famous Korean greeting "annyong haseyo"? Those syllables need a placeholder consonant that isn't pronounced. Since its influence on the pronunciation of the syllable is zero, it is written like a zero, too. (That's how you can remember it anyway)
O
It is called Ieung. So the syllable a would actually be written as Here are some words for practise:
name of a popular band
capital of Cuba
One more thing for today: it is possible to have syllables that end in a consonant. This typically occurs when there is a cluster of two consonants in the middle of a word: one consonant then forms the end of one syllable and the other forms the beginning of the next syllable. Fitting two consonants and a vowel into a little square box is a little more tricky, but not impossible. In most cases you write the first consonant + vowel next to each other as before and then put the final consonant below the two. For example, this is the syllable ban, which has no meaning of its own:
Time for another exercise. Can you read the following? It's a name.
personal name
Did you manage to read that? If so, I can promise you that you have everything it takes to be able to read Korean fluently. This was in fact the hardest lesson of all, because you didn't have any previous knowledge. The next lessons will build on what you learned here and you will find them easier, also because you will be able to practise reading much more once you know a few more letters. If you don't feel overwhelmed right now, you can already continue with the next lesson, where you will learn a few more letters and many more words. Otherwise, please come back to it later.
Lesson 2
Welcome back! This is the 2nd lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean". In the last lesson, you already learned 4 letters: , , and O. In this lesson, you will learn 4 new ones and combined with the ones you learned earlier they will open up quite a few Korean words to you. The first new letter is Mieum:
This is pronounced just like a regular English m. Listen to Mieum. Be careful not to confuse its appearance with 'O', which has rounded corners rather than straight. As an exercise, try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter Mieum. You can see the solutions by moving your mouse over the Korean word, as usual.
capital city of Bahrain
name of Vietnam before it became 'Vietnam'
capital city of Jordan
Are the As boring you yet? It's time to learn another vowel.
This is the vowel i. It is pronounced like the ee in meet. Listen to it here. The Korean letter looks much like the English letter I, so it's easy to remember. It also looks like the Korean letter for a, except that the dash to the right is missing. You will notice that a lot of Korean vowels are formed on the basis of one or two vertical lines with dashes attached to them, so memorise them well and don't get confused. Practise reading:
country in Africa
capital city of Austria
Now for a very important letter that will unlock lots of words to you: Rieul
This letter is pronounced like r or l, typically somewhere in between in true Asian fashion. Listen carefully: this is Rieul. According to the official Korean romanisation system, it is always transliterated as l. Here are lots of words to practise with:
personal name
country that has been in the news much lately
capital of Peru
capital of the Philippines
country in Africa
big city in France
distance measurement
country on the North coast of Africa
The last letter for this lesson shall be Giyeok:
This letter is pronounced like g or k. Listen to Giyeok. Be careful not to confuse it with syllable gi for instance: Words for practise:
When this letter is combined with a vowel such as a or i, it changes shape slightly. See the
country in Western Africa
another country in Western Africa
capital of Latvia
country in the Balkans
country in South America
country almost enclosed by Senegal
Did you have any major difficulty reading the practise words for this lesson? No? Very good! You have now learned 8 Korean letters already and the rest won't be difficult either. Feel free to continue with the next lesson.
Lesson 3
Welcome back! This is the 3rd lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean". In the previous two lessons, you already learned a total of 8 letters. In this lesson, you will learn 4 additional basic letters, many new Korean words and you will begin to use your knowledge actively in writing, rather than just reading. The first new letter is the vowel O:
This is pronounced like the oa in boat. Listen here. Since this vowel is much wider than it is tall (unlike the vowels you have learned so far), it would be difficult to fit it next to a consonant in a little square box. That is why it has to go below the consonant, saving much space this way. As an exercise, try to read the following Korean words that contain the letter O. As usual, move your cursor over the Korean word in order to see the solution appear.
Arab country
city in Northern Italy
capital of Italy
capital of Comoros
capital of Kenya
state of the USA
Even when the vowel is already below the consonant, it is still possible to add another consonant below that vowel in order to have a syllable that ends in a consonant. Examples:
city in Western Germany
music instrument
style of music
It is also possible to have
o at the end of a syllable. "Wait a minute! Didn't you say that this
consonant is just a placeholder?" When it comes at the beginning of a syllable, it is just a placeholder enabling the syllable to start with a vowel. When it comes at the end of a syllable, it is pronounced like the ng in ring. Practise reading these words now:
country in Western Africa
country in Southern Africa
city in France
country north of China
hobby
Time for a new consonant: meet Digeut.
This letter is pronounced like a t or d. Here's a recording of Digeut. Practise reading:
a house, hall, skyscraper or the like
tiny country between France and Spain
big country in Asia, former British colony
extremely popular before there was television
now being replaced by DVD
And here's Shiot:
Shiot is pronounced like an s. Listen to Shiot. Here are words to practise with:
capital of Yemen
country in the Middle East
state of the USA
country in Eastern Africa
former Iraqi ruler
The last letter for this lesson is:
This vowel looks just like an ordinary horizontal line. It is much wider than tall, so it is also written below the preceding consonant rather than next to it. It's pronunciation is a bit strange, somewhat like the French u or the German . It's between the English oo and ee sounds. The u in the English word mure is probably one of the closest examples of the sound in English. It's hard to describe sounds like this, so why don't you just listen to it here. In words of foreign origin, it is often an in-between sound used to make consonant clusters more pronounceable for the Koreans. (i.e. It is used as a neutral vowel sound; it even sounds like schwa.) It is transcribed as eu. Words for practise:
Balkan country
city whose main attraction is the Taj Mahal
European country
very cold country
also very cold country
country in South-East Asia
capital of Ethiopia
capital of Pakistan
capital in Europe
another capital in Europe
another European capital
city in Australia
Having been able to read all these words, do you think you could guess how to write "Asmara"(the capital of Eritrea) in Korean? Try to write it down. Hint: since syllables can't end in s, this name has four syllables in Korean: a-seu-ma-ra. Here's another one to try to write down: "Madras"(ma-deu-ra-seu).
Asmara Madras
Are you still with me? If you didn't have trouble with this lesson, you are ready to go on to lesson 4, where you will learn the rest of the simple letters and continue practising your writing skills.
Lesson 4
Welcome back! This is the 4th lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean". In this lesson you'll learn the rest of the basic Korean letters and you will continue to use your knowledge actively in writing.
The first new letter is the vowel U:
This is pronounced like the oo in boot. Listen to it here. This vowel is also wider than it is tall, so it goes below the consonant rather than next to it. Here are Korean words that contain this letter. As usual, move over the Korean words in order to see the solution.
city in the United Arab Emirates
country in Eastern Europe
another country in Eastern Europe
country in Central America
country in Africa
And try to write the following words:

Rwanda (Ruanda) Burundi
Busan (second largest city in South Korea) Brunei Sudan Ulsan (big city in Korea)
The next of the vowels you should learn is "eo". It makes a sound like the u in jug. Listen to it here.
Try to translate these Korean words.
capital of Ireland
capital of the United Kingdom
capital of South Korea
military ____
part of a central heating system
mum
Now try to write down the following words in Korean:

Samsung (samseung) Oregon bus virus (remember what happens to 'v' in Korean!)
Now we'll learn about the vowel E. Since this vowel opens up really many new words, we'll use this for a big revision.
This is the Korean letter E. It is pronounced as in bed. Here are many words with this letter. First, practise reading:
big city in India
children like it
letters
capital of Togo
big country in South-East Asia
country near the previous country
refreshing drink
multilingual country in Europe
capital of Colorado
small country near India
Second, practise writing:

Kobe
Lebanon Senegal Maine Belarus Grenada Buenos Aires Venezuela El Salvador
Next I'd like you to meet the vowel AE:
This letter is pronounced like the a in land. Words for practise:
famous beach
city in Texas
person who likes to move
music style
sweet home
state known for gambling
And now write a few more:

Daegu San Diego (another i after the e) Maryland Rhode Island
Second-to-last letter: hieut
Hieut is pronounced as an h. Listen to Hieut. Some words with hieut:
popular holiday islands
country in Europe
capital city of Zimbabwe
city in Hawaii
popular fast food
style of music
Practise writing Hieut:

Doha Hanoi Ohio
Shanghai
The very last basic letter left is Jieut:
This letter is pronounced like j in journalist or like ch in chair. Here's an example: Jieut. Read the following:

Soju (traditional Korean drink) Abuja
country in Africa
picture
car part
something I have to tell you
city on the west coast of the USA
state on the east coast of the USA
they repair cars
drink
state on the Gulf of Mexico
state for lovers
Nanjing Beijing Daejeon Niger (3 syllables) Geneva
Congratulations, you now know all basic letters in Korean! In the next lessons, you will just learn about variations and combinations. They won't be harder than the previous lessons either, so just go on till you can read the Korean script fluently! You can start with the next lesson right now, if you like.
Lesson 5
Welcome back! It has taken me a while, but I finally found some time to work on this lesson again. Your positive feedback convinced me that it would be worthwhile, that my lessons are read and appreciated. By the way, I'd like to create similar lessons for other scripts, so if you know any, please contact me. Let's start with the lesson. In this 5th lesson you are going to learn aspirated consonants and vowels with Y. The first aspirated letter you are going to learn is Kiuek:
Kiuek is pronounced as a forceful /k/ sound, transliterated as k' . Appearance-wise it is based on the soft Giyeok (/g/ or /k/ sound), but with an extra horizontal line, making it look like a mirrored F. Let's have a look at Korean words and names that you can read now:
country in America
country somewhere south of the above
country formerly known as Mesopotamia
unpopular with students
popular with students
sport
must-have for a tourist
country east of Africa
capital of Thailand
great city, if you like darkness
country near #2
country not too far from the above
Now practice your ability to write Korean. Keep in mind that any K-sound in these words will be an aspirated K, a Kiuek.
bikini ski condo disco kilo Bamako Cairo
Caracas Kabul Colombo Hamburg Hong Kong
The second aspirated letter you'll learn is Tieut.
Tieut is pronounced as an aspirated /t/ . Just like Kiuek it's based on its softer version (Digeut) with an extra horizontal line, making it look like an E or like a E with a disconnected top line in some fonts. Here are some words featuring Digeut:
like a door
sport
problem with having an important job
it's worldwide
worn by men
borough of a big city
country in the same area as Jamaica
origin of the Romans
home of many composers
home of some very old monuments
island country between Europe and Africa
Now some more straight-forward ones that you can write yourself. All Ts will be aspirated here.
Tirana Boston Rabat Antananarivo guitar truck hotel vitamin
This is the letter Pieup, an aspirated version of Bieup. It doesn't look quite as similar to its non-aspirated version as the previous letters have, but it looks remarkably similar to Pi! This /p'/ sound often replaces the F in foreign words, as Korean doesn't have an F sound. Words featuring Pieup:
movie
what they had before e-mail
some classical works
use it to write
for recordings
celebration
drink
country in the Himalaya
country known for love
country known for a canal
Asian country that's an archipelago
European country
Now try to write the following, always using the letter Pieup. Don't worry if you transliterate some of these words differently than Koreans do, they are not obvious:
La Paz Paris (final letter is i) Sofia So Paolo golf pizza Mississippi
Florida
The last aspirated letter that you haven't met yet is Chieut:
Chieut looks like Jieut with an extra horizontal line at the top, and, as you can guess, it's pronounced like an aspirated version of Jieut. It's transliterated as ch' . Chieut is rather uncommon in foreign-derived Korean words, so here are just a few words to practice with:
a place to rest
attracts girls?
famous person
state of the USA
Now write the following in the Korean alphabet:

Chad Incheon Kimchi
The last item in this lesson is actually not a letter, it's a set of letters:
These letters are all variations of vowels that you have already learned except they each have two short strokes instead of one. This is used to indicate that they are all pronounced with a preceding Y-sound: ya, yae, yeo, ye, yo, yu. Easy, isn't it? More words that you can read now:
restaurant thing
with suffix -market
allegedly women love this
sung theatre play
capital of Somalia
popular with Mormons
East African country
Arab country
holy city
Balkan capital
NASA place
country near Australia
Korean company
Korean capital
state of the USA
indispensable tool
And a final few words for you to write, involving the new letters:
news Jordan Tokyo New York Nova Scotia
This is it, for lesson 5. You have learned a lot in this lesson and now you are so close to being able to read everything in Korean! In fact, the only thing missing are some diphthongs and doubled letters. Both concepts are quite easy and will be taught in lesson 6. Take a break and then continue on! Sentence of the Day (Basic):
.
We'll come with you. Words of Today's Sentence:
juh hui ga
we, our, us (polite tone) 1. (particle after subject or object word) 2. edge, rim 3. person, man 4. family 5. (particle after word to add emphasis) 6. if it is (something) or not 7. (particle after verb to add meaning of
[Details]
[Details]
'while or when') 8. district 9. price
ga chi ga da
together, alike to go 1. (particle after verb or adjective to make adverb) 2. to, for (+ somebody) 3. crab 4. (short form of gerund '~ing' or something + particle for subject or object word) 5. (particle after verb to add meaning of future tense 'will') 1. (particle after verb to make semi-polite question) 2. (particle after verb to finish sentence in semi-polite tone)
[Details]
[Details]
ge
[Details]
yo
[Details]
Review past sentences: Yesterday's, 4 Days ago, 1 Week ago, 2 Weeks ago, 1 Month ago, 2 Months ago Words of the Day (Basic): Today's Example Sentence
chang moon
window
[Details]
Yesterday's
.
Don't open the window. [Details]
Example Sentence
i mi
already
[Details]
4 Days ago
.
The project was already finished on Wednesday. [Details]
Example Sentence
sin yong
credit, trust, confidence
[Details]
7 Days ago
?
Can I pay with my credit card? [Details]
Example Sentence
yuh dul
eight, 8
[Details]
14 Days ago
8 .
Drinks are half price until 8 o'clock. [Details]
Example Sentence
moon
1. door 2. question
[Details]
30 Days ago
.
On Sunday the shops are closed. [Details]
Example Sentence
seu po cheu
sports
[Details]
60 Days ago
.
He likes to do sports. [Details]
Example Sentence
a deul
son
[Details]
Random Words of your Loop:
.
Her son lives in Sydney. [Details]
yo
1. (particle after verb to make semi-polite question) 2. (particle after verb to finish sentence in semi-polite tone)
[Details]
woon jun
drive, driving
[Details]
duh
more
[Details]
sa in
sign (noun)
[Details]
duh wi
heat, hot weather
[Details]
tel re bi jun
television, TV
[Details]
o ri
duck
[Details]
yok sil
bathroom
[Details]
bal gan sek

red colour
[Details]
myut
how many, a number of, a few
[Details]

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Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

This is a regular n. Listen to Nieun.Can you guess how to write na now?

name of a popular band

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

capital city of Bahrain

name of Vietnam before it became 'Vietnam'

capital city of Jordan

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

capital city of Austria

country that has been in the news much lately

capital of the Philippines

big city in France

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

country on the North coast of Africa

The last letter for this lesson shall be Giyeok:

country in Western Africa

another country in Western Africa

country in the Balkans

country in South America

country almost enclosed by Senegal

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

city in Northern Italy

state of the USA

country in South America

city in Western Germany

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

It is also possible to have

country in Western Africa

country in Southern Africa

country north of China

Time for a new consonant: meet Digeut.

This letter is pronounced like a t or d. Here's a recording of Digeut. Practise reading:

a house, hall, skyscraper or the like

tiny country between France and Spain

big country in Asia, former British colony

extremely popular before there was television

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

now being replaced by DVD

And here's Shiot:

country in the Middle East

state of the USA

country in Eastern Africa

former Iraqi ruler

The last letter for this lesson is:

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

city whose main attraction is the Taj Mahal

very cold country

also very cold country

country in South-East Asia

another capital in Europe

another European capital

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)

The first new letter is the vowel U:

city in the United Arab Emirates

country in the Middle East

country in Eastern Europe

another country in Eastern Europe

country in Central America

country in South America

And try to write the following words:

Korean alphabet (/ hangeul)