집
Alphabets
The Korean alphabet 한글
Meet every letter of the Korean alphabet, hear how it sounds and see it in simple words.
About Korean
Korean is written in Hangul (한글) from left to right. It is an alphabet – each letter (jamo) stands for one sound – but the letters of a syllable are stacked into a square block: ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 한. The consonant shapes picture the mouth: ㄱ is the tongue touching the back of the mouth, ㅁ the closed lips. Doubled letters such as ㄲ are tense sounds.
- 14
- basic consonants 자음
- 10
- basic vowels 모음
- 11,172
- possible syllable blocks
- L → R
- writing direction
Vowels 모음
A vowel never stands alone: at the start of a syllable it is written with the silent ㅇ – shown here. Tap a letter to hear it.
Consonants 자음
The 14 basic consonants and the 5 tense (doubled) consonants. Tap a letter to hear it.
Basic consonants 기본 자음
the first nine
Aspirated consonants 거센소리
with a puff of air
Tense consonants 된소리
doubled letters, said tense – Shift on the keyboard
Compound vowels 이중 모음
two vowels joined
ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㄹ sound like k, t, p and l at the end of a syllable. ㅇ is silent at the start of a syllable but says "ng" at the end: 강 (gang, river).
How letters join to make words
Every Korean syllable is a block of two or three letters.
-
1
Consonant + vowel
A consonant and a vowel make a block.
ㄱ +ㅏ =가 -
2
+ final consonant
A third letter under the block is the batchim.
ㄱ +ㅏ +ㄴ =간 -
3
A vowel needs ㅇ
A syllable starting with a vowel is written with the silent ㅇ.
ㅇ +ㅏ =아
How the block is built
Vowel on the right
가 거 기
Tall vowels sit to the right of the consonant.
Vowel below
고 구 그
Flat vowels sit under the consonant.
Final below
각 간 갈
The batchim goes at the bottom.
Build real words
물
책
한 + 국
한국
사 + 랑
사랑
친 + 구
친구
Good to know
Blocks, not rows
A word is a row of blocks: 한 국 어 = 한국어 (Korean).
Left hand, right hand
On Dubeolsik you type consonants with the left hand and vowels with the right.
Sounds change at the end
Final consonants sound softer: 밖 (bak, outside), 옷 (ot, clothes).
Ready to type in Korean?
Use the on-screen keyboard to write these letters, or translate your first sentence.