Korean Alphabet (Hangul) Chart with Pronunciation
The Korean alphabet, Hangul (한글), has 40 letters: 21 vowels and 19 consonants. Tap any letter to hear it. Most beginners can read Hangul after a few days of practice.
10 basic vowels
11 compound vowels
14 basic consonants
5 double (tense) consonants
English comparisons are only approximate. Korean has three kinds of stops — plain (ㄱ), aspirated (ㅋ) and tense (ㄲ) — so listen to the audio and repeat out loud.
How Hangul letters form syllable blocks
Korean is written in syllable blocks: an initial consonant + a vowel, with an optional final consonant (called batchim, 받침). For example ㄱ + ㅏ = 가 (ga); ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 한 (han); ㄱ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 글 (geul) — together 한글 (Hangul).
A syllable that starts with a vowel is written with the silent ㅇ in front: 아 (a), 이 (i), 우 (u).
The 7 final consonant (batchim) sounds
| Sound | Batchim letters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [k] | ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ | 책 (book) |
| [n] | ㄴ | 산 (mountain) |
| [t] | ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ | 옷 (clothes) |
| [l] | ㄹ | 물 (water) |
| [m] | ㅁ | 밤 (night) |
| [p] | ㅂ, ㅍ | 밥 (rice) |
| [ng] | ㅇ | 강 (river) |
What to learn after the alphabet
Once you can read Hangul, move on to the most common words. The TOPIK Level 1 vocabulary list below has English meanings, example sentences and audio for every word.