{"id":79410,"date":"2019-11-25T05:35:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T10:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/how-to-read-korean\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T04:57:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T09:57:52","slug":"how-to-read-korean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/korean\/how-to-read-korean\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start Reading in Korean [Learn Hangul in 10 Steps]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learning to read Korean is pretty straightforward, as I had it down in about one week.<\/p>\n

The only slightly uncertain point is that not everyone seems to agree on how many letters there are in the Korean alphabet\u2014some sources say 24<\/a>, others say 40<\/a>. Some “letters” in Hangul are made up of combinations of other letters, so the 24 are sort of like the “original” letters, while the others are like compound letters.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the actual number of letters, the logical relationships that exist between<\/em> letters make Hangul simple.<\/p>\n

Below is meant to be a practical guide to get you up and running with reading, so I’m not going to fuss over details such as stroke order and spelling rules too much (though you may want to brush up on them at some point).<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]
\n<\/p>\n

1. Learn the basic Korean consonants (\u3131, \u3134, \u3137, \u3139, \u3141, \u3142, \u3145, \u3148, \u314e)<\/h2>\n

In Korean, consonants have names that don’t correspond exactly to how they sound, just like in English. (W is pronounced “double-u,” for example, even though that’s not the sound the letter actually makes in words.) It’s probably most important at this stage for you to focus on the actual sounds, but I’ve included the letter names below too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Basic Korean Consonants<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>Mnemonic<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u3131 <\/a>\n <\/td>giyeok<\/em> (hard \"g\" sound)<\/td>\u3131 is shaped like a g<\/strong>un.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3134 <\/a>\n <\/td>nieun<\/em>\u00a0(\"n\")<\/td>\u3134 is not a bookend but rather a book-n<\/strong>. (I'm sorry, I know that's terrible.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3137 <\/a>\n <\/td>digeut<\/em> (\"d\")<\/td>\u3137 looks like a d<\/strong>ivining rod. (I mean, sort of.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3139 <\/a>\n <\/td>rieul<\/em> (\"l\" or \"r\")<\/td>\u3139 is a winding r<\/strong>oad, though maybe not as long as the one in the Beatles song.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3141 <\/a>\n <\/td>mieum<\/em> (\"m\")<\/td>\u3141 looks like a m<\/strong>outh (if you have a good imagination).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3142 <\/a>\n <\/td>bieup<\/em> (\"b\" or \"p\")<\/td>\u3142 looks like a b<\/strong>ucket.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3145 <\/a>\n <\/td>shiot<\/em> (\"s\" or \"sh\")<\/td>\u3145 looks like a wave in the s<\/strong>ea about to crash on the sh<\/strong>ore.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3148 <\/a>\n <\/td>jieut<\/em> (\"j\")<\/td>\u3148 sort of looks like two car bumpers right up against each other, which might happen in a traffic j<\/strong>am.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u314e <\/a>\n <\/td>hieut<\/em>\u00a0(\"h\")<\/td>\u314e could be a child's drawing of someone wearing a h<\/strong>at.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Note: Any of the above sound explanations are only approximations, and that remains the case throughout this post. Also, letters can produce different sounds depending on their place in a word (which we’ll touch on a bit later).<\/p>\n

2. Learn the basic Korean vowels (\u314f, \u3153, \u3157, \u315c, \u3161, \u3163)<\/h2>\n

Vowels don’t have names distinct from their sounds. They’re just called what they sound like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Basic Korean Vowels<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u314f <\/a>\n <\/td>a<\/em> (\"ah\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3153 <\/a>\n <\/td>eo<\/em> (something between \"oh\" and \"uh\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3157 <\/a>\n <\/td>o<\/em> (\"oh,\" but more rounded)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u315c <\/a>\n <\/td>u<\/em> (\"oo\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3161 <\/a>\n <\/td>eu<\/em> (\"euh\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3163 <\/a>\n <\/td>i<\/em> (\"ee\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Since these are all based around a horizontal or vertical line, they might be a bit easier to remember right off the bat than the consonants.<\/p>\n

3. Try reading in Korean!\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Now, using your understanding of the sounds above, see if you can guess what the following word sounds like:<\/p>\n

\ud558\ub098<\/p>\n

When you think you have it figured out, click on the video below to hear it.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

\ud558\ub098 means “one,” and, as you can hear, is pronounced hana<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Letters are read left to right<\/strong>, as in English, and there are two groupings of letters in the word above, each of which makes up one syllable. In Korean, syllables are divided into blocks.<\/p>\n

Here’s another example where you can see this format at work.<\/p>\n

\uba38\ub9ac (head)<\/p>\n

When you think you have the sounds for the above word worked out, click on the clip from the Pinkfong video below to hear if you’re reading it correctly.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s try another word, this time just a single syllable block.<\/p>\n

\ubc25 (rice, meal)<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Here we have three letters squeezed into one syllable.<\/p>\n

Korean syllable blocks can contain anywhere between two and four letters. They\u2019re read left to right and top to bottom<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So, in the case of \ubc25 (bap)<\/em>, the letters are read in this order: \u3142\u314f\u3142.<\/p>\n

First, you read the \ubc14 on the top line of the block, then the \u3142 on the bottom.<\/p>\n

4. Learn how to use the silent consonant (\u3147)<\/h2>\n

In this next section, we’re only going to learn one letter. This letter is technically a consonant, but you might have trouble thinking of it that way because it doesn’t make a sound that we would normally associate with a consonant.<\/p>\n

In fact, much of the time, it doesn’t make any sound at all.<\/p>\n

The letter\u00a0\u3147 (ieung)<\/em><\/strong> in Korean looks like “o” in English, and it plays a unique role in Korean syllables.<\/p>\n

Remember: syllable blocks in Korean can contain anywhere between two and four letters<\/strong>. Sometimes, one of those syllable blocks can consist of a consonant followed by a vowel. Other times, it can consist of a consonant followed by a vowel that’s followed by another consonant.<\/p>\n

But what if there’s a syllable that consists of just one vowel alone? Or, what if the syllable starts<\/em> with a vowel?<\/p>\n

Well, that can’t<\/em> happen, and that’s where \u3147 comes in. When \u3147 precedes a vowel at the beginning of a syllable block, you can think of it as a placeholder of sorts. It accompanies the vowel in silence.<\/p>\n

However, sometimes you’ll also see \u3147 after a vowel, at the end of a syllable. In this case, it’s pronounced like the “ng” sound in words that end in “ing” in English.<\/p>\n

See if you can guess what the words below sound like before using the accompanying video clips to check yourself.<\/p>\n

Here, we’re going to pick up a couple of family-related words from a Kebikids video.<\/p>\n

\uc5c4\ub9c8 (mom)<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

\uc544\uae30 (baby)<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

How did you do?<\/p>\n

5. Learn the Korean hard consonants (\u314a, \u314b, \u314c, \u314d)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Hard Korean Consonants<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u314a <\/a>\n <\/td>chieut<\/em> (\"ch\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u314b <\/a>\n <\/td>kieuk<\/em> (\"k\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u314c <\/a>\n <\/td>tieut<\/em> (\"t\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u314d <\/a>\n <\/td>pieup<\/em> (\"p\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

As you can see, these consonants resemble some of the ones we learned above. You may notice that their sounds also correspond somewhat. For example, if \u3131 is approximately like an English “g” sound, \u314b (which looks like the same letter with an added line) can be thought of as a harder “k” sound.<\/p>\n

Again, note that these sounds are only approximations and that\u00a0\u3131 can also produce a “k” sound.<\/p>\n

6. Learn the Korean “y” sound (\u3151, \u3155, \u315b, \u3160)<\/h2>\n

When you see two short parallel lines on a Korean vowel, the vowel is going to include a sound like the English “y.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Korean Letters With \"Y\" Sounds<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u3151 <\/a>\n <\/td>ya<\/em> (\"yah\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3155 <\/a>\n <\/td>yeo<\/em> (something between \"yuh\" and \"yo\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u315b <\/a>\n <\/td>yo<\/em> (\"yo,\" but more rounded)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3160 <\/a>\n <\/td>yu<\/em> (\"yew\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Now, we’re going to try something different. We’re going to practice reading with some words you already know in this humorous video where a couple tries to decide what to eat.<\/p>\n

Try this one:<\/p>\n

\ud53c\uc790<\/p>\n

Got it?<\/p>\n

Click the clip below to hear it in Korean.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Now let’s try a longer one:<\/p>\n

\ud30c\uc2a4\ud0c0<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

In the case of the word for “pasta,” you can see that in the middle syllable, \uc2a4, the \u3145 is stacked on top of the vowel \u3161. This is due to the nature of the vowel. \u3161 is a horizontal vowel, so it goes under the \u3145 rather than to the right of it.<\/p>\n

And now, a word that incorporates one of those “y” vowels (hint: this one is also food):<\/p>\n

\ub77c\uba74<\/p>\n

You got it, right?<\/p>\n

In the Maangchi video below, you can hear the pronunciation confirmed.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

And, you can also learn how to make some delicious Korean \ub77c\uba74.<\/p>\n

7. Learn the Korean double consonants (\u3132, \u3138, \u3143, \u3146, \u3149)<\/h2>\n

You can probably sort of guess where this is going. These consonants are written as doubles of some of the basic consonants above and are pronounced with more emphasis than their single counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Korean Double Consonants<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>Romanization<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u3132 <\/a>\n <\/td>ssanggiyeok<\/em><\/td>kk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3138 <\/a>\n <\/td>ssangdigeut<\/em><\/td>tt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3143 <\/a>\n <\/td>ssangbieup<\/em><\/td>pp<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3146 <\/a>\n <\/td>ssangshiot<\/em><\/td>ss<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3149 <\/a>\n <\/td>ssangjieut<\/em><\/td>jj<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

8. Learn the Korean double vowels (\u3150, \u3154, \u3152, \u3156)<\/h2>\n

Here, we have some vowels that are made from previous ones put together:<\/p>\n

\u3150 (ae)<\/em><\/strong> and\u00a0\u3154 (e)<\/em><\/strong> are both pronounced sort of<\/em> like “eh.” As far as pronunciation, they’re basically interchangeable. You just need to remember which words are spelled with which.<\/p>\n

\u3152 (yae)<\/em><\/strong> and\u00a0\u3156 (ye)<\/em> <\/strong>are the same sort of deal. They’re virtually indistinguishable in modern pronunciation and are like the above letters with the “y” sound added.<\/p>\n

9. Learn the Korean vowel clusters (\u3158, \u3159, \u315a, \u315d, \u315e, \u315f, \u3162)<\/h2>\n

Okay, we’re on the home stretch! Here are some more vowel clusters that you’ll see in Korean words that you need to know how to pronounce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Korean \"W\" Vowels<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u3158 <\/a>\n <\/td>wa<\/em> (\"wah\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3159 <\/a>\n <\/td>wae<\/em> (\"weh\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u315a <\/a>\n <\/td>oe<\/em> (\"weh\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u315d <\/a>\n <\/td>wo<\/em> (\"wuh\" or \"whoa\" cut short)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u315e <\/a>\n <\/td>we<\/em> (\"weh\")<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u315f <\/a>\n <\/td>wi<\/em> (a bit like the French \"oui,\" with your lips rounded)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3162 <\/a>\n <\/td>ui<\/em> (a flatter \"we\" sound, with your lips spread out)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

As you can see, we once again have some vowel combinations here that sound the same\u2014specifically three “weh’s”\u2014but it’s important to know all of them for spelling purposes.<\/p>\n

For a thorough rehashing of all of the combined vowel sounds above, check out this brilliant and entertaining video from Mina Oh of sweetandtastyTV that covers all the complex and compound vowels and throws in a mini Korean drama<\/a> at the end.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

In the video, you’ll notice that “Professor Oh” combines all the vowels with the consonant \u3147, as this is how they would normally be written as syllables. With \u3147, some of the vowels become complete words, such as \uc65c (wae)<\/em>, which means “why.” You’ll also notice that in each case, the \u3147 takes the uppermost or leftmost position in the syllable, as it must precede the vowel.<\/p>\n

10. Practice reading full Korean sentences<\/h2>\n

Now, let’s see how well you can read the words below. Here are a couple more words from our family video.<\/p>\n

\uc544\ube60 (dad)<\/p>\n

\uac00\uc871 (family)<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Now, here we have an example of what happens when you have a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable where the vowel in the middle is horizontal. Instead of having a consonant and a vowel on top followed by a consonant on the bottom, as with \ubc25, we have a complete horizontal stacking of the letters in the second syllable of this word.<\/p>\n

But can you pronounce it?<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

In the clip above, what’s actually said is \uc6b0\ub9ac \uac00\uc871\uc774\uc57c (uri gajok-iya),<\/em> or “This is my family.” \uc6b0\ub9ac can mean “our” or “my” depending on the context, but don’t mistype it as \uc624\ub9ac (ori),<\/em> like I just did, because that means “duck.”<\/p>\n

Speaking of typing, you may have wondered if there was any particular pattern to how the letters in this post were arranged. I did try to teach the simpler letters first to make the complex ones that came later easier, but I also tried to lay them out in a way that would be logical for learning how to type.<\/p>\n

For example, the first set of consonants in this post cover the left uppermost part of the keyboard in order and then jump down to the next row, also moving left to right. In other words, \u3142\u3148\u3137\u3131\u3145 is basically your Korean QWERTY (or QWERT, if you want to be picky about it), and I’ve introduced the letters in that order.<\/p>\n

So, if you happen to pay attention to the order of the letters in this post or write them down in your own notes that way, hopefully this will make things easier once you start learning how to type.<\/p>\n

Honestly, Korean typing is pretty logical and easy to begin with, so don’t hesitate to start typing Hangul<\/a> now.<\/p>\n

But on with our reading practice!<\/p>\n

I’ll bet you can get this next one.<\/p>\n

\uce58\ud0a8\ubc84\uac70<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Okay, so there are a few<\/em> \uce58\ud0a8 in the \uce58\ud0a8\ubc84\uac70 from this Burger King commercial. But, that’s okay because now you know the words for \uce58\ud0a8 (chicken) and \ubc84\uac70 (burger). \uce58\ud0a8 is a useful word to know because fried chicken has quite the history<\/a> in South Korea.<\/p>\n

For your slang reference, \uce58\ub9e5\u00a0(chimaek)<\/em> refers to the combination of chicken and beer<\/a>\u00a0and is a mashup of\u00a0\uce58\ud0a8 and\u00a0\ub9e5\uc8fc (maekju<\/em> \u2014 beer).<\/p>\n

Let’s round things out now with one last phrase that will test much of what you’ve learned above and introduce a new concept:<\/p>\n

\uad1c\ucc2e\uc544\uc694.<\/p>\n

This phrase, a useful one to know, is the polite version of “I’m okay” or “It’s okay.”<\/p>\n

Let’s break this down:<\/p>\n

With \uad1c, we have the \u3159 between two consonants. That’s g<\/em>, wae<\/em> and n<\/em>, which forms the sound gwaen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With \ucc2e, we have a consonant cluster, or a series of two consonants, at the end. The rules for how to pronounce consonant clusters at the end of syllables get a bit complex, and we actually haven’t even really gotten into how consonants can change depending on their place in a word in general.<\/p>\n

This video<\/a> on \ubc1b\uce68 (batchim<\/em>, the final consonant in a Korean syllable), which is one of two from KoreanClass101, begins to go over some of these points.<\/p>\n

For this particular word, all you need to know is that the \u314e at the end is silent. So, \ucc2e is pronounced chan <\/em>(like “chahn”).<\/p>\n

The other two syllables should be easy for you to figure out at this point. The phrase can be used as a question to ask \uad1c\ucc2e\uc544\uc694? (Are you okay?)<\/p>\n

And that’s pretty much it!<\/p>\n

As we’ve already discussed, there are<\/em> some instances in which Korean sounds change or aren’t completely consistent. One of the most common irregularities is that\u00a0the consonants \u3145, \u3148 and\u00a0\u314a,\u00a0when\u00a0used at the ends of syllables and followed by another consonant or when used at the end of a word, take on a “t” sound rather than the sounds they usually make. This can be seen in the spelled-out versions of their names:<\/p>\n

\uc2dc\uc637 (shiot<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

\uc9c0\uc752 (jieut<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

\uce58\uc753 (chieut<\/strong>)<\/em><\/p>\n

The knowledge you’ve picked up from this post should be enough for you to start learning Korean words and sentences.<\/p>\n

My tips for learning to read Korean from scratch<\/h2>\n

Get a deeper understanding of how Hangul works<\/h3>\n

As you’ve seen, Hangul is stacked into squares to form syllables. Each syllable must contain at least one vowel and one consonant, and must always begin with a consonant. The syllables are then joined together to form a word, just like in English.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s use the word hangul as an example. In Korean, it\u2019s written as \ud55c\uae00. The first syllable \ud55c is spelled using the consonant\u00a0\u314e<\/strong> + the vowel\u00a0\u314f<\/strong> + the consonant\u00a0\u3134<\/strong>. The second syllable is spelled: consonant \u3131<\/strong> + vowel \u3161<\/strong> + consonant \u3139<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One more thing to remember: in writing, every syllable stack must begin with a consonant, but some words and syllables are pronounced as beginning with a vowel like \uc548\ub155\ud558\uc138\uc694 (annyeong-haseyo<\/em> \u2014 hello). When this happens, the consonant\u00a0\u3147 is silent.<\/p>\n

Hangul | The Korean Alphabet<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n