How to type in Korean: the keyboard layout, explained

Typing in Korean looks daunting from the outside, since a single syllable like 한 seems to need some special trick to assemble. In practice it is one of the gentler parts of learning the language: you press the letters in reading order, and the keyboard builds the blocks for you.

This page covers the standard layout, what happens on screen as you type, the handful of letters that need Shift, and how to switch the Korean keyboard on for each device. There is also a typing pad further down that works right here, with nothing to install. It helps to know the letters first, so if Hangul is still new, the Korean alphabet guide is the place to start.

The standard layout is called 두벌식, the 2-set keyboard, because the letters come in two sets. Every consonant is on the left half of the keyboard and every vowel on the right, so your hands alternate in a steady rhythm: consonant, vowel, consonant.

The home row is a good place to start. Under your left fingers sit ㅁ ㄴ ㅇ ㄹ ㅎ (A S D F G), and under your right sit ㅗ ㅓ ㅏ ㅣ (H J K L). Those nine keys alone spell a surprising number of words, which is why the keyboard lessons begin there.

You never place a letter inside a block yourself. You type letters in the order you would read them, and the keyboard decides where each one goes. Here is 한국어, the word for the Korean language, typed one key at a time:

Look at the fourth key. After 한, the ㄱ has nowhere to go yet, so it waits on its own. The moment the vowel ㅜ arrives, it becomes the start of a new block, 구, and the next ㄱ tucks underneath as a batchim to make 국.

The same logic runs backwards when a vowel follows a finished block. Type 가, then ㄴ, and you see 간. Type ㅏ next and the ㄴ hops forward to give 가나, because a vowel can never start a block on its own. That hop is the only surprising thing the keyboard does, and once you have seen it you will stop noticing it.

Seven letters live on the Shift layer. The five tense consonants sit above their plain partners, and two vowels sit above theirs:

Everything else is typed as two ordinary keys. Combined vowels are their two halves in order, so ㅘ is ㅗ then ㅏ, and 괜찮아요 comes out as R H O S C K S G D K D Y. Double final consonants work the same way: the ㄺ in 읽다 is just ㄹ followed by ㄱ.

This pad composes Hangul in the browser, so it works without a Korean keyboard installed. Type on your own keyboard as if it were Korean, or tap the keys, and the line below shows which keys built what you see.

Every major system ships a Korean keyboard already; you only need to switch it on. The menus move a little between versions, but the route is roughly this.

Windows. Open Settings, then Time and language, then Language and region, and add Korean. Switch input languages with the Windows key and Space. The Korean keyboard starts in English mode, so press the 한/영 key, or Right Alt on most non-Korean keyboards, to flip into Hangul.

Mac. Open System Settings, then Keyboard, then the input sources under Text Input. Add Korean and choose 2-Set Korean. Switch with the input menu in the menu bar or its keyboard shortcut, which is often Control and Space or Caps Lock.

iPhone and iPad. Go to Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards, then Add New Keyboard, and pick Korean with the Standard layout, which is the 2-set one. Tap the globe key to switch.

Android. In Gboard, open its settings, then Languages, and add Korean with the 2-set (두벌식) layout rather than 천지인, a separate layout built for number pads. Samsung Keyboard offers the same choice under its language settings.