Learn the Korean alphabet: read Hangeul by tonight

Korean has an alphabet of 40 letters, and you can learn it in an afternoon. By the end of this page you'll be able to read real Korean words from your favourite shows, K-pop songs, and Korean content creators.

That is by design. 한글 (Hangeul) is one of the few writing systems that was planned rather than inherited. King Sejong commissioned it in 1443 so ordinary people could read without years of schooling, and it still does that job. It only takes 90 minutes.

All 40 letters are taught here, broken up into seven groups. Every letter has a mnemonic and native audio, and a typing quiz after each group makes them stick. You type with your own keyboard in the browser: nothing to install, no account. You will read 서울 by the third group, and words you did not know you knew by the end.

Korean uses an alphabet: 24 basic letters, 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The other 16 are those same pieces recombined. Some people postpone learning Hangeul expecting Chinese-scale memorisation, when the whole writing system takes an afternoon to learn.

It is also consistent in a way English is not. Consonants are diagrams of the mouth making each sound, vowels come from three strokes, and spelling tracks pronunciation closely.

ㄴ is the tongue with its tip raised behind the teeth, where it sits for “n”. ㅁ is a square: a closed mouth, for “m”. These are not mnemonics invented afterwards. Sejong's scholars drew the letters from the shapes your mouth makes.

Its authors claimed a clever person could learn it in a morning and a slow one in ten days, and that's still the case.

Most writing systems grew organically over centuries, borrowing symbols and keeping historical quirks that don't fit the language. English spelling is a prime example: full of rules and exceptions that nobody would design on purpose.

In contrast, Hangeul was designed. In 1443 King Sejong set out to fix a specific problem: reading Korean required years of training in Chinese characters, which kept literacy inside the aristocracy. He and his scholars built an alphabet from first principles, shaping each letter after the mouth position that produces its sound. They published it in 1446 as the 훈민정음, the correct sounds for the instruction of the people.

The document says so outright. It opens by noting that Korean speech differs from Chinese, so ordinary people who wanted to write had no way to express themselves, and states that Sejong made the 28 letters out of pity for them. This document was the start of a truly unique writing system, one that is a source of Korean national pride to this day.

Korean letters group into square blocks, one per syllable, rather than running along a single axis. 한국 (Korea) is six letters, ㅎ ㅏ ㄴ ㄱ ㅜ ㄱ, stacked into two blocks: 한 and 국. That is the only layout rule.

Every block is a consonant, then a vowel, then an optional final consonant underneath. That bottom slot is the batchim, which a lot of Korean grammar makes use of. There are two shapes:

One rule to take early: a vowel cannot fill a block alone. When a syllable starts with a vowel sound, the circle ㅇ sits in the consonant slot and stays silent, holding the space. So “ah” is 아, silent ㅇ first, vowel after.

Build a few blocks yourself:

You will type Korean far more than you write it, so this guide uses the keyboard rather than a worksheet. The standard layout splits by type: consonants on the left half, vowels on the right. That makes it faster to learn than it looks.

Every letter card shows its key, and every quiz takes your own keyboard or the on-screen one. The layout should feel familiar by the end of the page.

Six basic vowels first. Play each one as you read it, starting with 아:

That is all 40 letters. Korean borrows heavily from English and spells it in Hangeul, so a chunk of your reading is already done. Sound these out before you check the translation:

If those came easily you have crossed from decoding letter by letter into reading. The final quiz mixes every letter and word in the guide.