The Korean alphabet is called Hangul, 한글 (han-geul), and it has just 24 basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. That is fewer letters than English, and every letter is pronounced one consistent way: there is no Korean equivalent of “though / tough / through.”
Hangul is also one of the only writing systems on Earth that was deliberately designed rather than evolved, with one goal: that ordinary people could learn it fast. Most learners can read Korean, slowly but accurately, within a week. Every letter is charted below, the syllable-block rules come after, and the last section turns it all into a day-by-day plan.
What the Korean alphabet actually is
Hangul was created in 1443 under King Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon (조선, jo-seon) dynasty, and promulgated in 1446 in the Hunminjeongeum, 훈민정음 (hun-min-jeong-eum), “The Correct Sounds for the Instruction of the People.” Before Hangul, Korean was written in classical Chinese characters: years of study only the elite could afford. Sejong’s stated purpose was to fix that.
A few facts worth getting right, because the internet gets them wrong:
- Hangul is an alphabet, not a set of “characters.” Each letter represents one sound, exactly like A or B. Korean only looks like Chinese because letters are grouped into square syllable blocks (more below).
- Hangul Day (한글날, han-geul-lal) is October 9 in South Korea, commemorating the promulgation of Hangul, not King Sejong’s birthday, which falls in May.
- The explanatory edition of the founding document, the Hunminjeongeum Haerye (해례, hae-rye), is inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World register. It explains, in the inventors’ own words, why each letter is shaped as it is. That literacy legacy is also why UNESCO created its King Sejong Literacy Prize (1989), funded by Korea and awarded to organizations advancing literacy.
Modern Korean uses the 24 basic letters plus 16 built from them (5 doubled consonants, 11 compound vowels), for 40 total. Learn the 24 and the rest are nearly free: visible combinations of letters you already know.
The 14 basic consonants
| Letter | Name | Romanization | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | 기역 | gi-yeok | g in go (k at syllable end) |
| ㄴ | 니은 | ni-eun | n in no |
| ㄷ | 디귿 | di-geut | d in dog (t at the end) |
| ㄹ | 리을 | ri-eul | between r and l, a quick tap behind the teeth |
| ㅁ | 미음 | mi-eum | m in mom |
| ㅂ | 비읍 | bi-eup | b in boy (p at the end) |
| ㅅ | 시옷 | si-ot | s in sun (“sh” before the ee sound) |
| ㅇ | 이응 | i-eung | silent at syllable start; ng in song at the end |
| ㅈ | 지읒 | ji-eut | j in jump |
| ㅊ | 치읓 | chi-eut | ch in chair |
| ㅋ | 키읔 | ki-euk | k with a puff of air |
| ㅌ | 티읕 | ti-eut | t with a puff of air |
| ㅍ | 피읖 | pi-eup | p with a puff of air |
| ㅎ | 히읗 | hi-eut | h in hat |
Why the shapes look the way they do
This is what makes Hangul different from every other alphabet, and why the letters stick so quickly. The Haerye explains that the five base consonant shapes are diagrams of your mouth making the sound:
- ㄱ draws the back of the tongue rising to block the throat (g/k sounds).
- ㄴ draws the tongue tip touching the ridge behind the upper teeth (n).
- ㅁ draws the closed lips (m).
- ㅅ draws a tooth, for the hissing s made near the teeth.
- ㅇ draws the open throat.
Related sounds are built by adding strokes. Say “d” then “t” with a hand before your mouth: same tongue position, but “t” releases a puff of air. Hangul writes that relationship down: ㄷ (d) gains a stroke to become ㅌ (t), and the same pattern gives you ㄱ → ㅋ, ㅂ → ㅍ, and ㅈ → ㅊ. You are not memorizing 14 arbitrary squiggles; you are learning five shapes and a rule.
The 10 basic vowels
| Letter | Romanization | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| ㅏ | a | a in father |
| ㅑ | ya | ya in yard |
| ㅓ | eo | u in up, an open “uh” |
| ㅕ | yeo | yu in young |
| ㅗ | o | o in go, without the final glide |
| ㅛ | yo | yo in yoga |
| ㅜ | u | oo in moon |
| ㅠ | yu | you |
| ㅡ | eu | no English match: say “oo” with your lips spread wide |
| ㅣ | i | ee in see |
The vowels combine three symbolic elements: a short stroke (originally a dot) for heaven, a horizontal line for earth, and a vertical line for a standing person. There is a free pattern here too: a second short stroke turns any vowel into its “y” version (ㅏ a → ㅑ ya, ㅗ o → ㅛ yo).
Some vowels are vertical (ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ) and some horizontal (ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ). This determines how syllable blocks are assembled.
The other 16 letters
- Five doubled (“tense”) consonants: ㄲ (kk), ㄸ (tt), ㅃ (pp), ㅆ (ss), ㅉ (jj). Each is the plain letter written twice, pronounced with a stiff throat and no puff of air.
- Eleven compound vowels: combinations like ㅐ (ae), ㅔ (e), ㅘ (wa), ㅝ (wo), and ㅢ (ui). If you can read ㅗ and ㅏ, you can see what ㅘ is made of.
How syllable blocks work
Here is the rule behind how Korean looks: letters are never written in a flat line. They stack into square blocks, and one block = one spoken syllable.
Every block follows the same recipe:
- Start with a consonant. If the syllable begins with a vowel sound, the silent placeholder ㅇ fills the consonant slot.
- Add a vowel. A vertical vowel goes to the right of the consonant; a horizontal vowel goes below it.
- Optionally, add a final consonant underneath: the 받침 (bat-chim).
Watch it work on “Hangul” itself:
- 한 (han) = ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ → ㅏ is vertical, so it sits right of ㅎ, with the batchim ㄴ underneath.
- 글 (geul) = ㄱ + ㅡ + ㄹ → ㅡ is horizontal, so it sits below ㄱ, with ㄹ beneath.
More words you can already decode with the charts above:
- 한국 (han-guk): Korea
- 서울 (seo-ul): Seoul
- 김치 (gim-chi): kimchi
- 우유 (u-yu): milk
The final consonant: batchim
Although almost any consonant can be written in the final position, only seven sounds are ever pronounced there: k, n, t, l, m, p, and ng. Everything else simplifies to one of those seven: ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ, and ㅎ all sound like an unreleased “t” at the end of a syllable, so 꽃 (kkot, “flower”) ends in a t sound, not “ch.”
You do not need to master batchim rules on day one. Just know they exist, so that when 밥 (bap, “rice”) ends in a clipped p and 강 (gang, “river”) ends in ng, it is a pattern, not a surprise.
Why you really can learn it in a week
In the Hunminjeongeum’s postface, the scholar Jeong In-ji claimed a clever person could learn the letters in a morning, and even a slow learner within ten days. That was marketing in 1446. Honest marketing, though, and the reasons still hold:
- The letter count is tiny. 24 basic letters, versus the thousands of characters needed for literacy in Chinese.
- The shapes encode the sounds. Mouth-shape consonants and stroke-for-aspiration rules make each letter a hint, not a flashcard.
- Spelling is regular. Once you know a letter’s sound, you know it everywhere, and the handful of sound-change rules (like batchim simplification) are consistent too.
- Blocks are self-chunking. Every block is exactly one syllable, so you never guess where syllables split: the writing shows you.
A realistic 7-day plan
- Days 1–2: the 10 basic vowels, then the five “mouth diagram” consonants (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, ㅇ) and their stroke-added relatives.
- Days 3–4: the remaining consonants, and start assembling consonant + vowel blocks: 나, 서, 고, 우.
- Day 5: batchim. Read 한, 국, 밥, 물 (mul, “water”), 집 (jip, “house”).
- Day 6: doubled consonants and compound vowels.
- Day 7: read real words. Loanwords are perfect. You already know the meaning, so you can check yourself by sound: 커피 (keo-pi, coffee), 피자 (pi-ja, pizza), 버스 (beo-seu, bus), 아이스크림 (a-i-seu-keu-rim, ice cream).
If you would rather not build this week yourself, Month 1 of VIA Korean is a free, structured version of exactly this path: 20 lessons covering every letter, block rule, and sound change, with audio. Start with Lesson 1 free.
Korean alphabet FAQ
Is the Korean alphabet the same as Chinese or Japanese?
No. Chinese uses logographic characters where each symbol carries meaning, and Japanese mixes those characters (kanji) with two syllabaries. Hangul is a true alphabet (individual letters for individual sounds), created independently in Korea. The block layout is the only visual resemblance.
How many letters are in the Korean alphabet?
24 basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels, or 40 in total counting the 5 doubled consonants and 11 compound vowels built from them.
Is it “Hangul” or “Hangeul”?
Both refer to 한글. “Hangeul” is the official Revised Romanization; “Hangul” is the older spelling that stuck.
Do I need to learn Chinese characters (Hanja) to read Korean?
No. Modern Korean is written almost entirely in Hangul; Hanja survives mainly in some headlines, legal texts, and academic writing. You can read novels, menus, subtitles, and websites without it.
What should I learn after the alphabet?
Reading is the doorway, not the destination. Next come core pronunciation rules, greetings like 안녕하세요 (an-nyeong-ha-se-yo, “hello”), and your first real sentences. That is the sequence VIA Korean follows: after the free Hangul month, the full 140-lesson course carries you through seven months of daily lessons to TOPIK 1, the first official Korean proficiency level, for a one-time $49.
Hangul was designed to be the easy part of Korean. Take the free win and start reading this week.