Hangul: letters, blocks, stroke order

An alphabet designed in 1443 to be learned in days. Fourteen consonants, ten vowels, and a rule for stacking them.

Hangul is an alphabet, not a syllabary: 한 is not one character but three letters – ㅎ, ㅏ and ㄴ – written together in one square block. Every Korean syllable is a block of two to four letters: a consonant, a vowel and, optionally, a final consonant (the batchim). Once you know the twenty-four basic letters and the stacking rule, you can read anything, even if you do not yet understand it.

The shapes are not arbitrary. The consonants draw the mouth: ㄱ is the tongue at the back, ㄴ the tongue tip at the front, ㅁ closed lips, ㅅ a tooth, ㅇ the throat. The vowels are built from a dot (the sun), a horizontal line (the earth) and a vertical line (a person). Stroke order runs top to bottom and left to right, and doubling a consonant (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ) makes it tense.

Vertical vowels (ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ) stand to the right of the first consonant; horizontal vowels (ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ) sit below it; a final consonant goes underneath everything. The blocks below show the rule in action. The A0 level of the course teaches the letters, the blocks and their sounds with stroke order before A1 opens with greetings.

The chart

Tap a character to watch it being written and to trace it yourself.

Consonants

Tense consonants

Vowels

Compound vowels

Syllable blocks

  • Learn the ten basic vowels first, then combine each with ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ: 가 나 다 라 마. You are reading on day one.
  • Watch the block shape change with the vowel: 가 (vertical vowel, side by side) against 고 (horizontal vowel, stacked).
  • Do not learn romanization instead of hangul. Use it for a week, then read only Korean letters.

The lessons that teach it

The A0 level of the course, free: the letters, their sounds and the first words, with the same stroke animations and tracing exercises.

The Hangul Letters

The vowels, the basic consonants, and how a syllable block is built.

  1. The ten vowels and the silent circle
  2. Five consonants that draw the mouth
  3. Four more consonants, and the shape of a block
  4. Checkpoint: the letters so far
  5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Blocks and First Words

The bottom consonant, the last letters, and your first Korean words.

  1. The letter that stands on the floor
  2. Vowels made of two vowels
  3. Whole words, and the gaps between them
  4. Checkpoint: reading hangul
  5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The whole course: Learn Korean together

Questions

How long does it take to learn hangul?
Reading it takes most learners a few days to a week; comfortable, fast reading and the final-consonant sound changes take a few weeks of reading real words.
Why is ㅇ sometimes silent?
At the start of a syllable ㅇ is a placeholder – every block must begin with a consonant letter, so 아 is just a. At the end of a syllable the same letter is pronounced ng, as in 강 (gang).
What is the batchim?
The final consonant of a syllable block, written underneath: the ㄴ of 한 or the ㄹ of 달. Only seven sounds occur there, and a batchim often links to the next syllable when it starts with a vowel.