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Hangul · 한글

Nineteen consonant letters and twenty-one vowel letters, and the whole system was published with a manual explaining why each letter has the shape it has: the five basic consonants draw the mouth making them, and every other consonant is one of the five with a stroke added for aspiration (ㄱ → ㅋ, ㄷ → ㅌ, ㅂ → ㅍ, ㅈ → ㅊ) or doubled for tenseness (ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ). The vowels are built from three strokes. Letters are then stacked into a square per syllable — initial, vowel, and an optional final ('batchim' 받침, 'the support') underneath — so that the alphabet reads like a syllabary and a syllable's shape is visible on the page. The letters are honest; what a learner has to learn is that a FINAL consonant is unreleased (seven sounds for all the letters that can sit there), and that the sound changes happen at the join between one block and the next: 국물 is written ㄱ-ㅁ and said ng-m. The ㅇ is the alphabet's cleverest letter — a placeholder at the start of a syllable so that a vowel has a block, and /ŋ/ at the end.

Invented (1443–46, King Sejong's Hunminjeongeum) — related to no other script, though the vowel-strokes and some consonant shapes may owe an idea to ʼPhags-pa · written left to right · used here by Korean

40 signs

#	Sign	Name	Roman	IPA	Group	Note
1	ㄱ	기역 giyeok	`g / k`	k · ɡ · k	Basic consonants	The back of the tongue against the soft palate — the letter is that shape. Voiceless at the start of a word, voiced between vowels, unreleased at the end.
2	ㄴ	니은 nieun	`n`	n	Basic consonants	The tongue tip touching the ridge behind the teeth, drawn in profile.
3	ㄷ	디귿 digeut	`d / t`	t · d · t	Basic consonants	ㄴ with a lid: the tongue tip sealed against the ridge.
4	ㄹ	리을 rieul	`r / l`	ɾ · l	Basic consonants	A tap before a vowel, an l at the end of a syllable, ll when doubled. One letter for two sounds English keeps apart.
5	ㅁ	미음 mieum	`m`	m	Basic consonants	The mouth, closed — a square.
6	ㅂ	비읍 bieup	`b / p`	p · b · p	Basic consonants	ㅁ with two strokes rising: the lips parting.
7	ㅅ	시옷 siot	`s`	s · ɕ · t	Basic consonants	A tooth. /s/, /ɕ/ before i, and an unreleased t at the end of a syllable (옷 ot).
8	ㅇ	이응 ieung	`– / ng`	∅ · ŋ	Basic consonants	The throat, seen from the front. Silent at the start of a syllable — a placeholder so the vowel has a block — and /ŋ/ at the end.
9	ㅈ	지읒 jieut	`j`	t͡ɕ · d͡ʑ · t	Basic consonants	ㅅ with a bar on top. An affricate between English ch and j; voiced between vowels; t at the end.
10	ㅎ	히읗 hieut	`h`	h · ∅	Basic consonants	ㅇ with a hat. Faint between vowels, and it merges with a following plain stop into an aspirate: 좋다 jota.
11	ㅋ	키읔 kieuk	`k`	kʰ	Aspirated	ㄱ plus a stroke. The puff of air is the stroke.
12	ㅌ	티읕 tieut	`t`	tʰ	Aspirated	ㄷ plus a stroke.
13	ㅍ	피읖 pieup	`p`	pʰ	Aspirated	ㅂ redrawn with the strokes through it.
14	ㅊ	치읓 chieut	`ch`	t͡ɕʰ	Aspirated	ㅈ plus a stroke.
15	ㄲ	쌍기역 ssanggiyeok	`kk`	k͈	Tense (doubled)	'Twin giyeok'. Throat tightened, no puff, a sharp release: 꽃 kkot.
16	ㄸ	쌍디귿 ssangdigeut	`tt`	t͈	Tense (doubled)	달 dal moon · 탈 tal mask · 딸 ttal daughter — the three-way contrast on one syllable.
17	ㅃ	쌍비읍 ssangbieup	`pp`	p͈	Tense (doubled)	빵 ppang, bread.
18	ㅆ	쌍시옷 ssangsiot	`ss`	s͈ · ɕ͈ · t	Tense (doubled)	살 sal flesh · 쌀 ssal rice. Also the past-tense marker's final (-았/었).
19	ㅉ	쌍지읒 ssangjieut	`jj`	t͡ɕ͈	Tense (doubled)	짜다 jjada, salty.
20	ㅏ	아 a	`a`	a	Basic vowels	Human + a dot on the outside: a 'bright' vowel.
21	ㅑ	야 ya	`ya`	ja	Basic vowels	The second dot is the y-glide. Every y-vowel is its plain vowel with one more stroke.
22	ㅓ	어 eo	`eo`	ʌ	Basic vowels	The dot on the inside: a 'dark' vowel. An unrounded open o; the two-letter romanisation is the price of a one-letter sound.
23	ㅕ	여 yeo	`yeo`	jʌ	Basic vowels
24	ㅗ	오 o	`o`	o	Basic vowels	Earth with a dot above.
25	ㅛ	요 yo	`yo`	jo	Basic vowels
26	ㅜ	우 u	`u`	u	Basic vowels	Earth with a dot below.
27	ㅠ	유 yu	`yu`	ju	Basic vowels
28	ㅡ	으 eu	`eu`	ɯ	Basic vowels	Earth, alone: the flat vowel. u with the lips spread.
29	ㅣ	이 i	`i`	i	Basic vowels	The human being, standing.
30	ㅐ	애 ae	`ae`	e	Compound vowels	ㅏ + ㅣ. Once the open e; now the same as ㅔ for nearly every speaker, and 개 'dog' and 게 'crab' are said alike.
31	ㅒ	얘 yae	`yae`	je	Compound vowels	Rare — 얘 'this kid', 걔 'that kid'.
32	ㅔ	에 e	`e`	e	Compound vowels	ㅓ + ㅣ.
33	ㅖ	예 ye	`ye`	je	Compound vowels	예 'yes', the polite one.
34	ㅘ	와 wa	`wa`	wa	Compound vowels	ㅗ + ㅏ: the o becomes the w-glide.
35	ㅙ	왜 wae	`wae`	we	Compound vowels	왜 'why'. ㅙ, ㅚ and ㅞ have all merged into /we/.
36	ㅚ	외 oe	`oe`	we	Compound vowels	Historically a front rounded ø; now /we/. 외국 'foreign country'.
37	ㅝ	워 wo	`wo`	wʌ	Compound vowels	ㅜ + ㅓ.
38	ㅞ	웨 we	`we`	we	Compound vowels	Mostly in loanwords: 웨딩 'wedding'.
39	ㅟ	위 wi	`wi`	wi	Compound vowels	위 'above'.
40	ㅢ	의 ui	`ui`	ɯi · i · e	Compound vowels	ㅡ + ㅣ. Three readings: /ɯi/ at the start of a word (의사 doctor), /i/ after a consonant (희망 hope), /e/ as the possessive particle (나의 'my').

Groups: Basic consonants (the five shapes drawn from the mouth (ㄱ ㄴ ㅁ ㅅ ㅇ) and the letters derived from them) · Aspirated (a stroke added to the basic letter) · Tense (doubled) (the basic letter written twice — throat stiffened, no puff) · Basic vowels (ten, from heaven · earth ㅡ and human ㅣ) · Compound vowels (eleven, two basic vowels stacked; several have merged in speech)

Most used combinations

The sequences you'll meet constantly — learn them as units.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
ㅇ + vowel	—	Every syllable that begins with a vowel is written with a silent ㅇ first: 아 이 우 에 오. The placeholder is what keeps the block square.	아이 ai — child
ㄹㄹ	ll	Doubled ㄹ across two blocks is a long l, never a tap.	몰라요 mollayo — I don't know

Rules of the system

How the signs behave together.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
받침 → 7 sounds	—	Twenty-seven letters and clusters can sit under a syllable; they come out as only seven sounds, all unreleased: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅇ. 옷 낮 꽃 밭 히읗 all end in the same t. The full letter comes back only when a vowel follows (liaison).
ㄱ + ㅁ, ㄴ	ŋm, ŋn	Nasal assimilation: a stop before a nasal becomes the nasal at its own place. 국물 kungmul, 합니다 hamnida, 있는 inneun. Written one way, said another, every time.	국물 gungmul — soup broth
ㄴ + ㄹ, ㄹ + ㄴ	ll	Either order becomes ll.	신라 Silla — the ancient kingdom; 설날 Seollal — Lunar New Year
ㅎ + ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ	kʰ tʰ pʰ t͡ɕʰ	ㅎ on either side of a plain stop makes one aspirated stop.	좋다 jota — to be good; 축하 chuka — congratulations
stop + ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ	k͈ t͈ p͈ s͈ t͡ɕ͈	A plain consonant after a stop is tensed. The romanisation deliberately leaves this out — 학교 is written hakgyo and said hakkyo.	학교 hakgyo — school
ㄷ ㅌ + 이	d͡ʑi t͡ɕʰi	Palatalisation across the join: 같이 'together' is gachi, 굳이 'insistently' is guji.

Incompatible combinations

What this writing system does not allow — knowing the impossible prunes the search space.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
*ㄹ- (word-initial, native words)	—	Native and Sino-Korean words do not begin with ㄹ in South Korea: 로동 became 노동 'labour', 리 became 이 as a surname (Lee is spelled 이). Only loanwords keep it — 라디오, 라면. The North kept the ㄹ, which is why Ri and Rodong are northern spellings.
*ㄴ + 이/야/여/요/유 (word-initial)	—	The same rule for ㄴ before i and the y-vowels: 녀자 became 여자 'woman', 니 became 이 'tooth'. Look for the dropped consonant when a Sino-Korean word seems to start with a bare vowel.