Hangul in 20 minutes
Korean is written in Hangul, an alphabet of 24 basic letters designed to be learned fast. Letters stack into syllable blocks — once you can sound out blocks, you can read every story in Jireader, even before you know what the words mean. Work through this page once, then let the stories do the rest.
1. Consonants
The shapes hint at how your mouth makes the sound — ㄴ traces the tongue touching behind the teeth, ㅁ is closed lips.
| Letter | Sound | Hint |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | g / k | as in go |
| ㄴ | n | as in no |
| ㄷ | d / t | as in do |
| ㄹ | r / l | between r and l |
| ㅁ | m | as in me |
| ㅂ | b / p | as in boy |
| ㅅ | s | as in see |
| ㅇ | – / ng | silent at the start, ng at the end |
| ㅈ | j | as in jam |
| ㅊ | ch | as in chat |
| ㅋ | k | strong k |
| ㅌ | t | strong t |
| ㅍ | p | strong p |
| ㅎ | h | as in hat |
Five consonants also come doubled — ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ — pronounced with the same mouth shape but tense and unaspirated (no puff of air).
2. Vowels
Vertical vowels sit to the right of a consonant; horizontal ones sit below it.
| Letter | Sound | Hint |
|---|---|---|
| ㅏ | a | as in father |
| ㅓ | eo | as in up (open o) |
| ㅗ | o | as in go |
| ㅜ | u | as in moon |
| ㅡ | eu | as in good (lips flat) |
| ㅣ | i | as in see |
| ㅐ | ae | as in cat / met |
| ㅔ | e | as in met |
| ㅑ | ya | ㅏ with a y-glide |
| ㅕ | yeo | ㅓ with a y-glide |
| ㅛ | yo | ㅗ with a y-glide |
| ㅠ | yu | ㅜ with a y-glide |
3. Syllable blocks
Every syllable is a block of 2–4 letters, always starting with a consonant (use silent ㅇ when the syllable starts with a vowel sound). ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ stack into 한 (han). ㄱ + ㅜ + ㄱ stack into 국 (guk). Together: 한국, Korea. A final consonant at the bottom of a block is called batchim — at the end of a syllable, sounds cut short: ㅂ sounds closer to p, ㄱ closer to k.
4. Read your first words
Cover the middle column and try sounding these out.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 나 | na | I / me |
| 너 | neo | you |
| 물 | mul | water |
| 집 | jip | house |
| 사람 | sa-ram | person |
| 한국 | han-guk | Korea |
| 안녕 | an-nyeong | hi / bye |
| 감사합니다 | gam-sa-ham-ni-da | thank you |
That is genuinely all you need
Reading speed comes from reading, not from more theory. Story one uses only the most common Korean words, every sentence has audio and a translation one tap away, and the quiz at the end locks in what you met.