Hangul

Hangul, the writing system for Korean language, has 10 vowels and 14 consonants.

Begin with a consonant. Then a vowel follows. Repeat if necessary.

Direction to deconstruct is top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right.

is silent at start of word.

Vowels Sound Name
a (a)
ya (ya)
eo (eo)
yeo (yeo)
o (o)
yo (yo)
u (u)
yu (yu)
eu (eu)

Consonants Sound Name
g 기역(giyeok)
n 니은(nieun)
d 디귿(digeut)
l/r 리을(rieul)
m 미음(mieum)
b 비읍(bieup)
s 시옷(siot)
ng 이응(ieung)
j 지읒(jieut)
ch 치읓(chieut)
k 키읔(kieuk)
t 티읕(tieut)
p 피읖(pieup)
h 히읗(hieut)

Memorize these 10 vowels and 14 consonants, you can construct them the following:

Now you know about 140 hanguls and this is how you compose words.

Isn't the writing system elegant and beautiful? (invented in 1443 by Sejong the Great)

But it also has compound vowels.

Diphthongs (compound vowels)

Diphthong Sound Name
ae (ae)
yae (yae)
e (e)
ye (ye)
ui (ui)

and Diphthongs with w:

Diphthong with w Sound Name
wa (wa)
wae (wae)
oe (oe)
wo (wo)
we (we)
wi (wi)

The pronunciation part is way more difficult. This seems a good resource to learn how to pronunce Hangul in English.

Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean

Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean