How to Read Hangul Easily: A Beginner-Friendly Guide

1. What is Hangul?

Hangul is the Korean writing system.
It was created to match the shape of sounds, making it easy and logical to learn—even for beginners.

if you’re a nerd who’s looking for an in-depth guide, I have it for you!

2. Structure of a Hangul Letter: CV and CVC

Each Hangul letter usually consists of a consonant + vowel (CV).
For example: 나 (na), 고 (go)

Sometimes, a letter ends with another consonant: consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC).
For example: 밥 (bap), 산 (san)

3. Consonants: Feel the Air and Notice the Force

Korean consonants can be grouped by how they feel when spoken.
Put your hand in front of your mouth and say them—some feel soft, some blow a lot of air, and some are tight with almost no air.

ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ

ㄱ (g/k): A light “k” sound with some air
ㅋ (k): Stronger “k” with a big puff of air
ㄲ (kk): Tight “k”, no air, feels like a pop from your throat

ㄴ

ㄴ (n): Gentle “n” sound from the tongue tip
Soft and nasal, like humming

ㄷ, ㅌ, ㄸ

ㄷ (d/t): Light tap of your tongue
ㅌ (t): Stronger tap, more air
ㄸ (tt): Tight “t”, no air, strong force

ㄹ

ㄹ (r/l): Between “r” and “l”
At the start: a quick tongue tap like “r”
At the end: more like “l” as in “feel”

ㅁ

ㅁ (m): “M” sound with closed lips
Soft and nasal like humming

ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅃ

ㅂ (b/p): Made with lips, soft puff
ㅍ (p): Strong “p”, lips burst with air
ㅃ (pp): Tight “p”, no air, strong pressure

ㅅ, ㅆ

ㅅ (s): Light and airy “s” sound
ㅆ (ss): Sharper, tighter version of “s”

ㅇ

At the start: Silent (e.g. 아 = “a”)
At the end: Sounds like “ng” in “song”

ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅉ

ㅈ (j): Soft “j” sound
ㅊ (ch): Stronger “ch” with more air
ㅉ (jj): Tight “j”, no air, forceful burst

ㅎ

ㅎ (h): A soft “h” with lots of breath
Like a light sigh or blowing sound

4. Vowels: Look at Your Mouth Shape

Korean vowels are based on simple mouth shapes. Try them in front of a mirror!

Basic vowels

ㅏ – Open your mouth downward, like “ah”
ㅓ – Stretch your mouth slightly sideways
ㅗ – Round your lips like you’re surprised
ㅜ – Pucker your lips like you’re about to kiss
ㅡ – Flatten your lips in a straight horizontal line
ㅣ – Pull the corners of your mouth into a smile

Diphthongs (combined vowel sounds)
These are made by gliding from one vowel to another.

ㅐ – Starts with ㅏ, ends like ㅣ: sounds like “ae”
ㅔ – Starts with ㅓ, ends like ㅣ: sounds like “e”
ㅚ – Starts like ㅗ, slides into ㅣ: sounds like “oe” or “we”
ㅟ – Starts like ㅜ, slides into ㅣ: sounds like “wi”
ㅘ – ㅗ + ㅏ: sounds like “wa”
ㅝ – ㅜ + ㅓ: sounds like “wo”
ㅙ – ㅗ + ㅐ: sounds like “wae”
ㅞ – ㅜ + ㅔ: sounds like “we”
ㅢ – ㅡ + ㅣ:
- Usually pronounced “ui”
- As a possessive particle (like “my”), it’s often pronounced “e”
- In fast or casual speech, it can also be reduced to “i”, but that’s not standard

“Y” vowels (add a soft ‘y’ sound before)

ㅑ – Like ㅏ with a “y” at the start: “ya”
ㅕ – Like ㅓ with “y”: “yeo”
ㅛ – Like ㅗ with “y”: “yo”
ㅠ – Like ㅜ with “y”: “yu”
ㅒ – Like ㅐ with “y”: “yae”
ㅖ – Like ㅔ with “y”: “ye”

Practice combining consonants and vowels:
가, 겨, 교, 규, 괘, 귀, 계…

5. Final Consonants (받침): How to “Close” the Sound

In Korean, the bottom consonant of a syllable is called a final consonant or batchim.
When a consonant is used in this position, the sound becomes “closed”—you stop the airflow instead of letting it out.

Think of it this way:

When you say ㄱ in 가, your tongue moves to release the sound
But in 악 (ak), your tongue moves to the same place and stays there to stop the sound—it closes the syllable

So, the tongue or lips move in the opposite direction from how they do when starting a syllable.
You don’t release the sound—you hold it back or stop it quietly.

Even though many consonants can appear as final sounds, they are pronounced as just seven basic sounds in Korean:
ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅇ
You can remember them with the phrase: “그녀 다리만 보여”.

For example:

밥 ends with the sound of ㅂ
낫 ends with the sound of ㄷ
공 ends with the sound of ㅇ

6. Final Tips

Feel the difference in air by placing your hand near your mouth
Practice vowel shapes by watching your lips in a mirror
Remember: in batchim, you close the sound, not release it
Don’t worry about memorizing everything at once—keep reading and practicing, and it will start to feel natural!