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In coming to Korea, you are essentially going to be placed in the midst of a people with a noticeably different culture and language. In order to get by comfortably (and to show some respect to the Koreans around you), its best if you learn some basic Korean, which will definitely be noticed and appreciated by people on the street or with whom you are interacting. Korean is spoken and read by nearly 80 million people, not only on the Korean peninsula but also in large groups located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, the United States, post-Soviet Republics and, most recently, the Philippines. Thus, learning some basic Korean will not only make day to day living easier for you, but allow you to communicate and participate more fully in a unique culture.

The following is not intended to be a formal lesson in how to speak the Korean language (한국말 “hahn-gook-mahl”), rather it should be a resource to ease the transition into studying Korean, a first step towards that which will truly be a rewarding experience.

Now, there may be some concern as to how to approach this language. Initially, Korean can have quite a jarring sound and its written form looks nothing like the written Romanized letters that you have been reading your entire life. Surely, to even write the Korean alphabet would take years! You can put these fears aside, however, as learning Korean (at least the alphabet anyway) won’t take more than a few hours, and then it’s simply practice, practice, practice. As was inscribed in the original publication of the formation of the language, “A wise man can acquaint himself with [the alphabet] before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days.” So let’s begin!

first quarter of the 15th century, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejoen the Great, began working on a project eventually called the “Hunmin Jeongeum,” or “The Proper Sounds for the Education of the People.” This document focused on the education of the common man through the formation of a language and script purely of Korean design, called Hanguel (한글 “hahn-guel”). Some special members from the royal court worked with King Sejeong to form the written language based on articulatory phonetics and vowel harmony. The final document was completed around 1444 and published in 1446.

At first, the written language was considered something just for housewives and children, as only male aristocrats were supposed to be literate. There were some scholars who thought that hanja was the only legitimate system of writing and it took years to convince the other members of the ruling classes. Eventually it became adopted as the official language of Korea (first being used in official documents in 1894).

vowels. These letters are arranged vertically in stacks, which are then put together to form words. For example, the prefix to mean Korean is made by the letters ‘ㅎ’,‘ㅏ’, and ‘ㄴ’. These letters are put into the stack 한.

Stacks can be as simple as two letters or a complex construction of 4. The stack always begins with a consonant, followed by a vowel.


ㄱ + ㅏ = 가 “to go” Those two alone can be considered a full stack, or another consonant can be added below them to form a 3 letter stack (as with the example above).


ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 한 “Korean” Then, a fourth consonant could be added next to the consonant on the bottom.


ㄷ + ㅏ + ㄹ + ㄱ = 닭 “chicken” The stacks are then grouped together to form words.


한 (Korean) + 국 (land) + 말 (language) = 한국말 (the Korean language) Before we can start learning stacks and words, we need to learn the letters. Below, the letters are shown with their approximate pronunciations. As there are many different ways to Romanize the pronunciation of these letters, it’s less confusing to simply cover the pronunciation. Let’s consider the vowels first.

The Vowels

	Korean Letter	Pronunciation
Base Vowels	ㅏ	‘ah’ as the ‘a’ in ‘father’
	ㅓ	‘aw’ as the ‘o’ as in ‘of’
	ㅗ	‘oh’ as the ‘o’ in “tote”
	ㅜ	‘oo’ as the ‘u’ in ‘flute’
	ㅡ	‘eu’ as the ‘oo’ in ‘look’
	ㅣ	‘ee’ as the ‘ee’ in ‘beet’
Semi-Consonant Vowels	ㅑ	‘yah’ as the ‘ya’ in ‘yard’
	ㅕ	‘yaw’ as the ‘you’ in ‘young’
	ㅛ	‘yoh’ as the ‘yo’ in ‘yoke’
	ㅠ	‘yoo’ as in ‘you’
Diphthongs	ㅐ	‘ae’ as the ‘a’ in ‘hat’
	ㅒ	‘yae’ as the ‘ya’ in ‘yam’
	ㅔ	‘e’ as the ‘e’ in ‘get’
	ㅖ	‘ye’ as in ‘yes’
	ㅘ	‘wah’ as the ‘wa’ in ‘water’
	ㅙ	‘wae’ as the ‘wa’ in ‘wax’
	ㅚ	‘oe’ as the ‘wa’ in ‘way’
	ㅝ	‘waw’ as the ‘wo’ in ‘won’
	ㅞ	‘we’ as in ‘wet’
	ㅟ	‘we’ as in ‘wet’
	ㅢ	‘ue’ as ‘eu’ plus ‘ee’

The vowels are simple and straightforward enough with the exceptions of ㅡ, ㅚ, and ㅢ. However, after listening to Korean spoken by a native (either through a CD or in person), you’ll get the idea of how to pronounce them.

The Consonants

	Korean Letter	Pronunciation
Consonants	ㄱ	k/g
	ㄴ	n
	ㄷ	t/d
	ㄹ	r/l/n
	ㅁ	m
	ㅂ	p/b
	ㅅ	s/t
	ㅇ	-/ng
	ㅈ	j/t
	ㅊ	ch/t
	ㅋ	k
	ㅌ	t
	ㅍ	p
	ㅎ	h/ng
Double Consonants	ㄲ	gg
	ㄸ	dd
	ㅃ	bb
	ㅆ	ss
	ㅉ	jj

The consonants are perhaps the biggest source of headaches for those learning Korean. There are several complex rules to follow that determine the proper sounds to use with each letter. Some of the simpler rules are listed below. Grab a drink, pencil and paper and get ready for your first, brief lesson.

• 1. Usually, when a letter comes at the beginning of a word, the sound is a little more aspirated than when its found in the middle. For example, the ‘ㄱ’ in 강남 is pronounced as a ‘k’, whereas the ‘ㄱ’ in 한강 is pronounced as a ‘g’ (hence the two letters listed for the consonants ‘ㄱ’, ‘ㄷ’ and ‘ㅂ’).
  
  
  
• 2. Another thing to consider is where the letter is in a stack. Two of the Korean letters, ‘ㅇ’ and ‘ㅅ’, have different pronunciations depending if they are on the top or the bottom. The ‘ㅇ’ is not pronounced when it is in the first position in a stack; in this case, it is acting as a place marker for the vowel that follows it. When it is put on the bottom, it is pronounced as ‘ng’. Thus, ‘ㅇ’ is not pronounced in 엄마 (awm-ma), but pronounced as ‘ng’ in 방 (bahng). Simple, isn’t it? The same goes for the ‘ㅅ’. When its in the first position ‘ㅅ’ is pronounced like ‘s’, as in 삼겹살 (sam-gyup-sal). The ‘ㅅ’ takes a ‘t’ sound when it is on the bottom of the stack, as with 옛날 (yet-nahl).
  
  
  
• 3. The same rule applies to ‘ㄷ’, ‘ㅈ’, ‘ㅊ’, and ‘ㅌ’, all of which are pronounced as ‘t’ when at the bottom of the stack. The letters ‘ㅂ’ and ‘ㅍ’ keep their ‘p’ sounds when at the bottom, as ‘ㄱ’, ‘ㄲ’, and ‘ㅋ’ are pronounced as ‘k’.
  
  
  
• 4. ‘ㅅ’ also has one more trick up it’s sleeve. When ‘ㅅ’ is followed by an ‘ㅣ’ (pronounced ‘ee’, you remember that, right?), the resulting sound is ‘sh’ sound, same as if its followed by the semi-consonant and diphthong vowels. So, 쉽다, which means easy, would be pronounced ‘shweep-dah’ (easy, right?).
  
  
  
• 5. ‘ㄹ’ also is quite confusing when it comes to the proper way that it should be pronounced. Usually pronounced as ‘l’, it becomes an ‘n’ if it follows ‘ㅁ’ or ‘ㅇ’. When it follows ‘ㄴ’ both change to a ‘l’ sound. Then, if the ‘ㄹ’ is followed by a vowel, it is pronounced as ‘r’.
  
  
  
• 6. The final hurdle that will be covered is the way to pronounce the double consonants. These consonants (which will be virtually impossible for you to distinguish from the single consonant pronunciations when you first begin) are pronounced with more stress than the single consonants, but with less aspiration. The simple way of telling whether or not you are doing this correctly is to put your hand in front of your mouth. When you say the single consonant, you should feel a slight puff of air. You should not feel any air when you say the double consonant. Of course, don’t do this when talking to people, as you get strange stares in return.

There are some other rules and things to remember, such as how to pronounce the stacks with four letters and different combinations, but this should be enough for one day. Again, this isn’t to be a lesson, rather an introduction to the language so it’s not as shocking when you arrive in Korea. It is definitely recommended that you become familiar with the letters before you come, as you’ll be ahead of the game on arrival. At the same time, don’t worry too terribly much about pronunciation at this point either. The more that you are exposed on a continuous basis, the more easily you’ll be able to recognize and reproduce the different sounds that spoken Korean uses. Fear not, Westerners have been (successfully) trying for centuries to speak Korean. You are in the position now where all Korean speakers begin, and things will get easier.

문법 “Moon-bawp”, The Grammar

Though it sounds a bit nicer in Korean than it does in English, Korean grammar is still just as difficult. The scourge of students everywhere, grammar is the subject that allows you, if you make it all the way through, to sound intelligent. Having barely gotten through the reading and pronunciation of Hangeul, there is no way that we could broach the subject here. Only a short, short consideration of Korean grammar is necessary.

The simple sentence structure is different from English. When forming a sentence in English, the sentence is composed of a subject, a verb and perhaps an object.

Billy eats apples. In the sentence above, ‘Billy’ is the subject and ‘eat’ is the verb, leaving ‘apples’ to be the object. The same sentence, expressed in Korean, would be:

빌리가 사과를 먹어요. Literally, Billy apples eats. As you can see, instead of the sentence being SVO, in Korean the sentence is SOV. It requires more thought when initially making sentences, but like the pronunciation, the more you actively listen and practice, the more natural it will become.

The area of grammar most confusing is the conjugation of the verbs, not only based on the tense but also based on the level of the person to whom you are speaking (SEE THE SECTION ON CULTURE).

There are multiple endings and if you use the wrong one, you may offend the person to whom you are talking (more so if you are talking with an older person). The easiest rule to remember is that if you are unsure what level of speech to use, you should revert to using the polite form, which basically is formed by adding ‘-yo’ (요) to the end of the verb.

There you have it. You can breathe again. As stated many times, the more you practice better you will become. While the business of teaching Korean to foreigners living in the country is not as profitable as teaching Koreans how to speak English, its still manages to be a multi-million dollar industry, with books published by seemingly every large university and companies specializing in language instruction (even our own ThinkBig!).


There are also classes held regularly throughout the peninsula and various clubs that sponsor English to Korean language exchange. Koreans are fanatical about learning English, but they will be more than willing to help you if you show any sincerity in learning their language.

USEFUL Words and Phrases

To get you started on your journey in Korea, we’ve compiled a list of words and phrases that you’ll find particularly useful in your daily life.

English	Korean Letter	Pronunciation
Everyday Living
Hello!	안녕 하세요?	ahn-nyawng ha-say-yo
Goodbye. (you are departing)	안녕히 계세요.	ahn-nyawng-hee gyay-say-yo.
Goodbye. (your guest is departing)	안녕히 가세요.	ahn-nyawng-hee kah-say-yo.
Yes (polite) / Yes (informal) / No	예/네/아니요	yay/ nay/ ah-nee-yo.
Thank You.	고맙습니다.	ko-mahp-seum-knee-dah.
You’re Welcome	천만이에요.	chawn-mahn-ee-ey-yo.
That’s fine./ That’s Okay	괜찮아요	kwen-chan-ah-yo.
Excuse me.	실례합니다.	sheel-lyey-hahm-nee-dah.
I’m sorry.	죄송합니다.	chway-sohng-hahm-nee-dah.
My name is …..	제 이름은 …이에요	chay ee-leum-eun…ee-ey-yo.
I’m from …	저는 …에서 왔어요.	chaw-neun…ey-saw wah-saw-yo
I like…	…좋아해요.	… choh-ah-hey-yo.
I don’t like…	…좋지 않아요.	… choh-jee ahn-ah-yo.
Where’s the bathroom?	화장실은 어디에 있어요?	hwah-jang-sheel-eun aw-dee-ey ees-saw-yo?
Does anyone speak English?	영어 하시는 분계세요?	Yawng-aw ha-she-neun boon-gyey-say-yo?
Directions (to taxi driver)
Please take me to…	…에 가주세요.	…ey ka-choo-say-yo.
Please go straight.	직진 가주세요.	jick-jin ka-choo-say-yo.
Make a left.	좌회전 해주세요.	chwa-hwey-jawn hey-choo-say-yo.
Turn right.	우회전 해주세요.	oo-hwey-jawn hey-choo-say-yo.
At the light…	신호등에서…	sheen-ho-deung-ey-saw…
Please stop here. / Let me out here.	여기에서 내려주세요.	yaw-ghee-ey-saw ney-ryaw-choo-sey-yo.
Important Information
Name	이름/성명	ee-leum/sawng-myawng
Nationality	국적	gook-jawk
Date of Birth	생년월일/생일	seyng-nyawn-woll-eel/seyng-eel.
Place of Birth	출생지	chool-seyng-jee
Gender	성별	sawng-pyawl
Passport	여관	yaw-gwahn
Visa	비자	bee-jah

Sino-Korean minutes, dates, months, kilometers, money, floors of buildings			Korean counting objects, expressing age, hours
1	일	eel	1	하나	hana
2	이	ee	2	둘	dool
3	삼	sahm	3	셋	set
4	사	sah	4	넷	net
5	오	oh	5	다섯	ta-sawt
6	육	yook	6	여섯	yaw-sawt
7	칠	cheel	7	일곱	eel-gohp
8	팔	pal	8	여덟	yaw-dawl
9	구	koo	9	아홈	ah-hohp
10	십	sheep	10	열	yawl
11	십일	sheep-eel	11	열하나	yawl-hana
12	십이	sheep-ee	12	열둘	yawl-dool
13	십삼	sheep-sahm	13	열셋	yawl-set
14	십사	sheep-sah	14	열넷	yawl-net
15	십오	sheep-oh	15	열다섯	yawl-ta-sawt
16	십육	sheem-yook	16	열여섯	yawl-yaw-sawt
17	십칠	sheep-cheel	17	열일곱	yawl-eel-gohp
18	십팔	sheep-pal	18	열여덟	yawl-yaw-dawl
19	십구	sheep-koo	19	열아홉	yawl-ah-hohp
20	이십	ee-sheep	20	스물	seu-mool
21	이십일	ee-sheep-eel	21	스물하나	seu-mool-hana
22	이십이	ee-sheep-ee	22	스물둘	seu-mool-dool
23	이십삼	ee-sheep-sahm	23	스물셋	seu-mool-set
24	이십사	ee-sheep-sah	24	스물넷	seu-mool-net
25	이십오	ee-sheep-oh	25	스물다섯	seu-mool-ta-sawt
30	삼십	sam-sheep-	30	서른	saw-reun
40	사십	sa-sheep	40	마흔	mah-heun
50	오십	oh-sheep	50	쉰	shween
60	육십	yook-sheep	60	예순	yey-soon
70	칠십	cheel-sheep	70	일흔	eel-heun
80	팔십	pal-sheep	80	여든	yey-deun
90	구십	koo-sheep	90	아흔	ah-heun

100	백	paek
200	이백	ee-paek
300	삼백	sam-paek
400	사백	sa-paek
500	오백	oh-paek
1000	천	chawn
2000	이천	ee-chawn
3000	삼천	sam-chawn
10,000	만	mahn*
20,000	이만	ee-mahn
30,000	삼만	sam-mahn
100,000	십만	sheep-mahn
200,000	이십만	ee-sheep-mahn
300,000	삼십만	sahm-sheep-mahn
1,000,000	백	paek-mahn

* A word about Korean counting. When Koreans begin to count in large numbers over 10,000, they do it in multiples of 10,000.


Thus 20,000 becomes 2 10,000s (이만), 30,000 becomes 3 10,000s(삼만), and so forth. So, to express a number such as 1,987,654, you would say literally 198 10,000s 7,654 (백 구십팔만 칠천육백오십사 ‘paek koo-sheep-pal-mahn cheel-chawn-yook-paek-oh-sheep-sa).


You’ll get the hang of this by practicing with small numbers first, then working your way up.