Read the Korean alphabet, letter by letter
Hangul has 40 letters — 19 consonants and 21 vowels — and most learners can read them within a week. Every page on this site is free and needs no account. The 380-cell consonant × vowel chart, 191 of which carry a recording made by a native Korean speaker in Korea, is open to browse right now.
What is here
- 19 consonants and 21 vowels — one page each, with stroke order, the sound in IPA, and words that use it.
- The full syllable chart — all 380 consonant × vowel combinations in one table, and 251 of them with a page of their own.
- The rules this site follows — quoted by article number from the National Institute of Korean Language, so you can check every claim made here.
What the recordings cover
| Chart cells | Count | What you hear |
|---|---|---|
| Own recording | 191 | That exact syllable, read by a native speaker. |
| Borrowed recording | 44 | A syllable the standard defines as identically pronounced. The page names which one. |
| No recording yet | 145 | Nothing to play. These are mostly rare combinations that barely occur in real words. |
Questions people ask
- How long does it take to learn Hangul? +
- Most learners can read Hangul within a week. There are only 40 letters, and unlike Chinese characters each one stands for a single sound, so reading is a matter of learning 40 shapes and how they stack into syllable blocks.
- Is everything on this site really free? +
- Yes. Every page, every chart and every recording is open with no account and no paywall. The companion mobile app is also free to use; its only purchase removes ads.
- Is the audio AI-generated? +
- No. Every recording on this site was made by a native Korean speaker in Korea. 191 of the 380 chart cells have their own recording, 44 play the recording of a syllable the standard defines as identically pronounced, and 145 have no recording yet. Each cell says which.
- Why does this site keep ㅐ and ㅔ apart when they sound the same? +
- Because the standard keeps them apart. Article 4 of Standard Korean Pronunciation lists ㅐ and ㅔ as two distinct monophthongs, and the spelling difference is still alive — 개 (dog) and 게 (crab) are different words. Most Seoul speakers under 50 do merge them in speech, and we say so on the pages where it matters.
- Do I need to learn the syllable chart by heart? +
- No. The chart is a reference, not a memorisation task. Once you know the 19 consonants and 21 vowels, every one of the 380 cells is predictable — the chart exists so you can hear them and check yourself.
- What is the difference between this site and the app? +
- The site holds the reference material and is free to browse. The app adds the parts a static page cannot do: saved progress, spaced review, streaks and a 100-level course.