Korean is written in Hangul (한글), a phonetic alphabet of 24 letters (14 consonants + 10 vowels). It was designed in the 15th century to be easy to learn — you can pick it up in a weekend. Letters combine into syllable blocks, never written linearly. Each block has 2–4 letters arranged top-to-bottom and left-to-right: · initial consonant + vowel (e.g. 가 = g + a) · initial consonant + vowel + final consonant (e.g. 한 = h + a + n) · some blocks have a double final consonant The 14 basic consonants: ㄱ (g/k), ㄴ (n), ㄷ (d/t), ㄹ (r/l), ㅁ (m), ㅂ (b/p), ㅅ (s), ㅇ (silent at start / -ng at end), ㅈ (j), ㅊ (ch), ㅋ (k), ㅌ (t), ㅍ (p), ㅎ (h). The 10 basic vowels: ㅏ (a), ㅑ (ya), ㅓ (eo, like or), ㅕ (yeo), ㅗ (o), ㅛ (yo), ㅜ (u), ㅠ (yu), ㅡ (eu, like good without rounding), ㅣ (i). There are also five doubled consonants (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ) — pronounced tenser and more sharply than their singles. Hanja (Chinese characters) appear occasionally in formal writing, but modern Korean is almost entirely Hangul.
Each example below has three parts: the original text, a literal gloss describing how every word works, and a natural translation. The glosses use a few shorthand labels so they stay short. Don't worry about memorising them — this is a reference you can come back to. Person and number · 1sg / 2sg / 3sg — first / second / third person singular (I, you, he/she/it) · 1pl / 2pl / 3pl — first / second / third person plural (we, you-all, they) Gender and case · m / f / n — masculine / feminine / neuter · sg / pl — singular / plural · m.sg — combined: masculine singular (and similarly f.pl, n.sg, etc.) · NOM / ACC / GEN / DAT / INS / LOC — grammatical cases (nominative/accusative/genitive/dative/instrumental/locative) — which role the word plays in the sentence Tense and aspect · PRES — present · PRET — preterite (a finished past event) · IMPF — imperfect (an ongoing or habitual past situation) · FUT — future · PERF — perfect (an action completed with present relevance) · PROG — progressive (action in progress, e.g. am eating) · COND — conditional (would…) Mood · IND — indicative (regular statement) · SUBJ — subjunctive (uncertainty, wishes, doubts) · IMP — imperative (commands) · INF — infinitive (dictionary form: to go, to eat) Other · REFL — reflexive (action on oneself: myself, yourself) · PERS — personal a (Spanish only — marks a human direct object) · HON — honorific (extra-polite form, common in Japanese/Korean) · TOP / SUB / OBJ — topic / subject / object markers (Japanese, Korean) · CL — classifier (Chinese, Japanese, Korean — a counter word for nouns) · NEG — negation
Korean is written in Hangul (한글), an alphabet invented in the 15th century under King Sejong. It has 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels — the individual letters are called jamo (자모). Hangul is phonetic: each letter represents one sound, so what you see is what you say. Unlike Chinese characters, jamo are not written one after another in a line — they are grouped into syllable blocks with a fixed internal pattern: initial consonant + medial vowel (+ optional final consonant). This makes Korean text visually compact and easy to scan once you know the blocks. Hangul is famously easy to learn — most learners can read after a few hours. In this guide, Revised Romanization is used in parentheses to approximate the sounds for absolute beginners.
Korean is a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) language: the verb always comes last. The basic pattern is Subject + Object + Verb, with modifiers (adjectives, adverbs, relative clauses) placed before the word they modify. Because grammatical roles are marked by particles attached to nouns, the order of the noun phrases is more flexible than in English — but the verb stays at the end. The subject is very often dropped when it is clear from context, especially I and you. In conversation, single-word answers and verb-only sentences are common. Time expressions usually come early; place expressions come before the verb.
Korean has no articles (a / an / the) and no grammatical gender. A bare noun like 책 (chaek) can mean a book, the book, books, or some books, depending on context. Pluralization is optional: the suffix 들 (-deul) can be added to mark a plural, but it is mostly used with animate nouns (people, animals) and is often left off when number is clear from context or from a number word. With inanimate things, 들 is rarely used. Number words (하나, 둘, 셋…) and counters do the job of making quantity explicit when needed.
Particles are short suffixes attached to nouns to mark their grammatical role. The choice between two forms (with/without final consonant) depends on whether the noun ends in a consonant or a vowel. Key particles: 은/는 (topic — as for…); 이/가 (subject — new information / focus); 을/를 (direct object); 에 (location of being, time, destination — at / in / to); 에서 (place of action, origin — at / from); 의 (possessive — of / -'s); 와/과 or 하고 (and / with); 도 (also, too — replaces 은/는/이/가/을/를); 부터 (from — starting point); 까지 (until / up to).
Korean verbs change ending depending on who you are speaking to. The three main levels for learners are: formal polite (-(스)ㅂ니다 / -(스)ㅂ니까?) — used in news, business, the military, first meetings; informal polite (-아요 / -어요) — the everyday polite style for strangers, colleagues, older peers; and plain / casual (-다 dictionary form, -아/어 without 요) — used with close friends, family, children, or in writing. For most spoken situations, learners should default to the informal polite style (-아요/-어요). Dropping the final 요 turns a sentence into casual speech — do not do this with strangers or elders.
Every Korean verb (and descriptive verb / adjective) ends in -다 in its dictionary form. Remove -다 to get the stem, then attach an ending. For example, 가다 (gada, to go) → stem 가-. To form the polite informal -아요/-어요 ending, you choose -아요 if the last vowel of the stem is ㅏ or ㅗ (positive / bright vowel harmony), otherwise -어요. The irregular verb 하다 (to do) becomes 해요. Many stems contract with the ending: 가다 → 가요 (not 가아요), 서다 → 서요, 오다 → 와요, 배우다 → 배워요.
The present tense in informal polite style is just stem + -아요 / -어요 / 해요, depending on vowel harmony (see Verb stems). It covers both I eat and I am eating, and also general truths and near-future plans understood from context: 내일 가요 (I'll go tomorrow). In formal polite style, the ending is -(스)ㅂ니다: add -ㅂ니다 if the stem ends in a vowel, -습니다 if it ends in a consonant. The same form is used for all persons (I / you / he / she / we / they) — only the dropped subject and context tell you who is acting.
The past tense inserts -았- / -었- between the stem and the ending. The choice follows the same vowel harmony as the present: -았어요 after stems whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ, -었어요 otherwise. 하다 becomes 했어요. The same contractions apply: 가다 + 았어요 → 갔어요, 오다 → 왔어요, 마시다 → 마셨어요. The form is identical for all persons, and like the present, the subject is usually dropped. For formal polite past, the ending is -았/었습니다: 갔습니다, 먹었습니다, 했습니다.
The common spoken future / probability form is -(으)ㄹ 거예요. Add -ㄹ 거예요 if the stem ends in a vowel, and -을 거예요 if it ends in a consonant. It expresses plans, intentions, and confident predictions: I will… / I'm going to… / (it) probably …. The plain/written future is -(으)ㄹ 것이다. There is also -겠어요, which adds a nuance of intention, polite offer, or guess (I will / it must be). Negative future: just negate the verb, e.g. 안 갈 거예요 (I won't go). Time words (내일, 다음 주) make the future meaning clearer.
Korean has two ways to make a sentence negative. (1) Short negation: put 안 directly before the verb. 안 가요 (I don't go), 안 먹어요 (I don't eat). With 하다 compound verbs (noun + 하다), 안 goes between the noun and 하다: 공부 안 해요 (I don't study). (2) Long negation: replace the dictionary ending -다 with -지 않다, then conjugate. 가다 → 가지 않아요, 먹다 → 먹지 않아요. Both mean the same; long form is slightly more formal/written. To say cannot (inability or impossibility), use 못 before the verb: 못 가요 (I can't go), or the long form -지 못해요.
In the informal polite style, statements and questions look identical — only rising intonation at the end marks a question. 가요? (are you going?) vs. 가요. (I'm going.). In the formal polite style, swap the statement ending -ㅂ니다 for the question ending -ㅂ니까?: 갑니까? (do you go?). Wh-questions use a question word placed where the answer would go (no word order change): 뭐 / 무엇 (what), 누구 (who), 어디 (where), 언제 (when), 왜 (why), 어떻게 (how), 얼마 (how much). The verb keeps the same ending.
이다 (ida) is the to be used to identify or define a noun (X is Y). It is unusual: it attaches directly to the noun, with no space. In informal polite style, it becomes -이에요 after a consonant and -예요 after a vowel: 학생이에요 (I am a student), 의사예요 (she is a doctor). The formal polite form is -입니다. The negative of 이다 is 아니다 (anida), which takes the subject particle 이/가 on the preceding noun (not 을/를): 학생이 아니에요 (I am not a student).
있다 (itda) means to exist / to be (located) / to have, and its opposite 없다 (eopda) means to not exist / to not have. In informal polite form they are 있어요 / 없어요. To say something is located somewhere, use place + 에 있어요: 학교에 있어요 (it's at school). To say someone has something, use person + 은/는 + thing + 이/가 있어요: 저는 시간이 있어요 (I have time). Note that have uses 있다, not the copula 이다 — these two verbs are completely distinct. The same logic applies to don't have: 저는 돈이 없어요 (I have no money).
Korean grammatically marks respect for the subject of a sentence — usually someone older, a superior, or a stranger — by inserting -(으)시- into the verb, between the stem and the ending. Add -시- after a vowel stem, -으시- after a consonant stem. In informal polite form, -시- + -어요 contracts to -세요: 가다 → 가세요 (you/he/she goes — respectful), 읽다 → 읽으세요. A few verbs have special honorific forms: 먹다 → 잡수시다 (to eat, respectful), 자다 → 주무시다 (to sleep), 있다 → 계시다 (to be / exist, for people). Do not use 시 about yourself.
Korean is written in Hangul (한글), an alphabet invented in 1443 and designed to be easy to learn. It has 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels, plus combined forms. Hangul is phonetic: each letter represents one sound. Letters are not written in a line but grouped into syllable blocks, each containing one to four letters in a fixed pattern (initial consonant + vowel, optionally + final consonant, sometimes + second final). For example, 한 = ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ (han), 국 = ㄱ + ㅜ + ㄱ (guk), together 한국 (Hanguk, Korea). All syllables must begin with a consonant in writing; if the sound starts with a vowel, the silent ㅇ is used.