[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-articles-korean":3,"$fHZsWYl_LcdVZ5GxKwtR-ZqvCZbbUdo2_Fi6R_GQKiQM":8675,"cms-articles-korean-en":8677},[4,1477,1829,2863,5091,5361,7192,8067],{"id":5,"title":6,"body":7,"description":1457,"extension":1458,"meta":1459,"navigation":1469,"path":1470,"rawbody":1471,"seo":1472,"stem":1473,"__hash__":1474,"timestampUnix":1460,"slug":1461,"h1":1462,"image":1463,"tags":1467,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":1476},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-anki.md","7 Anki Decks that Will Actually Help You learn Korean | Best Korean Anki Decks",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":1431},"minimark",[10,20,23,33,36,39,42,47,55,61,66,69,72,75,97,105,109,117,120,144,153,156,160,168,171,174,177,184,187,190,194,197,200,221,224,230,233,240,248,251,254,258,261,275,278,281,323,326,331,334,337,344,347,351,354,357,363,368,371,400,403,405,409,415,418,427,433,439,447,456,461,464,472,493,497,500,503,509,512,517,520,524,528,531,538,599,602,605,614,618,621,624,627,641,645,648,655,673,676,687,690,696,707,710,723,727,730,733,739,744,747,754,757,762,765,783,786,794,814,818,821,835,838,841,847,853,864,867,881,924,937,941,944,955,959,966,971,974,977,981,988,991,1002,1005,1081,1084,1087,1092,1095,1108,1112,1115,1118,1145,1158,1165,1177,1184,1187,1202,1207,1210,1221,1227,1232,1235,1247,1250,1253,1257,1260,1263,1268,1271,1275,1278,1298,1302,1305,1314,1322,1325,1329,1338,1342,1345,1356,1359,1379,1381,1385,1388,1391,1409,1412,1415,1425,1428],[11,12,13,14,19],"p",{},"So you learned Hangul, it went pretty smoothly, you got to wondering why people think it's hard to ",[15,16,18],"a",{"href":17},"\u002Flearn-korean","learn Korean",", and then you did a bit of poking around on Reddit or somewhere and made a disturbing discovery: several thousand vocabulary words stand between you and a subtitle-less K-drama binge.",[11,21,22],{},"(Or maybe you're procrastinating on learning Korean by looking at resources. I get that. I do that, too. Don't tell my boss 🫡)",[11,24,25,26,32],{},"Anyway—to make this post, I clicked through ",[15,27,31],{"href":28,"rel":29},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fdecks?search=korean",[30],"nofollow","nearly 400 free Korean Anki decks",", downloaded the ones that looked promising, and then took notes on the best ones so I could introduce them to you.",[11,34,35],{},"Let's do this:",[37,38],"toc",{},[40,41],"hr",{},[43,44,46],"h2",{"id":45},"setup-what-anki-is-how-to-install-it-and-how-to-download-korean-anki-decks","[Setup] What Anki is, how to install it, and how to download Korean Anki decks",[11,48,49,50,54],{},"On the off-chance that you just recently heard somebody talking about Anki ",[15,51,53],{"href":52},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Fmigaku-korean-learning-discord","on Discord"," or something, we'll take a small detour to help you get everything set up.",[56,57,58],"blockquote",{},[11,59,60],{},"If you've already got Anki installed, go ahead and jump straight to [Soapbox].",[62,63,65],"h3",{"id":64},"how-anki-flashcards-and-spaced-repetition-make-your-life-easier","How Anki flashcards and spaced repetition make your life easier",[11,67,68],{},"Anki is a flashcard application. Some people go ham with it, but, at its core, it's literally just an application for doing flashcards on your phone or computer.",[11,70,71],{},"Why not make your own flashcards by hand?",[11,73,74],{},"Two main reasons:",[76,77,78,91],"ol",{},[79,80,81,90],"li",{},[82,83,84,85,89],"strong",{},"Anki is ",[86,87,88],"em",{},"uber"," customizable",". There's a lot of complexity going on under the hood, but if you're willing to get your hands dirty, you can make Anki do whatever you want and look however you want. Alternatively, you can just borrow the hard work of other people by downloading addons or decks. (This is what we'll be doing today.)",[79,92,93,96],{},[82,94,95],{},"Three words: Spaced-repetition Algorithm."," Anki keeps track of your performance, then uses that information to build a personalized review schedule. It basically nudges you to remember things periodically until you stop forgetting them.",[11,98,99,100,104],{},"Spaced repetition and memory is a pretty big topic, and this post is mainly about sharing useful Anki decks, so I'll skip that discussion for now. ",[15,101,103],{"href":102},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning","We've got an entire blog post about it, if you're interested",". (If you're new to Anki, I highly recommend taking 10 minutes to skim it.)",[62,106,108],{"id":107},"how-to-install-anki","How to install Anki",[11,110,111,112,116],{},"Anki is just an ordinary app\u002Fprogram, so there aren't any hoops you need to jump through. We have a very detailed walkthrough ",[15,113,115],{"href":114},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fhow-to-use-anki#how-to-install-anki","here",", if you want one.",[11,118,119],{},"Otherwise:",[76,121,122,130,137],{},[79,123,124,125,129],{},"Click ",[15,126,115],{"href":127,"rel":128},"https:\u002F\u002Fapps.ankiweb.net\u002F",[30]," to download the desktop version of Anki (free)",[79,131,124,132,136],{},[15,133,115],{"href":134,"rel":135},"https:\u002F\u002Fapps.apple.com\u002Fus\u002Fapp\u002Fankimobile-flashcards\u002Fid373493387",[30]," to download Anki for iOS ($24.99 and the honor of supporting an open-source project)",[79,138,124,139,143],{},[15,140,115],{"href":141,"rel":142},"https:\u002F\u002Fplay.google.com\u002Fstore\u002Fapps\u002Fdetails?id=com.ichi2.anki&hl=en",[30]," to download Anki for Android (free)",[11,145,146,147,152],{},"To download decks and make use of the apps, you'll also need to ",[15,148,151],{"href":149,"rel":150},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Faccount\u002Fsignup",[30],"register on Anki's website",". This is free, too.",[11,154,155],{},"And now for the fun stuff!",[62,157,159],{"id":158},"how-to-install-korean-anki-decks-from-ankiweb","How to install Korean Anki Decks from Ankiweb",[11,161,162,163,167],{},"First, log into your Anki account. Next, click ",[15,164,115],{"href":165,"rel":166},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fdecks?search=chinese",[30]," to visit Anki's \"Shared Decks\" page. This is where all of the \"official\" decks of Korean flashcards are stored—things that other people have made and (generously) decided to make publicly available for free.",[11,169,170],{},"I'll link directly to Anki decks I've vetted and recommend in the below sections, but there's a lot of stuff here. Feel free to explore!",[11,172,173],{},"Anyway!",[11,175,176],{},"To install an Anki deck, make sure you're on the deck's landing page and then click the blue \"Download\" button located between the preview section and comments section.",[178,179],"img",{"src":180,"width":181,"height":182,"alt":183},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-setup.jpeg",2880,1800,"A screenshot of the landing page for one of Anki's Korean decks",[11,185,186],{},"Now, on your desktop, open Anki. In the bottom-right corner of the app, click \"Import File\". Find the deck in your downloads folder (it will end in .apkg, which )",[11,188,189],{},"Now open Anki. Click \"Import File\", find the deck you downloaded (it will end in .apkg, which is a special file format used for Anki decks), and then click \"Open\" to import it:",[178,191],{"src":192,"width":181,"height":182,"alt":193},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-setup-2.jpeg","A screenshot showing how to import your Korean flashcards into Anki",[11,195,196],{},"Anki handles everything else. It'll take a bit of time to import—especially if your deck has a lot of images or audio—and then it'll appear in Anki. From here, you can take a moment to move the deck, rename it, and do any general housekeeping you want.",[11,198,199],{},"Once you're happy, it's time to sync the deck. This will enable you to use it on your mobile device.",[76,201,202,209,212,215,218],{},[79,203,204,205,208],{},"Make sure you're logged into your Anki account on desktop ",[86,206,207],{},"and"," your app",[79,210,211],{},"Click \"Sync\" in the top-right corner of the desktop version of Anki",[79,213,214],{},"A popup will appear saying that files are being uploaded\u002Fdownloaded",[79,216,217],{},"Once the popup disappears, open Anki on your phone and click \"Synchronize\" in the bottom-right corner",[79,219,220],{},"You'll see the same popup as we saw in step 2",[11,222,223],{},"Voila!",[178,225],{"src":226,"width":227,"height":228,"alt":229},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-setup3.jpeg",1812,1162,"A screenshot how to sync your flashcards between desktop Anki and mobile Anki",[11,231,232],{},"One last thing worth mentioning—notice how, in the bottom-right corner of the third image, there's a spinning wheel of death next to the Synchronize button? That means that files are being downloaded in the background.",[11,234,235,236,239],{},"In order to let you use the flashcards as soon as possible, Anki will initially download all of the ",[86,237,238],{},"text"," content of your flashcards. From here, Anki will proceed downloading any audio or video files that might be attached to your Anki cards.",[11,241,242,243,247],{},"You can study your new deck of Anki cards as soon as the text data finishes downloading, but ",[244,245,246],"u",{},"images\u002Faudio will not be available until they finish downloading",". As such, if you're expecting media but don't see anything, give it half an hour or so.",[11,249,250],{},"Once it's done, you'll be ready to get started.",[11,252,253],{},"Which leads me to...",[43,255,257],{"id":256},"soapbox-the-best-korean-flashcard-deck-should-meet-6-conditions","[Soapbox] The \"best\" Korean flashcard deck should meet 6 conditions",[11,259,260],{},"Bear with me for a moment. I'm going to be blunt.",[56,262,263],{},[11,264,265,266,269,271,272],{},"There are hundreds of Korean decks available to download for free on AnkiWeb. I looked through every single one of them and only shortlisted ~15. In other words... ",[267,268],"br",{},[267,270],{}," ",[82,273,274],{},"Most of the decks sucked.",[11,276,277],{},"I normally try to be more positive in my blog posts, but you're potentially going to invest hundreds of hours into these decks over the course of a few years, so I think being strict is warranted. I don't want you to waste your time—even if you go with a product that isn't Migaku.",[11,279,280],{},"You see, ideally, a \"good\" deck should meet six important criteria:",[76,282,283,289,295,301,307,317],{},[79,284,285,288],{},[82,286,287],{},"Frequency"," — There's no reason to learn a word like \"inheritance\" if you don't know how words like \"in\" yet; your deck should teach you common words that you're likely to run into",[79,290,291,294],{},[82,292,293],{},"Appropriate example sentences"," — These vocab words should not appear in isolation, but rather appear in the context of a sentence alongside other level-appropriate vocabulary words",[79,296,297,300],{},[82,298,299],{},"Atomic"," — There shouldn't be a ton of new words in these sentences; ideally, each new flashcard should introduce you to only one new piece of information",[79,302,303,306],{},[82,304,305],{},"Audio"," — It'll take a lot of practice listening to Korean to develop your ears, so if you're going to make a daily commitment of Anki, you get free value by focusing on decks that include audio recordings",[79,308,309,312,313,316],{},[82,310,311],{},"Korean on the front"," — I'm going to pull a \"trust me bro\" for now (see ",[15,314,315],{"href":102},"this long post about how memory works"," if you don't trust me), but your life will be easier and you'll see much faster progress if your cards have Korean on the front and English\u002Fyour native language on the back",[79,318,319,322],{},[82,320,321],{},"Notes"," — This one is optional, but it'd be nice if there were little notes to help break down the example sentences 🙂",[11,324,325],{},"With this context now established, remember how I said I looked through like four hundred decks?",[11,327,328],{},[82,329,330],{},"I found just one single deck that met all of the above criteria.",[11,332,333],{},"... but it didn't have notes, had audio on the front instead of Korean text, and had some minor word choice mistakes that were evident within the first few flashcards. It only gets a diagonal thumbs up, not a boldly proud and erect one.",[11,335,336],{},"Anyway.",[11,338,339,340,343],{},"I've got one more detour to make, then I'm going to share the best decks I found. I'm happy to say that I ",[86,341,342],{},"did"," find some cool ones. Nevertheless—if you happen to stumble into a deck that meets all the above criteria, use that deck. That's a beauty of a deck.",[11,345,346],{},"From my soapbox I shall now descend.",[62,348,350],{"id":349},"three-things-you-should-know-to-use-anki-effectively","Three things you should know to use Anki effectively",[11,352,353],{},"Just a few bits of hygiene before we get into the bulk of the post.",[11,355,356],{},"Listen: Anki is awesome. If you've never used it before, your life is going to change.",[11,358,359,362],{},[86,360,361],{},"But",", please know that:",[56,364,365],{},[11,366,367],{},"Anki is only as useful as the information you're using it to learn. If your cards suck, you're wasting your time.",[11,369,370],{},"More specifically, there are three main ways that beginners go wrong with Anki:",[76,372,373,388,394],{},[79,374,375,378,379,383,384,387],{},[82,376,377],{},"Not everything needs to be made into a flashcard."," See ",[15,380,382],{"href":381},"\u002Fblog\u002Fjapanese\u002Fhow-to-learn-japanese-vocabulary","this blog post"," for the math and stuff, but the idea is that not all words are equally useful. Our goal with Anki is to make immersion (the act of consuming content easier in another language) easier by pre-learning words so that we have to stop and look things up less often. ",[86,385,386],{},"(And to remember stuff, of course.)"," If the words you're learning aren't helping you consume content you enjoy, there are probably better ways to spend your time.",[79,389,390,393],{},[82,391,392],{},"Words should not be memorized in isolation."," Instead, they should be learned via useful sentences. The context provided by these sentence will help you remember the word, and learning the sentence it appears in will also give you some useful information about how the word is used.",[79,395,396,399],{},[82,397,398],{},"Don't make Anki into more than just a means to an end."," You're not learning Korean vocabulary words for the sake of learning Korean vocabulary words. You're learning Korean vocabulary words because you want to watch K-dramas, listen to K-pop, connect with oppa, go to Korea—or... something! Something very awesome, something very important to you. Do Anki, but don't lose sight of this thing that's giving you a reason to do Anki.",[11,401,402],{},"And now, without further ado, let's begin the resource dump:",[40,404],{},[43,406,408],{"id":407},"_1-a-deck-for-learning-hangul-so-you-can-actually-read-korean","1. A deck for learning Hangul, so you can actually read Korean",[11,410,411,412,414],{},"Naturally, if you're just beginning to learn Korean, your first step is learning to read hangul.",[267,413],{},"\nNot knowing hangul severely limits your options to learn Korean (as even beginner resources feature sentences written in hangul) and to enjoy Korean (as subtitles, webtoons, books, and any content intended for Koreans is obviously written in hangul).",[11,416,417],{},"I'm pretty happy to say that there's a solid Anki deck to help you make this first step.",[419,420,421,424],"ul",{},[79,422,423],{},"The front of the card shows you a hangul letter",[79,425,426],{},"The back of the card includes several recordings of native Koreans saying words that include this hangul",[11,428,429,430,432],{},"This lets you learn hangul by attaching sounds to symbols, an approach I think is simple ",[86,431,207],{}," effective.",[178,434],{"src":435,"width":436,"height":437,"alt":438},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-hangul1.jpeg",1386,1168,"A screenshot of a deck from Anki, showing how it teaches Hangul",[11,440,441,442,446],{},"Where this deck falls short is that Korean spelling rules are pretty complicated. We go into this in more detail in ",[15,443,445],{"href":444},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Flearn-korean-hangul","our introduction to hangul",", but many Korean letters can make two or three different sounds: one if they appear at the beginning of the word, another if they appear in the middle or end of a word.",[11,448,449,450,455],{},"The above deck doesn't make these differences clear... but, thankfully, I found one that does, shown below. It includes ",[15,451,454],{"href":452,"rel":453},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet",[30],"phonetic transcriptions"," of how a hangul sounds when it appears in different parts of a word, and it also includes some solid notes that will help you learn to make difficult sounds or to differentiate similar ones.",[178,457],{"src":458,"width":459,"height":460,"alt":438},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-hangul2.jpeg",1654,1150,[11,462,463],{},"I recommend:",[76,465,466,469],{},[79,467,468],{},"Quickly go through the first deck, just to get an initial idea of how hangul sound, so you can begin exploring a wider variety of Korean resources",[79,470,471],{},"Afterwords, work through this second deck more slowly, over a longer period of time, to really fine-tune your Korean pronunciation",[56,473,474,477],{},[11,475,476],{},"Download them here:",[419,478,479,486],{},[79,480,481],{},[15,482,485],{"href":483,"rel":484},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1239415378",[30],"Hangul with sound",[79,487,488],{},[15,489,492],{"href":490,"rel":491},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F2092196508",[30],"Korean Hangul & Pronunciation Rules by Soi",[62,494,496],{"id":495},"or-you-can-just-do-migakus-korean-fundamentals-course","... or, you can just do Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course",[11,498,499],{},"Migaku also has a flashcard-based hangul course, and it consolidates the best elements of the above two decks.",[11,501,502],{},"You'll learn sounds by first reading a description of how they work, as in the second deck, then take the same \"see the symbol → hear the sound approach\" as in the first deck. We also include a video of a native speaker saying each sound so you can observe how their lips move.",[178,504],{"src":505,"width":506,"height":507,"alt":508},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals-consonant.jpeg",1660,1100,"...",[11,510,511],{},"Then, once you've learned the hangul, we go on to talk about all of the various sound change rules in Korean. You'll learn them in the same way: read an explanation to see how a sound change works, then commit it to memory by learning words which feature the sound change in question.",[178,513],{"src":514,"width":515,"height":516,"alt":508},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-academy-sound-changes.jpeg",1656,1154,[11,518,519],{},"Migaku is free for 10 days, and that's enough time to learn hangul and dip your toes into Korean's sound changes if you learn at a pace of 15 cards per day.",[521,522],"prose-button",{"href":17,"text":523},"Learn Hangul with Migaku",[43,525,527],{"id":526},"_2-a-deck-with-audio-for-korean-pronunciation-practice-via-minimal-pairs","2. A deck with audio for Korean pronunciation practice via minimal pairs",[11,529,530],{},"While hangul are logical and easy to learn in theory, they're somewhat difficult to use in practice. Many hangul have multiple sounds associated with them, and Korean has several different sounds that English speakers will struggle to differentiate.",[11,532,533,534,537],{},"For example, Korean has ",[86,535,536],{},"five"," \"P\" sounds:",[419,539,540,555,565,575,585],{},[79,541,542,543,548,549,554],{},"바 ",[544,545],"custom-audio",{"src":546,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바1.mp3","3"," → ",[550,551,553],"span",{"style":552},"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;","[a̠]"," → Korean P is similar to ours when it begins a word",[79,556,557,558,548,561,564],{},"아바 ",[544,559],{"src":560,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아바1.mp3",[550,562,563],{"style":552},"[a̠ba̠]"," → Korean P sounds like our B when it appears in the middle of a word",[79,566,567,568,548,571,574],{},"압 ",[544,569],{"src":570,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-압1.mp3",[550,572,573],{"style":552},"[a̠p̚]"," → Korean P is unreleased when it comes at the end of the word (just listen—notice how it kind of gets swallowed \u002F there's no clear \"puh\")",[79,576,577,578,548,581,584],{},"파 ",[544,579],{"src":580,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-파1.mp3",[550,582,583],{"style":552},"[pʰa̠]"," → The \"strong\" P, which is like the normal P but involves much more air being expelled",[79,586,587,588,548,591,594,595,598],{},"빠 ",[544,589],{"src":590,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠1.mp3",[550,592,593],{"style":552},"[p͈a̠]"," → The \"double\" P, which lets ",[86,596,597],{},"no"," air come out of your mouth, is a bit shorter\u002Ffaster\u002Fmore forceful, and causes the pitch of the vowel to rise a bit",[11,600,601],{},"Learning to distinguish these sounds early on will enable you to recognize them when they come up in kpop, Korean dramas, or whatever you listen to in Korean... and, over time, that context will help you build the aural foundation you need to pronounce these sounds well later on, when you eventually start speaking Korean.",[11,603,604],{},"And that's where this deck comes into play!",[11,606,607,608,613],{},"It consists of over 500 ",[15,609,612],{"href":610,"rel":611},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FMinimal_pair",[30],"minimal pairs",". You can see what this means in the below picture: an audio recording plays, then you're asked if you heard 벌벌 (normal P) or 펄펄 (strong P). You flip the card over and see the answer.",[178,615],{"src":616,"width":436,"height":617,"alt":508},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-minimal-pairs.jpeg",1166,[11,619,620],{},"This deck includes a wide variety of listening tests for both consonants and vowels. You can just plug away at it slowly over time, doing two or three cards per day, gradually polishing your ears and learning to reliably distinguish every single sound in Korean.",[11,622,623],{},"The only thing I would personally add to make this deck even better is (a) to include recordings from multiple speakers and (b) to show recordings for both options on the back side, so you can compare them in context.",[11,625,626],{},"All in all, this is an excellent deck that I'm excited to share.",[56,628,629,632],{},[11,630,631],{},"Download it here:",[419,633,634],{},[79,635,636],{},[15,637,640],{"href":638,"rel":639},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1244430213",[30],"The Sounds of Korean: A Pronunciation Guide",[43,642,644],{"id":643},"_3-a-deck-for-learning-common-korean-vocabulary-words","3. A deck for learning common Korean vocabulary words",[11,646,647],{},"I'm going to be honest: this section gave me a small identity crisis.",[11,649,650,651,654],{},"You see, I ",[86,652,653],{},"don't"," recommend using this deck. It goes against so many of the Golden Rules of Good Flashcards™ that I introduced above.",[11,656,657,658,661,662,667,668,672],{},"... at the same time, it's important to know your audience. I can't deny that, looking at ",[15,659,660],{"href":52},"Korean Discord communities",", ",[15,663,666],{"href":664,"rel":665},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002Fkoreanlanguage\u002F",[30],"Reddit's r\u002FKoreanLanguage",", and ",[15,669,671],{"href":28,"rel":670},[30],"Anki's most popular shared Korean decks",", it's apparent that Korean learners seem to be attracted to the idea of drilling lists of words.",[11,674,675],{},"So, if that's you, please use this deck.",[76,677,678,681,684],{},[79,679,680],{},"All 500 of the words it teaches are very common",[79,682,683],{},"Many of its words are concrete nouns, so they don't have a ton of nuance—a picture is basically all you need to see what they mean",[79,685,686],{},"Each word features audio from what's either a native speaker or a quite nice text-to-speech program",[11,688,689],{},"As such, while I don't think this deck is the best use of your time, it won't hurt you, either.",[178,691],{"src":692,"width":693,"height":694,"alt":695},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-vocabulary.jpeg",1354,1152,"A deck of common Korean vocabulary words, many with included pictures",[11,697,698,699,702,703,706],{},"I ",[86,700,701],{},"do"," feel comfortable recommending this deck to one specific type of learner: someone who has just finished learning hangul, is feeling a bit overwhelmed, and just wants a ",[86,704,705],{},"bit"," more practice with the Korean alphabet before beginning to learn vocabulary via decks of sentences.",[11,708,709],{},"If that's you, go ahead and use this deck. I don't think you should finish it, but you can't go wrong with using it to learn 50–100 common words before jumping into a deck of sentences.",[56,711,712,714],{},[11,713,631],{},[419,715,716],{},[79,717,718],{},[15,719,722],{"href":720,"rel":721},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1551455917",[30],"TTMIK's First 500 Korean Words by Retro",[43,724,726],{"id":725},"_4-two-solid-decks-of-korean-sentences","4. Two solid decks of Korean sentences",[11,728,729],{},"As with the hangul decks, while I couldn't quite find one deck that had everything I wanted, I did find two solid decks of Korean sentences that I feel comfortable recommending for different reasons.",[11,731,732],{},"The first deck is the most popular deck on the page of public Korean Anki decks for a reason. It's just solid all around. You start with sentences that consist of very simple words, and these sentences gradually get longer and more complex as you go. By the time you finish the ~2,500 cards, you'll have covered all the grammar you need to pass the TOPIK 4 exam.",[178,734],{"src":735,"width":736,"height":737,"alt":738},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-sentences1.jpeg",1368,1164,"A screenshot of a Korean anki deck that contains many common sentences",[11,740,741],{},[86,742,743],{},"(This is technically a grammar deck, but it has only very brief grammar notes that are few and far between, so I think it's better suited as a typical sentences deck.)",[11,745,746],{},"The next deck is so close to being perfect that it hurts a bit. The deck is organized by vocabulary frequency—you learn the most common words first—and it's organized such that each card introduces only one new piece of information (the word it teaches). You'll start with individual words, move on to short phrases, and eventually start working through full sentences.",[11,748,749,750,753],{},"It also forces you to think a bit—to see a translation, you have to click a button. (Research shows that simply ",[86,751,752],{},"trying"," to remember information leads to better retention, whether you successfully remember or not.)",[11,755,756],{},"It's got audio and the full series consists of 7,000 words, so you could realistically coast through this deck from zero to early-advanced. It's awesome.",[178,758],{"src":759,"width":760,"height":737,"alt":761},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-sentences2.jpeg",1380,"A second Anki deck that teaches you sentences by going through very common words",[11,763,764],{},"Unfortunately, it doesn't get my full-fledged recommendation for three reasons:",[419,766,767,773,780],{},[79,768,769,770],{},"It contains nothing but audio on the front of the flashcard ",[86,771,772],{},"(this isn't a huge deal, as you could edit it if you wanted)",[79,774,775,776,779],{},"It makes some questionable choices. The 9th flashcard teaches the word \"to eat\" via the sentence \"what do you want to eat\"... but it uses the ",[86,777,778],{},"honorific"," version of \"to eat\", not the normal word that you'll use in most scenarios",[79,781,782],{},"The TTS audio must come from an older model \u002F it's not nearly as clean as the TTS we have today",[11,784,785],{},"Anyway:",[419,787,788,791],{},[79,789,790],{},"If you're a total beginner → go ahead and use the first deck.",[79,792,793],{},"If you've got a bit of Korean under your belt already → try the second deck! It's the one I'd use, personally. You'll just need to exercise a bit of skepticism, rather than taking it at face value.",[56,795,796,798],{},[11,797,476],{},[419,799,800,807],{},[79,801,802],{},[15,803,806],{"href":804,"rel":805},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F3614346923",[30],"Korean grammar sentences by Evita",[79,808,809],{},[15,810,813],{"href":811,"rel":812},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fby-author\u002F374470252",[30],"🦑 Korean Sentences (Beginner: 1 to 1000)",[43,815,817],{"id":816},"_5-a-crash-course-in-korean-grammar-in-a-deck-of-flashcards","5. A crash-course in Korean grammar in a deck of flashcards",[11,819,820],{},"I should preface this by saying that grammar isn't the sort of thing you learn once and are done with. Grammar points are acquired in several stages:",[76,822,823,826,829,832],{},[79,824,825],{},"First you need to become aware that a grammar point exists",[79,827,828],{},"Next, you need to analyze a sentence in which it's used to see how it works",[79,830,831],{},"Next, you need to consume a lot of Korean content, see the grammar point used in a variety of different scenarios, and gradually build an intuitive feel for when it's used and what nuance it carries",[79,833,834],{},"Waaaay down the road, once you've got a reasonable grasp on how a grammar point works, it's time to crack open a grammar resource to check for any nuances you might have missed",[11,836,837],{},"Basically, grammar is kind of like the leaves of a tree. It doesn't make much sense to worry about the leaves until your trunk is sturdy and it's got some solid branches growing.",[11,839,840],{},"That's where this deck comes into play.",[178,842],{"src":843,"width":844,"height":845,"alt":846},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-grammar.jpeg",1374,1156,"A Korean anki deck that teaches you key points about grammar through carefully-curated sentences",[11,848,849,852],{},[86,850,851],{},"This"," deck is awesome for somebody that's around stage two or three, as outlined above.",[76,854,855,858,861],{},[79,856,857],{},"Each flashcard consists of a practical sentence accompanied by an audio recording",[79,859,860],{},"Each sentence happens to epitomize the usage of a particular grammar point",[79,862,863],{},"The backside of the flashcard includes some concise notes about how the structure in question works",[11,865,866],{},"As a result, this deck is an excellent way to consolidate your knowledge of and put a name to grammatical structures you encounter while consuming Korean content.",[11,868,869,870,875,876,880],{},"Whereas other grammar decks on the shared page—such as ",[15,871,874],{"href":872,"rel":873},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F967867359",[30],"this one"," or ",[15,877,874],{"href":878,"rel":879},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F755959257",[30],"—pack so much information into each card that they're frankly unusable, this one achieves a wonderful balance. Each flashcard has a specific thing it wants you to learn, and that takeaway is always clear and practical.",[882,883,885,894,899,902,910,913,916],"accordion",{"heading":884},"... on the off chance you know Japanese already",[11,886,887,888,893],{},"There's actually an awesome bilingual deck called ",[15,889,892],{"href":890,"rel":891},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1917244935",[30],"Tammy Korean's Korean Grammar by Soi",":",[178,895],{"src":896,"width":897,"height":845,"alt":898},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-grammar2.jpeg",1658,"An Anki deck that teaches Korean grammar points in English and Japanese",[11,900,901],{},"It works in an A:B format",[419,903,904,907],{},[79,905,906],{},"You first see a grammar point and then get a Japanese and English explanation of how it works",[79,908,909],{},"You proceed to learn a variety of sentences that utilize that grammar point",[11,911,912],{},"This is awesome because a lot of Korean grammar points have a direct pair with a Japanese grammar point. Each of the Japanese explanations in this deck basically say \"Korean X is Japanese Y\", then proceeds to point out any differences that occur and explain how the grammar point is used.",[11,914,915],{},"With that in mind:",[419,917,918,921],{},[79,919,920],{},"If you already know Japanese, use this deck! It's the one I personally used for grammar, and I loved it.",[79,922,923],{},"Soi's English explanations are much more generic than their Japanese counterparts, so I think you'll get more out of the \"Korean Cheat Sheet Grammar\" deck that I recommended above.",[56,925,926,928],{},[11,927,631],{},[419,929,930],{},[79,931,932],{},[15,933,936],{"href":934,"rel":935},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1260958209",[30],"Korean Cheat Sheet Grammar",[62,938,940],{"id":939},"alternatively-migakus-korean-academy-course-is-a-combined-vocab-sentence-grammar-deck","... Alternatively, Migaku's Korean Academy course is a combined vocab-sentence-grammar deck",[11,942,943],{},"Plugging yourself is always awkward, but from one learner to another, Migaku's Korean Academy is by far the best way to start learning Korean.",[76,945,946,949,952],{},[79,947,948],{},"You start out by reading a lesson about a grammar point",[79,950,951],{},"You internalize that grammar point by learning sentences that contain it",[79,953,954],{},"The course is organized such that each flashcard contains only one new piece of information, whether that's a word or grammar point",[178,956],{"src":957,"width":515,"height":694,"alt":958},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-academy-copula.jpeg","A screenshot of Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach grammar",[11,960,961,962,965],{},"The full course teaches you about 300 grammar points and the 1,300 words that appear most commonly in Netflix subtitles. These aren't just any words, either: we targeted ",[86,963,964],{},"specifically"," the words you need to recognize 80% of the words that appear in Netflix's subtitles.",[56,967,968],{},[11,969,970],{},"It'll take you just over four months to finish this course (10 words\u002Fday), and by the time you finish, you'll be able to make sense of 80% of the sentences you see while watching k-dramas.",[11,972,973],{},"Again, self-plugging and whatnot, but it's an awesome deck. I really think it's the best option available, by far, for beginner and intermediate Korean learners. It takes the best points of the sentences and grammar decks shared above and combines them into one beautiful package.",[521,975],{"href":17,"text":976},"Learn Korean with Migaku",[43,978,980],{"id":979},"_6-a-deck-to-learn-hanja-the-chinese-characters-used-in-korean","6. A deck to learn hanja, the Chinese characters used in Korean",[11,982,983,984,987],{},"So, long story—go check out ",[15,985,986],{"href":444},"our post on the history of the Korean alphabet","—but Korean used to use Chinese characters. They no longer do, but a massive amount of Korean words were borrowed directly from Chinese, and the \"logic\" of these Chinese characters is still there, just under the surface.",[11,989,990],{},"For example, you'll notice the syllable 학 in many words related to school or knowledge. This isn't a coincidence—it comes from the Chinese character 學, which means \"to study\" or \"to learn\". As a result, if you know Hanja:",[419,992,993,996,999],{},[79,994,995],{},"School is \"learn\" + \"school\"",[79,997,998],{},"Student is \"learn\" + \"person\u002Flife\"",[79,1000,1001],{},"Psychology is \"heart\" + \"logic\" + \"study\"",[11,1003,1004],{},"Kind handy, kinda cool, huh?",[1006,1007,1008,1026],"table",{},[1009,1010,1011],"thead",{},[1012,1013,1014,1018,1021,1024],"tr",{},[1015,1016,1017],"th",{},"English",[1015,1019,1020],{},"Korean (Hangul)",[1015,1022,1023],{},"Hanja",[1015,1025,321],{},[1027,1028,1029,1047,1064],"tbody",{},[1012,1030,1031,1035,1041,1044],{},[1032,1033,1034],"td",{},"School",[1032,1036,1037,1038],{},"학교 ",[544,1039],{"src":1040,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학교1.mp3",[1032,1042,1043],{},"學校",[1032,1045,1046],{},"學 (learn) + 校 (school)",[1012,1048,1049,1052,1058,1061],{},[1032,1050,1051],{},"Student",[1032,1053,1054,1055],{},"학생 ",[544,1056],{"src":1057,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학생1.mp3",[1032,1059,1060],{},"學生",[1032,1062,1063],{},"學 (learn) + 生 (person\u002Fbirth)",[1012,1065,1066,1069,1075,1078],{},[1032,1067,1068],{},"Psychology",[1032,1070,1071,1072],{},"심리학 ",[544,1073],{"src":1074,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-심리학1.mp3",[1032,1076,1077],{},"心理學",[1032,1079,1080],{},"心 (heart\u002Fmind) + 理 (principle) + 學 (learn)",[11,1082,1083],{},"Now, you definitely don't need to learn hanja to learn Korean. Even Korean natives themselves won't usually know more than the most basic hanja—the ones used in their name, and then several characters like \"big\" or \"small\" that sometimes appear on signs\u002Fmenus.",[11,1085,1086],{},"... but if you think hanja are cool, or you want to study Japanese or Mandarin someday, or maybe you're an advanced learner who is looking for a new challenge—there's an awesome deck for that.",[178,1088],{"src":1089,"width":760,"height":1090,"alt":1091},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-hanja.jpeg",1148,"A deck of flashcards designed to help Korean speakers learn Chinese characters",[11,1093,1094],{},"The deck is entirely in Korean, so it's not for beginners. The characters also aren't organized in a particularly useful way. Nevertheless, each one comes with etymological notes, a mnemonic to help you remember the character, and an example vocabulary word that the character appears in.",[56,1096,1097,1099],{},[11,1098,631],{},[419,1100,1101],{},[79,1102,1103],{},[15,1104,1107],{"href":1105,"rel":1106},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F462141019",[30],"Retro's Hanja(한자) deck in Korean",[43,1109,1111],{"id":1110},"_7-the-best-deck-for-intermediate-korean-learners","7. The best deck for intermediate Korean learners",[11,1113,1114],{},"We need to drop some cold hard statistics here.",[11,1116,1117],{},"If you're nearing the end of the beginner level, it's essential to understand that words are not used equally often:",[419,1119,1120,1123,1126,1129,1136],{},[79,1121,1122],{},"There's a ~50% chance that a Korean word selected at random will be one of ~100 words",[79,1124,1125],{},"There's an ~80% chance that it'll be one of ~1,500 words",[79,1127,1128],{},"There's a ~90% chance that it'll be one of about 5,000 words.",[79,1130,1131,1132,1135],{},"And a typical educated native speaker knows ",[86,1133,1134],{},"tens"," of thousands of words.",[79,1137,1138,1139,1144],{},"(This is called ",[15,1140,1143],{"href":1141,"rel":1142},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FPower_law",[30],"the power law",", and it applies to every language)",[11,1146,1147,1148,1153,1154,1157],{},"The reason for this apparently exponential curve is that ",[15,1149,1152],{"href":1150,"rel":1151},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FDomain_knowledge",[30],"knowledge is domain specific","—a word like ",[86,1155,1156],{},"carburetor"," will appear quite commonly in discussions about cars, but will virtually never appear in any other context. In other words, the word is important if you're interested in cars... and basically useless if you aren't.",[11,1159,1160,1161,1164],{},"Basically: You need to be learning new words, but you shouldn't just be learning ",[86,1162,1163],{},"any"," new vocabulary words you stumble into.",[56,1166,1167,1172,1174],{},[1168,1169,1171],"centered-text",{"bold":1170,"underline":1170},"","\nKey point\n",[267,1173],{},[1168,1175,1176],{},"\n You can make incredibly fast progress if you focus on learning the specific words that you need to know to do the things you are interested in doing in Korean.\n",[11,1178,1179,1180,1183],{},"But how do you know whether a word will or won't be useful, given ",[86,1181,1182],{},"your"," personal goals for learning Korean?",[11,1185,1186],{},"The answer is simple: Make your own deck of flashcards by extracting sentences from media you personally enjoy.",[11,1188,1189,1190,1195,1196,1201],{},"For example, I'm learning Korean because I love Korean webtoons. So, here you can see me reading ",[15,1191,1194],{"href":1192,"rel":1193},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.webtoons.com\u002Fen\u002Fthriller\u002Fsweethome\u002Flist?title_no=1285",[30],"Sweet Home",", an awesome comic that recently became a ",[15,1197,1200],{"href":1198,"rel":1199},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=3WJweFedauI",[30],"hit Netflix series",".",[178,1203],{"src":1204,"width":181,"height":1205,"alt":1206},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMigaku-korean-webtoon.jpeg",1789,"A screenshot of a Korean learner using the Migaku Chrome extension to read a Korean webtoon",[11,1208,1209],{},"I ran into a word I didn't know—그나저나, \"anyhow\"—so I decided to make a flashcard out of it.",[419,1211,1212,1215,1218],{},[79,1213,1214],{},"I clicked the orange \"create a card\" button in the top-right corner of the popup dictionary",[79,1216,1217],{},"I added a screenshot from the comic to the card creator (done on desktop, but shown below on mobile)",[79,1219,1220],{},"I created a flashcard, extracting a learning opportunity from a comic I enjoyed",[11,1222,1223,1224,1201],{},"The whole process took about two seconds, and you can see the results below. ",[86,1225,1226],{},"(I speak Japanese, so my notes are in Japanese)",[178,1228],{"src":1229,"width":1230,"height":516,"alt":1231},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-mining.jpeg",1652,"A screenshot demonstrating how to make flashcards via Migaku",[11,1233,1234],{},"It takes a long time to learn Korean... but since the vast majority of the journey basically boils down to consuming Korean media that you enjoy and capitalizing on learning opportunities as you encounter them, it's also a largely enjoyable process.",[11,1236,1237,1238,1241,1242,1201],{},"You ",[86,1239,1240],{},"can"," do all this on Anki, but it requires you to install like five different open-source tools from GitHub and juggle them. That's kind of complicated and beyond the scope of this video... but, if it's something you're interested in, ",[15,1243,1246],{"href":1244,"rel":1245},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=KxLRp1yd8Ro",[30],"here's a ~30-minute tutorial on how to sentence mine with Anki",[11,1248,1249],{},"If you'd prefer to skip the hassle and make flashcards in two seconds →",[521,1251],{"href":17,"text":1252},"Try Migaku for free",[43,1254,1256],{"id":1255},"_8-two-random-fun-decks","8. Two random fun decks",[11,1258,1259],{},"This has been a pretty long, serious, and picky blog post... so I wanted to wrap up with a couple of fun decks. After all, everybody needs a random side project sometimes.",[11,1261,1262],{},"The first deck is for learning Korean geography. It's beautiful, frankly. The front of each flashcard is a highlighted portion of a Korean map, then the back is the name of that region plus some basic notes about it.",[178,1264],{"src":1265,"width":1266,"height":437,"alt":1267},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-georgraphy.jpeg",1378,"A screenshot of an Anki deck made for learning Korean geography",[11,1269,1270],{},"The next deck is for foodies. The front of each card is the name of a Korean food, and then the back of each card has a picture of that food plus an English translation.",[178,1272],{"src":1273,"width":760,"height":228,"alt":1274},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-food.jpeg","A screenshot of an Anki deck designed to help you learn common Korean foods",[11,1276,1277],{},"Neither deck is super practical and shouldn't be what you start with as a beginner... but they're only about a hundred cards each, so they're things you could knock out during a slow month.",[56,1279,1280,1282],{},[11,1281,476],{},[419,1283,1284,1291],{},[79,1285,1286],{},[15,1287,1290],{"href":1288,"rel":1289},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F345739205",[30],"Ultimate Korean Geography 대한민국의 지리",[79,1292,1293],{},[15,1294,1297],{"href":1295,"rel":1296},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1563735648",[30],"Korean Food with Pictures",[43,1299,1301],{"id":1300},"_9-two-honorable-mentions","9. Two honorable mentions",[11,1303,1304],{},"The final-final two decks I have are things that I wanted to share, but ultimately decided against.",[11,1306,1307,1308,1313],{},"The first deck is a condensed version of ",[15,1309,1312],{"href":1310,"rel":1311},"https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dict.naver.com\u002Fconversation#\u002Fkorean-en\u002Flist",[30],"Naver Today's Korean",", a platform which uploads a brief Korean dialogue every day alongside grammar notes and an English translation. The desk is really cool, but it's not really appropriate for learners for two reasons:",[76,1315,1316,1319],{},[79,1317,1318],{},"The sentences are in no particular order",[79,1320,1321],{},"There are multiple grammar points per card",[11,1323,1324],{},"Both of these factors mean that each card will likely contain multiple pieces of new information for earlier learners, which is a guarantee that the cards will be frustrating and ineffective. Nevertheless, if you're pretty well into the intermediate stages of Korean, this deck could be a great way for you to consolidate your knowledge of common grammar points.",[178,1326],{"src":1327,"width":844,"height":737,"alt":1328},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-naver-today.jpeg","A screenshot of a deck of flashcards condensed from Naver Korean Today",[11,1330,1331,1332,1337],{},"The second deck is something that somebody put a lot of love into—",[15,1333,1336],{"href":1334,"rel":1335},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F18s8wvo\u002Fresource_i_made_my_dream_anki_deck_3000_word_deck\u002F",[30],"a linguist who created their \"dream resource\"",". Each card features an example sentence, hanja if available, and a recording from native Korean speakers.",[178,1339],{"src":1340,"width":1266,"height":617,"alt":1341},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-core2k.jpeg","A screenshot of a deck of 2,000 common Korean words with a lot of reference info",[11,1343,1344],{},"Unfortunately, I can't recommend it to most learners for three reasons:",[76,1346,1347,1350,1353],{},[79,1348,1349],{},"The vocabulary words aren't organized by frequency (the first word is \"disappointment\"), so beginners can't hit the ground running with it",[79,1351,1352],{},"The example sentences aren't always appropriate given the difficulty of the vocabulary word—they'll likely introduce several unknown words",[79,1354,1355],{},"Half the deck consists of seeing English words and translating them into Korean, which we don't recommend at Migaku (as discussed in the \"soapbox\" section above)",[11,1357,1358],{},"All the same, it's a beautiful deck, and a good demonstration of the cool things you can do with Anki if you put in the time to learn how the program works.",[56,1360,1361,1363],{},[11,1362,476],{},[419,1364,1365,1372],{},[79,1366,1367],{},[15,1368,1371],{"href":1369,"rel":1370},"https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F186997375",[30],"Naver's Today Korean",[79,1373,1374],{},[15,1375,1378],{"href":1376,"rel":1377},"https:\u002F\u002Fdrive.google.com\u002Fdrive\u002Ffolders\u002F1zxwvv5F7Er0kLpxZPiW4Mmz6FnM84JJs",[30],"2000 essential words beginner & intermediate",[40,1380],{},[43,1382,1384],{"id":1383},"the-1-thing-to-remember-if-you-want-to-learn-korean","The #1 thing to remember if you want to learn Korean",[11,1386,1387],{},"You should now be all set to embark upon your Korean language learning journey 💪",[11,1389,1390],{},"Wrapping up, I'd like to bestow upon you the Golden Rule of Flashcards:",[56,1392,1393,1407],{},[1168,1394,1395,1396,1398,1399,1402,1403,1406],{},"\n \n",[267,1397],{},"\n✨✨✨Thy flashcards shalt \n",[86,1400,1401],{},"complement","\n your interactions with Korean, not \n",[86,1404,1405],{},"replace","\n them.✨✨✨\n",[267,1408],{},[11,1410,1411],{},"It's going to take a while to learn Korean, and flashcards will be an important tool as you embark on that journey. They enable you to learn faster and they also ensure that you'll remember what you learn.",[11,1413,1414],{},"The good news is that languages are things that we learn by doing: a lot of your Korean progress will come as a byproduct of doing things you enjoy in Korean.",[11,1416,1417,1418,1420,1421,1424],{},"In other words, you ",[86,1419,653],{}," need to get fluent before you can start doing cool things in Korean. On the contrary, you become fluent in Korean ",[86,1422,1423],{},"by"," doing cool things in Korean.",[11,1426,1427],{},"Anyway, I'll get out of your hair now.",[11,1429,1430],{},"Go grind your flashcards and do something cool in Korean!",{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":1433},2,[1434,1440,1443,1446,1447,1448,1449,1452,1453,1454,1455,1456],{"id":45,"depth":1432,"text":46,"children":1435},[1436,1438,1439],{"id":64,"depth":1437,"text":65},3,{"id":107,"depth":1437,"text":108},{"id":158,"depth":1437,"text":159},{"id":256,"depth":1432,"text":257,"children":1441},[1442],{"id":349,"depth":1437,"text":350},{"id":407,"depth":1432,"text":408,"children":1444},[1445],{"id":495,"depth":1437,"text":496},{"id":526,"depth":1432,"text":527},{"id":643,"depth":1432,"text":644},{"id":725,"depth":1432,"text":726},{"id":816,"depth":1432,"text":817,"children":1450},[1451],{"id":939,"depth":1437,"text":940},{"id":979,"depth":1432,"text":980},{"id":1110,"depth":1432,"text":1111},{"id":1255,"depth":1432,"text":1256},{"id":1300,"depth":1432,"text":1301},{"id":1383,"depth":1432,"text":1384},"Anki is a digital flashcard app. In this post we go over Anki decks that will help you learn Korean: Korean vocabulary, sentences, pronunciation, and more.","md",{"timestampUnix":1460,"slug":1461,"h1":1462,"image":1463,"tags":1467},1746593794000,"best-korean-anki-decks","Learn Korean With These Hand-selected Korean Flashcard Decks",{"src":1464,"width":181,"height":1465,"alt":1466},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-thumbnail.jpeg",1794,"A photo of the Anki icon and the flag of Korea, as this is a blog post about Korean Anki decks!",[1468],"resources",true,"\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-anki","---\ntitle: '7 Anki Decks that Will Actually Help You learn Korean | Best Korean Anki Decks'\ndescription: 'Anki is a digital flashcard app. In this post we go over Anki decks that will help you learn Korean: Korean vocabulary, sentences, pronunciation, and more.'\ntimestampUnix: 1746593794000\nslug: 'best-korean-anki-decks'\nh1: 'Learn Korean With These Hand-selected Korean Flashcard Decks'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-thumbnail.jpeg'\n  width: 2880\n  height: 1794\n  alt: 'A photo of the Anki icon and the flag of Korea, as this is a blog post about Korean Anki decks!'\ntags:\n  - resources\n---\n\nSo you learned Hangul, it went pretty smoothly, you got to wondering why people think it's hard to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean), and then you did a bit of poking around on Reddit or somewhere and made a disturbing discovery: several thousand vocabulary words stand between you and a subtitle-less K-drama binge.\n\n(Or maybe you're procrastinating on learning Korean by looking at resources. I get that. I do that, too. Don't tell my boss 🫡)\n\nAnyway—to make this post, I clicked through [nearly 400 free Korean Anki decks](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fdecks?search=korean), downloaded the ones that looked promising, and then took notes on the best ones so I could introduce them to you.\n\nLet's do this:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n## \\[Setup] What Anki is, how to install it, and how to download Korean Anki decks\n\nOn the off-chance that you just recently heard somebody talking about Anki [on Discord](\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Fmigaku-korean-learning-discord) or something, we'll take a small detour to help you get everything set up.\n\n> If you've already got Anki installed, go ahead and jump straight to \\[Soapbox].\n\n### How Anki flashcards and spaced repetition make your life easier\n\nAnki is a flashcard application. Some people go ham with it, but, at its core, it's literally just an application for doing flashcards on your phone or computer.\n\nWhy not make your own flashcards by hand?\n\nTwo main reasons:\n\n1. **Anki is _uber_ customizable**. There's a lot of complexity going on under the hood, but if you're willing to get your hands dirty, you can make Anki do whatever you want and look however you want. Alternatively, you can just borrow the hard work of other people by downloading addons or decks. (This is what we'll be doing today.)\n\n2. **Three words: Spaced-repetition Algorithm.** Anki keeps track of your performance, then uses that information to build a personalized review schedule. It basically nudges you to remember things periodically until you stop forgetting them.\n\nSpaced repetition and memory is a pretty big topic, and this post is mainly about sharing useful Anki decks, so I'll skip that discussion for now. [We've got an entire blog post about it, if you're interested](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning). (If you're new to Anki, I highly recommend taking 10 minutes to skim it.)\n\n### How to install Anki\n\nAnki is just an ordinary app\u002Fprogram, so there aren't any hoops you need to jump through. We have a very detailed walkthrough [here](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fhow-to-use-anki#how-to-install-anki), if you want one.\n\nOtherwise:\n\n1. Click [here](https:\u002F\u002Fapps.ankiweb.net\u002F) to download the desktop version of Anki (free)\n2. Click [here](https:\u002F\u002Fapps.apple.com\u002Fus\u002Fapp\u002Fankimobile-flashcards\u002Fid373493387) to download Anki for iOS ($24.99 and the honor of supporting an open-source project)\n3. Click [here](https:\u002F\u002Fplay.google.com\u002Fstore\u002Fapps\u002Fdetails?id=com.ichi2.anki&hl=en) to download Anki for Android (free)\n\nTo download decks and make use of the apps, you'll also need to [register on Anki's website](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Faccount\u002Fsignup). This is free, too.\n\nAnd now for the fun stuff!\n\n### How to install Korean Anki Decks from Ankiweb\n\nFirst, log into your Anki account. Next, click [here](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fdecks?search=chinese) to visit Anki's \"Shared Decks\" page. This is where all of the \"official\" decks of Korean flashcards are stored—things that other people have made and (generously) decided to make publicly available for free.\n\nI'll link directly to Anki decks I've vetted and recommend in the below sections, but there's a lot of stuff here. Feel free to explore!\n\nAnyway!\n\nTo install an Anki deck, make sure you're on the deck's landing page and then click the blue \"Download\" button located between the preview section and comments section.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-setup.jpeg\" width=\"2880\" height=\"1800\" alt=\"A screenshot of the landing page for one of Anki's Korean decks\" \u002F>\n\nNow, on your desktop, open Anki. In the bottom-right corner of the app, click \"Import File\". Find the deck in your downloads folder (it will end in .apkg, which )\n\nNow open Anki. Click \"Import File\", find the deck you downloaded (it will end in .apkg, which is a special file format used for Anki decks), and then click \"Open\" to import it:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-setup-2.jpeg\" width=\"2880\" height=\"1800\" alt=\"A screenshot showing how to import your Korean flashcards into Anki\" \u002F>\n\nAnki handles everything else. It'll take a bit of time to import—especially if your deck has a lot of images or audio—and then it'll appear in Anki. From here, you can take a moment to move the deck, rename it, and do any general housekeeping you want.\n\nOnce you're happy, it's time to sync the deck. This will enable you to use it on your mobile device.\n\n1. Make sure you're logged into your Anki account on desktop _and_ your app\n2. Click \"Sync\" in the top-right corner of the desktop version of Anki\n3. A popup will appear saying that files are being uploaded\u002Fdownloaded\n4. Once the popup disappears, open Anki on your phone and click \"Synchronize\" in the bottom-right corner\n5. You'll see the same popup as we saw in step 2\n\nVoila!\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-setup3.jpeg\" width=\"1812\" height=\"1162\" alt=\"A screenshot how to sync your flashcards between desktop Anki and mobile Anki\" \u002F>\n\nOne last thing worth mentioning—notice how, in the bottom-right corner of the third image, there's a spinning wheel of death next to the Synchronize button? That means that files are being downloaded in the background.\n\nIn order to let you use the flashcards as soon as possible, Anki will initially download all of the _text_ content of your flashcards. From here, Anki will proceed downloading any audio or video files that might be attached to your Anki cards.\n\nYou can study your new deck of Anki cards as soon as the text data finishes downloading, but \u003Cu>images\u002Faudio will not be available until they finish downloading\u003C\u002Fu>. As such, if you're expecting media but don't see anything, give it half an hour or so.\n\nOnce it's done, you'll be ready to get started.\n\nWhich leads me to...\n\n## \\[Soapbox] The \"best\" Korean flashcard deck should meet 6 conditions\n\nBear with me for a moment. I'm going to be blunt.\n\n> There are hundreds of Korean decks available to download for free on AnkiWeb. I looked through every single one of them and only shortlisted ~15. In other words... \u003Cbr>\u003Cbr> **Most of the decks sucked.**\n\nI normally try to be more positive in my blog posts, but you're potentially going to invest hundreds of hours into these decks over the course of a few years, so I think being strict is warranted. I don't want you to waste your time—even if you go with a product that isn't Migaku.\n\nYou see, ideally, a \"good\" deck should meet six important criteria:\n\n1. **Frequency** — There's no reason to learn a word like \"inheritance\" if you don't know how words like \"in\" yet; your deck should teach you common words that you're likely to run into\n2. **Appropriate example sentences** — These vocab words should not appear in isolation, but rather appear in the context of a sentence alongside other level-appropriate vocabulary words\n3. **Atomic** — There shouldn't be a ton of new words in these sentences; ideally, each new flashcard should introduce you to only one new piece of information\n4. **Audio** — It'll take a lot of practice listening to Korean to develop your ears, so if you're going to make a daily commitment of Anki, you get free value by focusing on decks that include audio recordings\n5. **Korean on the front** — I'm going to pull a \"trust me bro\" for now (see [this long post about how memory works](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning) if you don't trust me), but your life will be easier and you'll see much faster progress if your cards have Korean on the front and English\u002Fyour native language on the back\n6. **Notes** — This one is optional, but it'd be nice if there were little notes to help break down the example sentences 🙂\n\nWith this context now established, remember how I said I looked through like four hundred decks?\n\n**I found just one single deck that met all of the above criteria.**\n\n... but it didn't have notes, had audio on the front instead of Korean text, and had some minor word choice mistakes that were evident within the first few flashcards. It only gets a diagonal thumbs up, not a boldly proud and erect one.\n\nAnyway.\n\nI've got one more detour to make, then I'm going to share the best decks I found. I'm happy to say that I _did_ find some cool ones. Nevertheless—if you happen to stumble into a deck that meets all the above criteria, use that deck. That's a beauty of a deck.\n\nFrom my soapbox I shall now descend.\n\n### Three things you should know to use Anki effectively\n\nJust a few bits of hygiene before we get into the bulk of the post.\n\nListen: Anki is awesome. If you've never used it before, your life is going to change.\n\n_But_, please know that:\n\n> Anki is only as useful as the information you're using it to learn. If your cards suck, you're wasting your time.\n\nMore specifically, there are three main ways that beginners go wrong with Anki:\n\n1. **Not everything needs to be made into a flashcard.** See [this blog post](\u002Fblog\u002Fjapanese\u002Fhow-to-learn-japanese-vocabulary) for the math and stuff, but the idea is that not all words are equally useful. Our goal with Anki is to make immersion (the act of consuming content easier in another language) easier by pre-learning words so that we have to stop and look things up less often. _(And to remember stuff, of course.)_ If the words you're learning aren't helping you consume content you enjoy, there are probably better ways to spend your time.\n2. **Words should not be memorized in isolation.** Instead, they should be learned via useful sentences. The context provided by these sentence will help you remember the word, and learning the sentence it appears in will also give you some useful information about how the word is used.\n3. **Don't make Anki into more than just a means to an end.** You're not learning Korean vocabulary words for the sake of learning Korean vocabulary words. You're learning Korean vocabulary words because you want to watch K-dramas, listen to K-pop, connect with oppa, go to Korea—or... something! Something very awesome, something very important to you. Do Anki, but don't lose sight of this thing that's giving you a reason to do Anki.\n\nAnd now, without further ado, let's begin the resource dump:\n\n---\n\n## 1. A deck for learning Hangul, so you can actually read Korean\n\nNaturally, if you're just beginning to learn Korean, your first step is learning to read hangul.\nNot knowing hangul severely limits your options to learn Korean (as even beginner resources feature sentences written in hangul) and to enjoy Korean (as subtitles, webtoons, books, and any content intended for Koreans is obviously written in hangul).\n\nI'm pretty happy to say that there's a solid Anki deck to help you make this first step.\n\n- The front of the card shows you a hangul letter\n- The back of the card includes several recordings of native Koreans saying words that include this hangul\n\nThis lets you learn hangul by attaching sounds to symbols, an approach I think is simple _and_ effective.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-hangul1.jpeg\" width=\"1386\" height=\"1168\" alt=\"A screenshot of a deck from Anki, showing how it teaches Hangul\" \u002F>\n\nWhere this deck falls short is that Korean spelling rules are pretty complicated. We go into this in more detail in [our introduction to hangul](\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Flearn-korean-hangul), but many Korean letters can make two or three different sounds: one if they appear at the beginning of the word, another if they appear in the middle or end of a word.\n\nThe above deck doesn't make these differences clear... but, thankfully, I found one that does, shown below. It includes [phonetic transcriptions](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) of how a hangul sounds when it appears in different parts of a word, and it also includes some solid notes that will help you learn to make difficult sounds or to differentiate similar ones.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-hangul2.jpeg\" width=\"1654\" height=\"1150\" alt=\"A screenshot of a deck from Anki, showing how it teaches Hangul\" \u002F>\n\nI recommend:\n\n1. Quickly go through the first deck, just to get an initial idea of how hangul sound, so you can begin exploring a wider variety of Korean resources\n2. Afterwords, work through this second deck more slowly, over a longer period of time, to really fine-tune your Korean pronunciation\n\n> Download them here:\n>\n> - [Hangul with sound](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1239415378)\n> - [Korean Hangul & Pronunciation Rules by Soi](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F2092196508)\n\n### ... or, you can just do Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course\n\nMigaku also has a flashcard-based hangul course, and it consolidates the best elements of the above two decks.\n\nYou'll learn sounds by first reading a description of how they work, as in the second deck, then take the same \"see the symbol → hear the sound approach\" as in the first deck. We also include a video of a native speaker saying each sound so you can observe how their lips move.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals-consonant.jpeg\" width=\"1660\" height=\"1100\" alt=\"...\" \u002F>\n\nThen, once you've learned the hangul, we go on to talk about all of the various sound change rules in Korean. You'll learn them in the same way: read an explanation to see how a sound change works, then commit it to memory by learning words which feature the sound change in question.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-academy-sound-changes.jpeg\" width=\"1656\" height=\"1154\" alt=\"...\" \u002F>\n\nMigaku is free for 10 days, and that's enough time to learn hangul and dip your toes into Korean's sound changes if you learn at a pace of 15 cards per day.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Learn Hangul with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n## 2. A deck with audio for Korean pronunciation practice via minimal pairs\n\nWhile hangul are logical and easy to learn in theory, they're somewhat difficult to use in practice. Many hangul have multiple sounds associated with them, and Korean has several different sounds that English speakers will struggle to differentiate.\n\nFor example, Korean has _five_ \"P\" sounds:\n\n- 바 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> → \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">\\[a̠\\]\u003C\u002Fspan> → Korean P is similar to ours when it begins a word\n- 아바 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아바1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> → \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">\\[a̠ba̠\\]\u003C\u002Fspan> → Korean P sounds like our B when it appears in the middle of a word\n- 압 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-압1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> → \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">\\[a̠p̚\\]\u003C\u002Fspan> → Korean P is unreleased when it comes at the end of the word (just listen—notice how it kind of gets swallowed \u002F there's no clear \"puh\")\n- 파 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-파1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> → \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">\\[pʰa̠\\]\u003C\u002Fspan> → The \"strong\" P, which is like the normal P but involves much more air being expelled\n- 빠 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> → \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">\\[p͈a̠\\]\u003C\u002Fspan> → The \"double\" P, which lets _no_ air come out of your mouth, is a bit shorter\u002Ffaster\u002Fmore forceful, and causes the pitch of the vowel to rise a bit\n\nLearning to distinguish these sounds early on will enable you to recognize them when they come up in kpop, Korean dramas, or whatever you listen to in Korean... and, over time, that context will help you build the aural foundation you need to pronounce these sounds well later on, when you eventually start speaking Korean.\n\nAnd that's where this deck comes into play!\n\nIt consists of over 500 [minimal pairs](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FMinimal_pair). You can see what this means in the below picture: an audio recording plays, then you're asked if you heard 벌벌 (normal P) or 펄펄 (strong P). You flip the card over and see the answer.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-minimal-pairs.jpeg\" width=\"1386\" height=\"1166\" alt=\"...\" \u002F>\n\nThis deck includes a wide variety of listening tests for both consonants and vowels. You can just plug away at it slowly over time, doing two or three cards per day, gradually polishing your ears and learning to reliably distinguish every single sound in Korean.\n\nThe only thing I would personally add to make this deck even better is (a) to include recordings from multiple speakers and (b) to show recordings for both options on the back side, so you can compare them in context.\n\nAll in all, this is an excellent deck that I'm excited to share.\n\n> Download it here:\n>\n> - [The Sounds of Korean: A Pronunciation Guide](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1244430213)\n\n## 3. A deck for learning common Korean vocabulary words\n\nI'm going to be honest: this section gave me a small identity crisis.\n\nYou see, I _don't_ recommend using this deck. It goes against so many of the Golden Rules of Good Flashcards™ that I introduced above.\n\n... at the same time, it's important to know your audience. I can't deny that, looking at [Korean Discord communities](\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Fmigaku-korean-learning-discord), [Reddit's r\u002FKoreanLanguage](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002Fkoreanlanguage\u002F), and [Anki's most popular shared Korean decks](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fdecks?search=korean), it's apparent that Korean learners seem to be attracted to the idea of drilling lists of words.\n\nSo, if that's you, please use this deck.\n\n1. All 500 of the words it teaches are very common\n2. Many of its words are concrete nouns, so they don't have a ton of nuance—a picture is basically all you need to see what they mean\n3. Each word features audio from what's either a native speaker or a quite nice text-to-speech program\n\nAs such, while I don't think this deck is the best use of your time, it won't hurt you, either.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-vocabulary.jpeg\" width=\"1354\" height=\"1152\" alt=\"A deck of common Korean vocabulary words, many with included pictures\" \u002F>\n\nI _do_ feel comfortable recommending this deck to one specific type of learner: someone who has just finished learning hangul, is feeling a bit overwhelmed, and just wants a _bit_ more practice with the Korean alphabet before beginning to learn vocabulary via decks of sentences.\n\nIf that's you, go ahead and use this deck. I don't think you should finish it, but you can't go wrong with using it to learn 50–100 common words before jumping into a deck of sentences.\n\n> Download it here:\n>\n> - [TTMIK's First 500 Korean Words by Retro](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1551455917)\n\n## 4. Two solid decks of Korean sentences\n\nAs with the hangul decks, while I couldn't quite find one deck that had everything I wanted, I did find two solid decks of Korean sentences that I feel comfortable recommending for different reasons.\n\nThe first deck is the most popular deck on the page of public Korean Anki decks for a reason. It's just solid all around. You start with sentences that consist of very simple words, and these sentences gradually get longer and more complex as you go. By the time you finish the ~2,500 cards, you'll have covered all the grammar you need to pass the TOPIK 4 exam.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-sentences1.jpeg\" width=\"1368\" height=\"1164\" alt=\"A screenshot of a Korean anki deck that contains many common sentences\" \u002F>\n\n_(This is technically a grammar deck, but it has only very brief grammar notes that are few and far between, so I think it's better suited as a typical sentences deck.)_\n\nThe next deck is so close to being perfect that it hurts a bit. The deck is organized by vocabulary frequency—you learn the most common words first—and it's organized such that each card introduces only one new piece of information (the word it teaches). You'll start with individual words, move on to short phrases, and eventually start working through full sentences.\n\nIt also forces you to think a bit—to see a translation, you have to click a button. (Research shows that simply _trying_ to remember information leads to better retention, whether you successfully remember or not.)\n\nIt's got audio and the full series consists of 7,000 words, so you could realistically coast through this deck from zero to early-advanced. It's awesome.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-sentences2.jpeg\" width=\"1380\" height=\"1164\" alt=\"A second Anki deck that teaches you sentences by going through very common words\" \u002F>\n\nUnfortunately, it doesn't get my full-fledged recommendation for three reasons:\n\n- It contains nothing but audio on the front of the flashcard _(this isn't a huge deal, as you could edit it if you wanted)_\n- It makes some questionable choices. The 9th flashcard teaches the word \"to eat\" via the sentence \"what do you want to eat\"... but it uses the _honorific_ version of \"to eat\", not the normal word that you'll use in most scenarios\n- The TTS audio must come from an older model \u002F it's not nearly as clean as the TTS we have today\n\nAnyway:\n\n- If you're a total beginner → go ahead and use the first deck.\n- If you've got a bit of Korean under your belt already → try the second deck! It's the one I'd use, personally. You'll just need to exercise a bit of skepticism, rather than taking it at face value.\n\n> Download them here:\n>\n> - [Korean grammar sentences by Evita](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F3614346923)\n> - [🦑 Korean Sentences (Beginner: 1 to 1000)](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Fby-author\u002F374470252)\n\n## 5. A crash-course in Korean grammar in a deck of flashcards\n\nI should preface this by saying that grammar isn't the sort of thing you learn once and are done with. Grammar points are acquired in several stages:\n\n1. First you need to become aware that a grammar point exists\n2. Next, you need to analyze a sentence in which it's used to see how it works\n3. Next, you need to consume a lot of Korean content, see the grammar point used in a variety of different scenarios, and gradually build an intuitive feel for when it's used and what nuance it carries\n4. Waaaay down the road, once you've got a reasonable grasp on how a grammar point works, it's time to crack open a grammar resource to check for any nuances you might have missed\n\nBasically, grammar is kind of like the leaves of a tree. It doesn't make much sense to worry about the leaves until your trunk is sturdy and it's got some solid branches growing.\n\nThat's where this deck comes into play.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-grammar.jpeg\" width=\"1374\" height=\"1156\" alt=\"A Korean anki deck that teaches you key points about grammar through carefully-curated sentences\" \u002F>\n\n_This_ deck is awesome for somebody that's around stage two or three, as outlined above.\n\n1. Each flashcard consists of a practical sentence accompanied by an audio recording\n2. Each sentence happens to epitomize the usage of a particular grammar point\n3. The backside of the flashcard includes some concise notes about how the structure in question works\n\nAs a result, this deck is an excellent way to consolidate your knowledge of and put a name to grammatical structures you encounter while consuming Korean content.\n\nWhereas other grammar decks on the shared page—such as [this one](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F967867359) or [this one](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F755959257)—pack so much information into each card that they're frankly unusable, this one achieves a wonderful balance. Each flashcard has a specific thing it wants you to learn, and that takeaway is always clear and practical.\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"... on the off chance you know Japanese already\">\n\nThere's actually an awesome bilingual deck called [Tammy Korean's Korean Grammar by Soi](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1917244935):\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-grammar2.jpeg\" width=\"1658\" height=\"1156\" alt=\"An Anki deck that teaches Korean grammar points in English and Japanese\" \u002F>\n\nIt works in an A:B format\n\n- You first see a grammar point and then get a Japanese and English explanation of how it works\n- You proceed to learn a variety of sentences that utilize that grammar point\n\nThis is awesome because a lot of Korean grammar points have a direct pair with a Japanese grammar point. Each of the Japanese explanations in this deck basically say \"Korean X is Japanese Y\", then proceeds to point out any differences that occur and explain how the grammar point is used.\n\nWith that in mind:\n\n- If you already know Japanese, use this deck! It's the one I personally used for grammar, and I loved it.\n- Soi's English explanations are much more generic than their Japanese counterparts, so I think you'll get more out of the \"Korean Cheat Sheet Grammar\" deck that I recommended above.\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n> Download it here:\n>\n> - [Korean Cheat Sheet Grammar](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1260958209)\n\n### ... Alternatively, Migaku's Korean Academy course is a combined vocab-sentence-grammar deck\n\nPlugging yourself is always awkward, but from one learner to another, Migaku's Korean Academy is by far the best way to start learning Korean.\n\n1. You start out by reading a lesson about a grammar point\n2. You internalize that grammar point by learning sentences that contain it\n3. The course is organized such that each flashcard contains only one new piece of information, whether that's a word or grammar point\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-academy-copula.jpeg\" width=\"1656\" height=\"1152\" alt=\"A screenshot of Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach grammar\" \u002F>\n\nThe full course teaches you about 300 grammar points and the 1,300 words that appear most commonly in Netflix subtitles. These aren't just any words, either: we targeted _specifically_ the words you need to recognize 80% of the words that appear in Netflix's subtitles.\n\n> It'll take you just over four months to finish this course (10 words\u002Fday), and by the time you finish, you'll be able to make sense of 80% of the sentences you see while watching k-dramas.\n\nAgain, self-plugging and whatnot, but it's an awesome deck. I really think it's the best option available, by far, for beginner and intermediate Korean learners. It takes the best points of the sentences and grammar decks shared above and combines them into one beautiful package.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Learn Korean with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n## 6. A deck to learn hanja, the Chinese characters used in Korean\n\nSo, long story—go check out [our post on the history of the Korean alphabet](\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Flearn-korean-hangul)—but Korean used to use Chinese characters. They no longer do, but a massive amount of Korean words were borrowed directly from Chinese, and the \"logic\" of these Chinese characters is still there, just under the surface.\n\nFor example, you'll notice the syllable 학 in many words related to school or knowledge. This isn't a coincidence—it comes from the Chinese character 學, which means \"to study\" or \"to learn\". As a result, if you know Hanja:\n\n- School is \"learn\" + \"school\"\n- Student is \"learn\" + \"person\u002Flife\"\n- Psychology is \"heart\" + \"logic\" + \"study\"\n\nKind handy, kinda cool, huh?\n\n| English    | Korean (Hangul)                                                                  | Hanja  | Notes                                         |\n| ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | --------------------------------------------- |\n| School     | 학교 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학교1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | 學校   | 學 (learn) + 校 (school)                      |\n| Student    | 학생 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학생1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | 學生   | 學 (learn) + 生 (person\u002Fbirth)                |\n| Psychology | 심리학 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-심리학1.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 心理學 | 心 (heart\u002Fmind) + 理 (principle) + 學 (learn) |\n\nNow, you definitely don't need to learn hanja to learn Korean. Even Korean natives themselves won't usually know more than the most basic hanja—the ones used in their name, and then several characters like \"big\" or \"small\" that sometimes appear on signs\u002Fmenus.\n\n... but if you think hanja are cool, or you want to study Japanese or Mandarin someday, or maybe you're an advanced learner who is looking for a new challenge—there's an awesome deck for that.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-hanja.jpeg\" width=\"1380\" height=\"1148\" alt=\"A deck of flashcards designed to help Korean speakers learn Chinese characters\" \u002F>\n\nThe deck is entirely in Korean, so it's not for beginners. The characters also aren't organized in a particularly useful way. Nevertheless, each one comes with etymological notes, a mnemonic to help you remember the character, and an example vocabulary word that the character appears in.\n\n> Download it here:\n>\n> - [Retro's Hanja(한자) deck in Korean](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F462141019)\n\n## 7. The best deck for intermediate Korean learners\n\nWe need to drop some cold hard statistics here.\n\nIf you're nearing the end of the beginner level, it's essential to understand that words are not used equally often:\n\n- There's a \\~50% chance that a Korean word selected at random will be one of \\~100 words\n- There's an \\~80% chance that it'll be one of \\~1,500 words\n- There's a \\~90% chance that it'll be one of about 5,000 words.\n- And a typical educated native speaker knows _tens_ of thousands of words.\n- (This is called [the power law](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FPower_law), and it applies to every language)\n\nThe reason for this apparently exponential curve is that [knowledge is domain specific](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FDomain_knowledge)—a word like _carburetor_ will appear quite commonly in discussions about cars, but will virtually never appear in any other context. In other words, the word is important if you're interested in cars... and basically useless if you aren't.\n\nBasically: You need to be learning new words, but you shouldn't just be learning _any_ new vocabulary words you stumble into.\n\n> \u003CCenteredText bold underline>Key point\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\u003Cbr>\u003CCenteredText> You can make incredibly fast progress if you focus on learning the specific words that you need to know to do the things you are interested in doing in Korean.\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\n\nBut how do you know whether a word will or won't be useful, given _your_ personal goals for learning Korean?\n\nThe answer is simple: Make your own deck of flashcards by extracting sentences from media you personally enjoy.\n\nFor example, I'm learning Korean because I love Korean webtoons. So, here you can see me reading [Sweet Home](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.webtoons.com\u002Fen\u002Fthriller\u002Fsweethome\u002Flist?title_no=1285), an awesome comic that recently became a [hit Netflix series](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=3WJweFedauI).\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMigaku-korean-webtoon.jpeg\" width=\"2880\" height=\"1789\" alt=\"A screenshot of a Korean learner using the Migaku Chrome extension to read a Korean webtoon\"\u002F>\n\nI ran into a word I didn't know—그나저나, \"anyhow\"—so I decided to make a flashcard out of it.\n\n- I clicked the orange \"create a card\" button in the top-right corner of the popup dictionary\n- I added a screenshot from the comic to the card creator (done on desktop, but shown below on mobile)\n- I created a flashcard, extracting a learning opportunity from a comic I enjoyed\n\nThe whole process took about two seconds, and you can see the results below. _(I speak Japanese, so my notes are in Japanese)_.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-mining.jpeg\" width=\"1652\" height=\"1154\" alt=\"A screenshot demonstrating how to make flashcards via Migaku\" \u002F>\n\nIt takes a long time to learn Korean... but since the vast majority of the journey basically boils down to consuming Korean media that you enjoy and capitalizing on learning opportunities as you encounter them, it's also a largely enjoyable process.\n\nYou _can_ do all this on Anki, but it requires you to install like five different open-source tools from GitHub and juggle them. That's kind of complicated and beyond the scope of this video... but, if it's something you're interested in, [here's a \\~30-minute tutorial on how to sentence mine with Anki](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=KxLRp1yd8Ro).\n\nIf you'd prefer to skip the hassle and make flashcards in two seconds →\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Try Migaku for free\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n## 8. Two random fun decks\n\nThis has been a pretty long, serious, and picky blog post... so I wanted to wrap up with a couple of fun decks. After all, everybody needs a random side project sometimes.\n\nThe first deck is for learning Korean geography. It's beautiful, frankly. The front of each flashcard is a highlighted portion of a Korean map, then the back is the name of that region plus some basic notes about it.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-georgraphy.jpeg\" width=\"1378\" height=\"1168\" alt=\"A screenshot of an Anki deck made for learning Korean geography\" \u002F>\n\nThe next deck is for foodies. The front of each card is the name of a Korean food, and then the back of each card has a picture of that food plus an English translation.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-food.jpeg\" width=\"1380\" height=\"1162\" alt=\"A screenshot of an Anki deck designed to help you learn common Korean foods\" \u002F>\n\nNeither deck is super practical and shouldn't be what you start with as a beginner... but they're only about a hundred cards each, so they're things you could knock out during a slow month.\n\n> Download them here:\n>\n> - [Ultimate Korean Geography 대한민국의 지리](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F345739205)\n> - [Korean Food with Pictures](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F1563735648)\n\n## 9. Two honorable mentions\n\nThe final-final two decks I have are things that I wanted to share, but ultimately decided against.\n\nThe first deck is a condensed version of [Naver Today's Korean](https:\u002F\u002Flearn.dict.naver.com\u002Fconversation#\u002Fkorean-en\u002Flist), a platform which uploads a brief Korean dialogue every day alongside grammar notes and an English translation. The desk is really cool, but it's not really appropriate for learners for two reasons:\n\n1. The sentences are in no particular order\n2. There are multiple grammar points per card\n\nBoth of these factors mean that each card will likely contain multiple pieces of new information for earlier learners, which is a guarantee that the cards will be frustrating and ineffective. Nevertheless, if you're pretty well into the intermediate stages of Korean, this deck could be a great way for you to consolidate your knowledge of common grammar points.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-naver-today.jpeg\" width=\"1374\" height=\"1164\" alt=\"A screenshot of a deck of flashcards condensed from Naver Korean Today\" \u002F>\n\nThe second deck is something that somebody put a lot of love into—[a linguist who created their \"dream resource\"](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F18s8wvo\u002Fresource_i_made_my_dream_anki_deck_3000_word_deck\u002F). Each card features an example sentence, hanja if available, and a recording from native Korean speakers.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-anki-core2k.jpeg\" width=\"1378\" height=\"1166\" alt=\"A screenshot of a deck of 2,000 common Korean words with a lot of reference info\" \u002F>\n\nUnfortunately, I can't recommend it to most learners for three reasons:\n\n1. The vocabulary words aren't organized by frequency (the first word is \"disappointment\"), so beginners can't hit the ground running with it\n2. The example sentences aren't always appropriate given the difficulty of the vocabulary word—they'll likely introduce several unknown words\n3. Half the deck consists of seeing English words and translating them into Korean, which we don't recommend at Migaku (as discussed in the \"soapbox\" section above)\n\nAll the same, it's a beautiful deck, and a good demonstration of the cool things you can do with Anki if you put in the time to learn how the program works.\n\n> Download them here:\n>\n> - [Naver's Today Korean](https:\u002F\u002Fankiweb.net\u002Fshared\u002Finfo\u002F186997375)\n> - [2000 essential words beginner & intermediate](https:\u002F\u002Fdrive.google.com\u002Fdrive\u002Ffolders\u002F1zxwvv5F7Er0kLpxZPiW4Mmz6FnM84JJs)\n\n---\n\n## The #1 thing to remember if you want to learn Korean\n\nYou should now be all set to embark upon your Korean language learning journey 💪\n\nWrapping up, I'd like to bestow upon you the Golden Rule of Flashcards:\n\n> \u003CCenteredText> \u003Cbr>✨✨✨Thy flashcards shalt _complement_ your interactions with Korean, not _replace_ them.✨✨✨\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\u003Cbr>\n\nIt's going to take a while to learn Korean, and flashcards will be an important tool as you embark on that journey. They enable you to learn faster and they also ensure that you'll remember what you learn.\n\nThe good news is that languages are things that we learn by doing: a lot of your Korean progress will come as a byproduct of doing things you enjoy in Korean.\n\nIn other words, you _don't_ need to get fluent before you can start doing cool things in Korean. On the contrary, you become fluent in Korean _by_ doing cool things in Korean.\n\nAnyway, I'll get out of your hair now.\n\nGo grind your flashcards and do something cool in Korean!\n",{"title":6,"description":1457},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-anki","CNShS5MOyzjG4A95QTYih68Hc_EiBqJCw4KInh_ueYo","korean","May 7, 2025",{"id":1478,"title":1479,"body":1480,"description":1811,"extension":1458,"meta":1812,"navigation":1469,"path":1823,"rawbody":1824,"seo":1825,"stem":1826,"__hash__":1827,"timestampUnix":1813,"slug":1814,"h1":1815,"image":1816,"tags":1821,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":1828},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-discord.md","Join Migaku's Korean Discord Server: Learn Korean with 12,000+ Others",{"type":8,"value":1481,"toc":1792},[1482,1485,1489,1492,1494,1496,1500,1503,1551,1553,1557,1560,1563,1567,1570,1576,1579,1583,1586,1592,1596,1599,1603,1606,1609,1614,1618,1621,1629,1632,1636,1639,1643,1646,1654,1657,1661,1664,1670,1676,1682,1688,1691,1697,1700,1703,1706,1708,1712,1715,1719,1722,1754,1758,1765,1768,1774,1778,1781,1783,1787,1790],[11,1483,1484],{},"If you're here because you're looking for a Discord server to connect with people learning Korean, welcome!",[521,1486],{"href":1487,"text":1488},"https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.gg\u002Fmigaku","Join Migaku's Discord",[11,1490,1491],{},"Otherwise, if you're new to Discord, we'll take a bit of time to talk about:",[37,1493],{},[40,1495],{},[43,1497,1499],{"id":1498},"how-to-join-the-migaku-discord","How to join the Migaku discord",[11,1501,1502],{},"Signing up for Discord is pretty similar to other community-oriented social media:",[76,1504,1505,1515,1525,1535,1545],{},[79,1506,1507,1514],{},[82,1508,1509],{},[15,1510,1513],{"href":1511,"rel":1512},"https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.com\u002Fregister",[30],"Create a Discord Account"," if you don’t already have one",[79,1516,1517,1524],{},[82,1518,1519,1520],{},"Click the Join button below or ",[15,1521,1523],{"href":1487,"rel":1522},[30],"follow this link"," to enter Migaku’s server",[79,1526,1527,1534],{},[82,1528,1529],{},[15,1530,1533],{"href":1531,"rel":1532},"https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.com\u002Fchannels\u002F752293144917180496\u002Fcustomize-community",[30],"Set your roles","—tell the server you're learning Korean to unlock those channels",[79,1536,1537,1544],{},[82,1538,1539],{},[15,1540,1543],{"href":1541,"rel":1542},"https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.com\u002Fchannels\u002F752293144917180496\u002F752303400762343476",[30],"Introduce yourself"," to the community, and start connecting!",[79,1546,1547,1550],{},[82,1548,1549],{},"Learn Korean",", share your best yuzu tea recipe, conquer the world, and generally be cool",[40,1552],{},[43,1554,1556],{"id":1555},"why-you-should-join-migakus-language-learning-discord","Why you should join Migaku's language learning discord",[11,1558,1559],{},"Learning Korean on your own can get lonely. That's why you're looking for a community to join, and that's why we opened Migaku's Discord server in the first place.",[11,1561,1562],{},"Migaku is a hub for talking about learning languages in general, but if you need a bit of convincing:",[43,1564,1566],{"id":1565},"_1-youll-connect-with-over-12000-people-interested-in-learning-languages-including-korean","1. You'll connect with over 12,000 people interested in learning languages (including Korean!)",[11,1568,1569],{},"Yeah. That's over 9,000.",[178,1571],{"src":1572,"width":1573,"height":1574,"alt":1575},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-meme.jpeg",1618,1000,"A meme revealing the true identity of Migaku's language learning Discord",[11,1577,1578],{},"No matter your level, you're guaranteed to find like-minded folks to keep you motivated and inspired.",[43,1580,1582],{"id":1581},"_2-you-can-ask-questions-about-learning-korean-share-korean-resources-stan-your-favorite-bands-and-more","2. You can ask questions about learning Korean, share Korean resources, stan your favorite bands, and more",[11,1584,1585],{},"While Migaku is a hub for language learning in general, we have five dedicated channels for Korean learners:",[178,1587],{"src":1588,"width":1589,"height":1590,"alt":1591},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-preview.jpeg",2774,1572,"A screenshot of Migaku's language learning Discord, showing our channels for people to want to learn Korean",[62,1593,1595],{"id":1594},"chat-kr-to-talk-about-everything-to-do-with-learning-korean","Chat-kr, to talk about everything to do with learning Korean",[11,1597,1598],{},"This is the catch-all Korean channel. Ask grammar questions, discuss hurdles and how to get over them, inquire about where to get the best kimchi in Seoul. You do you!",[62,1600,1602],{"id":1601},"resources-to-share-cool-korean-resources","Resources, to share cool Korean resources",[11,1604,1605],{},"Community-vetted resources (and discussions about them) go here. You'll find recommendations of apps people have liked, links to download open-source Korean dictionaries, and more!",[11,1607,1608],{},"For example, here's a screenshot of a conversation where I was talking about my personal workflow for learning Korean:",[178,1610],{"src":1611,"width":1589,"height":1612,"alt":1613},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-dsicord-plug.jpeg",1576,"A screenshot of a conversation showing how to use Migaku to read Korean books",[62,1615,1617],{"id":1616},"media-recommendations-where-you-can-share-k-dramas-and-stuff","Media-recommendations, where you can share k-dramas and stuff",[11,1619,1620],{},"There's only one Golden Rule of Language Learning:",[56,1622,1623],{},[11,1624,1625,1626,1201],{},"If you consume media in Korean, and you understand at least some of the messages and sentences within that media, you will make progress. ",[86,1627,1628],{},"Period",[11,1630,1631],{},"So, here's a place where you can share (and find) your next K-drama to binge, webtoon to read, and Korean YouTubers to follow.",[62,1633,1635],{"id":1634},"music-because-k-pop-is-a-thing","Music, because k-pop is a thing",[11,1637,1638],{},"BTS and New Jeans seem to be what's popular these days, but I'm sort of oldschool and prefer Beast myself:",[1640,1641],"custom-iframe",{"src":1642},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FZAzWT8mRoR0?si=z8EgJRlhCCbyDuso",[11,1644,1645],{},"Whether you're a k-pop stan or prefer things that are less mainstream, this is the place to duke that out!",[62,1647,1649,1650,1653],{"id":1648},"한국어where-you-can-speak-korean-and-only-korean","한국어,where you can speak Korean and ",[86,1651,1652],{},"only"," Korean",[11,1655,1656],{},"A Korean-only channel to truly immerse yourself, as the name suggests. Perfect for practicing output with natives and other learners.",[43,1658,1660],{"id":1659},"_3-you-can-get-unfiltered-feedback-about-migakus-korean-course","3. You can get unfiltered feedback about Migaku's Korean course",[11,1662,1663],{},"Uhh, this is kind of awkward, but Migaku actually (a) has a couple Korean courses and (b) is a Chrome extension designed to allow you learn Korean by consuming real Korean media—even if you aren't that good at Korean yet.",[11,1665,1666,1667,893],{},"Our Migaku Korean Fundamentals course teaches you to ",[15,1668,1669],{"href":444},"read and correctly pronounce Hangul",[178,1671],{"src":1672,"width":1673,"height":1674,"alt":1675},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals.jpeg",1754,1220,"A few screenshots from Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course, showing how we teach Hangul",[11,1677,1678,1679],{},"And then our Migaku Korean Academy teaches the ~1,200 vocabulary words and ~300 grammar points you need to make sense of 80% of Korean sentences. ",[86,1680,1681],{},"(That's not a random number; we did the math.)",[178,1683],{"src":1684,"width":1685,"height":1686,"alt":1687},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-plug.jpeg",1844,1232,"A screenshot showing an excerpt of Migaku's Korean Academy course, explaining the usage of the subject particle.",[11,1689,1690],{},"But Migaku's real strength is that it makes Korean text in places like webpages or subtitles (YouTube, Netflix, Viki) interactive, enabling you to see what a word means simply by clicking on it:",[178,1692],{"src":1693,"width":1694,"height":1695,"alt":1696},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-youtube.jpeg",1774,1242,"A screenshot of Migaku's mobile app, which enables you to simply click on Korean words in subtitles to see what they mean",[11,1698,1699],{},"If you decide a word is useful, you can also make a flashcard simply by clicking that orange button in the top-right corner of the dictionary entry.",[11,1701,1702],{},"We may be slightly biased, but we think this is pretty awesome.",[11,1704,1705],{},"You don't have to take our word for it, though—many people in the community have tried Migaku, and you can get pretty unbiased opinions about how it works.",[521,1707],{"href":17,"text":1252},[43,1709,1711],{"id":1710},"_4-theres-a-kind-of-free-for-all-going-on-in-the-general-chat-channel","4. There's a kind of free-for-all going on in the general chat channel",[11,1713,1714],{},"Migaku’s general chat is the heart of our server—friendly chaos at its best. Jump into random conversations, share experiences, or just have fun with thousands of other learners.",[43,1716,1718],{"id":1717},"_5-youll-find-accountability-buddies-memes-and-more","5. You'll find accountability buddies, memes, and more",[11,1720,1721],{},"Migaku's off-topic channels add spice to your language learning journey:",[419,1723,1724,1730,1736,1742,1748],{},[79,1725,1726,1729],{},[82,1727,1728],{},"🎲 Off-topic:"," For conversations that realistically don't belong here",[79,1731,1732,1735],{},[82,1733,1734],{},"🍡 Food:"," I've mentioned this three times now, but I really insist that you share your favorite Yuzu tea recipe",[79,1737,1738,1741],{},[82,1739,1740],{},"💪 Shred City:"," For people working toward a fluent body, too",[79,1743,1744,1747],{},[82,1745,1746],{},"🐙 Server Emoji Suggestions:"," Memes wanted",[79,1749,1750,1753],{},[82,1751,1752],{},"🎮 Visual novels and games:"," I admit it—we're all nerds here",[43,1755,1757],{"id":1756},"_6-you-can-keep-up-with-migakus-updates","6. You can keep up with Migaku's updates",[11,1759,1760,1761,1764],{},"Pretty much all of our staff members are language learners who use Migaku software, so we're often just as anxious as the community for updates to come out—if not ",[86,1762,1763],{},"more"," anxious.",[11,1766,1767],{},"Compared to other language learning companies, this makes us pretty transparent. You can see a roadmap of exactly where our effort is being spent, and we post community update announcements at least once per week.",[178,1769],{"src":1770,"width":1771,"height":1772,"alt":1773},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-roadmap.jpeg",2776,1578,"A screenshot of the Roadmap portion of Migaku's Discord Server",[43,1775,1777],{"id":1776},"_7-and-more","7. ... and more!",[11,1779,1780],{},"This has been a pretty quick overview, but there's a lot going on in our Discord community! You're just going to have to drop by and check it out 💪",[40,1782],{},[43,1784,1786],{"id":1785},"go-ahead-and-join-the-best-discord-server-for-people-who-want-to-learn-korean","Go ahead and join the best Discord server for people who want to learn Korean 💪",[11,1788,1789],{},"Click the big orange \"Join\" button down under \"You might also be interested in...\"—or the one right here. It's your ticket to fluency, friends, and a whole lot of fun!",[521,1791],{"href":1487,"text":1488},{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":1793},[1794,1795,1796,1797,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810],{"id":1498,"depth":1432,"text":1499},{"id":1555,"depth":1432,"text":1556},{"id":1565,"depth":1432,"text":1566},{"id":1581,"depth":1432,"text":1582,"children":1798},[1799,1800,1801,1802,1803],{"id":1594,"depth":1437,"text":1595},{"id":1601,"depth":1437,"text":1602},{"id":1616,"depth":1437,"text":1617},{"id":1634,"depth":1437,"text":1635},{"id":1648,"depth":1437,"text":1804},"한국어,where you can speak Korean and only Korean",{"id":1659,"depth":1432,"text":1660},{"id":1710,"depth":1432,"text":1711},{"id":1717,"depth":1432,"text":1718},{"id":1756,"depth":1432,"text":1757},{"id":1776,"depth":1432,"text":1777},{"id":1785,"depth":1432,"text":1786},"Want to learn Korean? You're not alone! Migaku's discord server is the place to connect with others learning the Korean language. Help others, have fun, and join the community!",{"timestampUnix":1813,"slug":1814,"h1":1815,"image":1816,"tags":1821},1742881933000,"migaku-korean-learning-discord","Migaku, a Discord server for people who want to learn Korean",{"src":1817,"width":1818,"height":1819,"alt":1820},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-header.webp",2108,1312,"A thumbnail showing Migaku, the Discord logo, and the Korean flag",[1822],"discussion","\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-discord","---\ntitle: \"Join Migaku's Korean Discord Server: Learn Korean with 12,000+ Others\"\ndescription: \"Want to learn Korean? You're not alone! Migaku's discord server is the place to connect with others learning the Korean language. Help others, have fun, and join the community!\"\ntimestampUnix: 1742881933000\nslug: 'migaku-korean-learning-discord'\nh1: 'Migaku, a Discord server for people who want to learn Korean'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-header.webp'\n  width: 2108\n  height: 1312\n  alt: 'A thumbnail showing Migaku, the Discord logo, and the Korean flag'\ntags:\n  - discussion\n---\n\nIf you're here because you're looking for a Discord server to connect with people learning Korean, welcome!\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.gg\u002Fmigaku\" text=\"Join Migaku's Discord\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\nOtherwise, if you're new to Discord, we'll take a bit of time to talk about:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n## How to join the Migaku discord\n\nSigning up for Discord is pretty similar to other community-oriented social media:\n\n1. **[Create a Discord Account](https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.com\u002Fregister)** if you don’t already have one\n2. **Click the Join button below or [follow this link](https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.gg\u002Fmigaku)** to enter Migaku’s server\n3. **[Set your roles](https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.com\u002Fchannels\u002F752293144917180496\u002Fcustomize-community)**—tell the server you're learning Korean to unlock those channels\n4. **[Introduce yourself](https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.com\u002Fchannels\u002F752293144917180496\u002F752303400762343476)** to the community, and start connecting!\n5. **Learn Korean**, share your best yuzu tea recipe, conquer the world, and generally be cool\n\n---\n\n## Why you should join Migaku's language learning discord\n\nLearning Korean on your own can get lonely. That's why you're looking for a community to join, and that's why we opened Migaku's Discord server in the first place.\n\nMigaku is a hub for talking about learning languages in general, but if you need a bit of convincing:\n\n## 1. You'll connect with over 12,000 people interested in learning languages (including Korean!)\n\nYeah. That's over 9,000.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-meme.jpeg\" width=\"1618\" height=\"1000\" alt=\"A meme revealing the true identity of Migaku's language learning Discord\" \u002F>\n\nNo matter your level, you're guaranteed to find like-minded folks to keep you motivated and inspired.\n\n## 2. You can ask questions about learning Korean, share Korean resources, stan your favorite bands, and more\n\nWhile Migaku is a hub for language learning in general, we have five dedicated channels for Korean learners:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-preview.jpeg\" width=\"2774\" height=\"1572\" alt=\"A screenshot of Migaku's language learning Discord, showing our channels for people to want to learn Korean\" \u002F>\n\n### Chat-kr, to talk about everything to do with learning Korean\n\nThis is the catch-all Korean channel. Ask grammar questions, discuss hurdles and how to get over them, inquire about where to get the best kimchi in Seoul. You do you!\n\n### Resources, to share cool Korean resources\n\nCommunity-vetted resources (and discussions about them) go here. You'll find recommendations of apps people have liked, links to download open-source Korean dictionaries, and more!\n\nFor example, here's a screenshot of a conversation where I was talking about my personal workflow for learning Korean:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-dsicord-plug.jpeg\" width=\"2774\" height=\"1576\" alt=\"A screenshot of a conversation showing how to use Migaku to read Korean books\" \u002F>\n\n### Media-recommendations, where you can share k-dramas and stuff\n\nThere's only one Golden Rule of Language Learning:\n\n> If you consume media in Korean, and you understand at least some of the messages and sentences within that media, you will make progress. _Period_.\n\nSo, here's a place where you can share (and find) your next K-drama to binge, webtoon to read, and Korean YouTubers to follow.\n\n### Music, because k-pop is a thing\n\nBTS and New Jeans seem to be what's popular these days, but I'm sort of oldschool and prefer Beast myself:\n\n\u003Ccustom-iframe src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FZAzWT8mRoR0?si=z8EgJRlhCCbyDuso\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-iframe>\n\nWhether you're a k-pop stan or prefer things that are less mainstream, this is the place to duke that out!\n\n### 한국어,where you can speak Korean and _only_ Korean\n\nA Korean-only channel to truly immerse yourself, as the name suggests. Perfect for practicing output with natives and other learners.\n\n## 3. You can get unfiltered feedback about Migaku's Korean course\n\nUhh, this is kind of awkward, but Migaku actually (a) has a couple Korean courses and (b) is a Chrome extension designed to allow you learn Korean by consuming real Korean media—even if you aren't that good at Korean yet.\n\nOur Migaku Korean Fundamentals course teaches you to [read and correctly pronounce Hangul](\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Flearn-korean-hangul):\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals.jpeg\" width=\"1754\" height=\"1220\" alt=\"A few screenshots from Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course, showing how we teach Hangul\" \u002F>\n\nAnd then our Migaku Korean Academy teaches the ~1,200 vocabulary words and ~300 grammar points you need to make sense of 80% of Korean sentences. _(That's not a random number; we did the math.)_\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-plug.jpeg\" width=\"1844\" height=\"1232\" alt=\"A screenshot showing an excerpt of Migaku's Korean Academy course, explaining the usage of the subject particle.\" \u002F>\n\nBut Migaku's real strength is that it makes Korean text in places like webpages or subtitles (YouTube, Netflix, Viki) interactive, enabling you to see what a word means simply by clicking on it:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-youtube.jpeg\" width=\"1774\" height=\"1242\" alt=\"A screenshot of Migaku's mobile app, which enables you to simply click on Korean words in subtitles to see what they mean\" \u002F>\n\nIf you decide a word is useful, you can also make a flashcard simply by clicking that orange button in the top-right corner of the dictionary entry.\n\nWe may be slightly biased, but we think this is pretty awesome.\n\nYou don't have to take our word for it, though—many people in the community have tried Migaku, and you can get pretty unbiased opinions about how it works.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Try Migaku for free\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n## 4. There's a kind of free-for-all going on in the general chat channel\n\nMigaku’s general chat is the heart of our server—friendly chaos at its best. Jump into random conversations, share experiences, or just have fun with thousands of other learners.\n\n## 5. You'll find accountability buddies, memes, and more\n\nMigaku's off-topic channels add spice to your language learning journey:\n\n- **🎲 Off-topic:** For conversations that realistically don't belong here\n- **🍡 Food:** I've mentioned this three times now, but I really insist that you share your favorite Yuzu tea recipe\n- **💪 Shred City:** For people working toward a fluent body, too\n- **🐙 Server Emoji Suggestions:** Memes wanted\n- **🎮 Visual novels and games:** I admit it—we're all nerds here\n\n## 6. You can keep up with Migaku's updates\n\nPretty much all of our staff members are language learners who use Migaku software, so we're often just as anxious as the community for updates to come out—if not _more_ anxious.\n\nCompared to other language learning companies, this makes us pretty transparent. You can see a roadmap of exactly where our effort is being spent, and we post community update announcements at least once per week.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-discord-roadmap.jpeg\" width=\"2776\" height=\"1578\" alt=\"A screenshot of the Roadmap portion of Migaku's Discord Server\" \u002F>\n\n## 7. ... and more!\n\nThis has been a pretty quick overview, but there's a lot going on in our Discord community! You're just going to have to drop by and check it out 💪\n\n---\n\n## Go ahead and join the best Discord server for people who want to learn Korean 💪\n\nClick the big orange \"Join\" button down under \"You might also be interested in...\"—or the one right here. It's your ticket to fluency, friends, and a whole lot of fun!\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdiscord.gg\u002Fmigaku\" text=\"Join Migaku's Discord\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n",{"title":1479,"description":1811},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-discord","cIbM-mYL5ROAlaudA_GeVRRzxwIKSqf9PMrAlII8-oE","March 25, 2025",{"id":1830,"title":1831,"body":1832,"description":2844,"extension":1458,"meta":2845,"navigation":1469,"path":2857,"rawbody":2858,"seo":2859,"stem":2860,"__hash__":2861,"timestampUnix":2846,"slug":2847,"h1":2848,"image":2849,"tags":2855,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":2862},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-grammar.md","Basic Korean Grammar: 10 Things You Should Know",{"type":8,"value":1833,"toc":2830},[1834,1840,1843,1846,1848,1850,1867,1871,1886,1889,1900,1902,1906,1914,1935,1938,1941,1944,1969,1971,1975,1978,1981,2002,2017,2020,2037,2040,2043,2051,2053,2057,2060,2086,2093,2099,2108,2113,2116,2127,2130,2159,2168,2170,2174,2177,2197,2208,2211,2216,2223,2225,2229,2232,2238,2241,2255,2261,2264,2267,2269,2273,2280,2574,2581,2598,2604,2638,2641,2652,2655,2658,2660,2664,2667,2673,2678,2681,2683,2686,2692,2699,2702,2704,2706,2714,2717,2764,2775,2781,2783,2787,2790,2793,2801,2803,2807,2810,2821,2827],[11,1835,1836,1837,1839],{},"If you want to ",[15,1838,18],{"href":17},", you've got good taste. It's an awesome language.",[11,1841,1842],{},"... unfortunately, it's also got some pretty gnarly grammar. We'll talk about it in this post. Rather than going in depth and scaring you off, our goal is more go bounce around and give you an idea of what you're getting yourself into.",[11,1844,1845],{},"More specifically, we'll be talking about:",[37,1847],{},[40,1849],{},[56,1851,1852,1857,1859],{},[1168,1853,1854],{"bold":1170,"underline":1170},[82,1855,1856],{},"Forewarning",[267,1858],{},[11,1860,1861,1862,1866],{},"This article assumes that you're somewhat familiar with Hangul already. Most of the examples include an English transliteration or an audio sample, so you'll be able to follow along even if you know nothing about Korean... but, if you've got a minute, you might want to check out ",[15,1863,1865],{"href":1864},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-korean-hangul","our Hangul crash course"," before reading this.",[43,1868,1870],{"id":1869},"_1-all-korean-verbs-and-korean-adjectives-end-in-다-da-by-default","1. All Korean verbs (and Korean adjectives) end in ~다 (~da) by default",[11,1872,1873,1874,1877,1878,1881,1882,1885],{},"At their most basic, all Korean verbs end in ~다 (da). Take 하다 (hada) ",[544,1875],{"src":1876,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하다.mp3",", for example, which means \"to do\". Other verbs like 먹다 (meokda, \"to eat\") ",[544,1879],{"src":1880,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-먹다.mp3"," and 가다 (kada, \"to go\") ",[544,1883],{"src":1884,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가다.mp3"," follow the same rule.",[11,1887,1888],{},"The thing is, you won't really see this ~다 form unless you are looking in the dictionary. Korean verbs have many forms—we'll talk about some of them down below, in the section on verb conjugations—but what virtually all of them have in common is that you remove ~다 and then replace it with something else.",[11,1890,1891,1892,1895,1896,1899],{},"Interestingly—and this may be a bit difficult to wrap your mind around at first—is that Korean adjectives function almost like verbs. If you look at a few common adjectives like 작다 (jakda, \"to be small\")  ",[544,1893],{"src":1894,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-작다.mp3"," or 예쁘다 (yeppeuda, \"to be pretty\")  ",[544,1897],{"src":1898,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-예쁘다.mp3",", you'll see that they also end in ~다. As you continue with your Korean studies, you'll also find that many of the same patterns you apply to Korean verbs can also be applied to Korean adjectives.",[40,1901],{},[43,1903,1905],{"id":1904},"_2-the-sentence-structure-of-korean-is-opposite-of-englishs-verbs-come-last","2. The sentence structure of Korean is \"opposite\" of English's (verbs come last!)",[11,1907,1908,1909,1201],{},"The three basic elements of a sentence are ",[15,1910,1913],{"href":1911,"rel":1912},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSubject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%93verb_word_order",[30],"the subject, the verb, and the object",[419,1915,1916,1923,1929],{},[79,1917,1918,1919,1922],{},"The ",[244,1920,1921],{},"s","ubject does or is the action of the verb",[79,1924,1918,1925,1928],{},[244,1926,1927],{},"v","erb is what the thing that is being done",[79,1930,1918,1931,1934],{},[244,1932,1933],{},"o","bject is what the verb is done to",[11,1936,1937],{},"English is what's known as an SVO language, meaning that verbs usually come in the middle of the sentence. While we have basic sentences like \"he plays\" or \"she eats\", if the sentence is even a little complex, you'll see a bunch of stuff come after the verb: \"he plays in the park\" or \"she eats a delicious pizza.\"",[11,1939,1940],{},"Korean is what's known as an SOV language, meaning that, for the most part, every Korean sentence is going to end in a verb. This has quite a few implications on how the parts of Korean sentences get structured, and it'll take time to get used to.",[11,1942,1943],{},"For now, though, here's a basic sentence with a subject (the teacher), a verb (reads) and an object (a book). I'll underline the verb and bold the object so you can see how the English sentence maps to the Korean one.",[419,1945,1946,1955],{},[79,1947,1948,1949,271,1952,1201],{},"The teacher ",[244,1950,1951],{},"reads",[82,1953,1954],{},"a book",[79,1956,1957,1958,1961,1962,1965,1966],{},"선생님은 ",[82,1959,1960],{},"책","을 ",[244,1963,1964],{},"읽습니다",".  ",[544,1967],{"src":1968,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선생님은 책을 읽습니다..mp3",[40,1970],{},[43,1972,1974],{"id":1973},"_3-korean-particles-attach-to-words-to-show-the-role-they-play-in-a-sentence","3. Korean particles attach to words to show the role they play in a sentence",[11,1976,1977],{},"Grammatical particles are small but mighty labels that play a crucial role in Korean sentence structure. You can think of them as being like linguistic signposts that guide listeners and readers by indicating the role each word is playing within a sentence.",[11,1979,1980],{},"There are actually two particles used in that example sentence we looked at above:",[419,1982,1983,1996,1999],{},[79,1984,1985,1986,1989,1990,1993,1994],{},"선생님",[244,1987,1988],{},"은"," 책",[244,1991,1992],{},"을"," 읽습니다.  ",[544,1995],{"src":1968,":type":547},[79,1997,1998],{},"은\u002F는 (eun\u002Fneun) attaches to the topic of the sentence (the thing you are talking about)",[79,2000,2001],{},"을\u002F를 (eul\u002Fleul) attaches to the direct object of the sentence (the thing you are doing an action to)",[11,2003,2004,2005,2008,2009,2012,2013,2016],{},"It might help to think of Korean particles as being kind of like ",[86,2006,2007],{},"post","positions. In English, we havee ",[86,2010,2011],{},"pre","positions—words like \"in\" or \"at\" that we place before locations in order to show where something takes place. Korean particles are mechanically similar, but (a) they go ",[86,2014,2015],{},"after"," the word they are related to, and (b) they can do much, much more than just indicate a location.",[11,2018,2019],{},"Here are a few more basic particles:",[76,2021,2022,2025,2028,2031,2034],{},[79,2023,2024],{},"이\u002F가 (i\u002Fga): Marks the subject of a sentence",[79,2026,2027],{},"에 (e): Shows direction and time",[79,2029,2030],{},"의 (ui): Indicates possession, similar to \" 's \" or \"of in English",[79,2032,2033],{},"도 (do): Means \"also\"",[79,2035,2036],{},"에서 (eseo): Indicates where an action takes place",[11,2038,2039],{},"Particles will be a bit difficult at first because we don't really have anything like them in English and you aren't used to \"tagging\" every word in your sentence to show its purpose. Once you get them down, though, you'll find that the particles allow Korean Korean speakers a significant amount of flexibility in how they structure sentences. You'll appreciate them some day!",[11,2041,2042],{},"Two quick notes:",[419,2044,2045,2048],{},[79,2046,2047],{},"Many particles have two shapes—notice 을\u002F를 above. They mean the same thing, but 을 is used with words that end in a consonant, while 를 us used with words that end in a vowel.",[79,2049,2050],{},"Most particles appear in a variety of grammar points, and this can make it seem like they have multiple different meanings; the above list is a bit of an oversimplification",[40,2052],{},[43,2054,2056],{"id":2055},"_4-a-lot-of-korean-grammar-rules-are-actually-just-verb-conjugations","4. A lot of Korean grammar rules are actually just verb conjugations",[11,2058,2059],{},"Prepare yourself—I'm going to throw a pair of big linguistic words at you:",[419,2061,2062,2071],{},[79,2063,2064,2065,2070],{},"English is an ",[15,2066,2069],{"href":2067,"rel":2068},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FAnalytic_language",[30],"analytic language",", meaning that our words don't have many forms and word order is very important",[79,2072,2073,2074,2079,2080,2085],{},"Korean is a ",[15,2075,2078],{"href":2076,"rel":2077},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSynthetic_language",[30],"synthetic language",", meaning that words have many (",[15,2081,2084],{"href":2082,"rel":2083},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.verbix.com\u002Fwebverbix\u002Fkorean\u002F%EA%B0%80%EB%8B%A4",[30],"many!",") forms and word order is more flexible",[11,2087,2088,2089,2092],{},"If you're thinking, ",[86,2090,2091],{},"well, actually, English verbs can change quite a bit...","—check this out:",[178,2094],{"src":2095,"width":2096,"height":2097,"alt":2098},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean-verbs-kada.jpeg",1376,1072,"A screenshot from Verbix, showing the various conjugations of 가다 (kada)",[11,2100,2101,2102,2107],{},"Yeah. ",[244,2103,2104],{},[86,2105,2106],{},"That's"," a lot of forms.",[11,2109,2110],{},[86,2111,2112],{},"(Quick note: This isn't actually as scary as it looks. Korean's patterns are very regular, so you basically only need to learn each one once and then you can use it for every verb. It's still a lot, but it's doable!)",[11,2114,2115],{},"And, furthermore, while English verbs only really conjugate (change forms) to show tense:",[419,2117,2118,2121,2124],{},[79,2119,2120],{},"I go",[79,2122,2123],{},"I went",[79,2125,2126],{},"I'm going",[11,2128,2129],{},"But Korean has verb forms for all sorts of things. For example, the below example sentences contain many different English words... but the Korean translation is simply one of the forms of 가다 (kada, \"to go\"). In other words, Korean can often convey in one word what English needs several to do.",[419,2131,2132,2141,2150],{},[79,2133,2134,2135,271,2138,2140],{},"갈까 해요. ",[544,2136],{"src":2137,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-갈까 해요..mp3",[267,2139],{}," I'm thinking of going.",[79,2142,2143,2144,271,2147,2149],{},"가면... ",[544,2145],{"src":2146,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가면..mp3",[267,2148],{}," If I go...",[79,2151,2152,2153,271,2156,2158],{},"가야 돼요. ",[544,2154],{"src":2155,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가야 돼요..mp3",[267,2157],{}," I have to go.",[56,2160,2161],{},[11,2162,2163,2164,2167],{},"If you take one thing from this blog post—remember that verbs are ",[86,2165,2166],{},"really"," important in Korean.",[40,2169],{},[43,2171,2173],{"id":2172},"_5-korean-pronouns-i-you-etc-often-get-dropped","5. Korean pronouns (I, you, etc) often get dropped",[11,2175,2176],{},"Re-emphasizing that the Korean word for \"to go\" is 가다 (kada), let's take a closer look at those three example sentences. Your job now is to find the word \"I\" in the Korean sentences.",[419,2178,2179,2185,2191],{},[79,2180,2134,2181,271,2183,2140],{},[544,2182],{"src":2137,":type":547},[267,2184],{},[79,2186,2143,2187,271,2189,2149],{},[544,2188],{"src":2146,":type":547},[267,2190],{},[79,2192,2152,2193,271,2195,2158],{},[544,2194],{"src":2155,":type":547},[267,2196],{},[11,2198,2199,2200,2203,2204,2207],{},"As a hint, Korean has two main words that mean \"I\": 나 (na) ",[544,2201],{"src":2202,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나.mp3"," is more casual, and 저 (cheo) ",[544,2205],{"src":2206,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-저.mp3"," is more polite. With this in mind, take another look at those Korean examples.",[11,2209,2210],{},"Can't find them?",[11,2212,2213,1201],{},[86,2214,2215],{},"Exactly",[11,2217,2218,2219,2222],{},"This is a bit more advanced, but Koreans make a habit of omitting things from a sentence if they are made obvious by context. You don't ",[86,2220,2221],{},"usually"," need to use the word \"I\", and I'm not even going to tell you how to say \"you\" in Korean because you won't really see it: it's kind of rude to use.",[40,2224],{},[43,2226,2228],{"id":2227},"_6-in-korean-politeness-is-kind-of-like-a-verb-tense","6. In Korean, politeness is kind of like a verb tense",[11,2230,2231],{},"... speaking of rudeness, politeness is a much bigger deal in Korean than it is in English. It's not just your tone of voice or the inclusion of words like \"please\", either—in Korean, verbs end in different ways to show different levels of formality and politeness:",[178,2233],{"src":2234,"width":2235,"height":2236,"alt":2237},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-politeness-formality.webp",1200,887,"A screenshot from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing the four main different speech levels in Korean",[11,2239,2240],{},"The above table shows the four main speech levels of Korean:",[419,2242,2243,2246,2249,2252],{},[79,2244,2245],{},"Some language is formal (격식, gyeogsig) and polite (존댓말, jondaenmal); you'd use this in the workplace, with customers, and so forth",[79,2247,2248],{},"Some language is formal (격식, gyeogsig) but neutral\u002Fnot intentionally polite (반말, banmal); you see this in places like newspapers",[79,2250,2251],{},"Some language is informal (비격식, bigyeogsig) but polite (존댓말, jondaenmal); this is the most commonly used speech level, so long as you're not in a situation that demands formality (like work)",[79,2253,2254],{},"Some language is informal (비격식, bigyeogsig) and neutral\u002Fnot intentionally polite (반말, banmal); this is only used between close friends, and can be very rude\u002Fsound aggressive if used inappropriately",[11,2256,2257,2258,2260],{},"What's more, you can add the honorific particle 시 (si) to many of these verb forms to make them... erm... ",[86,2259,778],{}," (which is kind of like another level of polite).",[11,2262,2263],{},"We could write an entire blog post on how politeness, formality, and honorifics works in Korean. For now, just know that politeness is as mandatory in Korean as past tense is in English: with every single sentence that comes out of your mouth, you must indicate the relation between you and the person you're talking to by using an appropriate speech level",[11,2265,2266],{},"It's a bit scary, and it'll be new to you as an English speaker, but you'll gradually develop a feel for Korean's various speech levels as you spend more time interacting with the language and its media.",[40,2268],{},[43,2270,2272],{"id":2271},"_7-numbers-in-korean-work-a-bit-differently-than-numbers-in-english","7. Numbers in Korean work a bit differently than numbers in English",[11,2274,2275,2276,2279],{},"I'm going to be honest—Korean numbers are hard. That's partially because Korean actually has ",[86,2277,2278],{},"two"," sets of numbers:",[1006,2281,2282,2304],{},[1009,2283,2284],{},[1012,2285,2286,2289,2292,2295,2297,2300,2302],{},[1015,2287,2288],{},"#",[1015,2290,2291],{},"Native Korean #",[1015,2293,2294],{},"Romanization",[1015,2296,305],{},[1015,2298,2299],{},"Sino-Korean #",[1015,2301,2294],{},[1015,2303,305],{},[1027,2305,2306,2333,2360,2386,2413,2439,2466,2493,2520,2547],{},[1012,2307,2308,2311,2314,2317,2322,2325,2328],{},[1032,2309,2310],{},"1",[1032,2312,2313],{},"하나",[1032,2315,2316],{},"hana",[1032,2318,2319],{},[544,2320],{"src":2321,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하나.mp3",[1032,2323,2324],{},"일",[1032,2326,2327],{},"il",[1032,2329,2330],{},[544,2331],{"src":2332,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-일.mp3",[1012,2334,2335,2338,2341,2344,2349,2352,2355],{},[1032,2336,2337],{},"2",[1032,2339,2340],{},"둘",[1032,2342,2343],{},"dul",[1032,2345,2346],{},[544,2347],{"src":2348,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-둘.mp3",[1032,2350,2351],{},"이",[1032,2353,2354],{},"i",[1032,2356,2357],{},[544,2358],{"src":2359,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이.mp3",[1012,2361,2362,2364,2367,2370,2375,2378,2381],{},[1032,2363,547],{},[1032,2365,2366],{},"셋",[1032,2368,2369],{},"set",[1032,2371,2372],{},[544,2373],{"src":2374,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-셋.mp3",[1032,2376,2377],{},"삼",[1032,2379,2380],{},"sam",[1032,2382,2383],{},[544,2384],{"src":2385,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-삼.mp3",[1012,2387,2388,2391,2394,2397,2402,2405,2408],{},[1032,2389,2390],{},"4",[1032,2392,2393],{},"넷",[1032,2395,2396],{},"net",[1032,2398,2399],{},[544,2400],{"src":2401,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-넷.mp3",[1032,2403,2404],{},"사",[1032,2406,2407],{},"sa",[1032,2409,2410],{},[544,2411],{"src":2412,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-사.mp3",[1012,2414,2415,2418,2421,2424,2429,2432,2434],{},[1032,2416,2417],{},"5",[1032,2419,2420],{},"다섯",[1032,2422,2423],{},"daseot",[1032,2425,2426],{},[544,2427],{"src":2428,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다섯.mp3",[1032,2430,2431],{},"오",[1032,2433,1933],{},[1032,2435,2436],{},[544,2437],{"src":2438,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오.mp3",[1012,2440,2441,2444,2447,2450,2455,2458,2461],{},[1032,2442,2443],{},"6",[1032,2445,2446],{},"여섯",[1032,2448,2449],{},"yeoseot",[1032,2451,2452],{},[544,2453],{"src":2454,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-여섯.mp3",[1032,2456,2457],{},"육",[1032,2459,2460],{},"yuk",[1032,2462,2463],{},[544,2464],{"src":2465,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-육.mp3",[1012,2467,2468,2471,2474,2477,2482,2485,2488],{},[1032,2469,2470],{},"7",[1032,2472,2473],{},"일곱",[1032,2475,2476],{},"ilgop",[1032,2478,2479],{},[544,2480],{"src":2481,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-일곱.mp3",[1032,2483,2484],{},"칠",[1032,2486,2487],{},"chil",[1032,2489,2490],{},[544,2491],{"src":2492,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-칠.mp3",[1012,2494,2495,2498,2501,2504,2509,2512,2515],{},[1032,2496,2497],{},"8",[1032,2499,2500],{},"여덟",[1032,2502,2503],{},"yeodeol",[1032,2505,2506],{},[544,2507],{"src":2508,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-여덟.mp3",[1032,2510,2511],{},"팔",[1032,2513,2514],{},"pal",[1032,2516,2517],{},[544,2518],{"src":2519,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-팔.mp3",[1012,2521,2522,2525,2528,2531,2536,2539,2542],{},[1032,2523,2524],{},"9",[1032,2526,2527],{},"아홉",[1032,2529,2530],{},"ahop",[1032,2532,2533],{},[544,2534],{"src":2535,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아홉.mp3",[1032,2537,2538],{},"구",[1032,2540,2541],{},"gu",[1032,2543,2544],{},[544,2545],{"src":2546,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-구.mp3",[1012,2548,2549,2552,2555,2558,2563,2566,2569],{},[1032,2550,2551],{},"10",[1032,2553,2554],{},"열",[1032,2556,2557],{},"yeol",[1032,2559,2560],{},[544,2561],{"src":2562,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-열.mp3",[1032,2564,2565],{},"십",[1032,2567,2568],{},"sip",[1032,2570,2571],{},[544,2572],{"src":2573,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-십.mp3",[11,2575,2576,2577,2580],{},"Making things more difficult is the fact that the numbers by themselves aren't super useful. To count things, you need to use what are called ",[86,2578,2579],{},"counters",". Thankfully, we have counters in English, so this won't be super foreign to you:",[419,2582,2583,2586,2593],{},[79,2584,2585],{},"❌ Give me three breads.",[79,2587,2588,2589,2592],{},"✅ Give me three ",[244,2590,2591],{},"loaves"," of bread.",[79,2594,2588,2595,2592],{},[244,2596,2597],{},"pieces",[11,2599,2600,2601,893],{},"The basic formula for counting things in Korean is ",[82,2602,2603],{},"noun + number + counter",[419,2605,2606,2622],{},[79,2607,2608,2609,2612,2613,2616,2618,2619,2621],{},"학생 세 ",[244,2610,2611],{},"명","이 있어요. ",[544,2614],{"src":2615,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학생 세 명이 있어요..mp3",[267,2617],{}," There are three people. ",[267,2620],{}," 명 (myeong) is used to count people",[79,2623,2624,2625,2628,2629,2632,2634,2635,2637],{},"이 영화를 삼 ",[244,2626,2627],{},"번"," 봤어요. ",[544,2630],{"src":2631,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이 영화를 삼 번 봤어요..mp3",[267,2633],{}," I watched this movie three times. ",[267,2636],{}," 번 (peon) is used to say you did something X amount of times",[11,2639,2640],{},"If you were looking closely, you might have noticed that I slipped one more complication in there on you:",[419,2642,2643,2649],{},[79,2644,2645,2646],{},"The first example sentence features 세 (se), which is the native-Korean word for \"three\" ",[86,2647,2648],{},"(that ㅅ on the bottom of 셋 disappears when you're counting stuff)",[79,2650,2651],{},"The second sentence features 삼 (sam), which is the Sino-Korean word for \"three\"",[11,2653,2654],{},"Yeah.",[11,2656,2657],{},"You use native-Korean numbers to count some things, and Sino-Korean numbers to count other things. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why one set of numbers is used over the other, so far as I can tell, so you'll unfortunately just have to remember which is which as you go.",[40,2659],{},[43,2661,2663],{"id":2662},"_8-consuming-basic-korean-sentences-will-help-you-to-learn-vocabulary-and-grammar-points","8. Consuming basic Korean sentences will help you to learn vocabulary and grammar points",[11,2665,2666],{},"I'm not going to lie and tell you that Korean is easy to learn. This will be a lifetime endeavor for most people, and even the most serious learners aren't getting fluent in Korean in 90 days—no matter what anyone tells you.",[11,2668,2669,2670,2672],{},"What I ",[86,2671,1240],{}," tell you is that language learning is pretty simple. When you boil it down:",[56,2674,2675],{},[11,2676,2677],{},"If you consume media that you are interested, and you can make some sense of that media, you will inevitably improve. Fluency will come as a byproduct of spending a lot of time doing cool things in Korean.",[11,2679,2680],{},"And that's why we teach Korean like this in our Korean Academy course:",[178,2682],{"src":1684,"width":1685,"height":1686,"alt":1687},[11,2684,2685],{},"We teach ~300 basic Korean grammar topics and ~1,200 super common Korean words by guiding you through a series of basic sentences that get more complex as you go: each \"next\" sentence has exactly one piece of information that will be new to you. This makes the learning curve super smooth. You'll always be learning something new, from the present tense to the levels of politeness, but you'll never be overwhelmed.",[11,2687,2688,2689,2691],{},"Oh, and these aren't just ",[86,2690,1163],{}," 1,200 words, either.",[11,2693,2694,2695,2698],{},"You see, some words are used ",[86,2696,2697],{},"much"," more commonly than others: the word \"and\" appears in basically every other sentence, but you'll only see the word \"carburetor\" when you're talking about... well, carburetors. And how often do you do that? The 1,200 words we teach you are the ones that occur most commonly in Korean media—in fact, once you've learned them, you'll be able to figure out 80% of the sentences you encounter on places like Netflix or Viki.",[11,2700,2701],{},"It's kinda beautiful—and it's totally free for 10 days.",[521,2703],{"href":17,"text":976},[40,2705],{},[43,2707,2709,2710,2713],{"id":2708},"_9-you-can-actually-make-korean-adverbs","9. You can actually ",[86,2711,2712],{},"make"," Korean adverbs",[11,2715,2716],{},"Adverbs are words which can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs:",[419,2718,2719,2735,2751],{},[79,2720,2721,2722,2725,2726,271,2729,2731,2732,1201],{},"Adverb on verb: 선수는 ",[244,2723,2724],{},"빨리"," 달리고 있다. ",[544,2727],{"src":2728,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선수는 빨리 달리고 있다..mp3",[267,2730],{}," The athlete is running ",[244,2733,2734],{},"quickly",[79,2736,2737,2738,2741,2742,271,2745,2731,2747,2750],{},"Adverb on adverb: 선수는 ",[244,2739,2740],{},"정말"," 빨리 달리고 있다. ",[544,2743],{"src":2744,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선수는 정말 빨리 달리고 있다..mp3",[267,2746],{},[244,2748,2749],{},"very"," quickly.",[79,2752,2753,2754,2757,2758,271,2761,2763],{},"Adverb on adjective: 이 케이크는 ",[244,2755,2756],{},"매우"," 맛있다. ",[544,2759],{"src":2760,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이 케이크는 매우 맛있다..mp3",[267,2762],{}," This cake is extremely delicious.",[11,2765,2766,2767,2774],{},"Then, you know how you can turn English adjectives into adverbs by adding -ly ",[86,2768,2769,2770,2773],{},"(be quiet → talk quiet",[244,2771,2772],{},"ly",")","?",[11,2776,2777,2778,2780],{},"There's a similar trick for Korean adjectives ",[86,2779,207],{}," verbs—you just change -다 or -하다 to 게, -이, -히, or 으로. It's a bit trickier than English because some words take some endings but not others... but once you get a feel for how this works, you'll be able to generate tons of adverbs basically on the fly.",[40,2782],{},[43,2784,2786],{"id":2785},"_10-korean-nouns-are-thankfully-super-simple","10. Korean nouns are thankfully super simple",[11,2788,2789],{},"We got into some pretty complex stuff, so I saved the easiest one for last: Korean nouns are pretty easy to use. They don't conjugate like verbs and adjectives, and they don't even have separate singular\u002Fplural forms you need to memorize like English nouns do. You just learn the noun and you're good to use it however you need to use it.",[11,2791,2792],{},"There are only two things you really need to worry about with nouns:",[419,2794,2795,2798],{},[79,2796,2797],{},"You need to attach particles to nouns (see point 3) in order to mark the role that they are playing in your sentence",[79,2799,2800],{},"There are some situations where Korean will have two words for the same thing, one Korean and one Sino-Korean, and each word is used in different situations despite meaning basically the same thing",[40,2802],{},[43,2804,2806],{"id":2805},"wrapping-up","Wrapping up",[11,2808,2809],{},"We could write an entire blog post on pretty much each of these points—but, for the most part, this is a rough idea of what you'll be getting into with Korean. In my opinion, the most important three points are that:",[76,2811,2812,2815,2818],{},[79,2813,2814],{},"Korean sentences usually end with a verb, whereas the verb usually comes in the middle of English sentences",[79,2816,2817],{},"Word order is less important in Korean because you have to attach a grammatical particle to each word\u002Fphrase in the sentence",[79,2819,2820],{},"Korean verbs are super important, have a lot of forms, and a single Korean verb can convey what English needs several words to do",[11,2822,2823,2824,2826],{},"Good luck—and remember: the more time you spend immersing in Korean content, the more you'll enjoy the Korean learning journey; the more fun you have, and the more time you put into this, the faster you'll improve. Grammar is important, but your studies should ",[86,2825,1401],{}," the things you're doing to directly engage with Korean—not be the only thing you're doing.",[11,2828,2829],{},"Good luck!",{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":2831},[2832,2833,2834,2835,2836,2837,2838,2839,2840,2842,2843],{"id":1869,"depth":1432,"text":1870},{"id":1904,"depth":1432,"text":1905},{"id":1973,"depth":1432,"text":1974},{"id":2055,"depth":1432,"text":2056},{"id":2172,"depth":1432,"text":2173},{"id":2227,"depth":1432,"text":2228},{"id":2271,"depth":1432,"text":2272},{"id":2662,"depth":1432,"text":2663},{"id":2708,"depth":1432,"text":2841},"9. You can actually make Korean adverbs",{"id":2785,"depth":1432,"text":2786},{"id":2805,"depth":1432,"text":2806},"I'll be honest: Korean grammar is complex. Here, we'll talk about the basic Korean grammar rules you need to get started, and where to go from there.",{"timestampUnix":2846,"slug":2847,"h1":2848,"image":2849,"tags":2855},1737707398281,"learn-basic-korean-grammar","Learn These Basic Korean Grammar Rules, Then Learn Korean",{"src":2850,"width":2851,"height":2852,"alt":2853,"position":2854},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-header.jpeg",5899,3932,"A young school teacher standing in front of a desk, perhaps about to give a lesson about the most important Korean grammar points","top",[2856],"fundamentals","\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-grammar","---\ntitle: 'Basic Korean Grammar: 10 Things You Should Know'\ndescription: \"I'll be honest: Korean grammar is complex. Here, we'll talk about the basic Korean grammar rules you need to get started, and where to go from there.\"\ntimestampUnix: 1737707398281\nslug: 'learn-basic-korean-grammar'\nh1: 'Learn These Basic Korean Grammar Rules, Then Learn Korean'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-header.jpeg'\n  width: 5899\n  height: 3932\n  alt: 'A young school teacher standing in front of a desk, perhaps about to give a lesson about the most important Korean grammar points'\n  position: top\ntags:\n  - fundamentals\n---\n\nIf you want to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean), you've got good taste. It's an awesome language.\n\n... unfortunately, it's also got some pretty gnarly grammar. We'll talk about it in this post. Rather than going in depth and scaring you off, our goal is more go bounce around and give you an idea of what you're getting yourself into.\n\nMore specifically, we'll be talking about:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n> \u003CCenteredText bold underline>**Forewarning**\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\u003Cbr>\n>\n> This article assumes that you're somewhat familiar with Hangul already. Most of the examples include an English transliteration or an audio sample, so you'll be able to follow along even if you know nothing about Korean... but, if you've got a minute, you might want to check out [our Hangul crash course](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-korean-hangul) before reading this.\n\n## 1. All Korean verbs (and Korean adjectives) end in ~다 (~da) by default\n\nAt their most basic, all Korean verbs end in ~다 (da). Take 하다 (hada) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>, for example, which means \"to do\". Other verbs like 먹다 (meokda, \"to eat\") \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-먹다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> and 가다 (kada, \"to go\") \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> follow the same rule.\n\nThe thing is, you won't really see this ~다 form unless you are looking in the dictionary. Korean verbs have many forms—we'll talk about some of them down below, in the section on verb conjugations—but what virtually all of them have in common is that you remove ~다 and then replace it with something else.\n\nInterestingly—and this may be a bit difficult to wrap your mind around at first—is that Korean adjectives function almost like verbs. If you look at a few common adjectives like 작다 (jakda, \"to be small\")  \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-작다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> or 예쁘다 (yeppeuda, \"to be pretty\")  \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-예쁘다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>, you'll see that they also end in ~다. As you continue with your Korean studies, you'll also find that many of the same patterns you apply to Korean verbs can also be applied to Korean adjectives.\n\n---\n\n## 2. The sentence structure of Korean is \"opposite\" of English's (verbs come last!)\n\nThe three basic elements of a sentence are [the subject, the verb, and the object](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSubject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%93verb_word_order).\n\n- The \u003Cu>s\u003C\u002Fu>ubject does or is the action of the verb\n- The \u003Cu>v\u003C\u002Fu>erb is what the thing that is being done\n- The \u003Cu>o\u003C\u002Fu>bject is what the verb is done to\n\nEnglish is what's known as an SVO language, meaning that verbs usually come in the middle of the sentence. While we have basic sentences like \"he plays\" or \"she eats\", if the sentence is even a little complex, you'll see a bunch of stuff come after the verb: \"he plays in the park\" or \"she eats a delicious pizza.\"\n\nKorean is what's known as an SOV language, meaning that, for the most part, every Korean sentence is going to end in a verb. This has quite a few implications on how the parts of Korean sentences get structured, and it'll take time to get used to.\n\nFor now, though, here's a basic sentence with a subject (the teacher), a verb (reads) and an object (a book). I'll underline the verb and bold the object so you can see how the English sentence maps to the Korean one.\n\n- The teacher \u003Cu>reads\u003C\u002Fu> **a book**.\n- 선생님은 **책**을 \u003Cu>읽습니다\u003C\u002Fu>.  \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선생님은 책을 읽습니다..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n---\n\n## 3. Korean particles attach to words to show the role they play in a sentence\n\nGrammatical particles are small but mighty labels that play a crucial role in Korean sentence structure. You can think of them as being like linguistic signposts that guide listeners and readers by indicating the role each word is playing within a sentence.\n\nThere are actually two particles used in that example sentence we looked at above:\n\n- 선생님\u003Cu>은\u003C\u002Fu> 책\u003Cu>을\u003C\u002Fu> 읽습니다.  \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선생님은 책을 읽습니다..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n- 은\u002F는 (eun\u002Fneun) attaches to the topic of the sentence (the thing you are talking about)\n- 을\u002F를 (eul\u002Fleul) attaches to the direct object of the sentence (the thing you are doing an action to)\n\nIt might help to think of Korean particles as being kind of like *post*positions. In English, we havee *pre*positions—words like \"in\" or \"at\" that we place before locations in order to show where something takes place. Korean particles are mechanically similar, but (a) they go _after_ the word they are related to, and (b) they can do much, much more than just indicate a location.\n\nHere are a few more basic particles:\n\n1. 이\u002F가 (i\u002Fga): Marks the subject of a sentence\n2. 에 (e): Shows direction and time\n3. 의 (ui): Indicates possession, similar to \" 's \" or \"of in English\n4. 도 (do): Means \"also\"\n5. 에서 (eseo): Indicates where an action takes place\n\nParticles will be a bit difficult at first because we don't really have anything like them in English and you aren't used to \"tagging\" every word in your sentence to show its purpose. Once you get them down, though, you'll find that the particles allow Korean Korean speakers a significant amount of flexibility in how they structure sentences. You'll appreciate them some day!\n\nTwo quick notes:\n\n- Many particles have two shapes—notice 을\u002F를 above. They mean the same thing, but 을 is used with words that end in a consonant, while 를 us used with words that end in a vowel.\n\n- Most particles appear in a variety of grammar points, and this can make it seem like they have multiple different meanings; the above list is a bit of an oversimplification\n\n---\n\n## 4. A lot of Korean grammar rules are actually just verb conjugations\n\nPrepare yourself—I'm going to throw a pair of big linguistic words at you:\n\n- English is an [analytic language](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FAnalytic_language), meaning that our words don't have many forms and word order is very important\n- Korean is a [synthetic language](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSynthetic_language), meaning that words have many ([many!](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.verbix.com\u002Fwebverbix\u002Fkorean\u002F%EA%B0%80%EB%8B%A4)) forms and word order is more flexible\n\nIf you're thinking, _well, actually, English verbs can change quite a bit..._—check this out:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean-verbs-kada.jpeg\" width=\"1376\" height=\"1072\" alt=\"A screenshot from Verbix, showing the various conjugations of 가다 (kada)\" \u002F>\n\nYeah. \u003Cu>_That's_\u003C\u002Fu> a lot of forms.\n\n_(Quick note: This isn't actually as scary as it looks. Korean's patterns are very regular, so you basically only need to learn each one once and then you can use it for every verb. It's still a lot, but it's doable!)_\n\nAnd, furthermore, while English verbs only really conjugate (change forms) to show tense:\n\n- I go\n- I went\n- I'm going\n\nBut Korean has verb forms for all sorts of things. For example, the below example sentences contain many different English words... but the Korean translation is simply one of the forms of 가다 (kada, \"to go\"). In other words, Korean can often convey in one word what English needs several to do.\n\n- 갈까 해요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-갈까 해요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> I'm thinking of going.\n- 가면... \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가면..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> If I go...\n- 가야 돼요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가야 돼요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> I have to go.\n\n> If you take one thing from this blog post—remember that verbs are _really_ important in Korean.\n\n---\n\n## 5. Korean pronouns (I, you, etc) often get dropped\n\nRe-emphasizing that the Korean word for \"to go\" is 가다 (kada), let's take a closer look at those three example sentences. Your job now is to find the word \"I\" in the Korean sentences.\n\n- 갈까 해요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-갈까 해요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> I'm thinking of going.\n- 가면... \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가면..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> If I go...\n- 가야 돼요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가야 돼요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> I have to go.\n\nAs a hint, Korean has two main words that mean \"I\": 나 (na) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> is more casual, and 저 (cheo) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-저.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> is more polite. With this in mind, take another look at those Korean examples.\n\nCan't find them?\n\n_Exactly_.\n\nThis is a bit more advanced, but Koreans make a habit of omitting things from a sentence if they are made obvious by context. You don't _usually_ need to use the word \"I\", and I'm not even going to tell you how to say \"you\" in Korean because you won't really see it: it's kind of rude to use.\n\n---\n\n## 6. In Korean, politeness is kind of like a verb tense\n\n... speaking of rudeness, politeness is a much bigger deal in Korean than it is in English. It's not just your tone of voice or the inclusion of words like \"please\", either—in Korean, verbs end in different ways to show different levels of formality and politeness:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-politeness-formality.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"887\" alt=\"A screenshot from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing the four main different speech levels in Korean\" \u002F>\n\nThe above table shows the four main speech levels of Korean:\n\n- Some language is formal (격식, gyeogsig) and polite (존댓말, jondaenmal); you'd use this in the workplace, with customers, and so forth\n- Some language is formal (격식, gyeogsig) but neutral\u002Fnot intentionally polite (반말, banmal); you see this in places like newspapers\n- Some language is informal (비격식, bigyeogsig) but polite (존댓말, jondaenmal); this is the most commonly used speech level, so long as you're not in a situation that demands formality (like work)\n- Some language is informal (비격식, bigyeogsig) and neutral\u002Fnot intentionally polite (반말, banmal); this is only used between close friends, and can be very rude\u002Fsound aggressive if used inappropriately\n\nWhat's more, you can add the honorific particle 시 (si) to many of these verb forms to make them... erm... _honorific_ (which is kind of like another level of polite).\n\nWe could write an entire blog post on how politeness, formality, and honorifics works in Korean. For now, just know that politeness is as mandatory in Korean as past tense is in English: with every single sentence that comes out of your mouth, you must indicate the relation between you and the person you're talking to by using an appropriate speech level\n\nIt's a bit scary, and it'll be new to you as an English speaker, but you'll gradually develop a feel for Korean's various speech levels as you spend more time interacting with the language and its media.\n\n---\n\n## 7. Numbers in Korean work a bit differently than numbers in English\n\nI'm going to be honest—Korean numbers are hard. That's partially because Korean actually has _two_ sets of numbers:\n\n| #   | Native Korean # | Romanization | Audio                                                                  | Sino-Korean # | Romanization | Audio                                                                |\n| --- | --------------- | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| 1   | 하나            | hana         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하나.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 일            | il           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 2   | 둘              | dul          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-둘.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 이            | i            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 3   | 셋              | set          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-셋.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 삼            | sam          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-삼.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 4   | 넷              | net          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-넷.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 사            | sa           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-사.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 5   | 다섯            | daseot       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다섯.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 오            | o            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 6   | 여섯            | yeoseot      | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-여섯.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 육            | yuk          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-육.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 7   | 일곱            | ilgop        | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-일곱.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 칠            | chil         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-칠.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 8   | 여덟            | yeodeol      | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-여덟.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 팔            | pal          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-팔.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 9   | 아홉            | ahop         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아홉.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 구            | gu           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-구.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| 10  | 열              | yeol         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-열.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | 십            | sip          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-십.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n\nMaking things more difficult is the fact that the numbers by themselves aren't super useful. To count things, you need to use what are called _counters_. Thankfully, we have counters in English, so this won't be super foreign to you:\n\n- ❌ Give me three breads.\n- ✅ Give me three \u003Cu>loaves\u003C\u002Fu> of bread.\n- ✅ Give me three \u003Cu>pieces\u003C\u002Fu> of bread.\n\nThe basic formula for counting things in Korean is **noun + number + counter**:\n\n- 학생 세 \u003Cu>명\u003C\u002Fu>이 있어요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학생 세 명이 있어요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> There are three people. \u003Cbr> 명 (myeong) is used to count people\n- 이 영화를 삼 \u003Cu>번\u003C\u002Fu> 봤어요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이 영화를 삼 번 봤어요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> I watched this movie three times. \u003Cbr> 번 (peon) is used to say you did something X amount of times\n\nIf you were looking closely, you might have noticed that I slipped one more complication in there on you:\n\n- The first example sentence features 세 (se), which is the native-Korean word for \"three\" _(that ㅅ on the bottom of 셋 disappears when you're counting stuff)_\n- The second sentence features 삼 (sam), which is the Sino-Korean word for \"three\"\n\nYeah.\n\nYou use native-Korean numbers to count some things, and Sino-Korean numbers to count other things. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why one set of numbers is used over the other, so far as I can tell, so you'll unfortunately just have to remember which is which as you go.\n\n---\n\n## 8. Consuming basic Korean sentences will help you to learn vocabulary and grammar points\n\nI'm not going to lie and tell you that Korean is easy to learn. This will be a lifetime endeavor for most people, and even the most serious learners aren't getting fluent in Korean in 90 days—no matter what anyone tells you.\n\nWhat I _can_ tell you is that language learning is pretty simple. When you boil it down:\n\n> If you consume media that you are interested, and you can make some sense of that media, you will inevitably improve. Fluency will come as a byproduct of spending a lot of time doing cool things in Korean.\n\nAnd that's why we teach Korean like this in our Korean Academy course:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-plug.jpeg\" width=\"1844\" height=\"1232\" alt=\"A screenshot showing an excerpt of Migaku's Korean Academy course, explaining the usage of the subject particle.\" \u002F>\n\nWe teach ~300 basic Korean grammar topics and ~1,200 super common Korean words by guiding you through a series of basic sentences that get more complex as you go: each \"next\" sentence has exactly one piece of information that will be new to you. This makes the learning curve super smooth. You'll always be learning something new, from the present tense to the levels of politeness, but you'll never be overwhelmed.\n\nOh, and these aren't just _any_ 1,200 words, either.\n\nYou see, some words are used _much_ more commonly than others: the word \"and\" appears in basically every other sentence, but you'll only see the word \"carburetor\" when you're talking about... well, carburetors. And how often do you do that? The 1,200 words we teach you are the ones that occur most commonly in Korean media—in fact, once you've learned them, you'll be able to figure out 80% of the sentences you encounter on places like Netflix or Viki.\n\nIt's kinda beautiful—and it's totally free for 10 days.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Learn Korean with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n---\n\n## 9. You can actually _make_ Korean adverbs\n\nAdverbs are words which can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs:\n\n- Adverb on verb: 선수는 \u003Cu>빨리\u003C\u002Fu> 달리고 있다. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선수는 빨리 달리고 있다..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> The athlete is running \u003Cu>quickly\u003C\u002Fu>.\n\n- Adverb on adverb: 선수는 \u003Cu>정말\u003C\u002Fu> 빨리 달리고 있다. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선수는 정말 빨리 달리고 있다..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> The athlete is running \u003Cu>very\u003C\u002Fu> quickly.\n\n- Adverb on adjective: 이 케이크는 \u003Cu>매우\u003C\u002Fu> 맛있다. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이 케이크는 매우 맛있다..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> This cake is extremely delicious.\n\nThen, you know how you can turn English adjectives into adverbs by adding -ly _(be quiet → talk quiet\u003Cu>ly\u003C\u002Fu>)_?\n\nThere's a similar trick for Korean adjectives _and_ verbs—you just change -다 or -하다 to 게, -이, -히, or 으로. It's a bit trickier than English because some words take some endings but not others... but once you get a feel for how this works, you'll be able to generate tons of adverbs basically on the fly.\n\n---\n\n## 10. Korean nouns are thankfully super simple\n\nWe got into some pretty complex stuff, so I saved the easiest one for last: Korean nouns are pretty easy to use. They don't conjugate like verbs and adjectives, and they don't even have separate singular\u002Fplural forms you need to memorize like English nouns do. You just learn the noun and you're good to use it however you need to use it.\n\nThere are only two things you really need to worry about with nouns:\n\n- You need to attach particles to nouns (see point 3) in order to mark the role that they are playing in your sentence\n- There are some situations where Korean will have two words for the same thing, one Korean and one Sino-Korean, and each word is used in different situations despite meaning basically the same thing\n\n---\n\n## Wrapping up\n\nWe could write an entire blog post on pretty much each of these points—but, for the most part, this is a rough idea of what you'll be getting into with Korean. In my opinion, the most important three points are that:\n\n1. Korean sentences usually end with a verb, whereas the verb usually comes in the middle of English sentences\n2. Word order is less important in Korean because you have to attach a grammatical particle to each word\u002Fphrase in the sentence\n3. Korean verbs are super important, have a lot of forms, and a single Korean verb can convey what English needs several words to do\n\nGood luck—and remember: the more time you spend immersing in Korean content, the more you'll enjoy the Korean learning journey; the more fun you have, and the more time you put into this, the faster you'll improve. Grammar is important, but your studies should _complement_ the things you're doing to directly engage with Korean—not be the only thing you're doing.\n\nGood luck!\n",{"title":1831,"description":2844},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-grammar","gCeskmO_ggHeN5_q4O1BY4OB2qNuCNRFIP_2AYn-O3o","January 24, 2025",{"id":2864,"title":2865,"body":2866,"description":5074,"extension":1458,"meta":5075,"navigation":1469,"path":5085,"rawbody":5086,"seo":5087,"stem":5088,"__hash__":5089,"timestampUnix":5076,"slug":5077,"h1":5078,"image":5079,"tags":5084,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":5090},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-hangul.md","Learn Hangul: A Guide to the Korean Alphabet (With Audio!)",{"type":8,"value":2867,"toc":5049},[2868,2873,2878,2881,2883,2885,2892,2895,2898,2909,2913,2919,2922,3003,3006,3019,3026,3039,3043,3050,3062,3068,3071,3076,3084,3088,3091,3100,3105,3116,3119,3127,3130,3149,3152,3155,3157,3161,3164,3167,3175,3192,3196,3199,3207,3475,3485,3489,3492,3512,3792,3796,3799,3802,3822,3826,3829,3861,3864,4199,4280,4284,4291,4337,4343,4365,4368,4376,4379,4512,4517,4521,4524,4527,4557,4560,4574,4577,4609,4730,4733,4746,4748,4752,4755,4766,4770,4773,4776,4780,4783,4826,4830,4833,4844,4850,4853,4858,4867,4873,4884,4888,4895,4898,4907,4916,4925,4934,4943,4952,4960,4969,4978,4987,4991,4994,4997,4999,5002,5016,5019,5022,5025,5027,5030,5032,5036,5039,5044,5047],[11,2869,1836,2870,2872],{},[15,2871,18],{"href":17},", the first step is to learn the Korean alphabet, also known as Hangul. (Duh.) While the Korean language itself is difficult to learn, Hangul was actually intentionally designed to be logical and easy to learn. Folks with their eyes on Japanese or Mandarin will need to learn thousands of unique characters in order to read, but you, my friend? You're looking at twenty-four letters\u002Fsymbols.",[11,2874,2875,1201],{},[86,2876,2877],{},"Nice",[11,2879,2880],{},"In this blog post, we'll get into everything you need to know to read and write Korean:",[37,2882],{},[40,2884],{},[43,2886,2888,2889],{"id":2887},"background-info-history-of-hangul-how-the-korean-alphabet-works-andthe-catch","Background info: history of Hangul, how the Korean alphabet works, and ",[86,2890,2891],{},"the catch",[11,2893,2894],{},"Most of this blog post is going to consist of tables and audio recordings, but that information alone won't actually enable you to write anything in Korean.",[11,2896,2897],{},"Here are three things you should know if you're serious about learning Hangul:",[76,2899,2900,2903,2906],{},[79,2901,2902],{},"Chinese had a huge influence on Korean vocabulary, but Korean uses Hangul, not Chinese characters",[79,2904,2905],{},"Hangul, Korean's alphabet, works by being combined into blocks",[79,2907,2908],{},"Most Korean consonants can be pronounced in a couple different ways, depending on where they appear in a word",[62,2910,2912],{"id":2911},"_1-hanguls-origin-story-or-why-king-sejong-wanted-to-get-rid-of-chinese-characters","1. Hangul's origin story, or why King Sejong wanted to get rid of Chinese Characters",[11,2914,2915,2916],{},"Writing systems don't just appear out of nowhere: at some point, somebody somewhere has to stop and go, ",[86,2917,2918],{},"\"Gosh, it would be great if we had a physical record of this stuff so I didn't have to memorize it.\"",[11,2920,2921],{},"Hangul is no exception. In a sense, it was 2,400 years in the making.",[882,2923,2925],{"heading":2924},"2,400 years of Korean writing in ~200 words",[419,2926,2927,2933,2948,2969,2981,2993],{},[79,2928,2929,2932],{},[82,2930,2931],{},"No writing system"," — before 400 AD — Way back when, Korean was a purely oral language.",[79,2934,2935,2942,2943,1201],{},[82,2936,2937],{},[15,2938,2941],{"href":2939,"rel":2940},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHanja",[30],"Chinese characters (hanja)"," — ~400 AD (?) — China exerted massive influence on every culture in the region, and many Korean officials were bilingual: they would speak Korean, but write in literary Chinese. While Chinese influence can be found in Korea as far back as 300 BC, the earliest \"official\" instance of Chinese writing used in Korea dates is ",[15,2944,2947],{"href":2945,"rel":2946},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGwanggaeto_Stele",[30],"the Gwanggaeto Stole from 414 AD",[79,2949,2950,2953,2954,661,2959,667,2964,1201],{},[82,2951,2952],{},"Early Korean writing systems"," — ~late 600s — Chinese characters were difficult to learn and didn't fit Korean's pronunciation at all. Several attempts were made to better adapt them to Korean, such as ",[15,2955,2958],{"href":2956,"rel":2957},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FIdu_script",[30],"Idu (吏讀)",[15,2960,2963],{"href":2961,"rel":2962},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHyangchal",[30],"Hyangchal (鄕札)",[15,2965,2968],{"href":2966,"rel":2967},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGugyeol",[30],"Gugyeol (口訣)",[79,2970,2971,2974,2975,2980],{},[82,2972,2973],{},"Hangul"," — ",[15,2976,2979],{"href":2977,"rel":2978},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHunminjeongeum_Haerye",[30],"~1446"," — Saddened by the fact that that ordinary people were unable to write, King Sejong created a new writing system that was easy to learn and suitable for the sounds that existed in Korean. The alphabet was brilliant, but caught on very slowly.",[79,2982,2983,2986,2987,2992],{},[82,2984,2985],{},"Mixed script"," —  ~1446 — For a long time, Korean writing used ",[15,2988,2991],{"href":2989,"rel":2990},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGabo_Reform",[30],"a mix of both hanja and Hangul",": hanja to show what words meant, and Hangul to show the grammatical relationships between them.",[79,2994,2995,2998,2999,1201],{},[82,2996,2997],{},"Hangul, for real"," — 1894 — Hangul was not considered to be Korea's official alphabet until ",[15,3000,3002],{"href":2989,"rel":3001},[30],"the Gabo reform in ~1894",[11,3004,3005],{},"I'll skip the history lesson (expand the above box if you want it), but there are two things you should know:",[76,3007,3008,3016],{},[79,3009,3010,3011,1201],{},"Korean was written with Chinese characters for longer than it has been written in Hangul; in fact, ",[15,3012,3015],{"href":3013,"rel":3014},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSino-Korean_vocabulary",[30],"as much as 70% of Korean vocabulary comes from Chinese languages",[79,3017,3018],{},"Chinese characters just couldn't represent Korean sounds and were such a headache to learn that \"normal\" people were effectively barred from writing.",[11,3020,3021,3022,893],{},"With this in mind, when King Sejong introduced Hangul in 1446, ",[15,3023,3025],{"href":2977,"rel":3024},[30],"he said",[56,3027,3028],{},[11,3029,3030,3031,3033,3035,3036],{},"國之語音。異乎中國。與文字不相流通。故愚民。有所欲言而終不得伸其情者。多矣。予。爲此憫然。新制二十八字。欲使人人易習。便於日用矣。",[267,3032],{},[267,3034],{}," ",[86,3037,3038],{},"Because the speech of this country is different from that of China, it [the spoken language] does not match the [Chinese] letters. Therefore, even if the ignorant want to communicate, many of them in the end cannot state their concerns. Saddened by this, I have [had] 28 letters newly made. It is my wish that all the people may easily learn these letters and that [they] be convenient for daily use.",[62,3040,3042],{"id":3041},"_2-how-hangul-work-or-how-24-symbols-make-11172-unique-sounds","2. How Hangul work, or how 24 symbols make 11,172 unique sounds",[11,3044,3045,3046,3049],{},"While Hangul is commonly called the Korean alphabet, it's technically what's called a ",[86,3047,3048],{},"syllabic"," alphabet (or something along those lines; there's debate).",[419,3051,3052,3055],{},[79,3053,3054],{},"Alphabets, such as the English alphabet, work by lining up one character after another",[79,3056,3057,3058,3061],{},"Korean's \"alphabet\" works by first grouping characters up into blocks (syllables), and ",[86,3059,3060],{},"then"," lining those blocks up",[11,3063,3064,3065,3067],{},"For example, in English, we write ",[86,3066,2973],{}," like this: h→a→n→g→u→l.",[11,3069,3070],{},"But in Korean, instead of lining Hangul up one after the other, they combine them into blocks like this:",[178,3072],{"src":3073,"width":2235,"height":3074,"alt":3075},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-hangul-block.webp",724,"An image showing how Hangul characters get combined to form syllable bloks",[11,3077,3078,3079,1201],{},"And this makes the Korean alphabet incredibly flexible: The 24 Hangul can be combined to make ",[15,3080,3083],{"href":3081,"rel":3082},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHangul_consonant_and_vowel_tables#Hangul_syllables",[30],"11,172 different syllable blocks",[62,3085,3087],{"id":3086},"_3-the-hardest-part-the-korean-writing-system","3. The hardest part the Korean writing system",[11,3089,3090],{},"You're going to feel pretty awesome when you finish this article: the ability to make 11,172 different syllable blocks is a massive return on your investment of learning 24 just Hangul letters.",[11,3092,3093,3094,3099],{},"... and then you're going to go boot up your favorite k-pop song (",[15,3095,3098],{"href":3096,"rel":3097},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=p8npDG2ulKQ",[30],"here's mine",") and feel puzzled: many things that come out of the singer's mouth seemingly won't match what is written in Hangul on the screen.",[11,3101,3102,3103,1201],{},"This is ",[86,3104,2891],{},[56,3106,3107],{},[11,3108,3109,3110,3115],{},"Korean has a lot of ",[15,3111,3114],{"href":3112,"rel":3113},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikibooks.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKorean\u002FEssential_Pronunciation_Rules",[30],"sound change rules",": the pronunciation of many Hangul letters will change depending on the letter that come before or after it.",[11,3117,3118],{},"Now, before you panic, do me a favor and listen to this audio clip:",[419,3120,3121],{},[79,3122,3123,3124],{},"Better ",[544,3125],{"src":3126,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fen-better.mp3",[11,3128,3129],{},"Did you hear that?",[419,3131,3132,3139],{},[79,3133,3134,3135,3138],{},"Better is ",[86,3136,3137],{},"written"," with \"tt\"",[79,3140,3141,3142,3145,3146],{},"That \"tt\" is ",[86,3143,3144],{},"spoken"," as if it was actually \"dd\": ",[86,3147,3148],{},"bedder",[11,3150,3151],{},"When speaking quickly, Americans tend to pronounce \"t\" as \"d\" simply because it rolls off the tongue better. If you say \"better\" really fast several times in a row, your tongue will eventually get \"lazy\" and start saying \"bedder\" instead.",[11,3153,3154],{},"Korean's sound changes are the same sort of deal: small adjustments to the way a sound is made in order to make it easier to pronounce. Hangul sound changes will be annoying at first, but try not to worry about it. They'll become second nature before long.",[40,3156],{},[43,3158,3160],{"id":3159},"korean-vowels","Korean Vowels",[11,3162,3163],{},"Korean has some tricky consonants, so we're going to start off with the vowels.",[11,3165,3166],{},"Korean has:",[419,3168,3169,3172],{},[79,3170,3171],{},"10 basic vowels: ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ, ㅣ",[79,3173,3174],{},"11 complex vowels: ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅙ, ㅟ, and ㅢ",[56,3176,3177,1395,3180,3182,3184,3185,3188,3189,3191],{},[1168,3178,3179],{"bold":1170,"underline":1170},"\n Important note\n",[267,3181],{},[267,3183],{},"\n\n\nAccording to Korean spelling rules, it's illegal to write a vowel by itself. \n",[86,3186,3187],{},"(You'll go straight to jail","\n 🤠 \n",[86,3190,2773],{},"\n For this reason, you'll pretty much always see Hangul vowels paired with ㅇ, a Korean consonant that is silent when it appears in the very beginning of a syllable. Korean vowels get lonely easily, so don't leave them alone!\n",[62,3193,3195],{"id":3194},"korean-basic-vowels","Korean basic vowels",[11,3197,3198],{},"Here's how to write the ten basic Korean vowels. Notice that:",[419,3200,3201,3204],{},[79,3202,3203],{},"Some vowels, such as 아, have a left and right side",[79,3205,3206],{},"Other vowels, such as 오, have a top and bottom part",[1006,3208,3209,3229],{},[1009,3210,3211],{},[1012,3212,3213,3216,3219,3225,3227],{},[1015,3214,3215],{},"KR",[1015,3217,3218],{},"EN",[1015,3220,3221],{},[15,3222,3224],{"href":452,"rel":3223},[30],"IPA",[1015,3226,305],{},[1015,3228,321],{},[1027,3230,3231,3256,3282,3307,3332,3353,3373,3397,3421,3445],{},[1012,3232,3233,3236,3238,3242,3247],{},[1032,3234,3235],{},"아",[1032,3237,15],{},[1032,3239,3240],{},[550,3241,15],{"style":552},[1032,3243,3244],{},[544,3245],{"src":3246,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아.mp3",[1032,3248,3249,3250],{},"Like the AHH sound in ",[86,3251,3252,3253,3255],{},"f",[244,3254,15],{},"ther",[1012,3257,3258,3261,3264,3269,3274],{},[1032,3259,3260],{},"야",[1032,3262,3263],{},"ya",[1032,3265,3266],{},[550,3267,3268],{"style":552},"ja",[1032,3270,3271],{},[544,3272],{"src":3273,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-야.mp3",[1032,3275,3276,3277],{},"Like the YAH sound in ",[86,3278,3279,3281],{},[244,3280,3263],{},"cht",[1012,3283,3284,3287,3290,3293,3298],{},[1032,3285,3286],{},"어",[1032,3288,3289],{},"eo",[1032,3291,3292],{},"ʌ",[1032,3294,3295],{},[544,3296],{"src":3297,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-어.mp3",[1032,3299,3300,3301],{},"Like the AW sound in ",[86,3302,1015,3303,3306],{},[244,3304,3305],{},"ough","t",[1012,3308,3309,3312,3315,3318,3323],{},[1032,3310,3311],{},"여",[1032,3313,3314],{},"yeo",[1032,3316,3317],{},"jʌ",[1032,3319,3320],{},[544,3321],{"src":3322,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-여.mp3",[1032,3324,3325,3326],{},"Like the YAW sound in ",[86,3327,3328,3331],{},[244,3329,3330],{},"y'a","ll",[1012,3333,3334,3336,3338,3340,3344],{},[1032,3335,2351],{},[1032,3337,2354],{},[1032,3339,2354],{},[1032,3341,3342],{},[544,3343],{"src":2359,":type":547},[1032,3345,3346,3347],{},"Like the EE sound in ",[86,3348,3349,3350],{},"k",[244,3351,3352],{},"ey",[1012,3354,3355,3357,3359,3361,3365],{},[1032,3356,2431],{},[1032,3358,1933],{},[1032,3360,1933],{},[1032,3362,3363],{},[544,3364],{"src":2438,":type":547},[1032,3366,3367,3368],{},"†Like the OH sound in ",[86,3369,3370,3371],{},"n",[244,3372,1933],{},[1012,3374,3375,3378,3381,3384,3389],{},[1032,3376,3377],{},"요",[1032,3379,3380],{},"yo",[1032,3382,3383],{},"jo",[1032,3385,3386],{},[544,3387],{"src":3388,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-요.mp3",[1032,3390,3391,3392],{},"†Like the YO sound n ",[86,3393,3394,3396],{},[244,3395,3380],{},"del",[1012,3398,3399,3402,3404,3406,3411],{},[1032,3400,3401],{},"우",[1032,3403,244],{},[1032,3405,244],{},[1032,3407,3408],{},[544,3409],{"src":3410,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-우.mp3",[1032,3412,3413,3414],{},"Like the OO sound in ",[86,3415,3416,3417,3420],{},"g",[244,3418,3419],{},"oo","se",[1012,3422,3423,3426,3429,3432,3437],{},[1032,3424,3425],{},"유",[1032,3427,3428],{},"yu",[1032,3430,3431],{},"ju",[1032,3433,3434],{},[544,3435],{"src":3436,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-유.mp3",[1032,3438,3439,3440],{},"Like the YU sound in ",[86,3441,3442,3444],{},[244,3443,244],{},"niverse",[1012,3446,3447,3450,3453,3456,3461],{},[1032,3448,3449],{},"으",[1032,3451,3452],{},"eu",[1032,3454,3455],{},"ɯ",[1032,3457,3458],{},[544,3459],{"src":3460,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-으.mp3",[1032,3462,3463,3464,3468,3469,3471,3472,3474],{},"Say OO (as in ",[86,3465,3416,3466,3420],{},[244,3467,3419],{},") in front of a mirror;",[267,3470],{}," notice how your lips are sticking out? Relax them completely. ",[267,3473],{}," 으 sounds kind of like the soud you make when you get hit in the stomach.",[11,3476,3477,3478,3481,3482,3484],{},"† ",[82,3479,3480],{},"Korean pronunciation note",": English's \"oh\" sound is actually a combination of two vowels. Go stand in front of a mirror and say \"no\" very, very slowly. Notice how, halfway through the sound, your lips change shape? That's because you're transitioning from the \u002Fo\u002F vowel to the \u002Fʊ\u002F vowel. Korean 오 has ",[86,3483,1652],{}," this initial \u002Fo\u002F sound; when you say 오, it should be constant—there's no movement in your lips, mouth, or jaw.",[62,3486,3488],{"id":3487},"korean-complex-vowels","Korean complex vowels",[11,3490,3491],{},"Here's how to read and write Korean's \"complex\" vowels. While I'll try to give rough English approximations of each sound, you might find it easier to instead think of these sounds as being combinations of basic vowels, just like Koreans do:",[419,3493,3494],{},[79,3495,3496,3497],{},"To pronounce 와\n",[419,3498,3499,3502,3505],{},[79,3500,3501],{},"Start out with your lips\u002Fmouth in position to say 오",[79,3503,3504],{},"Start saying 오",[79,3506,3507,3508,3511],{},"Very quickly transition to 아, yielding one \"smooth\" ",[86,3509,3510],{},"wahh"," sound",[1006,3513,3514,3531],{},[1009,3515,3516],{},[1012,3517,3518,3520,3522,3527,3529],{},[1015,3519,3215],{},[1015,3521,3218],{},[1015,3523,3524],{},[15,3525,3224],{"href":452,"rel":3526},[30],[1015,3528,305],{},[1015,3530,321],{},[1027,3532,3533,3558,3582,3599,3617,3643,3666,3691,3714,3742,3766],{},[1012,3534,3535,3538,3541,3544,3549],{},[1032,3536,3537],{},"애",[1032,3539,3540],{},"ae",[1032,3542,3543],{},"ɛ",[1032,3545,3546],{},[544,3547],{"src":3548,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-애.mp3",[1032,3550,3551,3552],{},"Like the EHH sound in ",[86,3553,3554,3557],{},[244,3555,3556],{},"e","ver",[1012,3559,3560,3563,3566,3569,3574],{},[1032,3561,3562],{},"얘",[1032,3564,3565],{},"yae",[1032,3567,3568],{},"jɛ",[1032,3570,3571],{},[544,3572],{"src":3573,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-얘.mp3",[1032,3575,3576,3577],{},"Like the YEH sound in ",[86,3578,3579,1921],{},[244,3580,3581],{},"ye",[1012,3583,3584,3587,3589,3591,3596],{},[1032,3585,3586],{},"에",[1032,3588,3556],{},[1032,3590,3556],{},[1032,3592,3593],{},[544,3594],{"src":3595,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-에.mp3",[1032,3597,3598],{},"Nowadays, pronounced exactly like 애",[1012,3600,3601,3604,3606,3609,3614],{},[1032,3602,3603],{},"예",[1032,3605,3581],{},[1032,3607,3608],{},"je",[1032,3610,3611],{},[544,3612],{"src":3613,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-예.mp3",[1032,3615,3616],{},"Nowadays, pronounced exactly like 예",[1012,3618,3619,3622,3625,3630,3635],{},[1032,3620,3621],{},"와",[1032,3623,3624],{},"wa",[1032,3626,3627,3628],{},"w",[550,3629,15],{"style":552},[1032,3631,3632],{},[544,3633],{"src":3634,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-와.mp3",[1032,3636,3637,3638],{},"Like the WAH sound in ",[86,3639,3640,3642],{},[244,3641,3624],{},"ddle",[1012,3644,3645,3648,3651,3654,3659],{},[1032,3646,3647],{},"왜",[1032,3649,3650],{},"wae",[1032,3652,3653],{},"wɛ",[1032,3655,3656],{},[544,3657],{"src":3658,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-왜.mp3",[1032,3660,3661,3662,3665],{},"Like the word ",[86,3663,3664],{},"way",", sort of",[1012,3667,3668,3671,3674,3677,3682],{},[1032,3669,3670],{},"외",[1032,3672,3673],{},"oe",[1032,3675,3676],{},"we",[1032,3678,3679],{},[544,3680],{"src":3681,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-외.mp3",[1032,3683,3684,3685,3665],{},"Like the WEHH sound in ",[86,3686,3687,3690],{},[244,3688,3689],{},"wea","lth",[1012,3692,3693,3696,3699,3702,3707],{},[1032,3694,3695],{},"워",[1032,3697,3698],{},"wo\u002Fweo",[1032,3700,3701],{},"wʌ",[1032,3703,3704],{},[544,3705],{"src":3706,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-워.mp3",[1032,3708,3300,3709],{},[86,3710,3711,3713],{},[244,3712,3624],{},"nder",[1012,3715,3716,3719,3721,3723,3728],{},[1032,3717,3718],{},"웨",[1032,3720,3676],{},[1032,3722,3676],{},[1032,3724,3725],{},[544,3726],{"src":3727,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-웨.mp3",[1032,3729,3730,3731,661,3735,3737,3738],{},"Start with your lips puckered out, as in the OO of ",[86,3732,3416,3733,3420],{},[244,3734,3419],{},[267,3736],{}," then quickly transition to the EHH of ",[86,3739,3740,3557],{},[244,3741,3556],{},[1012,3743,3744,3747,3750,3752,3757],{},[1032,3745,3746],{},"위",[1032,3748,3749],{},"wi",[1032,3751,3749],{},[1032,3753,3754],{},[544,3755],{"src":3756,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-위.mp3",[1032,3758,3759,3760,3665],{},"Like the OO-WY sound in ",[86,3761,3762,3763],{},"ch",[244,3764,3765],{},"ewy",[1012,3767,3768,3771,3774,3777,3782],{},[1032,3769,3770],{},"의",[1032,3772,3773],{},"ui",[1032,3775,3776],{},"ɰi",[1032,3778,3779],{},[544,3780],{"src":3781,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-의.mp3",[1032,3783,3784,3785,3787,3788],{},"Make that \"punched in the stomach\" sound discussed above,",[267,3786],{}," then quickly transition to the EE sound in ",[86,3789,3349,3790],{},[244,3791,3352],{},[43,3793,3795],{"id":3794},"korean-consonants","Korean consonants",[11,3797,3798],{},"Korean has 10 \"basic\" consonants (called \"plain\" consonants), but several of those characters have a few different forms.",[11,3800,3801],{},"As such, we'll break Korean consonants into three categories:",[419,3803,3804,3810,3816],{},[79,3805,3806,3809],{},[82,3807,3808],{},"10 plain consonants",": ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅎ",[79,3811,3812,3815],{},[82,3813,3814],{},"4 aspirated consonants",": ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ",[79,3817,3818,3821],{},[82,3819,3820],{},"5 tense consonants",": ㄲ, ㅆ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅉ",[62,3823,3825],{"id":3824},"korean-plain-consonants","Korean plain consonants",[11,3827,3828],{},"Hangul consonants are kind of tricky because many of them change slightly depending on where they appear in a word. Explaining all of Korean's sound changes is beyond the scope of this post, but I have included three audio recordings for each sound so that you can hear how it's pronunciation changes from position to position:",[419,3830,3831,3841,3851],{},[79,3832,3833,3836,3837,3840],{},[82,3834,3835],{},"Word-initial audio",": When the consonant begins a syllable, as in ",[86,3838,3839],{},"ka"," (가)",[79,3842,3843,3846,3847,3850],{},[82,3844,3845],{},"Word-middle audio",": When the consonant is sandwiched between two vowels, as in ",[86,3848,3849],{},"aka"," (아가)",[79,3852,3853,3856,3857,3860],{},[82,3854,3855],{},"Word-final audio",": When the consonant ends a syllable, as in ",[86,3858,3859],{},"ak"," (악)",[11,3862,3863],{},"Some consonants also undergo a sound shift if certain letters come before or after them, and we'll cover the main situations where that happens in the next two sections.",[1006,3865,3866,3899],{},[1009,3867,3868],{},[1012,3869,3870,3872,3874,3882,3887,3892,3897],{},[1015,3871,3215],{},[1015,3873,3218],{},[1015,3875,3876,271,3879,3881],{},[15,3877,3224],{"href":452,"rel":3878},[30],[267,3880],{}," (syllable initial\u002Fword middle\u002Fsyllable end)",[1015,3883,305,3884,3886],{},[267,3885],{}," (syllable initial)",[1015,3888,305,3889,3891],{},[267,3890],{}," (word middle)",[1015,3893,305,3894,3896],{},[267,3895],{}," (syllable end)",[1015,3898,321],{},[1027,3900,3901,3931,3957,3986,4016,4044,4073,4099,4132,4161],{},[1012,3902,3903,3906,3909,3912,3917,3922,3928],{},[1032,3904,3905],{},"ㄱ",[1032,3907,3908],{},"k\u002Fg",[1032,3910,3911],{},"k, g, k̚",[1032,3913,3914],{},[544,3915],{"src":3916,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가.mp3",[1032,3918,3919],{},[544,3920],{"src":3921,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아가.mp3",[1032,3923,3924,3927],{},[544,3925],{"src":3926,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-악.mp3"," †",[1032,3929,3930],{},"The same K\u002FG as in English",[1012,3932,3933,3936,3938,3940,3944,3949,3954],{},[1032,3934,3935],{},"ㄴ",[1032,3937,3370],{},[1032,3939,3370],{},[1032,3941,3942],{},[544,3943],{"src":2202,":type":547},[1032,3945,3946],{},[544,3947],{"src":3948,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아나.mp3",[1032,3950,3951],{},[544,3952],{"src":3953,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-안.mp3",[1032,3955,3956],{},"The same N sound that your'e used to from English",[1012,3958,3959,3962,3965,3968,3973,3978,3983],{},[1032,3960,3961],{},"ㄷ",[1032,3963,3964],{},"t\u002Fd",[1032,3966,3967],{},"t, d, t̚",[1032,3969,3970],{},[544,3971],{"src":3972,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다.mp3",[1032,3974,3975],{},[544,3976],{"src":3977,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아다.mp3",[1032,3979,3980,3927],{},[544,3981],{"src":3982,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앋.mp3",[1032,3984,3985],{},"The same T\u002FD as in English",[1012,3987,3988,3991,3994,3997,4002,4008,4013],{},[1032,3989,3990],{},"ㄹ",[1032,3992,3993],{},"r\u002Fl",[1032,3995,3996],{},"ɾ~l",[1032,3998,3999],{},[544,4000],{"src":4001,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-라.mp3",[1032,4003,4004,4007],{},[544,4005],{"src":4006,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아라.mp3"," ‡",[1032,4009,4010],{},[544,4011],{"src":4012,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-_알.mp3",[1032,4014,4015],{},"See pronunciation note ‡ below",[1012,4017,4018,4021,4024,4026,4031,4036,4041],{},[1032,4019,4020],{},"ㅁ",[1032,4022,4023],{},"m",[1032,4025,4023],{},[1032,4027,4028],{},[544,4029],{"src":4030,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-마.mp3",[1032,4032,4033],{},[544,4034],{"src":4035,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아마.mp3",[1032,4037,4038],{},[544,4039],{"src":4040,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-암.mp3",[1032,4042,4043],{},"Nothing special here, just the same M you know and love",[1012,4045,4046,4049,4052,4055,4060,4065,4070],{},[1032,4047,4048],{},"ㅂ",[1032,4050,4051],{},"p\u002Fb",[1032,4053,4054],{},"p, b, p̚",[1032,4056,4057],{},[544,4058],{"src":4059,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바2.mp3",[1032,4061,4062],{},[544,4063],{"src":4064,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아바.mp3",[1032,4066,4067,3927],{},[544,4068],{"src":4069,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-압.mp3",[1032,4071,4072],{},"The same P\u002FB sound as in English",[1012,4074,4075,4078,4080,4082,4086,4091,4096],{},[1032,4076,4077],{},"ㅅ",[1032,4079,1921],{},[1032,4081,1921],{},[1032,4083,4084],{},[544,4085],{"src":2412,":type":547},[1032,4087,4088],{},[544,4089],{"src":4090,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아사.mp3",[1032,4092,4093,3927],{},[544,4094],{"src":4095,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앗.mp3",[1032,4097,4098],{},"The same S as in English, but a bit more \"breathy\"",[1012,4100,4101,4104,4107,4110,4113,4118,4123],{},[1032,4102,4103],{},"ㅇ",[1032,4105,4106],{},"ng",[1032,4108,4109],{},"N\u002FA, ŋ",[1032,4111,4112],{},"see note →",[1032,4114,4115],{},[544,4116],{"src":4117,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앙아.mp3",[1032,4119,4120],{},[544,4121],{"src":4122,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앙.mp3",[1032,4124,4125,4126,4128,4129],{},"ㅇ is silent at the end of a syllable, ",[267,4127],{}," otherwise it sounds like the NG in ",[86,4130,4131],{},"king",[1012,4133,4134,4137,4140,4143,4148,4153,4158],{},[1032,4135,4136],{},"ㅈ",[1032,4138,4139],{},"ch\u002Fj",[1032,4141,4142],{},"t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t̚",[1032,4144,4145],{},[544,4146],{"src":4147,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-자.mp3",[1032,4149,4150],{},[544,4151],{"src":4152,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아자.mp3",[1032,4154,4155],{},[544,4156],{"src":4157,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앚.mp3",[1032,4159,4160],{},"See pronunciation note ∆",[1012,4162,4163,4166,4169,4172,4177,4182,4187],{},[1032,4164,4165],{},"ㅎ",[1032,4167,4168],{},"h",[1032,4170,4171],{},"h, h, t̚",[1032,4173,4174],{},[544,4175],{"src":4176,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하.mp3",[1032,4178,4179],{},[544,4180],{"src":4181,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아하.mp3",[1032,4183,4184],{},[544,4185],{"src":4186,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-_앟.mp3",[1032,4188,4189,4190,4192,4193,4195,4196,2773],{},"In the start of a syllable or middle of a word, ㅎ is just a normal H sound. ",[267,4191],{}," At the end of a syllable, it becomes an unreleased T (see † below)... ",[267,4194],{}," OR blends with the consonant that comes after it (see next section on ",[86,4197,4198],{},"aspirated consonants",[882,4200,4202,4230,4257],{"heading":4201},"† ‡ ∆ Nerdy pronunciation notes",[11,4203,3477,4204,4207,4208,4213,4214,4217,4218,4221,4222,4225,4226,4229],{},[82,4205,4206],{},"Syllable-ending consonants",": What you're hearing here is what's called ",[15,4209,4212],{"href":4210,"rel":4211},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FNo_audible_release",[30],"an unreleased consonant",", which is a fancy word for something you do completely naturally in English already. Do me a favor and say ",[86,4215,4216],{},"pear"," out loud, holding your hand in front of your mouth. Notice how a big explosion of air hits your hand when you say P? Now say ",[86,4219,4220],{},"catnip",". No explosion! You say something like ",[86,4223,4224],{},"catnihh(p)",", but definitely don't say ",[86,4227,4228],{},"catniPPUH",". This \"catnip\" P is unreleased, and just like the ㅂ in 압 (ap). The same thing happens with several other Korean consonants when they occur at the end of a syllable—ㄷ (t\u002Fd), ㄱ (k\u002Fg), ㅅ (s), ㅈ (ts), or ㅎ (h)—get your mouth in position to make the sound, but block airflow instead of releasing it.",[11,4231,4232,4233,4236,4237,4246,4247,4252,4253,4256],{},"‡ ",[82,4234,4235],{},"The Korean L\u002FR sound",": Korean has two sounds that correspond to ㄹ. The first, occurring when ㄹ begins or ends a syllable, is called ",[15,4238,4241,4242,4245],{"href":4239,"rel":4240},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FRetroflex_consonant",[30],"the ",[86,4243,4244],{},"retroflex"," L sound",". To make the retroflex L sound, simply lift the tip of your straight tongue up and back toward the middle of the roof of your mouth and say L. The second L sound, occurring when ㄹ is sandwiched between two vowels, is called ",[15,4248,4251],{"href":4249,"rel":4250},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FVoiced_dental_and_alveolar_taps_and_flaps",[30],"the alveolar tap",". This is the sound Americans make when two T's appear in the middle of a word (as shown above with ",[86,4254,4255],{},"better","), and it will probably feel more like a fast T or D sound than an L sound to you.",[11,4258,4259,4260,4263,4264,4269,4270,4275,4276,4279],{},"∆ ",[82,4261,4262],{},"Palatalization, or English vs Korean CH",": Palatalization refers to your tongue approaching the middle of your mouth, and ",[15,4265,4268],{"href":4266,"rel":4267},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FPostalveolar_consonant#Tongue_shape",[30],"there are three \"flavors\" of palatalized sounds",": (1) those in which the tip of the tongue bends up and back to the roof of the mouth, (2) those in which ",[15,4271,4274],{"href":4272,"rel":4273},"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.britannica.com\u002F47\u002F4347-050-32F3830A\u002FDiagram-human-vocal-organs-location-places-speech.jpg",[30],"the blade of your tongue"," raises up to the roof of your mouth, as with English's SH and CH sounds, and (3) those in which the middle of your tongue rises toward the roof of your mouth. Korean ㅈ belongs to this third category of sounds. To make the Korean CH sound, rest the tip of your tongue down behind your lower-back teeth, raise the middle of your tongue up toward the top of your mouth, and say ",[86,4277,4278],{},"CH",". If you hold your hand in front of your mouth and say English CH vs Korean CH, you'll notice that the explosion of air hits your hand differently.",[62,4281,4283],{"id":4282},"korean-aspirated-consonants","Korean aspirated consonants",[11,4285,4286,4287,4290],{},"The second type of Korean consonants are called ",[86,4288,4289],{},"aspirated"," consonants. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of aspiration, hold your hand in front of your mouth and say these words for me:",[419,4292,4293,4309,4323],{},[79,4294,4295,4298,4299,4302,4303,2773],{},[86,4296,4297],{},"Kite"," vs ",[86,4300,4301],{},"sky"," (or ",[86,4304,4305,4306,4308],{},"ma",[244,4307,3349],{},"ing",[79,4310,4311,4298,4314,4302,4317,2773],{},[86,4312,4313],{},"Tie",[86,4315,4316],{},"sty",[86,4318,4319,4320,4322],{},"al",[244,4321,3306],{},"ogether",[79,4324,4325,4298,4328,4302,4331,2773],{},[86,4326,4327],{},"Pie",[86,4329,4330],{},"spy",[86,4332,4333,4334,4308],{},"sto",[244,4335,4336],{},"pp",[11,4338,4339,4340,4342],{},"That puff of air that hit your hand when you said kite, tie, and pie? ",[86,4341,2106],{}," aspiration.",[419,4344,4345,4348,4355],{},[79,4346,4347],{},"Korean's plain consonants are often somewhat aspirated (it just kinda slips out)",[79,4349,4350,4351,4354],{},"Korean's aspirated consonants are ",[86,4352,4353],{},"super"," aspirated—their defining characteristic is a kind of obnoxious puff of air",[79,4356,4357,4358,4360,4361,4364],{},"Compare 바 ",[544,4359],{"src":4059,":type":547}," and 파 ",[544,4362],{"src":4363,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-파.mp3",": they're both a P sound, but 파 is much breathier than 바",[11,4366,4367],{},"You'll make aspirated consonants in two situations:",[419,4369,4370,4373],{},[79,4371,4372],{},"When you see one of the four aspirated consonants: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, or ㅊ",[79,4374,4375],{},"When ㅎ ends a syllable, and the next syllable begins with ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, or ㅎ",[11,4377,4378],{},"And with that, here are the next four Hangul consonants:",[1006,4380,4381,4411],{},[1009,4382,4383],{},[1012,4384,4385,4387,4390,4392,4400,4405,4409],{},[1015,4386,3215],{},[1015,4388,4389],{},"KR plain counterpart",[1015,4391,3218],{},[1015,4393,4394,271,4397,4399],{},[15,4395,3224],{"href":452,"rel":4396},[30],[267,4398],{}," (syllable initial & word middle \u002F syllable end)",[1015,4401,305,4402,4404],{},[267,4403],{}," (syllable initial \u002F word middle)",[1015,4406,305,4407,3896],{},[267,4408],{},[1015,4410,321],{},[1027,4412,4413,4438,4463,4487],{},[1012,4414,4415,4418,4420,4422,4425,4430,4435],{},[1032,4416,4417],{},"ㅋ",[1032,4419,3905],{},[1032,4421,3349],{},[1032,4423,4424],{},"kʰ, k̚",[1032,4426,4427],{},[544,4428],{"src":4429,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-카.mp3",[1032,4431,4432,3927],{},[544,4433],{"src":4434,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앜.mp3",[1032,4436,4437],{},"A very breathy K sound",[1012,4439,4440,4443,4445,4447,4450,4455,4460],{},[1032,4441,4442],{},"ㅌ",[1032,4444,3961],{},[1032,4446,3306],{},[1032,4448,4449],{},"tʰ, t̚",[1032,4451,4452],{},[544,4453],{"src":4454,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-타.mp3",[1032,4456,4457,3927],{},[544,4458],{"src":4459,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앝.mp3",[1032,4461,4462],{},"A very breathy T sound",[1012,4464,4465,4468,4470,4472,4475,4479,4484],{},[1032,4466,4467],{},"ㅍ",[1032,4469,4048],{},[1032,4471,11],{},[1032,4473,4474],{},"pʰ, p̚",[1032,4476,4477],{},[544,4478],{"src":4363,":type":547},[1032,4480,4481,3927],{},[544,4482],{"src":4483,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앞.mp3",[1032,4485,4486],{},"A very breathy P sound",[1012,4488,4489,4492,4494,4496,4499,4504,4509],{},[1032,4490,4491],{},"ㅊ",[1032,4493,4136],{},[1032,4495,3762],{},[1032,4497,4498],{},"tɕʰ, t̚",[1032,4500,4501],{},[544,4502],{"src":4503,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-차.mp3",[1032,4505,4506,3927],{},[544,4507],{"src":4508,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앛.mp3",[1032,4510,4511],{},"A very breathy CH sound",[11,4513,4514,4516],{},[82,4515,3480],{},": Unlike their plain counterparts, Korean aspirated consonants (aka strong consonants) sound the same, whether they appear in the beginning of a syllable or the middle of a word. However, they still become unreleased (see † from the plain consonants section) when they occur at the end of a syllable.",[62,4518,4520],{"id":4519},"korean-double-consonants","Korean double consonants",[11,4522,4523],{},"Last but not least, we have the Korean double consonants—sounds that are notorious because foreigners have trouble picking them out, but they're important and sound very different to Koreans. (Thankfully, they're easy to recognize in writing, because they're literally a doubled version of the plain consonant.)",[11,4525,4526],{},"Before we say anything about these sounds, please compare them with their plain counterparts side-by-side and see what you notice:",[419,4528,4529,4543],{},[79,4530,4531],{},[76,4532,4533],{},[79,4534,4535,4536,4539,4540],{},"바바 (paba) ",[544,4537],{"src":4538,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바바2.mp3"," vs 빠빠 (ppappa) ",[544,4541],{"src":4542,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠빠.mp3",[79,4544,4545],{},[76,4546,4547],{"start":1432},[79,4548,4549,4550,4553,4554],{},"바브다 (pabuda, nonsense word) ",[544,4551],{"src":4552,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바브다.mp3"," vs 바쁘다 (pappuda, \"to be busy\") ",[544,4555],{"src":4556,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바쁘다2.mp3",[11,4558,4559],{},"When I listen carefully, several things stick out at me:",[419,4561,4562,4565,4568,4571],{},[79,4563,4564],{},"From #1: 바 has a little bit of aspiration, but 빠 has absolutely no aspiration",[79,4566,4567],{},"From #1: 바 sounds when it is at the beginning of a word or the middle of a word; 쁘 sounds the same in both places",[79,4569,4570],{},"From #2: In 바브다, the speaker transitions directly from 바 to 브; in 바쁘다, there is a small gap between 바 and 쁘",[79,4572,4573],{},"From #2: The vowel following 쁘 in 바쁘다 is higher in pitch than the vowel following 브 in 바브다",[11,4575,4576],{},"In linguistics, the double double consonants are also called \"tense\" consonants, which means that you tense\u002Ftighten muscles in your lips\u002Fmouth\u002Fthroat when saying them, resulting in an increased pressure.",[11,4578,4579,4580,4585,4586,4590,4591,4594,4595,4598,4599,4603,4604,4608],{},"We actually have a tense vowel in English: ",[86,4581,1921,4582,3306],{},[244,4583,4584],{},"ea"," is tense, and ",[86,4587,1921,4588,3306],{},[244,4589,2354],{}," is lax. If you say them both quite slowly, you should notice that when you say ",[86,4592,4593],{},"seat",", your lips tighten and flatten, and there's a bit of tightness in your throat—whereas ",[86,4596,4597],{},"sit"," feels very relaxed. If you can grasp that, the difference between ",[86,4600,1921,4601,3306],{},[244,4602,4584],{}," and ",[86,4605,1921,4606,3306],{},[244,4607,2354],{}," is the same basic difference as that bewtween 바 and 빠.",[1006,4610,4611,4637],{},[1009,4612,4613],{},[1012,4614,4615,4617,4619,4621,4629,4633],{},[1015,4616,3215],{},[1015,4618,4389],{},[1015,4620,3218],{},[1015,4622,4623,271,4626,4628],{},[15,4624,3224],{"href":452,"rel":4625},[30],[267,4627],{}," (syllable initial & word middle, syllable end)",[1015,4630,305,4631,4404],{},[267,4632],{},[1015,4634,305,4635,3896],{},[267,4636],{},[1027,4638,4639,4658,4676,4694,4712],{},[1012,4640,4641,4644,4646,4648,4650,4655],{},[1032,4642,4643],{},"ㄲ",[1032,4645,3905],{},[1032,4647,3349],{},[1032,4649,4424],{},[1032,4651,4652],{},[544,4653],{"src":4654,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-까.mp3",[1032,4656,4657],{},"N\u002FA",[1012,4659,4660,4663,4665,4667,4669,4674],{},[1032,4661,4662],{},"ㄸ",[1032,4664,3961],{},[1032,4666,3306],{},[1032,4668,4449],{},[1032,4670,4671],{},[544,4672],{"src":4673,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-따.mp3",[1032,4675,4657],{},[1012,4677,4678,4681,4683,4685,4687,4692],{},[1032,4679,4680],{},"ㅃ",[1032,4682,4048],{},[1032,4684,11],{},[1032,4686,4474],{},[1032,4688,4689],{},[544,4690],{"src":4691,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠.mp3",[1032,4693,4657],{},[1012,4695,4696,4699,4701,4703,4705,4710],{},[1032,4697,4698],{},"ㅉ",[1032,4700,4136],{},[1032,4702,3762],{},[1032,4704,4498],{},[1032,4706,4707],{},[544,4708],{"src":4709,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-짜.mp3",[1032,4711,4657],{},[1012,4713,4714,4716,4719,4721,4723,4728],{},[1032,4715,4077],{},[1032,4717,4718],{},"ㅆ",[1032,4720,1921],{},[1032,4722,4498],{},[1032,4724,4725],{},[544,4726],{"src":4727,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-싸.mp3",[1032,4729,4657],{},[11,4731,4732],{},"Then, a couple quick notes for you:",[419,4734,4735,4743],{},[79,4736,4737,4738],{},"You'll make this \"double\" sound when you see a doubled consonant; alternatively, there are also ",[15,4739,4742],{"href":4740,"rel":4741},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikibooks.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKorean\u002FAdvanced_Pronunciation_Rules#:~:text=addition%20of%20%E3%84%B4.-,Tensing,-%E3%84%B1%2C%20%E3%84%B7%2C%20%E3%85%82",[30],"a few situations where plain consonants become tense",[79,4744,4745],{},"You won't ever see double consonants at the end of a syllable, so you don't need to worry how they sound 🙂",[40,4747],{},[43,4749,4751],{"id":4750},"how-to-combine-hangul-characters-into-syllables","How to combine Hangul characters into syllables",[11,4753,4754],{},"Now that we've covered all of the individual Hangul letters, there are a few things you need to know in order to turn them into syllable blocks:",[76,4756,4757,4760,4763],{},[79,4758,4759],{},"Korean syllable blocks always have a consonant and a vowel",[79,4761,4762],{},"A syllable block can consist of 2–4 Hangul",[79,4764,4765],{},"Hangul get bundled together in specific ways",[62,4767,4769],{"id":4768},"_1-korean-syllables-need-a-consonant-and-vowel","1. Korean syllables need a consonant and vowel",[11,4771,4772],{},"Every syllable block needs a vowel and at least one consonant.",[11,4774,4775],{},"Then, so far as Korean spelling rules are concerned, ㅇ is a consonant, but it's also silent when it begins a syllable. This means that you can have \"consonant + vowel\" syllable blocks like 이 (i) and 으 (eu) that sound just like normal vowels.",[62,4777,4779],{"id":4778},"_2korean-syllables-can-have-24-letters","2.Korean syllables can have 2–4 letters",[11,4781,4782],{},"This is pretty straightforward, thankfully!",[419,4784,4785,4788,4802,4816],{},[79,4786,4787],{},"1-hangul block: These do not exist, as no Korean letter can stand by itself",[79,4789,4790,4791,4794,4795,4798,4799,2773],{},"2-hangul block: 나 (na, ",[86,4792,4793],{},"I"," ), 너 (neo, ",[86,4796,4797],{},"you","), 다 (ta, ",[86,4800,4801],{},"all",[79,4803,4804,4805,4808,4809,4812,4813,2773],{},"3-hangul block: 눈 (nun, ",[86,4806,4807],{},"eye","), 말 (mal, ",[86,4810,4811],{},"words\u002Fspeech","), 밥 (pab, ",[86,4814,4815],{},"rice\u002Ffood",[79,4817,4818,4819,4822,4823,2773],{},"4-hangul block: 읽 (from 읽다, ilgda, ",[86,4820,4821],{},"to read","), 앉 (from 앉다, anjda, ",[86,4824,4825],{},"to sit",[62,4827,4829],{"id":4828},"_3-theres-a-certain-way-to-combine-hangul-letters-into-syllable-blocks","3. There's a certain way to combine Hangul letters into syllable blocks",[11,4831,4832],{},"The most basic Korean syllables consist of a consonant and a vowel.",[419,4834,4835,4838,4841],{},[79,4836,4837],{},"Vertical vowels, like ㅣ (i), make left:right blocks",[79,4839,4840],{},"Horizontal blocks, like ㅡ (eu), make top:bottom blocks",[79,4842,4843],{},"Vowels with both a vertical and horizontal portion, such as ㅢ, wrap around their consonant.",[178,4845],{"src":4846,"width":4847,"height":4848,"alt":4849},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-syllables1.jpeg",582,186,"An image from wikipedia showing the basic consonant-vowel shapes of Korean syllable blocks",[11,4851,4852],{},"Regardless of which type of syllable block you're dealing with, the final Hangul always gets placed at the very bottom of the block.",[178,4854],{"src":4855,"width":4847,"height":4856,"alt":4857},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-syllables2.jpeg",232,"An image from Wikipedia showing how Korean syllable blocks get changed by adding a final letter",[11,4859,4860,4861,4866],{},"You can also have more complex final syllables that consist of two consonants. ",[15,4862,4865],{"href":4863,"rel":4864},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F1byj9zj\u002Fcomment\u002Fkykljoi\u002F",[30],"There are 11 different 4-letter blocks",". One of the two final letters will be silent... unless the next syllable begins with a vowel, in which case the bottom-right consonant will shift over to the next syllable.",[178,4868],{"src":4869,"width":4870,"height":4871,"alt":4872},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-syllables3.jpeg",622,222,"An image from Wikipedia showing the shapes of Korean syllable blocks that consist of 4 Hangul letters",[11,4874,4875,4876,2773],{},"(",[86,4877,4878,4879,1201],{},"Note: These images are taken from ",[15,4880,4883],{"href":4881,"rel":4882},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHangul#Morpho-syllabic_blocks",[30],"Wikipedia's section on Korean's morpho-syllabic blocks",[43,4885,4887],{"id":4886},"learn-the-korean-alphabet-with-examples","Learn the Korean alphabet with examples",[11,4889,4890,4891,4894],{},"You've now looked over all of the Korean Hangul and gotten a crash course in how to combine them to make syllables and words. Unfortunately, to learn the Hangul, this isn't quite enough. The best way to learn the Hangul—and perhaps the only way—is to use Hangul. Write them! Read them! Paint them! Just ",[86,4892,4893],{},"use"," them.",[11,4896,4897],{},"To get started with, here are ten basic Korean words. Try to read each one, then click the \"+\" button to see the answer. (Of course, you can also practice writing them, if you want!)",[882,4899,4901],{"heading":4900},"학생",[11,4902,4903,4904],{},"Hagsaeng (person) ",[544,4905],{"src":4906,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학생.mp3",[882,4908,4910],{"heading":4909},"친구",[11,4911,4912,4913],{},"Chingu (friend) ",[544,4914],{"src":4915,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-친구.mp3",[882,4917,4919],{"heading":4918},"의사",[11,4920,4921,4922],{},"Uisa (doctor) ",[544,4923],{"src":4924,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-의사.mp3",[882,4926,4928],{"heading":4927},"학교",[11,4929,4930,4931],{},"Haggyo (school) ",[544,4932],{"src":4933,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학교.mp3",[882,4935,4937],{"heading":4936},"한국",[11,4938,4939,4940],{},"Hanguk (Korea) ",[544,4941],{"src":4942,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-한국.mp3",[882,4944,4946],{"heading":4945},"집",[11,4947,4948,4949],{},"Jib (house) ",[544,4950],{"src":4951,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-집.mp3",[882,4953,4954],{"heading":1960},[11,4955,4956,4957],{},"Chaeg (book) ",[544,4958],{"src":4959,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-책.mp3",[882,4961,4963],{"heading":4962},"선물",[11,4964,4965,4966],{},"Seonmul (person) ",[544,4967],{"src":4968,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선물.mp3",[882,4970,4972],{"heading":4971},"사람",[11,4973,4974,4975],{},"Salam (person) ",[544,4976],{"src":4977,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-사람.mp3",[882,4979,4981],{"heading":4980},"이름",[11,4982,4983,4984],{},"Ileum (name) ",[544,4985],{"src":4986,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이름.mp3",[43,4988,4990],{"id":4989},"need-to-learn-hangul-quickly","Need to learn Hangul quickly?",[11,4992,4993],{},"The worst part about language learning is that it takes time. Thankfully, though, Hangul were designed in a logical fashion and come pretty quickly.",[11,4995,4996],{},"Having said that, to learn them, you still need to practice them: to see each Korean character in context, pronounced by native Korean speakers, and to periodically quiz yourself.",[178,4998],{"src":1672,"width":1673,"height":1674,"alt":1675},[11,5000,5001],{},"Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course:",[76,5003,5004,5007,5010,5013],{},[79,5005,5006],{},"Starts off by teaching you a bit about Korean culture and how the language works in general",[79,5008,5009],{},"Teaches the Hangul alphabet one-by-one, via mnemonic pictures and videos of a native speaker pronouncing them",[79,5011,5012],{},"Explains Hangul's various sound-change rules",[79,5014,5015],{},"Has you practice all of those things in the context of actual Korean words and phrases",[11,5017,5018],{},"By the time you finish the course, you'll know Hangul. As you continue with your Korean learning journey—as you read Korean texts, watch K-dramas, and sing along to Korean songs—Hangul will gradually become second nature.",[11,5020,5021],{},"You can try Migaku totally free for ten days, and if you put in about half an hour per day (~25 flashcards), you can finish our Korean Fundamentals course in that time.",[11,5023,5024],{},"So, if you're ready:",[521,5026],{"href":17,"text":976},[1168,5028,5029],{"italic":1170},"\n Migaku is totally free for ten days, which is enough time to finish our Hangul course, learn how to pronounce Korean words, and take your karaoke game to the next level. \n",[40,5031],{},[43,5033,5035],{"id":5034},"and-now-youre-ready-to-move-onto-the-korean-language","And now you're ready to move onto the Korean language",[11,5037,5038],{},"You now know how Hangul work, but the best way to learn Hangul—and Korean, or anything—is to actually use them.",[56,5040,5041],{},[11,5042,5043],{},"The way that we make progress in a foreign language is by engaging with its media and understanding the messages within that media. All successful language learners have spent a lot of time actually using their language.",[11,5045,5046],{},"You're going to want to find the perfect resource or Korean alphabet chart—but try not to let perfect be the enemy of good enough. So long as you loosely remember how each Hangul sounds, you will commit them to memory, in time, as you spend more time with Korean.",[11,5048,2829],{},{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":5050},[5051,5057,5061,5066,5071,5072,5073],{"id":2887,"depth":1432,"text":5052,"children":5053},"Background info: history of Hangul, how the Korean alphabet works, and the catch",[5054,5055,5056],{"id":2911,"depth":1437,"text":2912},{"id":3041,"depth":1437,"text":3042},{"id":3086,"depth":1437,"text":3087},{"id":3159,"depth":1432,"text":3160,"children":5058},[5059,5060],{"id":3194,"depth":1437,"text":3195},{"id":3487,"depth":1437,"text":3488},{"id":3794,"depth":1432,"text":3795,"children":5062},[5063,5064,5065],{"id":3824,"depth":1437,"text":3825},{"id":4282,"depth":1437,"text":4283},{"id":4519,"depth":1437,"text":4520},{"id":4750,"depth":1432,"text":4751,"children":5067},[5068,5069,5070],{"id":4768,"depth":1437,"text":4769},{"id":4778,"depth":1437,"text":4779},{"id":4828,"depth":1437,"text":4829},{"id":4886,"depth":1432,"text":4887},{"id":4989,"depth":1432,"text":4990},{"id":5034,"depth":1432,"text":5035},"The Korean alphabet, called Hangul (or hangeul), is the first step in your journey to learn Korean. Thankfully, it's also pretty easy to learn Hangul! Let's go:",{"timestampUnix":5076,"slug":5077,"h1":5078,"image":5079,"tags":5084},1737517447757,"learn-korean-hangul","Learn Hangul, the Korean alphabet, and Start Learning Korean",{"src":5080,"width":5081,"height":5082,"alt":5083},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-alphabet-hangul-header.jpeg",5760,3840,"A photo of a page showing the mixed Korean script, featuring both Hangul and Hanja",[2856],"\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-hangul","---\ntitle: 'Learn Hangul: A Guide to the Korean Alphabet (With Audio!)'\ndescription: \"The Korean alphabet, called Hangul (or hangeul), is the first step in your journey to learn Korean. Thankfully, it's also pretty easy to learn Hangul! Let's go:\"\ntimestampUnix: 1737517447757\nslug: 'learn-korean-hangul'\nh1: 'Learn Hangul, the Korean alphabet, and Start Learning Korean'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-alphabet-hangul-header.jpeg'\n  width: 5760\n  height: 3840\n  alt: 'A photo of a page showing the mixed Korean script, featuring both Hangul and Hanja'\ntags:\n  - fundamentals\n---\n\nIf you want to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean), the first step is to learn the Korean alphabet, also known as Hangul. (Duh.) While the Korean language itself is difficult to learn, Hangul was actually intentionally designed to be logical and easy to learn. Folks with their eyes on Japanese or Mandarin will need to learn thousands of unique characters in order to read, but you, my friend? You're looking at twenty-four letters\u002Fsymbols.\n\n_Nice_.\n\nIn this blog post, we'll get into everything you need to know to read and write Korean:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n## Background info: history of Hangul, how the Korean alphabet works, and *the catch*\n\nMost of this blog post is going to consist of tables and audio recordings, but that information alone won't actually enable you to write anything in Korean.\n\nHere are three things you should know if you're serious about learning Hangul:\n\n1. Chinese had a huge influence on Korean vocabulary, but Korean uses Hangul, not Chinese characters\n2. Hangul, Korean's alphabet, works by being combined into blocks\n3. Most Korean consonants can be pronounced in a couple different ways, depending on where they appear in a word\n\n### 1. Hangul's origin story, or why King Sejong wanted to get rid of Chinese Characters\n\nWriting systems don't just appear out of nowhere: at some point, somebody somewhere has to stop and go, _\"Gosh, it would be great if we had a physical record of this stuff so I didn't have to memorize it.\"_\n\nHangul is no exception. In a sense, it was 2,400 years in the making.\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"2,400 years of Korean writing in ~200 words\">\n\n- **No writing system** — before 400 AD — Way back when, Korean was a purely oral language.\n- **[Chinese characters (hanja)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHanja)** — ~400 AD (?) — China exerted massive influence on every culture in the region, and many Korean officials were bilingual: they would speak Korean, but write in literary Chinese. While Chinese influence can be found in Korea as far back as 300 BC, the earliest \"official\" instance of Chinese writing used in Korea dates is [the Gwanggaeto Stole from 414 AD](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGwanggaeto_Stele).\n- **Early Korean writing systems** — ~late 600s — Chinese characters were difficult to learn and didn't fit Korean's pronunciation at all. Several attempts were made to better adapt them to Korean, such as [Idu (吏讀)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FIdu_script), [Hyangchal (鄕札)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHyangchal), and [Gugyeol (口訣)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGugyeol).\n- **Hangul** — [~1446](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHunminjeongeum_Haerye) — Saddened by the fact that that ordinary people were unable to write, King Sejong created a new writing system that was easy to learn and suitable for the sounds that existed in Korean. The alphabet was brilliant, but caught on very slowly.\n- **Mixed script** —  ~1446 — For a long time, Korean writing used [a mix of both hanja and Hangul](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGabo_Reform): hanja to show what words meant, and Hangul to show the grammatical relationships between them.\n- **Hangul, for real** — 1894 — Hangul was not considered to be Korea's official alphabet until [the Gabo reform in ~1894](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FGabo_Reform).\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\nI'll skip the history lesson (expand the above box if you want it), but there are two things you should know:\n\n1. Korean was written with Chinese characters for longer than it has been written in Hangul; in fact, [as much as 70% of Korean vocabulary comes from Chinese languages](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSino-Korean_vocabulary).\n2. Chinese characters just couldn't represent Korean sounds and were such a headache to learn that \"normal\" people were effectively barred from writing.\n\nWith this in mind, when King Sejong introduced Hangul in 1446, [he said](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHunminjeongeum_Haerye):\n\n> 國之語音。異乎中國。與文字不相流通。故愚民。有所欲言而終不得伸其情者。多矣。予。爲此憫然。新制二十八字。欲使人人易習。便於日用矣。\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr> *Because the speech of this country is different from that of China, it \\[the spoken language] does not match the \\[Chinese] letters. Therefore, even if the ignorant want to communicate, many of them in the end cannot state their concerns. Saddened by this, I have \\[had] 28 letters newly made. It is my wish that all the people may easily learn these letters and that \\[they] be convenient for daily use.*\n\n### 2. How Hangul work, or how 24 symbols make 11,172 unique sounds\n\nWhile Hangul is commonly called the Korean alphabet, it's technically what's called a _syllabic_ alphabet (or something along those lines; there's debate).\n\n- Alphabets, such as the English alphabet, work by lining up one character after another\n\n- Korean's \"alphabet\" works by first grouping characters up into blocks (syllables), and _then_ lining those blocks up\n\nFor example, in English, we write _Hangul_ like this: h→a→n→g→u→l.\n\nBut in Korean, instead of lining Hangul up one after the other, they combine them into blocks like this:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-hangul-block.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"724\" alt=\"An image showing how Hangul characters get combined to form syllable bloks\" \u002F>\n\nAnd this makes the Korean alphabet incredibly flexible: The 24 Hangul can be combined to make [11,172 different syllable blocks](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHangul_consonant_and_vowel_tables#Hangul_syllables).\n\n### 3. The hardest part the Korean writing system\n\nYou're going to feel pretty awesome when you finish this article: the ability to make 11,172 different syllable blocks is a massive return on your investment of learning 24 just Hangul letters.\n\n... and then you're going to go boot up your favorite k-pop song ([here's mine](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=p8npDG2ulKQ)) and feel puzzled: many things that come out of the singer's mouth seemingly won't match what is written in Hangul on the screen.\n\nThis is _the catch_.\n\n> Korean has a lot of [sound change rules](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikibooks.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKorean\u002FEssential_Pronunciation_Rules): the pronunciation of many Hangul letters will change depending on the letter that come before or after it.\n\nNow, before you panic, do me a favor and listen to this audio clip:\n\n- Better \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fen-better.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\nDid you hear that?\n\n- Better is _written_ with \"tt\"\n- That \"tt\" is _spoken_ as if it was actually \"dd\": _bedder_\n\nWhen speaking quickly, Americans tend to pronounce \"t\" as \"d\" simply because it rolls off the tongue better. If you say \"better\" really fast several times in a row, your tongue will eventually get \"lazy\" and start saying \"bedder\" instead.\n\nKorean's sound changes are the same sort of deal: small adjustments to the way a sound is made in order to make it easier to pronounce. Hangul sound changes will be annoying at first, but try not to worry about it. They'll become second nature before long.\n\n---\n\n## Korean Vowels\n\nKorean has some tricky consonants, so we're going to start off with the vowels.\n\nKorean has:\n\n- 10 basic vowels: ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ, ㅣ\n- 11 complex vowels: ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅙ, ㅟ, and ㅢ\n\n> \u003CCenteredText bold underline> Important note\u003C\u002FCenteredText> \u003Cbr>\n> According to Korean spelling rules, it's illegal to write a vowel by itself. _(You'll go straight to jail_ 🤠 _)_ For this reason, you'll pretty much always see Hangul vowels paired with ㅇ, a Korean consonant that is silent when it appears in the very beginning of a syllable. Korean vowels get lonely easily, so don't leave them alone!\n\n### Korean basic vowels\n\nHere's how to write the ten basic Korean vowels. Notice that:\n\n- Some vowels, such as 아, have a left and right side\n- Other vowels, such as 오, have a top and bottom part\n\n| KR  | EN  | [IPA](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) | Audio                                                                 | Notes                                                                                                                                                                                                |\n| --- | --- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| 아  | a   | \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">a\u003C\u002Fspan>            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Like the AHH sound in _f\u003Cu>a\u003C\u002Fu>ther_                                                                                                                                                                |\n| 야  | ya  | \u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">ja\u003C\u002Fspan>           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-야.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Like the YAH sound in _\u003Cu>ya\u003C\u002Fu>cht_                                                                                                                                                                 |\n| 어  | eo  | ʌ                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-어.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Like the AW sound in _th\u003Cu>ough\u003C\u002Fu>t_                                                                                                                                                                |\n| 여  | yeo | jʌ                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-여.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Like the YAW sound in _\u003Cu>y'a\u003C\u002Fu>ll_                                                                                                                                                                 |\n| 이  | i   | i                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Like the EE sound in _k\u003Cu>ey\u003C\u002Fu>_                                                                                                                                                                    |\n| 오  | o   | o                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | †Like the OH sound in _n\u003Cu>o\u003C\u002Fu>_                                                                                                                                                                    |\n| 요  | yo  | jo                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-요.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | †Like the YO sound n _\u003Cu>yo\u003C\u002Fu>del_                                                                                                                                                                  |\n| 우  | u   | u                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-우.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Like the OO sound in _g\u003Cu>oo\u003C\u002Fu>se_                                                                                                                                                                  |\n| 유  | yu  | ju                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-유.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the YU sound in _\u003Cu>u\u003C\u002Fu>niverse_                                                                                                                                                               |\n| 으  | eu  | ɯ                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-으.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | Say OO (as in _g\u003Cu>oo\u003C\u002Fu>se_) in front of a mirror;\u003Cbr> notice how your lips are sticking out? Relax them completely. \u003Cbr> 으 sounds kind of like the soud you make when you get hit in the stomach. |\n\n† **Korean pronunciation note**: English's \"oh\" sound is actually a combination of two vowels. Go stand in front of a mirror and say \"no\" very, very slowly. Notice how, halfway through the sound, your lips change shape? That's because you're transitioning from the \u002Fo\u002F vowel to the \u002Fʊ\u002F vowel. Korean 오 has _only_ this initial \u002Fo\u002F sound; when you say 오, it should be constant—there's no movement in your lips, mouth, or jaw.\n\n### Korean complex vowels\n\nHere's how to read and write Korean's \"complex\" vowels. While I'll try to give rough English approximations of each sound, you might find it easier to instead think of these sounds as being combinations of basic vowels, just like Koreans do:\n\n- To pronounce 와\n  - Start out with your lips\u002Fmouth in position to say 오\n  - Start saying 오\n  - Very quickly transition to 아, yielding one \"smooth\" _wahh_ sound\n\n| KR  | EN     | [IPA](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) | Audio                                                                | Notes                                                                                                                       |\n| --- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| 애  | ae     | ɛ                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-애.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the EHH sound in _\u003Cu>e\u003C\u002Fu>ver_                                                                                         |\n| 얘  | yae    | jɛ                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-얘.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the YEH sound in _\u003Cu>ye\u003C\u002Fu>s_                                                                                          |\n| 에  | e      | e                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-에.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Nowadays, pronounced exactly like 애                                                                                        |\n| 예  | ye     | je                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-예.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Nowadays, pronounced exactly like 예                                                                                        |\n| 와  | wa     | w\u003Cspan style=\"font-feature-settings: 'cv11' off;\">a\u003C\u002Fspan>           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-와.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the WAH sound in _\u003Cu>wa\u003C\u002Fu>ddle_                                                                                       |\n| 왜  | wae    | wɛ                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-왜.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the word _way_, sort of                                                                                                |\n| 외  | oe     | we                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-외.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the WEHH sound in _\u003Cu>wea\u003C\u002Fu>lth_, sort of                                                                             |\n| 워  | wo\u002Fweo | wʌ                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-워.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the AW sound in _\u003Cu>wa\u003C\u002Fu>nder_                                                                                        |\n| 웨  | we     | we                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-웨.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Start with your lips puckered out, as in the OO of _g\u003Cu>oo\u003C\u002Fu>se_, \u003Cbr> then quickly transition to the EHH of _\u003Cu>e\u003C\u002Fu>ver_ |\n| 위  | wi     | wi                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-위.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Like the OO-WY sound in _ch\u003Cu>ewy\u003C\u002Fu>_, sort of                                                                             |\n| 의  | ui     | ɰi                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-의.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | Make that \"punched in the stomach\" sound discussed above,\u003Cbr> then quickly transition to the EE sound in _k\u003Cu>ey\u003C\u002Fu>_       |\n\n## Korean consonants\n\nKorean has 10 \"basic\" consonants (called \"plain\" consonants), but several of those characters have a few different forms.\n\nAs such, we'll break Korean consonants into three categories:\n\n- **10 plain consonants**: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅎ\n- **4 aspirated consonants**: ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ\n- **5 tense consonants**: ㄲ, ㅆ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅉ\n\n### Korean plain consonants\n\nHangul consonants are kind of tricky because many of them change slightly depending on where they appear in a word. Explaining all of Korean's sound changes is beyond the scope of this post, but I have included three audio recordings for each sound so that you can hear how it's pronunciation changes from position to position:\n\n- **Word-initial audio**: When the consonant begins a syllable, as in _ka_ (가)\n- **Word-middle audio**: When the consonant is sandwiched between two vowels, as in _aka_ (아가)\n- **Word-final audio**: When the consonant ends a syllable, as in _ak_ (악)\n\nSome consonants also undergo a sound shift if certain letters come before or after them, and we'll cover the main situations where that happens in the next two sections.\n\n| KR  | EN   | [IPA](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) \u003Cbr> (syllable initial\u002Fword middle\u002Fsyllable end) | Audio\u003Cbr> (syllable initial)                                          | Audio\u003Cbr> (word middle)                                                  | Audio\u003Cbr> (syllable end)                                               | Notes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |\n| --- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| ㄱ  | k\u002Fg  | k, g, k̚                                                                                                               | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-가.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아가.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-악.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> † | The same K\u002FG as in English                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |\n| ㄴ  | n    | n                                                                                                                     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아나.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-안.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | The same N sound that your'e used to from English                                                                                                                                                                                                          |\n| ㄷ  | t\u002Fd  | t, d, t̚                                                                                                               | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앋.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> † | The same T\u002FD as in English                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |\n| ㄹ  | r\u002Fl  | ɾ~l                                                                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-라.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아라.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> ‡ | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-_알.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | See pronunciation note ‡ below                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |\n| ㅁ  | m    | m                                                                                                                     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-마.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아마.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-암.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | Nothing special here, just the same M you know and love                                                                                                                                                                                                    |\n| ㅂ  | p\u002Fb  | p, b, p̚                                                                                                               | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바2.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아바.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-압.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> † | The same P\u002FB sound as in English                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |\n| ㅅ  | s    | s                                                                                                                     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-사.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아사.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앗.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> † | The same S as in English, but a bit more \"breathy\"                                                                                                                                                                                                         |\n| ㅇ  | ng   | N\u002FA, ŋ                                                                                                                | see note →                                                            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앙아.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앙.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | ㅇ is silent at the end of a syllable, \u003Cbr> otherwise it sounds like the NG in _king_                                                                                                                                                                      |\n| ㅈ  | ch\u002Fj | t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t̚                                                                                                             | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-자.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아자.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앚.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | See pronunciation note ∆                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |\n| ㅎ  | h    | h, h, t̚                                                                                                               | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아하.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-_앟.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | In the start of a syllable or middle of a word, ㅎ is just a normal H sound. \u003Cbr> At the end of a syllable, it becomes an unreleased T (see † below)... \u003Cbr> OR blends with the consonant that comes after it (see next section on _aspirated consonants_) |\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"† ‡ ∆ Nerdy pronunciation notes\">\n\n† **Syllable-ending consonants**: What you're hearing here is what's called [an unreleased consonant](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FNo_audible_release), which is a fancy word for something you do completely naturally in English already. Do me a favor and say _pear_ out loud, holding your hand in front of your mouth. Notice how a big explosion of air hits your hand when you say P? Now say _catnip_. No explosion! You say something like _catnihh(p)_, but definitely don't say _catniPPUH_. This \"catnip\" P is unreleased, and just like the ㅂ in 압 (ap). The same thing happens with several other Korean consonants when they occur at the end of a syllable—ㄷ (t\u002Fd), ㄱ (k\u002Fg), ㅅ (s), ㅈ (ts), or ㅎ (h)—get your mouth in position to make the sound, but block airflow instead of releasing it.\n\n‡ **The Korean L\u002FR sound**: Korean has two sounds that correspond to ㄹ. The first, occurring when ㄹ begins or ends a syllable, is called [the _retroflex_ L sound](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FRetroflex_consonant). To make the retroflex L sound, simply lift the tip of your straight tongue up and back toward the middle of the roof of your mouth and say L. The second L sound, occurring when ㄹ is sandwiched between two vowels, is called [the alveolar tap](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FVoiced_dental_and_alveolar_taps_and_flaps). This is the sound Americans make when two T's appear in the middle of a word (as shown above with _better_), and it will probably feel more like a fast T or D sound than an L sound to you.\n\n∆ **Palatalization, or English vs Korean CH**: Palatalization refers to your tongue approaching the middle of your mouth, and [there are three \"flavors\" of palatalized sounds](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FPostalveolar_consonant#Tongue_shape): (1) those in which the tip of the tongue bends up and back to the roof of the mouth, (2) those in which [the blade of your tongue](https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.britannica.com\u002F47\u002F4347-050-32F3830A\u002FDiagram-human-vocal-organs-location-places-speech.jpg) raises up to the roof of your mouth, as with English's SH and CH sounds, and (3) those in which the middle of your tongue rises toward the roof of your mouth. Korean ㅈ belongs to this third category of sounds. To make the Korean CH sound, rest the tip of your tongue down behind your lower-back teeth, raise the middle of your tongue up toward the top of your mouth, and say _CH_. If you hold your hand in front of your mouth and say English CH vs Korean CH, you'll notice that the explosion of air hits your hand differently.\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n### Korean aspirated consonants\n\nThe second type of Korean consonants are called _aspirated_ consonants. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of aspiration, hold your hand in front of your mouth and say these words for me:\n\n- _Kite_ vs _sky_ (or _ma\u003Cu>k\u003C\u002Fu>ing_)\n- _Tie_ vs _sty_ (or _al\u003Cu>t\u003C\u002Fu>ogether_)\n- _Pie_ vs _spy_ (or _sto\u003Cu>pp\u003C\u002Fu>ing_)\n\nThat puff of air that hit your hand when you said kite, tie, and pie? _That's_ aspiration.\n\n- Korean's plain consonants are often somewhat aspirated (it just kinda slips out)\n- Korean's aspirated consonants are _super_ aspirated—their defining characteristic is a kind of obnoxious puff of air\n- Compare 바 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바2.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> and 파 \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-파.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>: they're both a P sound, but 파 is much breathier than 바\n\nYou'll make aspirated consonants in two situations:\n\n- When you see one of the four aspirated consonants: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, or ㅊ\n- When ㅎ ends a syllable, and the next syllable begins with ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, or ㅎ\n\nAnd with that, here are the next four Hangul consonants:\n\n| KR  | KR plain counterpart | EN  | [IPA](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) \u003Cbr> (syllable initial & word middle \u002F syllable end) | Audio\u003Cbr> (syllable initial \u002F word middle)                           | Audio\u003Cbr> (syllable end)                                                 | Notes                   |\n| --- | -------------------- | --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------- |\n| ㅋ  | ㄱ                   | k   | kʰ, k̚                                                                                                                     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-카.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앜.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> † | A very breathy K sound  |\n| ㅌ  | ㄷ                   | t   | tʰ, t̚                                                                                                                     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-타.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앝.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> †   | A very breathy T sound  |\n| ㅍ  | ㅂ                   | p   | pʰ, p̚                                                                                                                     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-파.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앞.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> †   | A very breathy P sound  |\n| ㅊ  | ㅈ                   | ch  | tɕʰ, t̚                                                                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-차.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-앛.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> †   | A very breathy CH sound |\n\n**Korean pronunciation note**: Unlike their plain counterparts, Korean aspirated consonants (aka strong consonants) sound the same, whether they appear in the beginning of a syllable or the middle of a word. However, they still become unreleased (see † from the plain consonants section) when they occur at the end of a syllable.\n\n### Korean double consonants\n\nLast but not least, we have the Korean double consonants—sounds that are notorious because foreigners have trouble picking them out, but they're important and sound very different to Koreans. (Thankfully, they're easy to recognize in writing, because they're literally a doubled version of the plain consonant.)\n\nBefore we say anything about these sounds, please compare them with their plain counterparts side-by-side and see what you notice:\n\n- 1. 바바 (paba) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바바2.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> vs 빠빠 (ppappa) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠빠.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n- 2. 바브다 (pabuda, nonsense word) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바브다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> vs 바쁘다 (pappuda, \"to be busy\") \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바쁘다2.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\nWhen I listen carefully, several things stick out at me:\n\n- From #1: 바 has a little bit of aspiration, but 빠 has absolutely no aspiration\n- From #1: 바 sounds when it is at the beginning of a word or the middle of a word; 쁘 sounds the same in both places\n- From #2: In 바브다, the speaker transitions directly from 바 to 브; in 바쁘다, there is a small gap between 바 and 쁘\n- From #2: The vowel following 쁘 in 바쁘다 is higher in pitch than the vowel following 브 in 바브다\n\nIn linguistics, the double double consonants are also called \"tense\" consonants, which means that you tense\u002Ftighten muscles in your lips\u002Fmouth\u002Fthroat when saying them, resulting in an increased pressure.\n\nWe actually have a tense vowel in English: _s\u003Cu>ea\u003C\u002Fu>t_ is tense, and _s\u003Cu>i\u003C\u002Fu>t_ is lax. If you say them both quite slowly, you should notice that when you say _seat_, your lips tighten and flatten, and there's a bit of tightness in your throat—whereas _sit_ feels very relaxed. If you can grasp that, the difference between _s\u003Cu>ea\u003C\u002Fu>t_ and _s\u003Cu>i\u003C\u002Fu>t_ is the same basic difference as that bewtween 바 and 빠.\n\n| KR  | KR plain counterpart | EN  | [IPA](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) \u003Cbr> (syllable initial & word middle, syllable end) | Audio\u003Cbr> (syllable initial \u002F word middle)                           | Audio\u003Cbr> (syllable end) |\n| --- | -------------------- | --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------ |\n| ㄲ  | ㄱ                   | k   | kʰ, k̚                                                                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-까.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | N\u002FA                      |\n| ㄸ  | ㄷ                   | t   | tʰ, t̚                                                                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-따.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | N\u002FA                      |\n| ㅃ  | ㅂ                   | p   | pʰ, p̚                                                                                                                    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | N\u002FA                      |\n| ㅉ  | ㅈ                   | ch  | tɕʰ, t̚                                                                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-짜.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | N\u002FA                      |\n| ㅅ  | ㅆ                   | s   | tɕʰ, t̚                                                                                                                   | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-싸.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | N\u002FA                      |\n\nThen, a couple quick notes for you:\n\n- You'll make this \"double\" sound when you see a doubled consonant; alternatively, there are also [a few situations where plain consonants become tense](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikibooks.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKorean\u002FAdvanced_Pronunciation_Rules#:~:text=addition%20of%20%E3%84%B4.-,Tensing,-%E3%84%B1%2C%20%E3%84%B7%2C%20%E3%85%82)\n- You won't ever see double consonants at the end of a syllable, so you don't need to worry how they sound 🙂\n\n---\n\n## How to combine Hangul characters into syllables\n\nNow that we've covered all of the individual Hangul letters, there are a few things you need to know in order to turn them into syllable blocks:\n\n1. Korean syllable blocks always have a consonant and a vowel\n2. A syllable block can consist of 2–4 Hangul\n3. Hangul get bundled together in specific ways\n\n### 1. Korean syllables need a consonant and vowel\n\nEvery syllable block needs a vowel and at least one consonant.\n\nThen, so far as Korean spelling rules are concerned, ㅇ is a consonant, but it's also silent when it begins a syllable. This means that you can have \"consonant + vowel\" syllable blocks like 이 (i) and 으 (eu) that sound just like normal vowels.\n\n### 2.Korean syllables can have 2–4 letters\n\nThis is pretty straightforward, thankfully!\n\n- 1-hangul block: These do not exist, as no Korean letter can stand by itself\n- 2-hangul block: 나 (na, _I_ ), 너 (neo, _you_), 다 (ta, _all_)\n- 3-hangul block: 눈 (nun, _eye_), 말 (mal, _words\u002Fspeech_), 밥 (pab, _rice\u002Ffood_)\n- 4-hangul block: 읽 (from 읽다, ilgda, _to read_), 앉 (from 앉다, anjda, _to sit_)\n\n### 3. There's a certain way to combine Hangul letters into syllable blocks\n\nThe most basic Korean syllables consist of a consonant and a vowel.\n\n- Vertical vowels, like ㅣ (i), make left:right blocks\n- Horizontal blocks, like ㅡ (eu), make top:bottom blocks\n- Vowels with both a vertical and horizontal portion, such as ㅢ, wrap around their consonant.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-syllables1.jpeg\" width=\"582\" height=\"186\" alt=\"An image from wikipedia showing the basic consonant-vowel shapes of Korean syllable blocks\" \u002F>\n\nRegardless of which type of syllable block you're dealing with, the final Hangul always gets placed at the very bottom of the block.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-syllables2.jpeg\" width=\"582\" height=\"232\" alt=\"An image from Wikipedia showing how Korean syllable blocks get changed by adding a final letter\" \u002F>\n\nYou can also have more complex final syllables that consist of two consonants. [There are 11 different 4-letter blocks](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F1byj9zj\u002Fcomment\u002Fkykljoi\u002F). One of the two final letters will be silent... unless the next syllable begins with a vowel, in which case the bottom-right consonant will shift over to the next syllable.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-syllables3.jpeg\" width=\"622\" height=\"222\" alt=\"An image from Wikipedia showing the shapes of Korean syllable blocks that consist of 4 Hangul letters\" \u002F>\n\n(_Note: These images are taken from [Wikipedia's section on Korean's morpho-syllabic blocks](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHangul#Morpho-syllabic_blocks)._)\n\n## Learn the Korean alphabet with examples\n\nYou've now looked over all of the Korean Hangul and gotten a crash course in how to combine them to make syllables and words. Unfortunately, to learn the Hangul, this isn't quite enough. The best way to learn the Hangul—and perhaps the only way—is to use Hangul. Write them! Read them! Paint them! Just _use_ them.\n\nTo get started with, here are ten basic Korean words. Try to read each one, then click the \"+\" button to see the answer. (Of course, you can also practice writing them, if you want!)\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"학생\">\n\nHagsaeng (person) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학생.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"친구\">\n\nChingu (friend) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-친구.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"의사\">\n\nUisa (doctor) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-의사.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"학교\">\n\nHaggyo (school) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-학교.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"한국\">\n\nHanguk (Korea) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-한국.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"집\">\n\nJib (house) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-집.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"책\">\n\nChaeg (book) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-책.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"선물\">\n\nSeonmul (person) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선물.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"사람\">\n\nSalam (person) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-사람.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"이름\">\n\nIleum (name) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이름.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\n## Need to learn Hangul quickly?\n\nThe worst part about language learning is that it takes time. Thankfully, though, Hangul were designed in a logical fashion and come pretty quickly.\n\nHaving said that, to learn them, you still need to practice them: to see each Korean character in context, pronounced by native Korean speakers, and to periodically quiz yourself.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals.jpeg\" width=\"1754\" height=\"1220\" alt=\"A few screenshots from Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course, showing how we teach Hangul\" \u002F>\n\nMigaku's Korean Fundamentals course:\n\n1. Starts off by teaching you a bit about Korean culture and how the language works in general\n2. Teaches the Hangul alphabet one-by-one, via mnemonic pictures and videos of a native speaker pronouncing them\n3. Explains Hangul's various sound-change rules\n4. Has you practice all of those things in the context of actual Korean words and phrases\n\nBy the time you finish the course, you'll know Hangul. As you continue with your Korean learning journey—as you read Korean texts, watch K-dramas, and sing along to Korean songs—Hangul will gradually become second nature.\n\nYou can try Migaku totally free for ten days, and if you put in about half an hour per day (~25 flashcards), you can finish our Korean Fundamentals course in that time.\n\nSo, if you're ready:\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Learn Korean with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n\u003CCenteredText italic> Migaku is totally free for ten days, which is enough time to finish our Hangul course, learn how to pronounce Korean words, and take your karaoke game to the next level. \u003C\u002FCenteredText>\n\n---\n\n## And now you're ready to move onto the Korean language\n\nYou now know how Hangul work, but the best way to learn Hangul—and Korean, or anything—is to actually use them.\n\n> The way that we make progress in a foreign language is by engaging with its media and understanding the messages within that media. All successful language learners have spent a lot of time actually using their language.\n\nYou're going to want to find the perfect resource or Korean alphabet chart—but try not to let perfect be the enemy of good enough. So long as you loosely remember how each Hangul sounds, you will commit them to memory, in time, as you spend more time with Korean.\n\nGood luck!\n",{"title":2865,"description":5074},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-hangul","-iUHqR0l9A89nRlbVfTRyfmI8z0hpilnJ7sf8dkPei0","January 22, 2025",{"id":5092,"title":5093,"body":5094,"description":5345,"extension":1458,"meta":5346,"navigation":1469,"path":5355,"rawbody":5356,"seo":5357,"stem":5358,"__hash__":5359,"timestampUnix":5347,"slug":5348,"h1":5349,"image":5350,"tags":5354,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":5360},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-stackadapt-1.md","Been studying Korean for a while, but haven't made much progress?",{"type":8,"value":5095,"toc":5338},[5096,5103,5106,5114,5117,5119,5121,5125,5128,5142,5147,5152,5161,5166,5169,5172,5174,5178,5185,5187,5190,5201,5204,5207,5209,5213,5216,5222,5227,5234,5236,5239,5242,5257,5260,5263,5265,5269,5277,5283,5290,5296,5299,5304,5307,5309,5313,5320,5323,5328,5330],[11,5097,5098,5099,5102],{},"Decided you want to ",[15,5100,18],{"href":5101},"\u002Flearn-korean?utm_source=native&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=start-learning-korean"," so you can watch k-dramas in the original, sing your favorite k-pop songs, and generally do cool stuff... but then found the journey to be more difficult than you expected?",[11,5104,5105],{},"You're not alone.",[56,5107,5108],{},[11,5109,5110,5113],{},[86,5111,5112],{},"Most"," people who start learning Korean will never get anywhere with the language.",[11,5115,5116],{},"Here's what goes wrong, plus a straightforward and data-driven approach to achieving intermediate Korean.",[37,5118],{},[40,5120],{},[43,5122,5124],{"id":5123},"why-most-learners-fail-to-make-any-real-progress-with-korean","Why most learners fail to make any real progress with Korean",[11,5126,5127],{},"There's a ton of apps, textbooks, and approaches to learning Korean nowadays, but the vast majority of learners fail to learn Korean for one of just two reasons:",[76,5129,5130,5136],{},[79,5131,5132,5135],{},[82,5133,5134],{},"They don't stick with their routine"," → You sign up for that app, stick with it for a few days, and then something else comes up and you never touch it again (until you guiltily cancel your subscription three months later)",[79,5137,5138,5141],{},[82,5139,5140],{},"Their routine doesn't lead to their goal"," → Pull-ups are a great exercise, but they're useless if your goal is to dunk. To make progress, your time must go to the concrete things that will enable you to do whatever it is you want to do.",[11,5143,5144],{},[82,5145,5146],{},"To solve the first problem, fill out this sentence:",[56,5148,5149],{},[1168,5150,5151],{"italic":1170},"\nTomorrow, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of {ACTIVITY} at {TIME} in\u002Fat {PLACE}\n",[11,5153,5154],{},[86,5155,4875,5156,2773],{},[15,5157,5160],{"href":5158,"rel":5159},"https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F14596707\u002F",[30],"Research shows that you'll be nearly 3x more likely to follow through if you do.",[11,5162,5163],{},[82,5164,5165],{},"Now, to solve the second problem?",[11,5167,5168],{},"If you're doing this alone and are new to language learning, that unfortunately boils down to a lot of trial and error.",[11,5170,5171],{},"... but if you are learning Korean because you want to consume Korean media, the below steps will bring you there.",[40,5173],{},[43,5175,5177],{"id":5176},"step-1-learn-hangul-and-correct-pronunciation","Step 1: Learn Hangul and correct pronunciation",[11,5179,5180,5181,5184],{},"So, you need to learn Hangul. They look scary at first, but they were actually very intentionally created to be easy to learn. We've got ",[15,5182,5183],{"href":444},"a whole blog post"," diving into their history. It's pretty cool.",[178,5186],{"src":1672,"width":1673,"height":1674,"alt":1675},[11,5188,5189],{},"Migaku Korean Fundamentals is a flashcard-based approach to learning Hangul.",[76,5191,5192,5195,5198],{},[79,5193,5194],{},"You'll be shown a Korean Hangul character",[79,5196,5197],{},"Upon flipping the card, you'll see a video of a native Korean speaker pronouncing it",[79,5199,5200],{},"We'll keep track of what you get right and wrong, then give you a bit more practice on the characters you struggle with",[521,5202],{"href":5101,"text":5203},"Learn the Hangul",[11,5205,5206],{},"Migaku is totally free for 10 days—no need to enter a credit card or any of that funny business—and, at ~15 flashcards per day, you can learn the hangul within that time.",[40,5208],{},[43,5210,5212],{"id":5211},"step-2-learn-koreans-most-common-1500-words","Step 2: Learn Korean's most common 1,500 words",[11,5214,5215],{},"Next, you need to learn about 1,500 words. That sounds like a lot, but it's actually just 4 words a a day for a year—and if you do that with flashcards, it'll only take about fifteen minutes per day. Very doable! It'll be difficult for a few weeks, but become totally automatic before long.",[11,5217,5218,5219,5221],{},"Where things get a bit complicated is that you can't just learn ",[86,5220,1163],{}," 1,500 words.",[56,5223,5224],{},[11,5225,5226],{},"Whereas a college-educated English speaker knows about 25,000 words, if you put your finger on any random English word in any random English sentence, there's an 80% chance it'll be one of just ~1,500 words.",[11,5228,5229,5230,5233],{},"Naturally, you want to learn ",[86,5231,5232],{},"these"," words—the ones that actually get used on a regular basis.",[178,5235],{"src":957,"width":515,"height":694,"alt":958},[11,5237,5238],{},"Migaku's Korean Academy course teaches you the specific ~1,500 words you need to follow 80% of Netflix plus ~200 common grammar points to string those words together.",[11,5240,5241],{},"That's solid as is, but a few things bring this course to the next level:",[76,5243,5244,5247,5254],{},[79,5245,5246],{},"Each flashcard introduces only one new piece of information, so you're always learning something new but are never overwhelmed",[79,5248,5249,5250,5253],{},"Our flashcards are supported by ",[15,5251,5252],{"href":102},"spaced repetition","—we periodically nudge you to review things so that you eventually remember them",[79,5255,5256],{},"Every flashcard in our course has been reviewed and narrated by a native speaker",[11,5258,5259],{},"At 10 flashcards per day, it'll take you about 5 months to build the foundation you need to start exploring Netflix.",[521,5261],{"href":5101,"text":5262},"Learn Korean Vocabulary",[40,5264],{},[43,5266,5268],{"id":5267},"step-3-watch-10-minutes-of-comprehensible-input-per-day","Step 3: Watch 10 minutes of comprehensible input per day",[11,5270,5271,5272,5276],{},"Comprehensible input is a special type of content aimed at beginners in which the host speaks only Korean but (a) intentionally uses simple phrasing and (b) uses simple words to talk around any difficult words they may use. Below is an example, and ",[15,5273,115],{"href":5274,"rel":5275},"https:\u002F\u002Fcomprehensibleinputwiki.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKorean",[30]," are a bunch of comprehensible-input channels you can check out.",[178,5278],{"src":5279,"width":5280,"height":5281,"alt":5282},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-comprehensible-input.jpeg",1912,1214,"A screenshot of a Korean comprehensible input video, as enhanced by Migaku",[11,5284,5285,5286,5289],{},"Migaku gives you a leg up by enabling you to click on words to see what they mean. If you stumble into a useful word or phrase—such as ",[86,5287,5288],{},"got it","—you can click the orange button in the top-right corner of the dictionary to make a flashcard out of it.",[178,5291],{"src":5292,"width":5293,"height":5294,"alt":5295},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-comprehensible-input-flashcard.jpeg",1736,1212,"A flashcard that Migaku created from the previously mentioned Korean comprehensible input video",[11,5297,5298],{},"Your flashcards include your selected word, the sentence they appear in and its audio, a screenshot of your video, plus a handful of other things you can choose. In this way, you can create your own learning materials with the press of a button.",[11,5300,5301],{},[86,5302,5303],{},"(As an aside, you can watch any YouTube video via Migaku on your phone to enjoy the same functionalities shown above.)",[521,5305],{"href":5101,"text":5306},"Watch YouTube, Learn Korean",[40,5308],{},[43,5310,5312],{"id":5311},"the-most-important-thing-you-need-to-remember-if-you-want-to-learn-korean","The most important thing you need to remember if you want to learn Korean...",[11,5314,5315,5316,5319],{},"At this point, you should find that you've reached a pretty independent level of Korean! You're not perfect yet, but you ",[86,5317,5318],{},"are"," able to roughly follow media you enjoy—so long as you're able to look the occasional word up.",[11,5321,5322],{},"For the foreseeable future, all you need to do to continue improving in Korean is to interact with it. To translate that statement into a mic drop:",[56,5324,5325],{},[11,5326,5327],{},"If you consume media you enjoy in Korean, and you understand some of the messages and sentences within that media, you will make progress. Period.",[521,5329],{"href":5101,"text":1252},[1168,5331,5332,5333,5335],{},"\n힘내! 너라면 할 수 있어!\n",[267,5334],{},[86,5336,5337],{},"(Good luck! You can do it!)",{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":5339},[5340,5341,5342,5343,5344],{"id":5123,"depth":1432,"text":5124},{"id":5176,"depth":1432,"text":5177},{"id":5211,"depth":1432,"text":5212},{"id":5267,"depth":1432,"text":5268},{"id":5311,"depth":1432,"text":5312},"Chances are, your system doesn't lead to your goal. Here's how Migaku's data-driven Korean course can have you watching k-dramas in 6 months.",{"timestampUnix":5347,"slug":5348,"h1":5349,"image":5350,"tags":5354},1754405880298,"start-learning-korean","A Korean Language Course That Actually Works",{"src":5351,"width":5352,"height":2235,"alt":5353},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-how-to-learn-korean-thumbnail.webp",1720,"A photo of a girl walking through Korea, exploring the new world that she's gained access to after learning Korean",[1822,2856],"\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-stackadapt-1","---\ntitle: \"Been studying Korean for a while, but haven't made much progress?\"\ndescription: \"Chances are, your system doesn't lead to your goal. Here's how Migaku's data-driven Korean course can have you watching k-dramas in 6 months.\"\ntimestampUnix: 1754405880298\nslug: 'start-learning-korean'\nh1: 'A Korean Language Course That Actually Works'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-how-to-learn-korean-thumbnail.webp'\n  width: 1720\n  height: 1200\n  alt: \"A photo of a girl walking through Korea, exploring the new world that she's gained access to after learning Korean\"\ntags:\n  - discussion\n  - fundamentals\n---\n\nDecided you want to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean?utm_source=native&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=start-learning-korean) so you can watch k-dramas in the original, sing your favorite k-pop songs, and generally do cool stuff... but then found the journey to be more difficult than you expected?\n\nYou're not alone.\n\n> _Most_ people who start learning Korean will never get anywhere with the language.\n\nHere's what goes wrong, plus a straightforward and data-driven approach to achieving intermediate Korean.\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n## Why most learners fail to make any real progress with Korean\n\nThere's a ton of apps, textbooks, and approaches to learning Korean nowadays, but the vast majority of learners fail to learn Korean for one of just two reasons:\n\n1. **They don't stick with their routine** → You sign up for that app, stick with it for a few days, and then something else comes up and you never touch it again (until you guiltily cancel your subscription three months later)\n2. **Their routine doesn't lead to their goal** → Pull-ups are a great exercise, but they're useless if your goal is to dunk. To make progress, your time must go to the concrete things that will enable you to do whatever it is you want to do.\n\n**To solve the first problem, fill out this sentence:**\n\n> \u003CCenteredText italic>Tomorrow, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of {ACTIVITY} at {TIME} in\u002Fat {PLACE}\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\n\n_([Research shows that you'll be nearly 3x more likely to follow through if you do.](https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F14596707\u002F))_\n\n**Now, to solve the second problem?**\n\nIf you're doing this alone and are new to language learning, that unfortunately boils down to a lot of trial and error.\n\n... but if you are learning Korean because you want to consume Korean media, the below steps will bring you there.\n\n---\n\n## Step 1: Learn Hangul and correct pronunciation\n\nSo, you need to learn Hangul. They look scary at first, but they were actually very intentionally created to be easy to learn. We've got [a whole blog post](\u002Fblog\u002Fkorean\u002Flearn-korean-hangul) diving into their history. It's pretty cool.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals.jpeg\" width=\"1754\" height=\"1220\" alt=\"A few screenshots from Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course, showing how we teach Hangul\" \u002F>\n\nMigaku Korean Fundamentals is a flashcard-based approach to learning Hangul.\n\n1. You'll be shown a Korean Hangul character\n2. Upon flipping the card, you'll see a video of a native Korean speaker pronouncing it\n3. We'll keep track of what you get right and wrong, then give you a bit more practice on the characters you struggle with\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean?utm_source=native&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=start-learning-korean\" text=\"Learn the Hangul\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\nMigaku is totally free for 10 days—no need to enter a credit card or any of that funny business—and, at ~15 flashcards per day, you can learn the hangul within that time.\n\n---\n\n## Step 2: Learn Korean's most common 1,500 words\n\nNext, you need to learn about 1,500 words. That sounds like a lot, but it's actually just 4 words a a day for a year—and if you do that with flashcards, it'll only take about fifteen minutes per day. Very doable! It'll be difficult for a few weeks, but become totally automatic before long.\n\nWhere things get a bit complicated is that you can't just learn _any_ 1,500 words.\n\n> Whereas a college-educated English speaker knows about 25,000 words, if you put your finger on any random English word in any random English sentence, there's an 80% chance it'll be one of just ~1,500 words.\n\nNaturally, you want to learn _these_ words—the ones that actually get used on a regular basis.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-academy-copula.jpeg\" width=\"1656\" height=\"1152\" alt=\"A screenshot of Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach grammar\" \u002F>\n\nMigaku's Korean Academy course teaches you the specific ~1,500 words you need to follow 80% of Netflix plus ~200 common grammar points to string those words together.\n\nThat's solid as is, but a few things bring this course to the next level:\n\n1. Each flashcard introduces only one new piece of information, so you're always learning something new but are never overwhelmed\n2. Our flashcards are supported by [spaced repetition](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning)—we periodically nudge you to review things so that you eventually remember them\n3. Every flashcard in our course has been reviewed and narrated by a native speaker\n\nAt 10 flashcards per day, it'll take you about 5 months to build the foundation you need to start exploring Netflix.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean?utm_source=native&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=start-learning-korean\" text=\"Learn Korean Vocabulary\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n---\n\n## Step 3: Watch 10 minutes of comprehensible input per day\n\nComprehensible input is a special type of content aimed at beginners in which the host speaks only Korean but (a) intentionally uses simple phrasing and (b) uses simple words to talk around any difficult words they may use. Below is an example, and [here](https:\u002F\u002Fcomprehensibleinputwiki.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKorean) are a bunch of comprehensible-input channels you can check out.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-comprehensible-input.jpeg\" width=\"1912\" height=\"1214\" alt=\"A screenshot of a Korean comprehensible input video, as enhanced by Migaku\" \u002F>\n\nMigaku gives you a leg up by enabling you to click on words to see what they mean. If you stumble into a useful word or phrase—such as _got it_—you can click the orange button in the top-right corner of the dictionary to make a flashcard out of it.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-comprehensible-input-flashcard.jpeg\" width=\"1736\" height=\"1212\" alt=\"A flashcard that Migaku created from the previously mentioned Korean comprehensible input video\" \u002F>\n\nYour flashcards include your selected word, the sentence they appear in and its audio, a screenshot of your video, plus a handful of other things you can choose. In this way, you can create your own learning materials with the press of a button.\n\n_(As an aside, you can watch any YouTube video via Migaku on your phone to enjoy the same functionalities shown above.)_\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean?utm_source=native&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=start-learning-korean\" text=\"Watch YouTube, Learn Korean\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n---\n\n## The most important thing you need to remember if you want to learn Korean...\n\nAt this point, you should find that you've reached a pretty independent level of Korean! You're not perfect yet, but you _are_ able to roughly follow media you enjoy—so long as you're able to look the occasional word up.\n\nFor the foreseeable future, all you need to do to continue improving in Korean is to interact with it. To translate that statement into a mic drop:\n\n> If you consume media you enjoy in Korean, and you understand some of the messages and sentences within that media, you will make progress. Period.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean?utm_source=native&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=start-learning-korean\" text=\"Try Migaku for free\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n\u003CCenteredText>힘내! 너라면 할 수 있어!\u003Cbr>_(Good luck! You can do it!)_\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\n",{"title":5093,"description":5345},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-stackadapt-1","7YAZ5-wXr1jK6w302vhNF68sPnKiuuAgHIa9sZ6jBV8","August 5, 2025",{"id":5362,"title":5363,"body":5364,"description":7174,"extension":1458,"meta":7175,"navigation":1469,"path":7186,"rawbody":7187,"seo":7188,"stem":7189,"__hash__":7190,"timestampUnix":7176,"slug":7177,"h1":7178,"image":7179,"tags":7184,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":7191},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-verbs.md","[Beginners] A Guide to Korean Verbs and Korean Verb Conjugation",{"type":8,"value":5365,"toc":7152},[5366,5369,5372,5375,5381,5384,5386,5399,5401,5405,5408,5413,5416,5430,5436,5440,5448,5477,5485,5506,5509,5525,5529,5535,5544,5547,5551,5554,5557,5650,5654,5665,5668,5671,5764,5768,5771,5799,5802,5813,5838,5842,5850,5853,5881,5885,5888,6043,6047,6050,6068,6071,6075,6078,6081,6086,6091,6095,6098,6101,6112,6115,6119,6122,6125,6140,6144,6147,6169,6172,6180,6192,6203,6207,6212,6223,6226,6334,6337,6348,6351,6362,6383,6387,6390,6393,6395,6398,6413,6420,6423,6705,6708,6712,6715,7044,7048,7051,7056,7062,7069,7072,7079,7082,7088,7093,7096,7107,7113,7116,7119,7122,7126,7133,7136,7143,7146,7149],[11,5367,5368],{},"Good news:",[11,5370,5371],{},"By the time you finish this article, you're going to understand how Korean verbs work. From super basic stuff like what a verb is (we don't judge) to more difficult stuff like conjugation rules or the various forms of verbs—it's all here.",[11,5373,5374],{},"We've also included a big table of the 25 most useful Korean verbs for beginners. You can screenshot it and make it your phone's background... or something.",[11,5376,5377,5378,5380],{},"This isn't everything you need to know to ",[15,5379,18],{"href":17},", of course, but it's a pretty solid start.",[11,5382,5383],{},"Anyway, get ready for:",[37,5385],{},[56,5387,5388,5391,5393],{},[1168,5389,5390],{"bold":1170,"underline":1170},"\nForewarning\n",[267,5392],{},[11,5394,5395,5396,1201],{},"This article assumes that you can already read Hangul. We'll include romanization and audio in most places, but if you're completely new to Korean, you might want to take a moment to check out our ",[15,5397,5398],{"href":1864},"guide to reading and pronouncing Hangul",[40,5400],{},[43,5402,5404],{"id":5403},"the-über-important-job-that-verbs-do","The über important job that verbs do",[11,5406,5407],{},"There's one thing that's worth making clear before we dive into this:",[56,5409,5410],{},[11,5411,5412],{},"The heart of any sentence is its verb.",[11,5414,5415],{},"As much Korean grammar as you might learn, it's basically doing the same thing: providing you a bit more information about the verb of the sentence it's used in. Grammar helps us specify things like:",[419,5417,5418,5421,5424,5427],{},[79,5419,5420],{},"Why the verb was done",[79,5422,5423],{},"Who did the verb",[79,5425,5426],{},"Who or what the verb was done to",[79,5428,5429],{},"When the verb was done",[11,5431,5432,5433,5435],{},"Suffice it to say that if you want to speak Korean, or ",[86,5434,1163],{}," language, getting a handle on verbs is super important.",[43,5437,5439],{"id":5438},"a-crash-course-in-korean-sentence-structure","A crash course in Korean sentence structure",[11,5441,5442,5443,5447],{},"We won't go super far into this because we've got an entire separate blog post about ",[15,5444,5446],{"href":5445},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-basic-korean-grammar","basic Korean grammar",", but, really fast, a sentence's fundamental building blocks consist of three things: subject, verb, and object.",[419,5449,5450,5459,5468],{},[79,5451,5452,5458],{},[82,5453,5454,5457],{},[244,5455,5456],{},"S","ubject"," — the doer of an action",[79,5460,5461,5467],{},[82,5462,5463,5466],{},[244,5464,5465],{},"V","erb"," — the action itself",[79,5469,5470,5476],{},[82,5471,5472,5475],{},[244,5473,5474],{},"O","bject"," — what receives the action",[11,5478,5479,5480,1201],{},"I refer to these as being \"fundamental\" building blocks because ",[15,5481,5484],{"href":5482,"rel":5483},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSubject%E2%80%93verb%E2%80%93object_word_order",[30],"languages are actually categorized according to how they organize these things within a sentence",[419,5486,5487,5496],{},[79,5488,5489,5491,5492,5495],{},[82,5490,1017],{}," is what's called a ",[82,5493,5494],{},"subject-verb-object (SVO)"," language because we tend to start sentences with a subject and a verb and go from there.",[79,5497,5498,5501,5502,5505],{},[82,5499,5500],{},"Korean",", in contrast, is what's called a ",[82,5503,5504],{},"subject-object-verb (SOV)"," language—the main verb of Korean sentences goes at the very end of the sentence.",[11,5507,5508],{},"While longer sentences get complicated, you can immediately see what this means for Korean word order if we look at a simple sentence. I've underlined the verbs in the below sentences (and bolded the objects) so you can see how English and Korean organize their sentences differently.",[419,5510,5511,5517],{},[79,5512,1948,5513,271,5515,1201],{},[244,5514,1951],{},[82,5516,1954],{},[79,5518,1957,5519,1961,5521,1965,5523],{},[82,5520,1960],{},[244,5522,1964],{},[544,5524],{"src":1968,":type":547},[43,5526,5528],{"id":5527},"the-4-categories-of-korean-verbs","The 4 categories of Korean verbs",[11,5530,5531,5532],{},"So, I'm pretty sure you know what a verb is. You've seen Nike ads before. ",[86,5533,5534],{},"It's what you do.",[11,5536,5537,5538,5543],{},"What might be news to you is that, just as there are proper nouns (like Korea or Rap Monster) and common nouns (like kimchi or ",[15,5539,5542],{"href":5540,"rel":5541},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHaejang-guk",[30],"hangover stew","), there are actually different types of verbs, too.",[11,5545,5546],{},"Korean recognizes four different categories of verbs, and roughly understanding what each one does will make your language learning life easier.",[62,5548,5550],{"id":5549},"_1️⃣-action-verbs-aka-processive-verbs","1️⃣ Action verbs (AKA \"processive verbs\")",[11,5552,5553],{},"Let's start with the easy one: action verbs are the concrete things you do. These verbs describe physical actions and activities that you can actually (usually) observe someone doing. Action verbs are probably what you think of when you think of verbs.",[11,5555,5556],{},"Some common ones include:",[1006,5558,5559,5568],{},[1009,5560,5561],{},[1012,5562,5563,5566],{},[1015,5564,5565],{},"Korean Verb (Romaji)",[1015,5567,1017],{},[1027,5569,5570,5578,5586,5594,5602,5610,5618,5626,5634,5642],{},[1012,5571,5572,5575],{},[1032,5573,5574],{},"먹다 (meokda)",[1032,5576,5577],{},"to eat",[1012,5579,5580,5583],{},[1032,5581,5582],{},"마시다 (masida)",[1032,5584,5585],{},"to drink",[1012,5587,5588,5591],{},[1032,5589,5590],{},"가다 (kada)",[1032,5592,5593],{},"to go",[1012,5595,5596,5599],{},[1032,5597,5598],{},"오다 (oda)",[1032,5600,5601],{},"to come",[1012,5603,5604,5607],{},[1032,5605,5606],{},"말하다 (malhada)",[1032,5608,5609],{},"to speak",[1012,5611,5612,5615],{},[1032,5613,5614],{},"듣다 (teutda)",[1032,5616,5617],{},"to listen",[1012,5619,5620,5623],{},[1032,5621,5622],{},"보다 (poda)",[1032,5624,5625],{},"to see\u002Fwatch",[1012,5627,5628,5631],{},[1032,5629,5630],{},"자다 (chada)",[1032,5632,5633],{},"to sleep",[1012,5635,5636,5639],{},[1032,5637,5638],{},"공부하다 (kongbuhada)",[1032,5640,5641],{},"to study",[1012,5643,5644,5647],{},[1032,5645,5646],{},"일하다 (ilhada)",[1032,5648,5649],{},"to work",[62,5651,5653],{"id":5652},"_2️⃣-descriptive-verbs-aka-stative-verbs-or-adjectives","2️⃣ Descriptive verbs (AKA \"stative verbs\" or \"adjectives\")",[11,5655,5656,5657,5660,5661,5664],{},"Whereas action verbs state what the subject of a sentence does, descriptive verbs state what the subject of a sentence ",[86,5658,5659],{},"is",". Specifically, they say that the subject of the sentence is a quality, state, or condition... which is to say that they ",[86,5662,5663],{},"describe"," the subject.",[11,5666,5667],{},"While they're not quite the same thing, you won't run into any problems if you simplify things by saying that descriptive verbs are just adjectives.",[11,5669,5670],{},"Some common Korean \"adjectives\" include:",[1006,5672,5673,5682],{},[1009,5674,5675],{},[1012,5676,5677,5680],{},[1015,5678,5679],{},"Korean Verb",[1015,5681,1017],{},[1027,5683,5684,5692,5700,5708,5716,5724,5732,5740,5748,5756],{},[1012,5685,5686,5689],{},[1032,5687,5688],{},"크다 (keuda)",[1032,5690,5691],{},"to be big",[1012,5693,5694,5697],{},[1032,5695,5696],{},"작다 (chakda)",[1032,5698,5699],{},"to be small",[1012,5701,5702,5705],{},[1032,5703,5704],{},"좋다 (chota)",[1032,5706,5707],{},"to be good",[1012,5709,5710,5713],{},[1032,5711,5712],{},"나쁘다 (nappeuda)",[1032,5714,5715],{},"to be bad",[1012,5717,5718,5721],{},[1032,5719,5720],{},"맛있다 (masitda)",[1032,5722,5723],{},"to be delicious",[1012,5725,5726,5729],{},[1032,5727,5728],{},"맛없다 (mateopda)",[1032,5730,5731],{},"to be tasteless\u002Fdisgusting",[1012,5733,5734,5737],{},[1032,5735,5736],{},"재미있다 (chaemiitda)",[1032,5738,5739],{},"to be interesting",[1012,5741,5742,5745],{},[1032,5743,5744],{},"재미없다 (chaemieopda)",[1032,5746,5747],{},"to be boring",[1012,5749,5750,5753],{},[1032,5751,5752],{},"비싸다 (pissada)",[1032,5754,5755],{},"to be expensive",[1012,5757,5758,5761],{},[1032,5759,5760],{},"싸다 (ssada)",[1032,5762,5763],{},"to be cheap",[62,5765,5767],{"id":5766},"_3️⃣-existential-verbs","3️⃣ Existential verbs",[11,5769,5770],{},"Existential verbs, as the name implies, indicate the existence of something. Thankfully, there are only two of them:",[1006,5772,5773,5781],{},[1009,5774,5775],{},[1012,5776,5777,5779],{},[1015,5778,5679],{},[1015,5780,1017],{},[1027,5782,5783,5791],{},[1012,5784,5785,5788],{},[1032,5786,5787],{},"있다 (itda)",[1032,5789,5790],{},"to exist",[1012,5792,5793,5796],{},[1032,5794,5795],{},"없다 (eopda)",[1032,5797,5798],{},"to not exist",[11,5800,5801],{},"These verbs are used to say that somethings exists (there is...), but they're also used to say that something is at a certain location or that you have something.",[11,5803,5804,5805,5808,5809,5812],{},"Using \"there is\" to show possession might be a bit difficult to wrap your head around, so don't over think it. Just remember that if you say you ",[86,5806,5807],{},"have"," something in English, you'll say that it ",[86,5810,5811],{},"exists"," in Korean:",[419,5814,5815],{},[79,5816,5817,5818,5821,5822,271,5825,5827,5828,5821,5831,5833,5834,5837],{},"아쉽게도 밀쿠티가 ",[244,5819,5820],{},"없어요",". ",[544,5823],{"src":5824,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아쉽게도 밀쿠티가 없어요..mp3",[267,5826],{}," aswibgedo milkutiga ",[244,5829,5830],{},"eobs-eoyo",[267,5832],{}," Unfortunately, (I) ",[244,5835,5836],{},"don't have"," any milk tea.",[62,5839,5841],{"id":5840},"_4️⃣-copulative-verbs","4️⃣ Copulative verbs",[11,5843,5844,5845,1201],{},"\"Copula\" is a fancy linguistic word that you can basically think of as being an equal sign: it says that A is B. ",[15,5846,5849],{"href":5847,"rel":5848},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FList_of_English_copulae",[30],"The most common English copula is \"to be\"",[11,5851,5852],{},"Korean has two copulas:",[1006,5854,5855,5863],{},[1009,5856,5857],{},[1012,5858,5859,5861],{},[1015,5860,5679],{},[1015,5862,1017],{},[1027,5864,5865,5873],{},[1012,5866,5867,5870],{},[1032,5868,5869],{},"이다 (ida)",[1032,5871,5872],{},"to be",[1012,5874,5875,5878],{},[1032,5876,5877],{},"아니다 (anida)",[1032,5879,5880],{},"to not be",[62,5882,5884],{"id":5883},"a-bonus-unofficial-one","💰 A bonus unofficial one",[11,5886,5887],{},"There are also special \"helper\" verbs, the most common of which is 하다 (hada), that you can combine with a noun to create a verb. These verbs technically fall into the category of either action verbs or descriptive verbs, but I've included them in a separate section because I think the pattern is worth highlighting.",[1006,5889,5890,5904],{},[1009,5891,5892],{},[1012,5893,5894,5897,5899,5902],{},[1015,5895,5896],{},"Korean Noun",[1015,5898,1017],{},[1015,5900,5901],{},"Korean 하다 Verb ",[1015,5903,1017],{},[1027,5905,5906,5918,5932,5946,5960,5974,5988,6002,6016,6029],{},[1012,5907,5908,5911,5914,5916],{},[1032,5909,5910],{},"공부 (kongbu)",[1032,5912,5913],{},"study",[1032,5915,5638],{},[1032,5917,5641],{},[1012,5919,5920,5923,5926,5929],{},[1032,5921,5922],{},"준비 (chunbi)",[1032,5924,5925],{},"preparation",[1032,5927,5928],{},"준비하다 (chunbihada)",[1032,5930,5931],{},"to prepare",[1012,5933,5934,5937,5940,5943],{},[1032,5935,5936],{},"생각 (saenggak)",[1032,5938,5939],{},"thought",[1032,5941,5942],{},"생각하다 (saenggakhada)",[1032,5944,5945],{},"to think",[1012,5947,5948,5951,5954,5957],{},[1032,5949,5950],{},"선택 (seontaek)",[1032,5952,5953],{},"choice",[1032,5955,5956],{},"선택하다 (seontaekhada)",[1032,5958,5959],{},"to choose",[1012,5961,5962,5965,5968,5971],{},[1032,5963,5964],{},"사랑 (sarang)",[1032,5966,5967],{},"love",[1032,5969,5970],{},"사랑하다 (saranghada)",[1032,5972,5973],{},"to love",[1012,5975,5976,5979,5982,5985],{},[1032,5977,5978],{},"설명 (seolmyeong)",[1032,5980,5981],{},"explanation",[1032,5983,5984],{},"설명하다 (seolmyeonghada)",[1032,5986,5987],{},"to explain",[1012,5989,5990,5993,5996,5999],{},[1032,5991,5992],{},"결정 (kyeoljeong)",[1032,5994,5995],{},"decision",[1032,5997,5998],{},"결정하다 (kyeoljeonghada)",[1032,6000,6001],{},"to decide",[1012,6003,6004,6007,6010,6013],{},[1032,6005,6006],{},"걱정 (keokjeong)",[1032,6008,6009],{},"worry",[1032,6011,6012],{},"걱정하다 (keokjeonghada)",[1032,6014,6015],{},"to worry",[1012,6017,6018,6021,6023,6026],{},[1032,6019,6020],{},"사용 (sayong)",[1032,6022,4893],{},[1032,6024,6025],{},"사용하다 (sayonghada)",[1032,6027,6028],{},"to use",[1012,6030,6031,6034,6037,6040],{},[1032,6032,6033],{},"노력 (noryeok)",[1032,6035,6036],{},"effort",[1032,6038,6039],{},"노력하다 (noryeokhada)",[1032,6041,6042],{},"to try \u002F put in effort",[43,6044,6046],{"id":6045},"the-basics-of-korean-verb-conjugation","The basics of Korean verb conjugation",[11,6048,6049],{},"Good news and bad news here folks:",[419,6051,6052,6062],{},[79,6053,6054,6057,6058,6061],{},[82,6055,6056],{},"Bad news"," → You ",[86,6059,6060],{},"can't"," just drop a verb into a sentence—you need to conjugate them in order to use them (which is to say that you need to change their form in a certain way)",[79,6063,6064,6067],{},[82,6065,6066],{},"Good news"," → Compared to English, Korean is very regular—once you understand how a conjugation pattern works, you'll be able to apply it without too much trouble",[11,6069,6070],{},"It'll take a bit of effort and memorization on your part to master Korean conjugation, and we don't have enough space in this blog post to cover it in detail, but here's the basics you need to know to get started:",[62,6072,6074],{"id":6073},"_1️⃣-take-a-korean-verb-in-dictionary-form","1️⃣ Take a Korean verb in dictionary form",[11,6076,6077],{},"If you go back to the above section and skim through the example verbs I gave you, you'll notice that they all end in -다 (da). The dictionary form of all Korean verbs ends in -다 (da).",[11,6079,6080],{},"If we break down the verb 만나다 (mannada, \"to meet\"), for example, we get this:",[178,6082],{"src":6083,"width":1574,"height":6084,"alt":6085},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-stem.webp",550,"A graphic that shows how Korean verbs come in two parts, a verb stem and a verb ending",[56,6087,6088],{},[11,6089,6090],{},"💡 The dictionary form of every single Korean verb (and adjective) ends in -다 (da).",[62,6092,6094],{"id":6093},"_2️⃣-remove-다-to-get-the-verb-stem","2️⃣ Remove ~다 to get the verb stem",[11,6096,6097],{},"The verb stem is the base part of the verb, and it generally remains consistent no matter what kind of funny business is going on with the end of the verb.",[11,6099,6100],{},"Thankfully, you don't need to be a green thumb to handle Korean verb stems. All you have to do is take a verb and yoink ~다 from the end of it, as follows:",[419,6102,6103,6106,6109],{},[79,6104,6105],{},"Take the verb 가다 (kada, \"to go\") → Yoink the ~다 → get the stem 가~",[79,6107,6108],{},"Take the verb 먹다 (mogda, \"to eat\") → Yoink the ~다 → get the stem 먹~",[79,6110,6111],{},"Take the verb 하다 (hada, \"to do\") → Yoink the ~다 → get the stem 하~",[11,6113,6114],{},"If you know your Hangul, you'll notice that the stem 가 (ka) ends in a vowel whereas the stem 먹 (mog) ends with a consonant. This is very important. Most Korean verb endings (and particles, and grammar points in general) come in two shapes: one that gets used with syllable blocks that end in a consonant and another that gets used with syllable blocks that in a vowel.",[62,6116,6118],{"id":6117},"_3️⃣-add-your-verb-ending-or-conjugation-pattern","3️⃣ Add your verb ending or conjugation pattern",[11,6120,6121],{},"Verb stems, like flower stems, are incomplete. You need to tack the petals on top before people can appreciate their nature as a flower or verb.",[11,6123,6124],{},"We'll give more concrete details about how verbs change down below, in the section on Korean verb tenses. For now, just know that:",[419,6126,6127,6134,6137],{},[79,6128,6129,6130,6133],{},"Korean has ",[86,6131,6132],{},"several"," different endings that can be used with verbs",[79,6135,6136],{},"Which ending you use depends on what you want to say",[79,6138,6139],{},"The Hangul that a verb stem ends with is important: most verb endings come in pairs, one for verb stems that end in a consonant and another for those that end in a vowel",[62,6141,6143],{"id":6142},"️-a-note-about-koreans-irregular-verbs","‼️ A note about Korean's irregular verbs",[11,6145,6146],{},"Korean verbs are super regular, especially in comparison to their English counterparts. Nevertheless, there are seven types of Korean irregular verbs you'll need to keep an eye on:",[419,6148,6149],{},[79,6150,6151,6152],{},"Verb stem ends in...\n",[419,6153,6154,6156,6158,6160,6162,6165,6167],{},[79,6155,4077],{},[79,6157,3961],{},[79,6159,4048],{},[79,6161,3449],{},[79,6163,6164],{},"르",[79,6166,3990],{},[79,6168,4165],{},[11,6170,6171],{},"Let's look at two -ㅂ irregular verbs to show what we mean by \"verb stem ends in...\":",[419,6173,6174,6177],{},[79,6175,6176],{},"쉽다 (swibda, \"to be easy\") → remove -다 → get 쉽- → 쉽 ends in ㅂ → this is a ㅂ irregular",[79,6178,6179],{},"어렵다 (eolyeobda, \"to be difficult\") → remove -다 → get 어렵- → 어렵 ends in ㅂ → this is a ㅂ irregular",[11,6181,6182,6183,6191],{},"How irregular verbs work is beyond the scope of this blog post ",[86,6184,6185,6186,6190],{},"(read about them ",[15,6187,115],{"href":6188,"rel":6189},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.koreanwikiproject.com\u002Fwiki\u002FCategory:Irregular_verbs",[30],", if you're interested)",", but you should know two things:",[76,6193,6194,6197,6200],{},[79,6195,6196],{},"They still follow the basic 3-part formula we introduced above",[79,6198,6199],{},"They are \"regularly\" irregular, in that pretty much all of the verbs in each subset work the same way",[79,6201,6202],{},"They will become second nature as you spend more time in Korean",[43,6204,6206],{"id":6205},"the-basics-of-korean-verb-tenses","The basics of Korean verb tenses",[56,6208,6209],{},[11,6210,6211],{},"🧩 Summarizing the above section, here's a basic formula for conjugating Korean verbs:",[76,6213,6214,6217,6220],{},[79,6215,6216],{},"Start with the dictionary form (verbs end in -다)",[79,6218,6219],{},"Yeet 다 to get the verb stem",[79,6221,6222],{},"Add your verb ending (this may require you to slightly modify the verb stem, too)",[11,6224,6225],{},"With this in mind, now look at the below table and see if you can work out any patterns:",[1006,6227,6228,6256],{},[1009,6229,6230],{},[1012,6231,6232,6235,6242,6249],{},[1015,6233,6234],{},"Dictionary form",[1015,6236,6237],{},[15,6238,6241],{"href":6239,"rel":6240},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%EA%B0%80%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation",[30],"가다 (To go)",[1015,6243,6244],{},[15,6245,6248],{"href":6246,"rel":6247},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%EB%A8%B9%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation",[30]," 먹다 (To eat)",[1015,6250,6251],{},[15,6252,6255],{"href":6253,"rel":6254},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%ED%95%98%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation",[30],"하다 (To do)",[1027,6257,6258,6274,6289,6305,6321],{},[1012,6259,6260,6265,6268,6271],{},[1032,6261,6262],{},[82,6263,6264],{},"Verb stem",[1032,6266,6267],{},"가",[1032,6269,6270],{},"먹",[1032,6272,6273],{},"하",[1012,6275,6276,6281,6283,6286],{},[1032,6277,6278],{},[82,6279,6280],{},"Present tense",[1032,6282,6267],{},[1032,6284,6285],{},"먹어",[1032,6287,6288],{},"해",[1012,6290,6291,6296,6299,6302],{},[1032,6292,6293],{},[82,6294,6295],{},"Past tense",[1032,6297,6298],{},"갔어",[1032,6300,6301],{},"먹었어",[1032,6303,6304],{},"했어",[1012,6306,6307,6312,6315,6318],{},[1032,6308,6309],{},[82,6310,6311],{},"Future tense",[1032,6313,6314],{},"갈 거야",[1032,6316,6317],{},"먹을 거야",[1032,6319,6320],{},"할 거야",[1012,6322,6323,6328,6330,6332],{},[1032,6324,6325],{},[82,6326,6327],{},"Imperative",[1032,6329,6267],{},[1032,6331,6285],{},[1032,6333,6288],{},[11,6335,6336],{},"하다 is an irregular verb, but if we omit that and focus on 먹다\u002F하다, we can see that:",[419,6338,6339,6342,6345],{},[79,6340,6341],{},"The present tense ends in an -아 or 어 sound",[79,6343,6344],{},"The past tense ends in ~ㅆ어 sound",[79,6346,6347],{},"The future tense ends in ~ㄹ 거야 sound",[11,6349,6350],{},"It unfortunately gets more complex than that:",[419,6352,6353,6356,6359],{},[79,6354,6355],{},"Each tense has a few variations for formality and politeness",[79,6357,6358],{},"There are two different past-tense forms and several different future tenses",[79,6360,6361],{},"There are verb endings for things we don't think of as being tenses in English, conveying things like \"if\" or \"because\"",[11,6363,6364,6365,6367,6368,661,6372,667,6376,5821,6380],{},"It's beyond the scope of this blog post, but if you want to see ",[86,6366,4801],{}," of Korean's possible verb forms, check out the Wiktionary pages for ",[15,6369,6371],{"href":6239,"rel":6370},[30],"가다",[15,6373,6375],{"href":6246,"rel":6374},[30],"먹다",[15,6377,6379],{"href":6253,"rel":6378},[30],"하다",[86,6381,6382],{},"(Click on \"Show ▼\" at the far-right side of the grey \"Conjugation\" bar).",[43,6384,6386],{"id":6385},"the-basics-of-korean-speech-levels-banmal-vs-honorifics","The basics of Korean speech levels (banmal vs honorifics)",[11,6388,6389],{},"In the above section we commented that verbs in the Korean language conjugate in order to communicate information that we wouldn't think of as being the \"job\" of the verb in English.",[11,6391,6392],{},"One of the things Korean verbs do that English verbs don't do is specify the status of the speaker in relation to the person they are talking to and\u002For about. This is done by using specific verb endings:",[178,6394],{"src":2234,"width":2235,"height":2236,"alt":2237},[11,6396,6397],{},"Basically, when conjugating the main verb of your sentence, you need to decide between:",[419,6399,6400,6407],{},[79,6401,6402,6403,6406],{},"Casual form (no added politeness) ",[82,6404,6405],{},"OR"," honorific form (intentionally polite)",[79,6408,6409,6410,6412],{},"Form for informal environments ",[82,6411,6405],{}," form for formal environments",[11,6414,6415,6416,1201],{},"You can read a bit more about Korean speech levels in ",[15,6417,6419],{"href":6418},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-basic-korean-grammar#_6-in-korean-politeness-is-kind-of-like-a-verb-tense","our blog post on basic Korean grammar",[11,6421,6422],{},"Alternatively, if you dare.........",[882,6424,6426,6429,6432],{"heading":6425},"[Warning] Scary-looking table",[11,6427,6428],{},"The above graphic shows present-tense verb endings, but the same 4-way split actually exists for each tense.",[11,6430,6431],{},"Below is the table from the section on verb conjugation, but we've expanded it to show each speech level for each tense.",[1006,6433,6434,6447],{},[1009,6435,6436],{},[1012,6437,6438,6440,6442,6445],{},[1015,6439,6234],{},[1015,6441,6241],{},[1015,6443,6444],{},"먹다 (To eat)",[1015,6446,6255],{},[1027,6448,6449,6461,6474,6490,6506,6522,6535,6551,6567,6583,6596,6612,6628,6644,6657,6673,6689],{},[1012,6450,6451,6455,6457,6459],{},[1032,6452,6453],{},[82,6454,6264],{},[1032,6456,6267],{},[1032,6458,6270],{},[1032,6460,6273],{},[1012,6462,6463,6468,6470,6472],{},[1032,6464,6465],{},[82,6466,6467],{},"Present (informal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6469,6267],{},[1032,6471,6285],{},[1032,6473,6288],{},[1012,6475,6476,6481,6484,6487],{},[1032,6477,6478],{},[82,6479,6480],{},"Present (formal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6482,6483],{},"간다",[1032,6485,6486],{},"먹는다",[1032,6488,6489],{},"한다",[1012,6491,6492,6497,6500,6503],{},[1032,6493,6494],{},[82,6495,6496],{},"Present (informal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6498,6499],{},"가요",[1032,6501,6502],{},"먹어요",[1032,6504,6505],{},"해요",[1012,6507,6508,6513,6516,6519],{},[1032,6509,6510],{},[82,6511,6512],{},"Present (formal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6514,6515],{},"갑니다",[1032,6517,6518],{},"먹습니다",[1032,6520,6521],{},"합니다",[1012,6523,6524,6529,6531,6533],{},[1032,6525,6526],{},[82,6527,6528],{},"Past (informal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6530,6298],{},[1032,6532,6301],{},[1032,6534,6304],{},[1012,6536,6537,6542,6545,6548],{},[1032,6538,6539],{},[82,6540,6541],{},"Past (formal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6543,6544],{},"갔다",[1032,6546,6547],{},"먹었다",[1032,6549,6550],{},"했다",[1012,6552,6553,6558,6561,6564],{},[1032,6554,6555],{},[82,6556,6557],{},"Past (informal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6559,6560],{},"갔어요",[1032,6562,6563],{},"먹었어요",[1032,6565,6566],{},"했어요",[1012,6568,6569,6574,6577,6580],{},[1032,6570,6571],{},[82,6572,6573],{},"Past (formal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6575,6576],{},"갔습니다",[1032,6578,6579],{},"먹었습니다",[1032,6581,6582],{},"했습니다",[1012,6584,6585,6590,6592,6594],{},[1032,6586,6587],{},[82,6588,6589],{},"Future (informal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6591,6314],{},[1032,6593,6317],{},[1032,6595,6320],{},[1012,6597,6598,6603,6606,6609],{},[1032,6599,6600],{},[82,6601,6602],{},"Future (formal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6604,6605],{},"갈 거다",[1032,6607,6608],{},"먹을 거다",[1032,6610,6611],{},"할 거다",[1012,6613,6614,6619,6622,6625],{},[1032,6615,6616],{},[82,6617,6618],{},"Future (informal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6620,6621],{},"갈 거예요",[1032,6623,6624],{},"먹을 거예요",[1032,6626,6627],{},"할 거예요",[1012,6629,6630,6635,6638,6641],{},[1032,6631,6632],{},[82,6633,6634],{},"Future (formal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6636,6637],{},"갈 겁니다",[1032,6639,6640],{},"먹을 겁니다",[1032,6642,6643],{},"할 겁니다",[1012,6645,6646,6651,6653,6655],{},[1032,6647,6648],{},[82,6649,6650],{},"Imperative (informal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6652,6267],{},[1032,6654,6285],{},[1032,6656,6288],{},[1012,6658,6659,6664,6667,6670],{},[1032,6660,6661],{},[82,6662,6663],{},"Imperative (formal\u002Fno politeness)",[1032,6665,6666],{},"가라",[1032,6668,6669],{},"먹어라",[1032,6671,6672],{},"해라",[1012,6674,6675,6680,6683,6686],{},[1032,6676,6677],{},[82,6678,6679],{},"Imperative (informal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6681,6682],{},"가세요",[1032,6684,6685],{},"먹으세요",[1032,6687,6688],{},"하세요",[1012,6690,6691,6696,6699,6702],{},[1032,6692,6693],{},[82,6694,6695],{},"Imperative (formal\u002Fpolite)",[1032,6697,6698],{},"가십시오",[1032,6700,6701],{},"먹으십시오",[1032,6703,6704],{},"하십시오",[11,6706,6707],{},"When in doubt, go with the -요 ending (polite, informal). It's one of the most commonly used speech levels and will pretty much always be OK, unless your'e talking with a super important person or are in an obviously formal setting.",[43,6709,6711],{"id":6710},"some-common-korean-verbs","Some common Korean verbs",[11,6713,6714],{},"If you want to learn Korean, you're going to have to memorize many verbs. Hundreds, if not thousands. That'll take awhile. For now, though, here are 25 common verbs for you to start with:",[1006,6716,6717,6728],{},[1009,6718,6719],{},[1012,6720,6721,6724,6726],{},[1015,6722,6723],{},"Korean (romanization)",[1015,6725,305],{},[1015,6727,1017],{},[1027,6729,6730,6742,6754,6767,6779,6790,6803,6815,6828,6841,6854,6867,6879,6892,6905,6918,6930,6943,6956,6969,6981,6994,7007,7020,7031],{},[1012,6731,6732,6735,6739],{},[1032,6733,6734],{},"하다 (hada)",[1032,6736,6737],{},[544,6738],{"src":1876,":type":547},[1032,6740,6741],{},"to do",[1012,6743,6744,6746,6751],{},[1032,6745,5787],{},[1032,6747,6748],{},[544,6749],{"src":6750,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-있다.mp3",[1032,6752,6753],{},"to exist, to have",[1012,6755,6756,6759,6764],{},[1032,6757,6758],{},"되다 (toeda)",[1032,6760,6761],{},[544,6762],{"src":6763,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-되다.mp3",[1032,6765,6766],{},"to become",[1012,6768,6769,6771,6776],{},[1032,6770,5795],{},[1032,6772,6773],{},[544,6774],{"src":6775,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-없다.mp3",[1032,6777,6778],{},"to not exist, to not have",[1012,6780,6781,6783,6788],{},[1032,6782,5877],{},[1032,6784,6785],{},[544,6786],{"src":6787,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아니다.mp3",[1032,6789,5880],{},[1012,6791,6792,6795,6800],{},[1032,6793,6794],{},"같다 (katda)",[1032,6796,6797],{},[544,6798],{"src":6799,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-같다.mp3",[1032,6801,6802],{},"to be similar, to be like",[1012,6804,6805,6807,6812],{},[1032,6806,5606],{},[1032,6808,6809],{},[544,6810],{"src":6811,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-말하다.mp3",[1032,6813,6814],{},"to speak, to say",[1012,6816,6817,6820,6825],{},[1032,6818,6819],{},"위하다 (wihada)",[1032,6821,6822],{},[544,6823],{"src":6824,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-위하다.mp3",[1032,6826,6827],{},"to do for, to care for",[1012,6829,6830,6833,6838],{},[1032,6831,6832],{},"알다 (alda)",[1032,6834,6835],{},[544,6836],{"src":6837,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-알다.mp3",[1032,6839,6840],{},"to know",[1012,6842,6843,6846,6851],{},[1032,6844,6845],{},"그렇다 (keureota)",[1032,6847,6848],{},[544,6849],{"src":6850,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-그렇다.mp3",[1032,6852,6853],{},"to be like that",[1012,6855,6856,6859,6864],{},[1032,6857,6858],{},"많다 (manta)",[1032,6860,6861],{},[544,6862],{"src":6863,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-많다.mp3",[1032,6865,6866],{},"to be many, to be a lot",[1012,6868,6869,6871,6876],{},[1032,6870,5704],{},[1032,6872,6873],{},[544,6874],{"src":6875,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-좋다.mp3",[1032,6877,6878],{},"to be good, to like",[1012,6880,6881,6884,6889],{},[1032,6882,6883],{},"받다 (patda)",[1032,6885,6886],{},[544,6887],{"src":6888,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-받다.mp3",[1032,6890,6891],{},"to receive",[1012,6893,6894,6897,6902],{},[1032,6895,6896],{},"나오다 (naoda)",[1032,6898,6899],{},[544,6900],{"src":6901,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나오다.mp3",[1032,6903,6904],{},"to come out, to appear",[1012,6906,6907,6910,6915],{},[1032,6908,6909],{},"살다 (salda)",[1032,6911,6912],{},[544,6913],{"src":6914,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-살다.mp3",[1032,6916,6917],{},"to live",[1012,6919,6920,6923,6928],{},[1032,6921,6922],{},"생각하다 (saenggakada)",[1032,6924,6925],{},[544,6926],{"src":6927,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-생각하다.mp3",[1032,6929,5945],{},[1012,6931,6932,6935,6940],{},[1032,6933,6934],{},"모르다 (moreuda)",[1032,6936,6937],{},[544,6938],{"src":6939,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-모르다.mp3",[1032,6941,6942],{},"to not know",[1012,6944,6945,6948,6953],{},[1032,6946,6947],{},"만들다 (mandeulda)",[1032,6949,6950],{},[544,6951],{"src":6952,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-만들다.mp3",[1032,6954,6955],{},"to make, to create",[1012,6957,6958,6961,6966],{},[1032,6959,6960],{},"통하다 (tonghada)",[1032,6962,6963],{},[544,6964],{"src":6965,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-통하다.mp3",[1032,6967,6968],{},"to go through, to communicate",[1012,6970,6971,6973,6978],{},[1032,6972,5614],{},[1032,6974,6975],{},[544,6976],{"src":6977,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-듣다.mp3",[1032,6979,6980],{},"to listen, to hear",[1012,6982,6983,6986,6991],{},[1032,6984,6985],{},"싶다 (sipda)",[1032,6987,6988],{},[544,6989],{"src":6990,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-싶다.mp3",[1032,6992,6993],{},"to want (to do something)",[1012,6995,6996,6999,7004],{},[1032,6997,6998],{},"지나다 (chinada)",[1032,7000,7001],{},[544,7002],{"src":7003,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-지나다.mp3",[1032,7005,7006],{},"to pass (by), to go through",[1012,7008,7009,7012,7017],{},[1032,7010,7011],{},"주다 (chuda)",[1032,7013,7014],{},[544,7015],{"src":7016,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-주다.mp3",[1032,7018,7019],{},"to give",[1012,7021,7022,7024,7029],{},[1032,7023,5590],{},[1032,7025,7026],{},[544,7027],{"src":7028,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-_가다.mp3",[1032,7030,5593],{},[1012,7032,7033,7036,7041],{},[1032,7034,7035],{},"나타나다 (natanada)",[1032,7037,7038],{},[544,7039],{"src":7040,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나타나다.mp3",[1032,7042,7043],{},"to appear, to show up",[43,7045,7047],{"id":7046},"a-beginner-friendly-approach-to-learning-korean","A beginner-friendly approach to learning Korean ",[11,7049,7050],{},"Hey, friend.",[56,7052,7053],{},[11,7054,7055],{},"I just want to let you know that it's not just you.",[11,7057,7058,7059,1201],{},"This stuff is complicated, and if it feels like I'm moving quickly or skipping over stuff—it's because ",[86,7060,7061],{},"I am",[11,7063,7064,7065,7068],{},"You see, Korean demands a lot out of its verbs. They do a lot of things and change in a lot of ways. There's just no way I can cover ",[86,7066,7067],{},"everything"," about verbs, verb conjugations, honorifics, and all of that in a format that you'll be able to make sense of while skimming.",[11,7070,7071],{},"Wanna know how I know that?",[11,7073,7074,7075,7078],{},"We made a Korean course, and it took us like seven lessons just to cover how verbs conjugate in the present tense. And that was just the ",[86,7076,7077],{},"regular"," ones, using the informal\u002Fnon-polite form. (Irregular verbs and polite\u002Fformal stuff comes later).",[11,7080,7081],{},"Like, check this out.",[178,7083],{"src":7084,"width":7085,"height":7086,"alt":7087},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-sound-change.jpeg",1300,908,"An excerpt from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach verb conjugations",[11,7089,2101,7090,7092],{},[86,7091,2106],{}," a lot of detail. It's nicely paced, though. Our lessons are broken down and spread out so that they're easy to follow. You're always learning something, but never overwhelmed.",[11,7094,7095],{},"The best part is that you don't have to memorize anything.",[11,7097,7098,7099,7102,7103,7106],{},"We condense everything we expect you to remember into nice-looking flashcards, and leverage ",[15,7100,7101],{"href":102},"a spaced-repetition algorithm"," tracks your performance in order to build a personalized review schedule for you. All you have to do is ",[86,7104,7105],{},"want"," it—be consistent and keep at the course—and Migaku Memory will handle the rest.",[178,7108],{"src":7109,"width":7110,"height":7111,"alt":7112},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-paste-tense.jpeg",1310,916,"An excerpt from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach the paste tense",[11,7114,7115],{},"If you're feeling overwhelmed by Korean verbs, or have been at this for awhile but don't feel like you're getting anywhere, give Migaku's Korean Academy a shot.",[11,7117,7118],{},"It's totally free for ten days, and that's enough time to get through the initial lessons explaining how verbs work. Your language learning life is either going to be changed... or it won't be, but at least you'll finally understand how Korean verbs work.",[521,7120],{"href":7121,"text":976},"\u002Flearn-Korean",[43,7123,7125],{"id":7124},"thats-everything-you-need-to-know-about-verbs-in-korean-but","That's everything you need to know about verbs in Korean, but...",[11,7127,7128,7129,7132],{},"This article was pretty technical, so I wanted to remind you not to get ",[86,7130,7131],{},"too"," hung up on the rules.",[11,7134,7135],{},"Here's a golden lesson about language learning:",[56,7137,7138],{},[11,7139,7140,7141,1201],{},"The only thing you need to do to learn Korean is interact with it. If you consume Korean media, and understand the messages within that media, you will make progress. ",[86,7142,1628],{},[11,7144,7145],{},"Verbs are complex... but as you spend more time with Korean, they'll begin to make sense. You'll just hear, say, informal-polite past tense verbs often enough that you'll kind of remember the sound (~써). Then, the next time you skim a grammatical resource of some sort, it'll click. All the foundation your immersion has given you will support you and make learning easier.",[11,7147,7148],{},"So, good on you for learning about verbs!",[11,7150,7151],{},"But remember to have fun, too 💜",{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":7153},[7154,7155,7156,7163,7169,7170,7171,7172,7173],{"id":5403,"depth":1432,"text":5404},{"id":5438,"depth":1432,"text":5439},{"id":5527,"depth":1432,"text":5528,"children":7157},[7158,7159,7160,7161,7162],{"id":5549,"depth":1437,"text":5550},{"id":5652,"depth":1437,"text":5653},{"id":5766,"depth":1437,"text":5767},{"id":5840,"depth":1437,"text":5841},{"id":5883,"depth":1437,"text":5884},{"id":6045,"depth":1432,"text":6046,"children":7164},[7165,7166,7167,7168],{"id":6073,"depth":1437,"text":6074},{"id":6093,"depth":1437,"text":6094},{"id":6117,"depth":1437,"text":6118},{"id":6142,"depth":1437,"text":6143},{"id":6205,"depth":1432,"text":6206},{"id":6385,"depth":1432,"text":6386},{"id":6710,"depth":1432,"text":6711},{"id":7046,"depth":1432,"text":7047},{"id":7124,"depth":1432,"text":7125},"A simple guide explaining how Korean verbs work. Covers conjugation, descriptive vs action verbs, and includes 50 examples of common Korean verbs.",{"timestampUnix":7176,"slug":7177,"h1":7178,"image":7179,"tags":7184},1738898125768,"korean-verbs-conjugation-guide","Korean Verbs Deep Dive (+list of verbs at bottom of page)",{"src":7180,"width":7181,"height":7182,"alt":7183,"position":2854},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-header.jpeg",3750,3000,"Several people running, jumping, dancing, and exercising—doing things,because Korean verbs are what you do!",[2856,7185],"verbs","\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-verbs","---\ntitle: '[Beginners] A Guide to Korean Verbs and Korean Verb Conjugation'\ndescription: 'A simple guide explaining how Korean verbs work. Covers conjugation, descriptive vs action verbs, and includes 50 examples of common Korean verbs.'\ntimestampUnix: 1738898125768\nslug: 'korean-verbs-conjugation-guide'\nh1: 'Korean Verbs Deep Dive (+list of verbs at bottom of page)'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-header.jpeg'\n  width: 3750\n  height: 3000\n  alt: 'Several people running, jumping, dancing, and exercising—doing things,because Korean verbs are what you do!'\n  position: top\ntags:\n  - fundamentals\n  - verbs\n---\n\nGood news:\n\nBy the time you finish this article, you're going to understand how Korean verbs work. From super basic stuff like what a verb is (we don't judge) to more difficult stuff like conjugation rules or the various forms of verbs—it's all here.\n\nWe've also included a big table of the 25 most useful Korean verbs for beginners. You can screenshot it and make it your phone's background... or something.\n\nThis isn't everything you need to know to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean), of course, but it's a pretty solid start.\n\nAnyway, get ready for:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n> \u003CCenteredText bold underline>Forewarning\u003C\u002FCenteredText>\u003Cbr>\n>\n> This article assumes that you can already read Hangul. We'll include romanization and audio in most places, but if you're completely new to Korean, you might want to take a moment to check out our [guide to reading and pronouncing Hangul](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-korean-hangul).\n\n---\n\n## The über important job that verbs do\n\nThere's one thing that's worth making clear before we dive into this:\n\n> The heart of any sentence is its verb.\n\nAs much Korean grammar as you might learn, it's basically doing the same thing: providing you a bit more information about the verb of the sentence it's used in. Grammar helps us specify things like:\n\n- Why the verb was done\n\n- Who did the verb\n\n- Who or what the verb was done to\n\n- When the verb was done\n\nSuffice it to say that if you want to speak Korean, or _any_ language, getting a handle on verbs is super important.\n\n## A crash course in Korean sentence structure\n\nWe won't go super far into this because we've got an entire separate blog post about [basic Korean grammar](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-basic-korean-grammar), but, really fast, a sentence's fundamental building blocks consist of three things: subject, verb, and object.\n\n- **\u003Cu>S\u003C\u002Fu>ubject** — the doer of an action\n- **\u003Cu>V\u003C\u002Fu>erb** — the action itself\n- **\u003Cu>O\u003C\u002Fu>bject** — what receives the action\n\nI refer to these as being \"fundamental\" building blocks because [languages are actually categorized according to how they organize these things within a sentence](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FSubject%E2%80%93verb%E2%80%93object_word_order).\n\n- **English** is what's called a **subject-verb-object (SVO)** language because we tend to start sentences with a subject and a verb and go from there.\n- **Korean**, in contrast, is what's called a **subject-object-verb (SOV)** language—the main verb of Korean sentences goes at the very end of the sentence.\n\nWhile longer sentences get complicated, you can immediately see what this means for Korean word order if we look at a simple sentence. I've underlined the verbs in the below sentences (and bolded the objects) so you can see how English and Korean organize their sentences differently.\n\n- The teacher \u003Cu>reads\u003C\u002Fu> **a book**.\n- 선생님은 **책**을 \u003Cu>읽습니다\u003C\u002Fu>.  \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-선생님은 책을 읽습니다..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\n\n## The 4 categories of Korean verbs\n\nSo, I'm pretty sure you know what a verb is. You've seen Nike ads before. _It's what you do._\n\nWhat might be news to you is that, just as there are proper nouns (like Korea or Rap Monster) and common nouns (like kimchi or [hangover stew](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHaejang-guk)), there are actually different types of verbs, too.\n\nKorean recognizes four different categories of verbs, and roughly understanding what each one does will make your language learning life easier.\n\n### 1️⃣ Action verbs (AKA \"processive verbs\")\n\nLet's start with the easy one: action verbs are the concrete things you do. These verbs describe physical actions and activities that you can actually (usually) observe someone doing. Action verbs are probably what you think of when you think of verbs.\n\nSome common ones include:\n\n| Korean Verb (Romaji)  | English      |\n| --------------------- | ------------ |\n| 먹다 (meokda)         | to eat       |\n| 마시다 (masida)       | to drink     |\n| 가다 (kada)           | to go        |\n| 오다 (oda)            | to come      |\n| 말하다 (malhada)      | to speak     |\n| 듣다 (teutda)         | to listen    |\n| 보다 (poda)           | to see\u002Fwatch |\n| 자다 (chada)          | to sleep     |\n| 공부하다 (kongbuhada) | to study     |\n| 일하다 (ilhada)       | to work      |\n\n### 2️⃣ Descriptive verbs (AKA \"stative verbs\" or \"adjectives\")\n\nWhereas action verbs state what the subject of a sentence does, descriptive verbs state what the subject of a sentence _is_. Specifically, they say that the subject of the sentence is a quality, state, or condition... which is to say that they _describe_ the subject.\n\nWhile they're not quite the same thing, you won't run into any problems if you simplify things by saying that descriptive verbs are just adjectives.\n\nSome common Korean \"adjectives\" include:\n\n| Korean Verb            | English                    |\n| ---------------------- | -------------------------- |\n| 크다 (keuda)           | to be big                  |\n| 작다 (chakda)          | to be small                |\n| 좋다 (chota)           | to be good                 |\n| 나쁘다 (nappeuda)      | to be bad                  |\n| 맛있다 (masitda)       | to be delicious            |\n| 맛없다 (mateopda)      | to be tasteless\u002Fdisgusting |\n| 재미있다 (chaemiitda)  | to be interesting          |\n| 재미없다 (chaemieopda) | to be boring               |\n| 비싸다 (pissada)       | to be expensive            |\n| 싸다 (ssada)           | to be cheap                |\n\n### 3️⃣ Existential verbs\n\nExistential verbs, as the name implies, indicate the existence of something. Thankfully, there are only two of them:\n\n| Korean Verb  | English      |\n| ------------ | ------------ |\n| 있다 (itda)  | to exist     |\n| 없다 (eopda) | to not exist |\n\nThese verbs are used to say that somethings exists (there is...), but they're also used to say that something is at a certain location or that you have something.\n\nUsing \"there is\" to show possession might be a bit difficult to wrap your head around, so don't over think it. Just remember that if you say you _have_ something in English, you'll say that it _exists_ in Korean:\n\n- 아쉽게도 밀쿠티가 \u003Cu>없어요\u003C\u002Fu>. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아쉽게도 밀쿠티가 없어요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> \u003Cbr> aswibgedo milkutiga \u003Cu>eobs-eoyo\u003C\u002Fu>. \u003Cbr> Unfortunately, (I) \u003Cu>don't have\u003C\u002Fu> any milk tea.\n\n### 4️⃣ Copulative verbs\n\n\"Copula\" is a fancy linguistic word that you can basically think of as being an equal sign: it says that A is B. [The most common English copula is \"to be\"](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FList_of_English_copulae).\n\nKorean has two copulas:\n\n| Korean Verb    | English   |\n| -------------- | --------- |\n| 이다 (ida)     | to be     |\n| 아니다 (anida) | to not be |\n\n### 💰 A bonus unofficial one\n\nThere are also special \"helper\" verbs, the most common of which is 하다 (hada), that you can combine with a noun to create a verb. These verbs technically fall into the category of either action verbs or descriptive verbs, but I've included them in a separate section because I think the pattern is worth highlighting.\n\n| Korean Noun       | English     | Korean 하다 Verb          | English                |\n| ----------------- | ----------- | ------------------------- | ---------------------- |\n| 공부 (kongbu)     | study       | 공부하다 (kongbuhada)     | to study               |\n| 준비 (chunbi)     | preparation | 준비하다 (chunbihada)     | to prepare             |\n| 생각 (saenggak)   | thought     | 생각하다 (saenggakhada)   | to think               |\n| 선택 (seontaek)   | choice      | 선택하다 (seontaekhada)   | to choose              |\n| 사랑 (sarang)     | love        | 사랑하다 (saranghada)     | to love                |\n| 설명 (seolmyeong) | explanation | 설명하다 (seolmyeonghada) | to explain             |\n| 결정 (kyeoljeong) | decision    | 결정하다 (kyeoljeonghada) | to decide              |\n| 걱정 (keokjeong)  | worry       | 걱정하다 (keokjeonghada)  | to worry               |\n| 사용 (sayong)     | use         | 사용하다 (sayonghada)     | to use                 |\n| 노력 (noryeok)    | effort      | 노력하다 (noryeokhada)    | to try \u002F put in effort |\n\n## The basics of Korean verb conjugation\n\nGood news and bad news here folks:\n\n- **Bad news** → You _can't_ just drop a verb into a sentence—you need to conjugate them in order to use them (which is to say that you need to change their form in a certain way)\n- **Good news** → Compared to English, Korean is very regular—once you understand how a conjugation pattern works, you'll be able to apply it without too much trouble\n\nIt'll take a bit of effort and memorization on your part to master Korean conjugation, and we don't have enough space in this blog post to cover it in detail, but here's the basics you need to know to get started:\n\n### 1️⃣ Take a Korean verb in dictionary form\n\nIf you go back to the above section and skim through the example verbs I gave you, you'll notice that they all end in -다 (da). The dictionary form of all Korean verbs ends in -다 (da).\n\nIf we break down the verb 만나다 (mannada, \"to meet\"), for example, we get this:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-stem.webp\" width=\"1000\" height=\"550\" alt=\"A graphic that shows how Korean verbs come in two parts, a verb stem and a verb ending\" \u002F>\n\n> 💡 The dictionary form of every single Korean verb (and adjective) ends in -다 (da).\n\n### 2️⃣ Remove ~다 to get the verb stem\n\nThe verb stem is the base part of the verb, and it generally remains consistent no matter what kind of funny business is going on with the end of the verb.\n\nThankfully, you don't need to be a green thumb to handle Korean verb stems. All you have to do is take a verb and yoink ~다 from the end of it, as follows:\n\n- Take the verb 가다 (kada, \"to go\") → Yoink the \\~다 → get the stem 가\\~\n\n- Take the verb 먹다 (mogda, \"to eat\") → Yoink the \\~다 → get the stem 먹\\~\n\n- Take the verb 하다 (hada, \"to do\") → Yoink the \\~다 → get the stem 하\\~\n\nIf you know your Hangul, you'll notice that the stem 가 (ka) ends in a vowel whereas the stem 먹 (mog) ends with a consonant. This is very important. Most Korean verb endings (and particles, and grammar points in general) come in two shapes: one that gets used with syllable blocks that end in a consonant and another that gets used with syllable blocks that in a vowel.\n\n### 3️⃣ Add your verb ending or conjugation pattern\n\nVerb stems, like flower stems, are incomplete. You need to tack the petals on top before people can appreciate their nature as a flower or verb.\n\nWe'll give more concrete details about how verbs change down below, in the section on Korean verb tenses. For now, just know that:\n\n- Korean has _several_ different endings that can be used with verbs\n- Which ending you use depends on what you want to say\n- The Hangul that a verb stem ends with is important: most verb endings come in pairs, one for verb stems that end in a consonant and another for those that end in a vowel\n\n### ‼️ A note about Korean's irregular verbs\n\nKorean verbs are super regular, especially in comparison to their English counterparts. Nevertheless, there are seven types of Korean irregular verbs you'll need to keep an eye on:\n\n- Verb stem ends in...\n  - ㅅ\n  - ㄷ\n  - ㅂ\n  - 으\n  - 르\n  - ㄹ\n  - ㅎ\n\nLet's look at two -ㅂ irregular verbs to show what we mean by \"verb stem ends in...\":\n\n- 쉽다 (swibda, \"to be easy\") → remove -다 → get 쉽- → 쉽 ends in ㅂ → this is a ㅂ irregular\n\n- 어렵다 (eolyeobda, \"to be difficult\") → remove -다 → get 어렵- → 어렵 ends in ㅂ → this is a ㅂ irregular\n\nHow irregular verbs work is beyond the scope of this blog post _(read about them [here](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.koreanwikiproject.com\u002Fwiki\u002FCategory:Irregular_verbs), if you're interested)_, but you should know two things:\n\n1. They still follow the basic 3-part formula we introduced above\n\n2. They are \"regularly\" irregular, in that pretty much all of the verbs in each subset work the same way\n\n3. They will become second nature as you spend more time in Korean\n\n## The basics of Korean verb tenses\n\n> 🧩 Summarizing the above section, here's a basic formula for conjugating Korean verbs:\n\n1. Start with the dictionary form (verbs end in -다)\n2. Yeet 다 to get the verb stem\n3. Add your verb ending (this may require you to slightly modify the verb stem, too)\n\nWith this in mind, now look at the below table and see if you can work out any patterns:\n\n| Dictionary form   | [가다 (To go)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%EA%B0%80%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation) | [ 먹다 (To eat)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%EB%A8%B9%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation) | [하다 (To do)](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%ED%95%98%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation) |\n| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| **Verb stem**     | 가                                                                            | 먹                                                                              | 하                                                                            |\n| **Present tense** | 가                                                                            | 먹어                                                                            | 해                                                                            |\n| **Past tense**    | 갔어                                                                          | 먹었어                                                                          | 했어                                                                          |\n| **Future tense**  | 갈 거야                                                                       | 먹을 거야                                                                       | 할 거야                                                                       |\n| **Imperative**    | 가                                                                            | 먹어                                                                            | 해                                                                            |\n\n하다 is an irregular verb, but if we omit that and focus on 먹다\u002F하다, we can see that:\n\n- The present tense ends in an -아 or 어 sound\n- The past tense ends in ~ㅆ어 sound\n- The future tense ends in ~ㄹ 거야 sound\n\nIt unfortunately gets more complex than that:\n\n- Each tense has a few variations for formality and politeness\n- There are two different past-tense forms and several different future tenses\n- There are verb endings for things we don't think of as being tenses in English, conveying things like \"if\" or \"because\"\n\nIt's beyond the scope of this blog post, but if you want to see _all_ of Korean's possible verb forms, check out the Wiktionary pages for [가다](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%EA%B0%80%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation), [먹다](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%EB%A8%B9%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation), and [하다](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wiktionary.org\u002Fwiki\u002F%ED%95%98%EB%8B%A4#Conjugation). _(Click on \"Show ▼\" at the far-right side of the grey \"Conjugation\" bar)._\n\n## The basics of Korean speech levels (banmal vs honorifics)\n\nIn the above section we commented that verbs in the Korean language conjugate in order to communicate information that we wouldn't think of as being the \"job\" of the verb in English.\n\nOne of the things Korean verbs do that English verbs don't do is specify the status of the speaker in relation to the person they are talking to and\u002For about. This is done by using specific verb endings:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-politeness-formality.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"887\" alt=\"A screenshot from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing the four main different speech levels in Korean\" \u002F>\n\nBasically, when conjugating the main verb of your sentence, you need to decide between:\n\n- Casual form (no added politeness) **OR** honorific form (intentionally polite)\n- Form for informal environments **OR** form for formal environments\n\nYou can read a bit more about Korean speech levels in [our blog post on basic Korean grammar](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-basic-korean-grammar#_6-in-korean-politeness-is-kind-of-like-a-verb-tense).\n\nAlternatively, if you dare.........\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"[Warning] Scary-looking table\">\n\nThe above graphic shows present-tense verb endings, but the same 4-way split actually exists for each tense.\n\nBelow is the table from the section on verb conjugation, but we've expanded it to show each speech level for each tense.\n\n| Dictionary form                         | 가다 (To go) | 먹다 (To eat) | 하다 (To do) |\n| --------------------------------------- | ------------ | ------------- | ------------ |\n| **Verb stem**                           | 가           | 먹            | 하           |\n| **Present (informal\u002Fno politeness)**    | 가           | 먹어          | 해           |\n| **Present (formal\u002Fno politeness)**      | 간다         | 먹는다        | 한다         |\n| **Present (informal\u002Fpolite)**           | 가요         | 먹어요        | 해요         |\n| **Present (formal\u002Fpolite)**             | 갑니다       | 먹습니다      | 합니다       |\n| **Past (informal\u002Fno politeness)**       | 갔어         | 먹었어        | 했어         |\n| **Past (formal\u002Fno politeness)**         | 갔다         | 먹었다        | 했다         |\n| **Past (informal\u002Fpolite)**              | 갔어요       | 먹었어요      | 했어요       |\n| **Past (formal\u002Fpolite)**                | 갔습니다     | 먹었습니다    | 했습니다     |\n| **Future (informal\u002Fno politeness)**     | 갈 거야      | 먹을 거야     | 할 거야      |\n| **Future (formal\u002Fno politeness)**       | 갈 거다      | 먹을 거다     | 할 거다      |\n| **Future (informal\u002Fpolite)**            | 갈 거예요    | 먹을 거예요   | 할 거예요    |\n| **Future (formal\u002Fpolite)**              | 갈 겁니다    | 먹을 겁니다   | 할 겁니다    |\n| **Imperative (informal\u002Fno politeness)** | 가           | 먹어          | 해           |\n| **Imperative (formal\u002Fno politeness)**   | 가라         | 먹어라        | 해라         |\n| **Imperative (informal\u002Fpolite)**        | 가세요       | 먹으세요      | 하세요       |\n| **Imperative (formal\u002Fpolite)**          | 가십시오     | 먹으십시오    | 하십시오     |\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\nWhen in doubt, go with the -요 ending (polite, informal). It's one of the most commonly used speech levels and will pretty much always be OK, unless your'e talking with a super important person or are in an obviously formal setting.\n\n## Some common Korean verbs\n\nIf you want to learn Korean, you're going to have to memorize many verbs. Hundreds, if not thousands. That'll take awhile. For now, though, here are 25 common verbs for you to start with:\n\n| Korean (romanization)  | Audio                                                                      | English                       |\n| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |\n| 하다 (hada)            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-하다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to do                         |\n| 있다 (itda)            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-있다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to exist, to have             |\n| 되다 (toeda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-되다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to become                     |\n| 없다 (eopda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-없다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  | to not exist, to not have     |\n| 아니다 (anida)         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-아니다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to not be                     |\n| 같다 (katda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-같다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to be similar, to be like     |\n| 말하다 (malhada)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-말하다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to speak, to say              |\n| 위하다 (wihada)        | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-위하다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to do for, to care for        |\n| 알다 (alda)            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-알다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to know                       |\n| 그렇다 (keureota)      | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-그렇다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to be like that               |\n| 많다 (manta)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-많다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to be many, to be a lot       |\n| 좋다 (chota)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-좋다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to be good, to like           |\n| 받다 (patda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-받다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to receive                    |\n| 나오다 (naoda)         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나오다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to come out, to appear        |\n| 살다 (salda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-살다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to live                       |\n| 생각하다 (saenggakada) | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-생각하다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | to think                      |\n| 모르다 (moreuda)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-모르다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to not know                   |\n| 만들다 (mandeulda)     | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-만들다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to make, to create            |\n| 통하다 (tonghada)      | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-통하다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to go through, to communicate |\n| 듣다 (teutda)          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-듣다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to listen, to hear            |\n| 싶다 (sipda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-싶다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to want (to do something)     |\n| 지나다 (chinada)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-지나다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>   | to pass (by), to go through   |\n| 주다 (chuda)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-주다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>     | to give                       |\n| 가다 (kada)            | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-_가다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    | to go                         |\n| 나타나다 (natanada)    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-나타나다.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | to appear, to show up         |\n\n## A beginner-friendly approach to learning Korean \n\nHey, friend.\n\n> I just want to let you know that it's not just you.\n\nThis stuff is complicated, and if it feels like I'm moving quickly or skipping over stuff—it's because _I am_.\n\nYou see, Korean demands a lot out of its verbs. They do a lot of things and change in a lot of ways. There's just no way I can cover _everything_ about verbs, verb conjugations, honorifics, and all of that in a format that you'll be able to make sense of while skimming.\n\nWanna know how I know that?\n\nWe made a Korean course, and it took us like seven lessons just to cover how verbs conjugate in the present tense. And that was just the _regular_ ones, using the informal\u002Fnon-polite form. (Irregular verbs and polite\u002Fformal stuff comes later).\n\nLike, check this out.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-sound-change.jpeg\" width=\"1300\" height=\"908\" alt=\"An excerpt from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach verb conjugations\" \u002F>\n\nYeah. _That's_ a lot of detail. It's nicely paced, though. Our lessons are broken down and spread out so that they're easy to follow. You're always learning something, but never overwhelmed.\n\nThe best part is that you don't have to memorize anything.\n\nWe condense everything we expect you to remember into nice-looking flashcards, and leverage [a spaced-repetition algorithm](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fspaced-repetition-language-learning) tracks your performance in order to build a personalized review schedule for you. All you have to do is _want_ it—be consistent and keep at the course—and Migaku Memory will handle the rest.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-verbs-paste-tense.jpeg\" width=\"1310\" height=\"916\" alt=\"An excerpt from Migaku's Korean Academy, showing how we teach the paste tense\" \u002F>\n\nIf you're feeling overwhelmed by Korean verbs, or have been at this for awhile but don't feel like you're getting anywhere, give Migaku's Korean Academy a shot.\n\nIt's totally free for ten days, and that's enough time to get through the initial lessons explaining how verbs work. Your language learning life is either going to be changed... or it won't be, but at least you'll finally understand how Korean verbs work.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-Korean\" text=\"Learn Korean with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n## That's everything you need to know about verbs in Korean, but...\n\nThis article was pretty technical, so I wanted to remind you not to get _too_ hung up on the rules.\n\nHere's a golden lesson about language learning:\n\n> The only thing you need to do to learn Korean is interact with it. If you consume Korean media, and understand the messages within that media, you will make progress. _Period_.\n\nVerbs are complex... but as you spend more time with Korean, they'll begin to make sense. You'll just hear, say, informal-polite past tense verbs often enough that you'll kind of remember the sound (~써). Then, the next time you skim a grammatical resource of some sort, it'll click. All the foundation your immersion has given you will support you and make learning easier.\n\nSo, good on you for learning about verbs!\n\nBut remember to have fun, too 💜\n",{"title":5363,"description":7174},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-verbs","mBxMhaPMMzloHxXsbsVKmqVdk-_7_qvd0OSxKx6omd4","February 7, 2025",{"id":7193,"title":7194,"body":7195,"description":8050,"extension":1458,"meta":8051,"navigation":1469,"path":8062,"rawbody":8063,"seo":8064,"stem":8065,"__hash__":8066,"timestampUnix":8052,"slug":8053,"h1":8054,"image":8055,"tags":8060,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":7191},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-weekdays.md","Master the Days of the Week in Korean | Easy Guide",{"type":8,"value":7196,"toc":8043},[7197,7200,7203,7209,7211,7213,7220,7222,7226,7229,7237,7368,7371,7375,7386,7409,7412,7415,7418,7435,7681,7690,7694,7697,7893,7896,7958,7962,7965,7970,7973,7987,7990,7993,7999,8005,8008,8011,8013,8017,8023,8031,8037,8040],[11,7198,7199],{},"So you're jamming along to 7 Days a Week by Jung Kook (don't worry, we don't judge here) and it occurs to you that you don't know how to say the days of the week in Korean.",[11,7201,7202],{},"Today, we're gonna fix that. 🫡",[11,7204,7205,7206,7208],{},"It'll take a chunky bit of time to ",[15,7207,18],{"href":17},", but you can cover the weekdays in about five minutes. Alas:",[37,7210],{},[267,7212],{},[11,7214,4875,7215,2773],{},[15,7216,7219],{"href":7217,"rel":7218},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=QU9c0053UAU",[30],"Soundtrack for the article",[40,7221],{},[43,7223,7225],{"id":7224},"table-days-of-the-week-in-korean-️","[Table] Days of the Week in Korean 📕✏️",[11,7227,7228],{},"Here's a table with each of the days of the week in both English and Korean.",[419,7230,7231,7234],{},[79,7232,7233],{},"They're all three-syllable words, so in this first table we've separated the Romanized text up; hopefully it's a bit easier to pronounce them that way!",[79,7235,7236],{},"The first audio file pronounces each syllable slowly and separately once, then says the word normally, so if you don't know anything about pronunciation, listen to the recording for Monday first—the rest of the words follow the same structure",[1006,7238,7239,7254],{},[1009,7240,7241],{},[1012,7242,7243,7246,7249,7251],{},[1015,7244,7245],{},"English  ",[1015,7247,7248],{},"Korean (Romanization)",[1015,7250,305],{},[1015,7252,7253],{},"Hanja  ",[1027,7255,7256,7272,7288,7304,7320,7336,7352],{},[1012,7257,7258,7261,7264,7269],{},[1032,7259,7260],{},"Monday  ",[1032,7262,7263],{},"월요일 (Wol yo il)      ",[1032,7265,7266],{},[544,7267],{"src":7268,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-월요일.mp3",[1032,7270,7271],{},"月曜日",[1012,7273,7274,7277,7280,7285],{},[1032,7275,7276],{},"Tuesday  ",[1032,7278,7279],{},"화요일 (Hwa yo il)      ",[1032,7281,7282],{},[544,7283],{"src":7284,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-화요일.mp3",[1032,7286,7287],{},"火曜日",[1012,7289,7290,7293,7296,7301],{},[1032,7291,7292],{},"Wednesday",[1032,7294,7295],{},"수요일 (Su yo il)      ",[1032,7297,7298],{},[544,7299],{"src":7300,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-수요일.mp3",[1032,7302,7303],{},"水曜日",[1012,7305,7306,7309,7312,7317],{},[1032,7307,7308],{},"Thursday",[1032,7310,7311],{},"목요일 (Mok yo il)      ",[1032,7313,7314],{},[544,7315],{"src":7316,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-목요일.mp3",[1032,7318,7319],{},"木曜日",[1012,7321,7322,7325,7328,7333],{},[1032,7323,7324],{},"Friday  ",[1032,7326,7327],{},"금요일 (Geum yo il)    ",[1032,7329,7330],{},[544,7331],{"src":7332,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-금요일.mp3",[1032,7334,7335],{},"金曜日",[1012,7337,7338,7341,7344,7349],{},[1032,7339,7340],{},"Saturday",[1032,7342,7343],{},"토요일 (To yo il)      ",[1032,7345,7346],{},[544,7347],{"src":7348,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-토요일.mp3",[1032,7350,7351],{},"土曜日",[1012,7353,7354,7357,7360,7365],{},[1032,7355,7356],{},"Sunday  ",[1032,7358,7359],{},"일요일 (Il yo il)      ",[1032,7361,7362],{},[544,7363],{"src":7364,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-일요일.mp3",[1032,7366,7367],{},"日曜日",[11,7369,7370],{},"Hanja are no longer used in North or South Korea (beyond for names in official documents), so you don't need to worry about that last column... but it'll help us a bit in this next section ꜜꜜꜜ",[43,7372,7374],{"id":7373},"remember-the-korean-days-of-the-week-with-these-mnemonics","Remember the Korean days of the week with these mnemonics!",[11,7376,7377,7378,7381,7382,7385],{},"While Korea does not use any Hanja anymore—even native speakers don't really know them—we can make convenient use of them here. As we touch on in our post on ",[15,7379,7380],{"href":1864},"the Korean alphabet",", each hanja ",[86,7383,7384],{},"means"," something.",[419,7387,7388,7391,7394,7397,7400,7403,7406],{},[79,7389,7390],{},"월요일 (Monday)'s hanja is 月, moon, so it literally means \"moon day\"",[79,7392,7393],{},"화요일 (Tuesday)'s hanja is 火, fire, so it literally means \"fire day\"",[79,7395,7396],{},"수요일 (Wednesday)'s hanja is 水, water, so it literally means \"water day\"",[79,7398,7399],{},"목요일 (Thursday)'s hanja is 木, tree, so it literally means \"tree day\"",[79,7401,7402],{},"금요일 (Friday)'s hanja is 金, gold, so it literally means \"gold day\"",[79,7404,7405],{},"토요일 (Saturday)'s hanja is 土, earth (as in dirt), so we'll call it \"dirt day\"",[79,7407,7408],{},"일요일 (Sunday)'s hanja is 日, sun, so it literally means \"sun day\"",[11,7410,7411],{},"And since each day of the week ends in 요일 (\"day of the week\"), all you have to do to remember them is figure out a way to remember the part of the weekday that comes before 요일.",[11,7413,7414],{},"And Hanja will help us do just that.",[11,7416,7417],{},"In the below table:",[419,7419,7420,7426,7429],{},[79,7421,7422,7425],{},[82,7423,7424],{},"Bold"," text shows the Hanja's (and thus weekday's) meaning",[79,7427,7428],{},"\"Quoted\" text is a clue for Hangul pronunciation",[79,7430,7431,7434],{},[244,7432,7433],{},"Underlined"," text is a clue for English pronunciation",[1006,7436,7437,7457],{},[1009,7438,7439],{},[1012,7440,7441,7443,7446,7448,7451,7454],{},[1015,7442,1017],{},[1015,7444,7445],{},"Korean (Hanja)",[1015,7447,1023],{},[1015,7449,7450],{},"Hanja Meaning",[1015,7452,7453],{},"Connection",[1015,7455,7456],{},"Mnemonic",[1027,7458,7459,7492,7525,7558,7591,7622,7652],{},[1012,7460,7461,7464,7467,7470,7473,7479],{},[1032,7462,7463],{},"Monday",[1032,7465,7466],{},"월요일 (Wol-yoil)",[1032,7468,7469],{},"月 (월)",[1032,7471,7472],{},"Moon",[1032,7474,7475,7476,7478],{},"월 sounds like \"wolf\" ",[267,7477],{},"(without the F)",[1032,7480,7481,7482,7484,7485,7488,7489,1201],{},"To remember 월요일 (Monday), imagine a giant \"wolf\", ",[267,7483],{},"sitting on a pile of ",[244,7486,7487],{},"mon","ey, howling at the ",[82,7490,7491],{},"moon",[1012,7493,7494,7497,7500,7503,7506,7512],{},[1032,7495,7496],{},"Tuesday",[1032,7498,7499],{},"화요일 (Hwa-yoil)",[1032,7501,7502],{},"火 (화)",[1032,7504,7505],{},"Fire",[1032,7507,7508,7509,7511],{},"화 (hwa) sounds like \"hot\" ",[267,7510],{}," (without the T)",[1032,7513,7514,7515,7517,7518,7520,7521,7524],{},"To remember 화요일 (Tuesday), imagine sitting ",[267,7516],{},"between ",[244,7519,2278],{}," giant ",[82,7522,7523],{},"bonfires"," —화- 화- \"HOOOT\"!",[1012,7526,7527,7529,7532,7535,7538,7544],{},[1032,7528,7292],{},[1032,7530,7531],{},"수요일 (Su-yoil)",[1032,7533,7534],{},"水 (수)",[1032,7536,7537],{},"Water",[1032,7539,7540,7541,7543],{},"수 (su) sounds kind of like ",[267,7542],{},"the beginning of \"sw\"imming",[1032,7545,7546,7547,7549,7550,7553,7554,7557],{},"To remember 수요일 (Wednedsay), imagine Santa Clause ",[267,7548],{}," going \"sw\"imming in a ",[82,7551,7552],{},"lake"," while wearing a ",[244,7555,7556],{},"wed","ding dress .",[1012,7559,7560,7562,7565,7568,7571,7574],{},[1032,7561,7308],{},[1032,7563,7564],{},"목요일 (Mok-yoil)",[1032,7566,7567],{},"木 (목)",[1032,7569,7570],{},"Tree",[1032,7572,7573],{},"목 (mok) sounds like \"mug\"",[1032,7575,7576,7577,7579,7580,7583,7584,7586,7587,7590],{},"To remember 목요일 (Thursday), imagine some avant-garde ",[267,7578],{},"bonsai artist: he has ",[244,7581,7582],{},"thir","ty \"mugs\" lined up in a row, ",[267,7585],{},"a small ",[82,7588,7589],{},"tree"," growing out of each one",[1012,7592,7593,7596,7599,7602,7605,7608],{},[1032,7594,7595],{},"Friday",[1032,7597,7598],{},"금요일 (Geum-yoil)",[1032,7600,7601],{},"金 (금)",[1032,7603,7604],{},"Gold",[1032,7606,7607],{},"금 (geum) sounds kind of like \"gum\"",[1032,7609,7610,7611,7614,7615,7617,7618,7621],{},"To remember 금요일 (Friday), imagine ",[244,7612,7613],{},"fry","ing a piece of \"gum\"—",[267,7616],{},"see the crispy ",[82,7619,7620],{},"gold"," coating that forms around it. Yum!",[1012,7623,7624,7626,7629,7632,7635,7638],{},[1032,7625,7340],{},[1032,7627,7628],{},"토요일 (To-yoil)",[1032,7630,7631],{},"土 (토)",[1032,7633,7634],{},"Earth (dirt)",[1032,7636,7637],{},"토 (to) sounds like \"toe\"",[1032,7639,7640,7641,7644,7645,7647,7648,7651],{},"To remember 토요일 (Saturday), imagine a ",[244,7642,7643],{},"sat","ellite with legs, planting ",[267,7646],{},"its big hairy \"toes\" firmly into the ",[82,7649,7650],{},"dirt"," to get a more \"grounded\" signal",[1012,7653,7654,7657,7660,7663,7666,7669],{},[1032,7655,7656],{},"Sunday",[1032,7658,7659],{},"일요일 (Il-yoil)",[1032,7661,7662],{},"日 (일)",[1032,7664,7665],{},"Sun",[1032,7667,7668],{},"일 (il) sounds kind of like \"ill\"",[1032,7670,7671,7672,7674,7675,7680],{},"To remember 일요일 (Sunday), imagine someone who is very \"ill\", ",[267,7673],{}," laying in a hospital bed, unable to move, watching the ",[82,7676,7677],{},[244,7678,7679],{},"sun"," rise",[11,7682,7683,7684,7689],{},"This particular ",[15,7685,7688],{"href":7686,"rel":7687},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=iWE5ea7tdB4",[30],"\"see-link-go\" mnemonic technique"," comes from 6x USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis. If you're struggling to remember one of the days in Korean, don't just read the sentence: close your eyes, really imagine the description I've given you, and ham it up even further!",[43,7691,7693],{"id":7692},"some-phrases-and-bonus-korean-vocabulary-related-to-the-days-of-the-week","Some phrases and bonus Korean vocabulary related to the days of the week...",[11,7695,7696],{},"Since you Googled something related to learning the days of the week, here's some other words related to time in Korean you might also be interested in:",[1006,7698,7699,7709],{},[1009,7700,7701],{},[1012,7702,7703,7705,7707],{},[1015,7704,1017],{},[1015,7706,7248],{},[1015,7708,305],{},[1027,7710,7711,7724,7737,7750,7763,7776,7789,7802,7815,7828,7841,7854,7867,7880],{},[1012,7712,7713,7716,7719],{},[1032,7714,7715],{},"Date",[1032,7717,7718],{},"날짜 (naljja)",[1032,7720,7721],{},[544,7722],{"src":7723,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-날짜.mp3",[1012,7725,7726,7729,7732],{},[1032,7727,7728],{},"Calendar",[1032,7730,7731],{},"달력 (dallyeok)",[1032,7733,7734],{},[544,7735],{"src":7736,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-달력.mp3",[1012,7738,7739,7742,7745],{},[1032,7740,7741],{},"Weekend",[1032,7743,7744],{},"주말 (jumal)",[1032,7746,7747],{},[544,7748],{"src":7749,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-주말.mp3",[1012,7751,7752,7755,7758],{},[1032,7753,7754],{},"Weekday",[1032,7756,7757],{},"평일 (pyeongil)",[1032,7759,7760],{},[544,7761],{"src":7762,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-평일.mp3",[1012,7764,7765,7768,7771],{},[1032,7766,7767],{},"Holiday",[1032,7769,7770],{},"휴일 (hyuil)",[1032,7772,7773],{},[544,7774],{"src":7775,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-휴일.mp3",[1012,7777,7778,7781,7784],{},[1032,7779,7780],{},"Every day",[1032,7782,7783],{},"매일 (maeil)",[1032,7785,7786],{},[544,7787],{"src":7788,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-매일.mp3",[1012,7790,7791,7794,7797],{},[1032,7792,7793],{},"Today",[1032,7795,7796],{},"오늘 (oneul)",[1032,7798,7799],{},[544,7800],{"src":7801,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오늘.mp3",[1012,7803,7804,7807,7810],{},[1032,7805,7806],{},"Yesterday",[1032,7808,7809],{},"어제 (eoje)",[1032,7811,7812],{},[544,7813],{"src":7814,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-어제.mp3",[1012,7816,7817,7820,7823],{},[1032,7818,7819],{},"Tomorrow",[1032,7821,7822],{},"내일 (naeil)",[1032,7824,7825],{},[544,7826],{"src":7827,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-내일.mp3",[1012,7829,7830,7833,7836],{},[1032,7831,7832],{},"The day after tomorrow",[1032,7834,7835],{},"모레 (more)",[1032,7837,7838],{},[544,7839],{"src":7840,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-모레.mp3",[1012,7842,7843,7846,7849],{},[1032,7844,7845],{},"The day before yesterday",[1032,7847,7848],{},"그저께 (geujeokke)",[1032,7850,7851],{},[544,7852],{"src":7853,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-그저께.mp3",[1012,7855,7856,7859,7862],{},[1032,7857,7858],{},"This week",[1032,7860,7861],{},"이번 주 (ibeon ju)",[1032,7863,7864],{},[544,7865],{"src":7866,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이번 주.mp3",[1012,7868,7869,7872,7875],{},[1032,7870,7871],{},"Last week",[1032,7873,7874],{},"지난 주 (jinan ju)",[1032,7876,7877],{},[544,7878],{"src":7879,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-지난 주.mp3",[1012,7881,7882,7885,7888],{},[1032,7883,7884],{},"Next week",[1032,7886,7887],{},"다음 주 (daeum ju)",[1032,7889,7890],{},[544,7891],{"src":7892,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다음 주.mp3",[11,7894,7895],{},"And now here's a few Korean phrases so you can see how these vocabulary get used with the days of the week:",[419,7897,7898,7910,7922,7934,7946],{},[79,7899,7900,7901,7904,7906,7907,7909],{},"다음 주 월요일에 제주도에 갈 수 있어요. ",[544,7902],{"src":7903,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다음 주 월요일에 제주도에 갈 수 있어요..mp3",[267,7905],{}," da-eum ju wolyoil-e jejudo-e gal su isseoyo. ",[267,7908],{}," I'll go to Jeju Island next Monday.",[79,7911,7912,7913,7916,7918,7919,7921],{},"이번 금요일에는 휴가를 쓸 거예요. ",[544,7914],{"src":7915,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이번 금요일에는 휴가를 쓸 거예요..mp3",[267,7917],{}," ibeon geumyoil-eneun hyugaleul sseul geoyeyo. ",[267,7920],{}," I'll take a day of vacation this Friday.",[79,7923,7924,7925,7928,7930,7931,7933],{},"오늘은 무슨 요일이에요? ",[544,7926],{"src":7927,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오늘은 무슨 요일이에요_.mp3",[267,7929],{}," oneul-eun museun yoil-ieyo? ",[267,7932],{}," Which day of the week is it today?",[79,7935,7936,7937,7940,7942,7943,7945],{},"토요일에 시간 있어요? ",[544,7938],{"src":7939,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-토요일에 시간 있어요_.mp3",[267,7941],{}," toyoil-e sigan isseoyo? ",[267,7944],{}," (Do you) have time on Saturday?",[79,7947,7948,7949,7952,7954,7955,7957],{},"저는 매일 한국어를 말해요. ",[544,7950],{"src":7951,":type":547},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-저는 매일 한국어를 말해요..mp3",[267,7953],{}," jeoneun maeil hangugeo-leul malhaeyo. ",[267,7956],{}," I speak Korean every day.",[43,7959,7961],{"id":7960},"plot-twist-dont-go-out-of-your-way-to-learn-the-korean-daysheres-why","[Plot twist] Don't go out of your way to learn the Korean days—here's why",[11,7963,7964],{},"... This is kind of awkward.",[56,7966,7967],{},[11,7968,7969],{},"While this is a post to help you learn and remember the Korean days of the week, I don't actually think beginners should intentionally go out of their way to do that.",[11,7971,7972],{},"There are two big reason for this:",[76,7974,7975,7978],{},[79,7976,7977],{},"They all end in -yoil, so you'll get them mixed up if you learn them all at once",[79,7979,7980,7981,7983,7984],{},"Some words in a language are ",[86,7982,2697],{}," more frequently used than other words, and you want your time to go to the vocabulary words most likely to benefit you ",[86,7985,7986],{},"now",[11,7988,7989],{},"#2 is especially important, so we built a course around the most common ~1,200 Korean vocabulary words. While native speakers know tens of thousands of words, learning the top 1,000 will let you recognize 80% of the words that appear in Korean sentences. (Statistics, man! It's like magic.)",[11,7991,7992],{},"Oh—and, as you might imagine, the days of the week are pretty common words. They're included in our course. Here's how we teach them:",[178,7994],{"src":7995,"width":7996,"height":7997,"alt":7998},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-weekdays.jpeg",1306,918,"A screenshot of Migaku's Korean Academy showing how we teach the days of the week",[11,8000,8001,8002,8004],{},"The thing is, we don't teach weekdays until lesson 123. When we ran the data, it was clear that there was a lot of other stuff worth learning first. When you eventually ",[86,8003,701],{}," get to the weekdays, you'll learn them via flashcards that include images, example sentences, and audio from a native Korean speaker.",[11,8006,8007],{},"What's unique about Migaku's Korean Academy is that each \"next\" sentence in our course contains only one new word, ensuring that you're always learning something new but never overwhelmed.",[11,8009,8010],{},"I'm biased, of course, but it's pretty cool 👍",[521,8012],{"href":17,"text":976},[43,8014,8016],{"id":8015},"remember-the-best-way-to-practice-your-korean-skills-is-by-interacting-with-the-language","Remember: The best way to practice your Korean skills is by interacting with the language",[11,8018,8019,8020,8022],{},"If you ",[86,8021,2166],{}," want to learn Korean, you need to understand this Golden Rule of Language Learning:",[56,8024,8025],{},[11,8026,8027,8028],{},"The way we make progress in any language, including the Korean language, is by interacting with it. If you consume Korean media, and understand the messages within that media, you will make progress. ",[86,8029,8030],{},"Period.",[11,8032,8033,8034,8036],{},"So—hot take—",[86,8035,653],{}," go out of your way to master the days of the week, the months in Korean, Korean numbers, or anything like that.",[11,8038,8039],{},"As you spend more time in Korean, that stuff will sink in and become second nature.",[11,8041,8042],{},"Good luck, friend! 💜",{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":8044},[8045,8046,8047,8048,8049],{"id":7224,"depth":1432,"text":7225},{"id":7373,"depth":1432,"text":7374},{"id":7692,"depth":1432,"text":7693},{"id":7960,"depth":1432,"text":7961},{"id":8015,"depth":1432,"text":8016},"If you're learning Korean, then you need to learn the days of the week in Korean! Basic vocabulary like this is an important part of your foundation.",{"timestampUnix":8052,"slug":8053,"h1":8054,"image":8055,"tags":8060},1738899593648,"korean-days-of-the-week","How to say the days of the week in Korean",{"src":8056,"width":8057,"height":8058,"alt":8059},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-weekdays-header.jpeg",7360,4912,"A young woman holding a calendar, because we're about to learn how to say the days of the week in Korean",[2856,8061],"vocabulary","\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-weekdays","---\ntitle: 'Master the Days of the Week in Korean | Easy Guide'\ndescription: \"If you're learning Korean, then you need to learn the days of the week in Korean! Basic vocabulary like this is an important part of your foundation.\"\ntimestampUnix: 1738899593648\nslug: 'korean-days-of-the-week'\nh1: 'How to say the days of the week in Korean'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-weekdays-header.jpeg'\n  width: 7360\n  height: 4912\n  alt: \"A young woman holding a calendar, because we're about to learn how to say the days of the week in Korean\"\ntags:\n  - fundamentals\n  - vocabulary\n---\n\nSo you're jamming along to 7 Days a Week by Jung Kook (don't worry, we don't judge here) and it occurs to you that you don't know how to say the days of the week in Korean.\n\nToday, we're gonna fix that. 🫡\n\nIt'll take a chunky bit of time to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean), but you can cover the weekdays in about five minutes. Alas:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n\u003Cbr>\n\n([Soundtrack for the article](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=QU9c0053UAU))\n\n---\n\n## \\[Table] Days of the Week in Korean 📕✏️\n\nHere's a table with each of the days of the week in both English and Korean.\n\n- They're all three-syllable words, so in this first table we've separated the Romanized text up; hopefully it's a bit easier to pronounce them that way!\n- The first audio file pronounces each syllable slowly and separately once, then says the word normally, so if you don't know anything about pronunciation, listen to the recording for Monday first—the rest of the words follow the same structure\n\n| English   | Korean (Romanization)    | Audio                                                                    | Hanja   |\n| --------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------- |\n| Monday    | 월요일 (Wol yo il)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-월요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 月曜日  |\n| Tuesday   | 화요일 (Hwa yo il)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-화요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 火曜日  |\n| Wednesday | 수요일 (Su yo il)        | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-수요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 水曜日  |\n| Thursday  | 목요일 (Mok yo il)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-목요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 木曜日  |\n| Friday    | 금요일 (Geum yo il)      | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-금요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 金曜日  |\n| Saturday  | 토요일 (To yo il)        | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-토요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 土曜日  |\n| Sunday    | 일요일 (Il yo il)        | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-일요일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> | 日曜日  |\n\nHanja are no longer used in North or South Korea (beyond for names in official documents), so you don't need to worry about that last column... but it'll help us a bit in this next section ꜜꜜꜜ\n\n## Remember the Korean days of the week with these mnemonics!\n\nWhile Korea does not use any Hanja anymore—even native speakers don't really know them—we can make convenient use of them here. As we touch on in our post on [the Korean alphabet](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-korean-hangul), each hanja _means_ something.\n\n- 월요일 (Monday)'s hanja is 月, moon, so it literally means \"moon day\"\n- 화요일 (Tuesday)'s hanja is 火, fire, so it literally means \"fire day\"\n- 수요일 (Wednesday)'s hanja is 水, water, so it literally means \"water day\"\n- 목요일 (Thursday)'s hanja is 木, tree, so it literally means \"tree day\"\n- 금요일 (Friday)'s hanja is 金, gold, so it literally means \"gold day\"\n- 토요일 (Saturday)'s hanja is 土, earth (as in dirt), so we'll call it \"dirt day\"\n- 일요일 (Sunday)'s hanja is 日, sun, so it literally means \"sun day\"\n\nAnd since each day of the week ends in 요일 (\"day of the week\"), all you have to do to remember them is figure out a way to remember the part of the weekday that comes before 요일.\n\nAnd Hanja will help us do just that.\n\nIn the below table:\n\n- **Bold** text shows the Hanja's (and thus weekday's) meaning\n- \"Quoted\" text is a clue for Hangul pronunciation\n- \u003Cu>Underlined\u003C\u002Fu> text is a clue for English pronunciation\n\n| English   | Korean (Hanja)     | Hanja   | Hanja Meaning | Connection                                                  | Mnemonic                                                                                                                                                               |\n| --------- | ------------------ | ------- | ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Monday    | 월요일 (Wol-yoil)  | 月 (월) | Moon          | 월 sounds like \"wolf\" \u003Cbr>(without the F)                   | To remember 월요일 (Monday), imagine a giant \"wolf\", \u003Cbr>sitting on a pile of \u003Cu>mon\u003C\u002Fu>ey, howling at the **moon**.                                                   |\n| Tuesday   | 화요일 (Hwa-yoil)  | 火 (화) | Fire          | 화 (hwa) sounds like \"hot\" \u003Cbr> (without the T)             | To remember 화요일 (Tuesday), imagine sitting \u003Cbr>between \u003Cu>two\u003C\u002Fu> giant **bonfires** —화- 화- \"HOOOT\"!                                                              |\n| Wednesday | 수요일 (Su-yoil)   | 水 (수) | Water         | 수 (su) sounds kind of like \u003Cbr>the beginning of \"sw\"imming | To remember 수요일 (Wednedsay), imagine Santa Clause \u003Cbr> going \"sw\"imming in a **lake** while wearing a \u003Cu>wed\u003C\u002Fu>ding dress .                                        |\n| Thursday  | 목요일 (Mok-yoil)  | 木 (목) | Tree          | 목 (mok) sounds like \"mug\"                                  | To remember 목요일 (Thursday), imagine some avant-garde \u003Cbr>bonsai artist: he has \u003Cu>thir\u003C\u002Fu>ty \"mugs\" lined up in a row, \u003Cbr>a small **tree** growing out of each one |\n| Friday    | 금요일 (Geum-yoil) | 金 (금) | Gold          | 금 (geum) sounds kind of like \"gum\"                         | To remember 금요일 (Friday), imagine \u003Cu>fry\u003C\u002Fu>ing a piece of \"gum\"—\u003Cbr>see the crispy **gold** coating that forms around it. Yum!                                     |\n| Saturday  | 토요일 (To-yoil)   | 土 (토) | Earth (dirt)  | 토 (to) sounds like \"toe\"                                   | To remember 토요일 (Saturday), imagine a \u003Cu>sat\u003C\u002Fu>ellite with legs, planting \u003Cbr>its big hairy \"toes\" firmly into the **dirt** to get a more \"grounded\" signal        |\n| Sunday    | 일요일 (Il-yoil)   | 日 (일) | Sun           | 일 (il) sounds kind of like \"ill\"                           | To remember 일요일 (Sunday), imagine someone who is very \"ill\", \u003Cbr> laying in a hospital bed, unable to move, watching the **\u003Cu>sun\u003C\u002Fu>** rise                        |\n\nThis particular [\"see-link-go\" mnemonic technique](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=iWE5ea7tdB4) comes from 6x USA Memory Champion Nelson Dellis. If you're struggling to remember one of the days in Korean, don't just read the sentence: close your eyes, really imagine the description I've given you, and ham it up even further!\n\n## Some phrases and bonus Korean vocabulary related to the days of the week...\n\nSince you Googled something related to learning the days of the week, here's some other words related to time in Korean you might also be interested in:\n\n| English                  | Korean (Romanization) | Audio                                                                     |\n| ------------------------ | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| Date                     | 날짜 (naljja)         | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-날짜.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Calendar                 | 달력 (dallyeok)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-달력.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Weekend                  | 주말 (jumal)          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-주말.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Weekday                  | 평일 (pyeongil)       | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-평일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Holiday                  | 휴일 (hyuil)          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-휴일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Every day                | 매일 (maeil)          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-매일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Today                    | 오늘 (oneul)          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오늘.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Yesterday                | 어제 (eoje)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-어제.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| Tomorrow                 | 내일 (naeil)          | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-내일.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| The day after tomorrow   | 모레 (more)           | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-모레.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>    |\n| The day before yesterday | 그저께 (geujeokke)    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-그저께.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>  |\n| This week                | 이번 주 (ibeon ju)    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이번 주.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| Last week                | 지난 주 (jinan ju)    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-지난 주.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n| Next week                | 다음 주 (daeum ju)    | \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다음 주.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> |\n\nAnd now here's a few Korean phrases so you can see how these vocabulary get used with the days of the week:\n\n- 다음 주 월요일에 제주도에 갈 수 있어요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-다음 주 월요일에 제주도에 갈 수 있어요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> da-eum ju wolyoil-e jejudo-e gal su isseoyo. \u003Cbr> I'll go to Jeju Island next Monday.\n\n- 이번 금요일에는 휴가를 쓸 거예요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-이번 금요일에는 휴가를 쓸 거예요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> ibeon geumyoil-eneun hyugaleul sseul geoyeyo. \u003Cbr> I'll take a day of vacation this Friday.\n\n- 오늘은 무슨 요일이에요? \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-오늘은 무슨 요일이에요_.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> oneul-eun museun yoil-ieyo? \u003Cbr> Which day of the week is it today?\n\n- 토요일에 시간 있어요? \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-토요일에 시간 있어요_.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> toyoil-e sigan isseoyo? \u003Cbr> (Do you) have time on Saturday?\n\n- 저는 매일 한국어를 말해요. \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-저는 매일 한국어를 말해요..mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio>\u003Cbr> jeoneun maeil hangugeo-leul malhaeyo. \u003Cbr> I speak Korean every day.\n\n## \\[Plot twist] Don't go out of your way to learn the Korean days—here's why\n\n... This is kind of awkward.\n\n> While this is a post to help you learn and remember the Korean days of the week, I don't actually think beginners should intentionally go out of their way to do that.\n\nThere are two big reason for this:\n\n1. They all end in -yoil, so you'll get them mixed up if you learn them all at once\n\n2. Some words in a language are _much_ more frequently used than other words, and you want your time to go to the vocabulary words most likely to benefit you _now_\n\n#2 is especially important, so we built a course around the most common ~1,200 Korean vocabulary words. While native speakers know tens of thousands of words, learning the top 1,000 will let you recognize 80% of the words that appear in Korean sentences. (Statistics, man! It's like magic.)\n\nOh—and, as you might imagine, the days of the week are pretty common words. They're included in our course. Here's how we teach them:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-weekdays.jpeg\" width=\"1306\" height=\"918\" alt=\"A screenshot of Migaku's Korean Academy showing how we teach the days of the week\" \u002F>\n\nThe thing is, we don't teach weekdays until lesson 123. When we ran the data, it was clear that there was a lot of other stuff worth learning first. When you eventually _do_ get to the weekdays, you'll learn them via flashcards that include images, example sentences, and audio from a native Korean speaker.\n\nWhat's unique about Migaku's Korean Academy is that each \"next\" sentence in our course contains only one new word, ensuring that you're always learning something new but never overwhelmed.\n\nI'm biased, of course, but it's pretty cool 👍\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Learn Korean with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n## Remember: The best way to practice your Korean skills is by interacting with the language\n\nIf you _really_ want to learn Korean, you need to understand this Golden Rule of Language Learning:\n\n> The way we make progress in any language, including the Korean language, is by interacting with it. If you consume Korean media, and understand the messages within that media, you will make progress. _Period._\n\nSo—hot take—_don't_ go out of your way to master the days of the week, the months in Korean, Korean numbers, or anything like that.\n\nAs you spend more time in Korean, that stuff will sink in and become second nature.\n\nGood luck, friend! 💜\n",{"title":7194,"description":8050},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-weekdays","pde7tDaA-EjNdHs_2Lyuqk9yejTae-4fgo8fkzvoDlw",{"id":8068,"title":8069,"body":8070,"description":8658,"extension":1458,"meta":8659,"navigation":1469,"path":8669,"rawbody":8670,"seo":8671,"stem":8672,"__hash__":8673,"timestampUnix":8660,"slug":8661,"h1":8662,"image":8663,"tags":8668,"_dir":1475,"timestamp":8674},"content\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-why-hard.md","...Is it actually that hard to learn Korean? How long does it take?",{"type":8,"value":8071,"toc":8637},[8072,8078,8081,8084,8086,8088,8092,8103,8107,8110,8118,8124,8132,8147,8151,8154,8157,8168,8171,8174,8182,8185,8188,8190,8194,8197,8213,8216,8221,8224,8229,8236,8248,8252,8255,8260,8266,8269,8272,8316,8319,8325,8329,8332,8336,8339,8365,8368,8375,8379,8386,8397,8400,8404,8407,8410,8414,8424,8427,8453,8456,8470,8473,8477,8483,8486,8490,8497,8502,8505,8508,8511,8514,8518,8521,8524,8527,8530,8534,8537,8544,8547,8550,8561,8564,8568,8571,8576,8579,8582,8585,8587,8590,8592,8598,8605,8610,8613,8616,8618,8621,8625,8628,8635],[11,8073,8074,8075,8077],{},"So, you want to ",[15,8076,18],{"href":17},"? You're a K-pop Stan, or maybe you've fallen in love with Korean dramas, and now you're wondering how long it takes to learn the Korean language.",[11,8079,8080],{},"I hear you.",[11,8082,8083],{},"In this blog post, we're going to talk about:",[37,8085],{},[40,8087],{},[43,8089,8091],{"id":8090},"how-long-does-it-take-to-learn-korean","How long does it take to learn Korean?",[11,8093,8094,8095,8098,8099,8102],{},"This question is really hard to answer. It's kind of like asking how long a string is. You can't answer it. You can measure how long a ",[86,8096,8097],{},"specific"," string is, but you can't say how long a string is ",[86,8100,8101],{},"in general",". There are a bunch of different strings!",[62,8104,8106],{"id":8105},"according-to-the-us-government-6000-hours","According to the US government: ~6,000+ hours",[11,8108,8109],{},"There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to rip the band-aid right off.",[11,8111,8112,8117],{},[15,8113,8116],{"href":8114,"rel":8115},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.state.gov\u002Fforeign-service-institute\u002Fforeign-language-training",[30],"According to the US Government",", Korean is classified as a \"super-hard\" language that takes diplomats 2,200 hours to learn.",[178,8119],{"src":8120,"width":8121,"height":8122,"alt":8123},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-how-long.jpeg",1480,752,"A screenshot of the US Foreign Service Institute's guidelines, suggesting that it takes 2,200 in-class hours to learn Korean",[11,8125,8126,8127,893],{},"If your jaw dropped, ",[15,8128,8131],{"href":8129,"rel":8130},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FSpanish\u002Fcomments\u002Fwqusu3\u002F24_wks_1300_hrs_of_spanish_at_fsi_what_ive_learned\u002F",[30],"it gets worse",[419,8133,8134,8141,8144],{},[79,8135,8136,8137,8140],{},"That's 2,200 ",[86,8138,8139],{},"in-class"," hours, but students also studied out of class for ~2 hours per class hour (meaning this is really more like 2,200+4,400 hours)",[79,8142,8143],{},"The \"students\" were future diplomats—people who were picked because they demonstrated a talent for learning languages",[79,8145,8146],{},"Learning Korean was these people's full-time job—like they were literally getting paid to study Korean",[62,8148,8150],{"id":8149},"why-data-can-be-incredibly-misleading","Why data can be incredibly misleading",[11,8152,8153],{},"Before you close the page out of hopelessness—please look at this:",[178,8155],{"src":1204,"width":181,"height":1205,"alt":8156},"A screenshot of the a Korean learner using the Migaku Chrome extension to read a Korean webtoon",[11,8158,8159,8160,8163,8164,8167],{},"What you're seeing is me reading ",[15,8161,1194],{"href":1192,"rel":8162},[30],", the famous Korean webtoon that recently got turned into a ",[15,8165,1200],{"href":1198,"rel":8166},[30],". I'm reading it in Korean, and I have not spent anywhere near 6,000 hours learning Korean.",[11,8169,8170],{},"If you look up in the top-right corner there, you'll see that I know about 900 Korean words.",[11,8172,8173],{},"And this brings me to a super important point:",[56,8175,8176],{},[11,8177,8178,8179,8181],{},"The question to ask isn't \"how long does it take to learn Korean,\" but rather ",[267,8180],{}," \"how long will it take me to do this specific thing I want to do in Korean?\".",[11,8183,8184],{},"If you want to get fluent in Korean, then yeah. That's going to take a long time. Hundreds—or, more likely, thousands—of hours. The thing is, you don't need to be fluent in Korean to begin doing cool things in it. I've probably spent less than 100 hours learning Korean and I'm already reading webtoons, which has been my goal this whole time.",[11,8186,8187],{},"It'll take a long time to reach fluency in Korean, but what the data doesn't show you is that the vast majority of these hours are spent having fun, interacting with Korean content.",[11,8189,785],{},[62,8191,8193],{"id":8192},"case-studies-two-people-who-learned-korean-fast","Case studies: Two people who learned Korean fast",[11,8195,8196],{},"I nearly had an aneurism when I saw that the FSI said it takes 6,000 hours to learn Korean, so I turned to Reddit. Within a few minutes of searching, I found this:",[419,8198,8199,8206],{},[79,8200,8201],{},[15,8202,8205],{"href":8203,"rel":8204},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F1i406ht\u002Fi_learned_korean_in_1_year_and_reached_topik\u002F",[30],"I Learned Korean in 1 Year and Reached TOPIK Level 4",[79,8207,8208],{},[15,8209,8212],{"href":8210,"rel":8211},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F1hgqe3t\u002F18_month_update_korean_learning_update_achieving\u002F",[30],"18 Month Update Korean Learning Update: Achieving Topik 6, and reflections on my approach and the road ahead",[11,8214,8215],{},"The first person says this:",[56,8217,8218],{},[11,8219,8220],{},"I started learning Korean because I fell in love with the culture and language while watching K-dramas back in 2016. At first, the grammar (especially 는것 and noun modifiers) felt overwhelming, and I struggled to understand how everything fits together. It felt like walking in a maze with no exit.",[11,8222,8223],{},"The second person says this:",[56,8225,8226],{},[11,8227,8228],{},"I began to be exposed to Korean culture through K-dramas and also meeting a lot of Koreans through one of my hobbies a few years ago, and decided to start learning in June 2023. My goals were to be able to watch and understand a Kdrama without subtitles, to speak to the Korean friends I had met through my hobby, and to take the TOPIK test and eventually achieve a 6급 (this last one because I am a naturally competitive person, and wanted to have an objective way to track my progress and milestones).",[11,8230,8231,8232,8235],{},"Now, I'm not saying it's ",[86,8233,8234],{},"easy"," by any means. These people both put 5–8 hours per day into Korean for an extended period of time. Not everybody can do that.",[11,8237,8238,8239,8244,8245,8247],{},"All I'm trying to say is that if you love Korean—K-pop, K-dramas, maybe ",[15,8240,8243],{"href":8241,"rel":8242},"https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHan_Kang",[30],"Korean literature","—that gives you a huge advantage. There are things you want to do in Korean. That's ",[86,8246,4353],{}," important. In fact, when it comes to language learning, it's basically everything. We'll talk about why in the \"nobody cares\" section down below.",[43,8249,8251],{"id":8250},"how-language-learning-works-and-what-it-takes-to-reach-fluency-in-korean","How language learning works, and what it takes to reach fluency in Korean",[11,8253,8254],{},"Having spent a bit too much time on Reddit and Discord, I see a lot of people saying things like this:",[56,8256,8257],{},[11,8258,8259],{},"I want to learn Korean because I'm a BTS Stan and love K-dramas, but Korean is so hard. Maybe I should just learn Spanish instead?",[178,8261],{"src":8262,"width":8263,"height":8264,"alt":8265},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-scowl.gif",1440,810,"A man, who has just heard something ridiculous, like learning Spanish instead of Korean, scowling.",[11,8267,8268],{},"Like, no, man. Don't do that.",[11,8270,8271],{},"Ask any polyglot you want and I'm pretty sure you'll get the same answer: the hardest language to learn is your first one. This is because learning Korean is about so much more than just Korean:",[882,8273,8275,8304,8307,8310,8313],{"heading":8274},"...small rant here",[419,8276,8277,8283,8286,8289,8292,8295,8298,8301],{},[79,8278,8279,8280,8282],{},"You're learning how you (",[86,8281,4797],{},") actually learn",[79,8284,8285],{},"You're exploring learning psychology, so you can overcome procrastination",[79,8287,8288],{},"You're trial-and-erroring your memory, figuring out how to remember thousands of vocabulary words",[79,8290,8291],{},"You're finding ways to be productive and be consistent, even though that's hard",[79,8293,8294],{},"You're learning about linguistics so you can make sense of Korean grammar",[79,8296,8297],{},"You're finding out what sort of resources do and don't work for you",[79,8299,8300],{},"You're learning to overcome failure and the fear of making mistakes",[79,8302,8303],{},"I could go on and on and on",[11,8305,8306],{},"Basically, learning Korean is just so much bigger than just Korean itself.",[11,8308,8309],{},"Unless you have the willpower of Thanos, you're not going to be able to force yourself to learn a language just because it's supposedly easy or good for your career. Motivation can only take you so far. To learn a language well, you need to be excited about it—to have things that compel you to engage with the language.",[11,8311,8312],{},"Case and point: I started learning Spanish when I was twelve. I didn't read my first Spanish book until I was like 22. I started learning Japanese at age 19. I read my first Japanese book before I read my first Spanish book. This shouldn't make sense, according to the data, because Japanese is supposedly super hard. The thing was, there were all sorts of things I wanted to read in Japanese. Spending time with Japanese content made me excited.",[11,8314,8315],{},"If Korean does that for you, then that's a huge advantage.",[11,8317,8318],{},"Anyway, I digress.",[11,8320,8321,8324],{},[86,8322,8323],{},"Yes",". If you're reading this blog post, you should learn Korean.",[43,8326,8328],{"id":8327},"what-makes-korean-hard-to-learn","What makes Korean hard to learn?",[11,8330,8331],{},"The issue isn't necessarily that Korean is hard so much as that English and Korean are different. Very different, and different in a lot of ways. As such, if you're learning Korean, you'll have to grapple with challenges like the fact that:",[62,8333,8335],{"id":8334},"its-in-a-totally-different-language-family","It's in a totally different language family",[11,8337,8338],{},"Korean is very different than English. This is important. A language like Spanish, for example, gives native English speakers a bunch of freebies:",[419,8340,8341,8352,8362],{},[79,8342,8343,8344,8347,8348,8351],{},"A lot of vocabulary is shared, from simple things like \"idea\" (which is ",[86,8345,8346],{},"idea"," in Spanish) to more complex things like democracy (which is ",[86,8349,8350],{},"democracía"," in Spanish)",[79,8353,8354,8355,8358,8359,2773],{},"A number of phrases are shared, such as \"in other words\" (",[86,8356,8357],{},"en otras palabras",") or \"judging by\" (",[86,8360,8361],{},"juzgar por",[79,8363,8364],{},"When in doubt, you can translate most English sentences word-for-word into Spanish and get a sentence that makes sense, even if it isn't totally natural",[11,8366,8367],{},"All this goes to say that Spanish isn't really a super foreign language—there's a lot about it that's really quite familiar.",[11,8369,8370,8371,8374],{},"...But when a native speaker of English decides they want to speak Korean, that's a different story. Pretty much ",[86,8372,8373],{},"nothing"," transfers. Korean vocabulary is different, Korean idioms are different... Korean is a completely new language. This means that there are many things you will need to learn, whereas a learner of a language like Spanish or French can simply intuit.",[62,8376,8378],{"id":8377},"its-sentences-are-structured-differently-than-englishs","Its sentences are structured differently than English's",[11,8380,8381,8382,8385],{},"We go into this in more detail in ",[15,8383,8384],{"href":5445},"our post on basic Korean grammar",", but if you want to learn the language, you're going to need to wrap your head around some very new linguistic concepts:",[419,8387,8388,8391,8394],{},[79,8389,8390],{},"The main verb of an English sentence goes in the middle of the sentence, while it goes at the end of Korean sentences. This has significant implications for how the parts of the sentence get organized.",[79,8392,8393],{},"Each word or phrase in a Korean sentence gets marked with a grammatical particle—a little tag that indicates the grammatical purpose they're playing in the sentence",[79,8395,8396],{},"Koreans tend to omit pronouns (and information they think is made obvious by context) from their sentences, which is a bit confusing for English speakers",[11,8398,8399],{},"A lot of this things in the Korean language won't feel very intuitive, so the only way to learn it is to spend a lot of time interacting with it. You're really learning a new language, and to do that you're going to need to get comfortable organizing your ideas in new ways.",[62,8401,8403],{"id":8402},"korean-culture-is-very-different-than-ours","Korean culture is very different than ours",[11,8405,8406],{},"Korea places strong emphasis on social hierarchy and respect, and this is deeply embedded in the language via a quite complex system of what are called honorifics. Basically, Korean requires speakers to use different vocabulary and grammar depending on the social status and age of the person they are talking to, plus how familiar they are with each other. Even everyday conversations require careful consideration of these social dynamics, as using the wrong level of speech can be considered highly disrespectful.",[11,8408,8409],{},"Part of learning Korean is learning the culture. You'll often find that, in theory, you have the grammar you need to express an idea... but you won't know how Korean speakers would express that idea. The result is that you can produce sentences that are perfectly correct, but still not natural.",[62,8411,8413],{"id":8412},"korean-pronunciation-is-pretty-challenging","Korean pronunciation is pretty challenging",[11,8415,8416,8417,8420,8421,8423],{},"Let's start with a big breath of relief: Korean is not a tonal language. However, as we discuss in our in our post on ",[15,8418,8419],{"href":1864},"how to learn Hangul, the Korean alphabet",", that isn't to say that Korean pronunciation is ",[86,8422,8234],{},", by any means.",[11,8425,8426],{},"The infamous example is that many Korean consonants come in threes. They sound the same to many speakers of English, but they aren't: they actually differentiate some words in Korean.",[419,8428,8429,8435,8447],{},[79,8430,8431,8432,8434],{},"바 (pa) ",[544,8433],{"src":4059,":type":547}," — The \"plain\" version of Korean's P sound is pretty similar to English's P sound",[79,8436,8437,8438,8440,8441,4603,8443,8446],{},"파 (pa) ",[544,8439],{"src":4363,":type":547}," — Its aspirated twin isn't too difficult for English speakers, but we aren't used to thinking about how heavily aspirated our consonants are (compare the P in ",[86,8442,4330],{},[86,8444,8445],{},"pie","; if you can't hear it, say each word while holding your hand in front of your mouth)",[79,8448,8449,8450,8452],{},"빠 (ppa) ",[544,8451],{"src":4691,":type":547}," — A \"tense\" version of Korean's P sound, which requires you to tense the muscles in your throat\u002Fmouth\u002Flips",[11,8454,8455],{},"Korean vowels aren't a walk in the park, either. Here's two to start with:",[419,8457,8458,8464],{},[79,8459,8460,8461,8463],{},"으 (eu) ",[544,8462],{"src":3460,":type":547}," — An \"uhh\" sound that isn't quite \"uhh\"",[79,8465,8466,8467,8469],{},"의 (eui) ",[544,8468],{"src":3781,":type":547}," — Sounds kind of like the sound you make when you get hit in the stomach, doesn't it?",[11,8471,8472],{},"So, yeah. Learning any foreign language will require you to learn at least a few new sounds, but Korean has some doozies.",[43,8474,8476],{"id":8475},"thats-intense-what-about-korean-is-easy-to-learn","...That's intense; what about Korean is easy to learn?",[11,8478,8479,8480,8482],{},"Just so you know, I have an agenda. I want ",[86,8481,4797],{}," to start learning Korean.",[11,8484,8485],{},"We just covered some kinda scary stuff, so let's balance it out a bit:",[62,8487,8489],{"id":8488},"the-korean-writing-system-makes-it-easy-to-learn-to-read-korean-words","The Korean writing system makes it easy to learn to read Korean words",[11,8491,8492,8493,8496],{},"I won't go into a ton of detail here because ",[15,8494,8495],{"href":1864},"we have a whole blog post about this",", but you should know that the Korean writing system was literally designed to be logical and easy to learn.",[178,8498],{"src":8499,"width":8263,"height":8500,"alt":8501},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-wikipedia-hangul.jpeg",768,"A quick demonstration of Hangul, the Korean writing system, sourced from Wikipedia",[11,8503,8504],{},"You see, for a long time, Korea didn't have an alphabet of its own. Government officials and such used Chinese characters to write Korean, but nobody really liked that: they took a long time to learn and did a frankly terrible job of reflecting the sounds that existed within Korean.",[11,8506,8507],{},"Then, back in the 1400's, King Sejong came out and was like: \"Alright, here's the deal. Chinese characters suck. We're going to shrink the 3,000+ characters down to less than 30 Korean letters. There's going to be no more funny business with needing 15 strokes to write one character, and words are going to look the way they sound. That is all.\"",[11,8509,8510],{},"He didn't actually say that, but it's basically what he ended up doing. The Korean language is hard to learn for a lot of reasons, but its writing system is not one of them.",[11,8512,8513],{},"(You don't need to get fluent in Korean to seriously level up your Korean karaoke skills is all I'm saying.)",[62,8515,8517],{"id":8516},"korean-grammar-is-pretty-regular-predictable","Korean grammar is pretty regular \u002F predictable",[11,8519,8520],{},"If your native language is English, you've been getting the short end of the grammar and vocabulary stick for your entire life. So many English words have unpredictable past tense forms and participle forms (have ~ed). You can't really logic your way through English: you just have to memorize a lot of stuff.",[11,8522,8523],{},"Here, Korean is different from English in a good way.",[11,8525,8526],{},"While Korean has more verb forms than English, Korean verbs are very regular. Once you learn the basic pattern used for a tense, you can apply that pattern to pretty much any verb you want.",[11,8528,8529],{},"This could describe a lot of Korean grammar, really: a lot of it will be new and require some thinking to figure out initially, but once you've got it, you've got it.",[62,8531,8533],{"id":8532},"awesome-korean-media-and-resources-help-you-learn-the-language","Awesome Korean media and resources help you learn the language",[11,8535,8536],{},"If you're reading this post, you're probably aware of how awesome Korean media is. Whether your thing is K-pop, Korean TV shows on Netflix, or award-winning literature, there's no shortage of interesting Korean content to consume. This gives you a massive advantage in the intermediate stage, where you'll be learning primarily by directly interacting with the language.",[11,8538,8539,8540,8543],{},"And it's not ",[86,8541,8542],{},"just"," intermediate learners that benefit from this.",[11,8545,8546],{},"Check this out:",[1640,8548],{"src":8549},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FzFcTtqrsflc?si=Ru6BlHwmrDIDSneI",[11,8551,8552,8553],{},"Learn Korean in Korean is an awesome YouTube channel that teaches you Korean... in Korean... without using any English. Accomplishing this takes a lot of creativity and experience as a teacher. ",[86,8554,8555,8556,8560],{},"(And a bunch more stuff like this ",[15,8557,115],{"href":8558,"rel":8559},"https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.google.com\u002Fspreadsheets\u002Fd\u002F1EvnLN1-3g4SYXyzuhee1NFkomz-UoEEde0t5p1QtPcs\u002Fedit?gid=93462620#gid=93462620&fvid=1350608098",[30],".)",[11,8562,8563],{},"Suffice it to say that there are some incredible Korean resources out there that people have obviously put a lot of love into.",[43,8565,8567],{"id":8566},"nobody-cares-just-tell-me-how-i-can-learn-korean-faster","Nobody cares, just tell me how I can learn Korean faster",[11,8569,8570],{},"I'm going to make a blanket statement here:",[56,8572,8573],{},[11,8574,8575],{},"The best way to learn Korean is by interacting with it. When we consume content in another language, and we understand the messages within that content, we make progress. Period.",[11,8577,8578],{},"You don't need to spend a lot of money on Korean language courses. You don't need to move to Korea. You don't need to do \"this one weird trick\" that will help you learn Korean fast. All you have to do is spend time with Korean.",[11,8580,8581],{},"Migaku is a language learning app made by language learners, and we teach Korean like this:",[11,8583,8584],{},"First, you learn to read and pronounce Hangul:",[178,8586],{"src":1672,"width":1673,"height":1674,"alt":1675},[11,8588,8589],{},"And then you move onto our Korean Academy course:",[178,8591],{"src":1684,"width":1685,"height":1686,"alt":1687},[11,8593,8594,8595],{},"This course teaches you ~300 grammar points and the ~1,200 most common Korean vocabulary words. It's a flashcard-based course, so you can do it anywhere, and by the time you finish, you'll recognize 80% of the words you see in Korean media. ",[86,8596,8597],{},"(We did the math.)",[11,8599,8600,8601,8604],{},"From this point, you'll move on to the ",[86,8602,8603],{},"real"," strength of Migaku:",[178,8606],{"src":8607,"width":8608,"height":182,"alt":8609},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-kpop.jpeg",2800,"A screenshot of a K-pop video that Migaku has parsed, turning into a learning exercise",[11,8611,8612],{},"We make Korean text in places like subtitles and X (formerly Twitter) interactive—you can simply click on new Korean words to see what they mean. If the word looks useful, you can click another button to turn it into a flashcard. We'll periodically ask you to review these flashcards, ensuring that you eventually remember the words they contain.",[11,8614,8615],{},"As a result, with Migaku, if you're interested in learning Korean, it's not super hard. I'd almost say that it's pretty easy. Simply consume the content you're interested in, we'll turn them into learning opportunities, and you'll work toward Korean fluency largely as a byproduct of consuming content you find interesting.",[521,8617],{"href":17,"text":976},[1168,8619,8620],{"italic":1170},"\n Migaku is totally free for ten days, which is enough time to finish our Hangul course and learn how to pronounce Korean words. \n",[43,8622,8624],{"id":8623},"basically-go-study-korean-just-dont-expect-to-learn-korean-in-a-year-or-something-like-that","Basically: Go study Korean, just don't expect to learn Korean in a year or something like that",[11,8626,8627],{},"Korean is a challenging language to learn for native English speakers, but it's not impossible. You (probably) aren't going to become fluent in Korean in a year, but if you start now and put in consistent effort, you'll likely become able to do some cool things in Korean within a year.",[11,8629,8630,8631,1201],{},"If you're ready to take the plunge, here's ",[15,8632,8634],{"href":8633},"\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fstages-of-language-learning","a step-by-step guide to building your foundation and reaching the intermediate level",[11,8636,2829],{},{"title":1170,"searchDepth":1432,"depth":1432,"links":8638},[8639,8644,8645,8651,8656,8657],{"id":8090,"depth":1432,"text":8091,"children":8640},[8641,8642,8643],{"id":8105,"depth":1437,"text":8106},{"id":8149,"depth":1437,"text":8150},{"id":8192,"depth":1437,"text":8193},{"id":8250,"depth":1432,"text":8251},{"id":8327,"depth":1432,"text":8328,"children":8646},[8647,8648,8649,8650],{"id":8334,"depth":1437,"text":8335},{"id":8377,"depth":1437,"text":8378},{"id":8402,"depth":1437,"text":8403},{"id":8412,"depth":1437,"text":8413},{"id":8475,"depth":1432,"text":8476,"children":8652},[8653,8654,8655],{"id":8488,"depth":1437,"text":8489},{"id":8516,"depth":1437,"text":8517},{"id":8532,"depth":1437,"text":8533},{"id":8566,"depth":1432,"text":8567},{"id":8623,"depth":1432,"text":8624},"How long does it take to learn Korean? Is the Korean language hard to learn? Will you ever be able to understand KPOP? The answers are here 💪 ",{"timestampUnix":8660,"slug":8661,"h1":8662,"image":8663,"tags":8668},1737962095698,"is-korean-hard-to-learn","How long does it take to learn Korean? Is Korean easy to learn?",{"src":8664,"width":8665,"height":8666,"alt":8667},"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-hard-header.webp",9000,6000,"An attractive Korean man raising his hand, perhaps to make the argument it isn't hard to learn Korean.",[1822],"\u002Farticle\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-why-hard","---\ntitle: '...Is it actually that hard to learn Korean? How long does it take?'\ndescription: 'How long does it take to learn Korean? Is the Korean language hard to learn? Will you ever be able to understand KPOP? The answers are here 💪 '\ntimestampUnix: 1737962095698\nslug: 'is-korean-hard-to-learn'\nh1: 'How long does it take to learn Korean? Is Korean easy to learn?'\nimage:\n  src: '\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-hard-header.webp'\n  width: 9000\n  height: 6000\n  alt: \"An attractive Korean man raising his hand, perhaps to make the argument it isn't hard to learn Korean.\"\ntags:\n  - discussion\n---\n\nSo, you want to [learn Korean](\u002Flearn-korean)? You're a K-pop Stan, or maybe you've fallen in love with Korean dramas, and now you're wondering how long it takes to learn the Korean language.\n\nI hear you.\n\nIn this blog post, we're going to talk about:\n\n\u003Ctoc>\u003C\u002Ftoc>\n\n---\n\n## How long does it take to learn Korean?\n\nThis question is really hard to answer. It's kind of like asking how long a string is. You can't answer it. You can measure how long a _specific_ string is, but you can't say how long a string is _in general_. There are a bunch of different strings!\n\n### According to the US government: ~6,000+ hours\n\nThere's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to rip the band-aid right off.\n\n[According to the US Government](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.state.gov\u002Fforeign-service-institute\u002Fforeign-language-training), Korean is classified as a \"super-hard\" language that takes diplomats 2,200 hours to learn.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-how-long.jpeg\" width=\"1480\" height=\"752\" alt=\"A screenshot of the US Foreign Service Institute's guidelines, suggesting that it takes 2,200 in-class hours to learn Korean\" \u002F>\n\nIf your jaw dropped, [it gets worse](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FSpanish\u002Fcomments\u002Fwqusu3\u002F24_wks_1300_hrs_of_spanish_at_fsi_what_ive_learned\u002F):\n\n- That's 2,200 _in-class_ hours, but students also studied out of class for ~2 hours per class hour (meaning this is really more like 2,200+4,400 hours)\n\n- The \"students\" were future diplomats—people who were picked because they demonstrated a talent for learning languages\n\n- Learning Korean was these people's full-time job—like they were literally getting paid to study Korean\n\n### Why data can be incredibly misleading\n\nBefore you close the page out of hopelessness—please look at this:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002FMigaku-korean-webtoon.jpeg\" width=\"2880\" height=\"1789\" alt=\"A screenshot of the a Korean learner using the Migaku Chrome extension to read a Korean webtoon\"\u002F>\n\nWhat you're seeing is me reading [Sweet Home](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.webtoons.com\u002Fen\u002Fthriller\u002Fsweethome\u002Flist?title_no=1285), the famous Korean webtoon that recently got turned into a [hit Netflix series](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=3WJweFedauI). I'm reading it in Korean, and I have not spent anywhere near 6,000 hours learning Korean.\n\nIf you look up in the top-right corner there, you'll see that I know about 900 Korean words.\n\nAnd this brings me to a super important point:\n\n> The question to ask isn't \"how long does it take to learn Korean,\" but rather \u003Cbr> \"how long will it take me to do this specific thing I want to do in Korean?\".\n\nIf you want to get fluent in Korean, then yeah. That's going to take a long time. Hundreds—or, more likely, thousands—of hours. The thing is, you don't need to be fluent in Korean to begin doing cool things in it. I've probably spent less than 100 hours learning Korean and I'm already reading webtoons, which has been my goal this whole time.\n\nIt'll take a long time to reach fluency in Korean, but what the data doesn't show you is that the vast majority of these hours are spent having fun, interacting with Korean content.\n\nAnyway:\n\n### Case studies: Two people who learned Korean fast\n\nI nearly had an aneurism when I saw that the FSI said it takes 6,000 hours to learn Korean, so I turned to Reddit. Within a few minutes of searching, I found this:\n\n- [I Learned Korean in 1 Year and Reached TOPIK Level 4](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F1i406ht\u002Fi_learned_korean_in_1_year_and_reached_topik\u002F)\n\n- [18 Month Update Korean Learning Update: Achieving Topik 6, and reflections on my approach and the road ahead](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.reddit.com\u002Fr\u002FKorean\u002Fcomments\u002F1hgqe3t\u002F18_month_update_korean_learning_update_achieving\u002F)\n\nThe first person says this:\n\n> I started learning Korean because I fell in love with the culture and language while watching K-dramas back in 2016. At first, the grammar (especially 는것 and noun modifiers) felt overwhelming, and I struggled to understand how everything fits together. It felt like walking in a maze with no exit.\n\nThe second person says this:\n\n> I began to be exposed to Korean culture through K-dramas and also meeting a lot of Koreans through one of my hobbies a few years ago, and decided to start learning in June 2023. My goals were to be able to watch and understand a Kdrama without subtitles, to speak to the Korean friends I had met through my hobby, and to take the TOPIK test and eventually achieve a 6급 (this last one because I am a naturally competitive person, and wanted to have an objective way to track my progress and milestones).\n\nNow, I'm not saying it's _easy_ by any means. These people both put 5–8 hours per day into Korean for an extended period of time. Not everybody can do that.\n\nAll I'm trying to say is that if you love Korean—K-pop, K-dramas, maybe [Korean literature](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FHan_Kang)—that gives you a huge advantage. There are things you want to do in Korean. That's _super_ important. In fact, when it comes to language learning, it's basically everything. We'll talk about why in the \"nobody cares\" section down below.\n\n## How language learning works, and what it takes to reach fluency in Korean\n\nHaving spent a bit too much time on Reddit and Discord, I see a lot of people saying things like this:\n\n> I want to learn Korean because I'm a BTS Stan and love K-dramas, but Korean is so hard. Maybe I should just learn Spanish instead?\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-scowl.gif\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" alt=\"A man, who has just heard something ridiculous, like learning Spanish instead of Korean, scowling.\"\u002F>\n\nLike, no, man. Don't do that.\n\nAsk any polyglot you want and I'm pretty sure you'll get the same answer: the hardest language to learn is your first one. This is because learning Korean is about so much more than just Korean:\n\n\u003Caccordion heading=\"...small rant here\">\n\n- You're learning how you (_you_) actually learn\n- You're exploring learning psychology, so you can overcome procrastination\n- You're trial-and-erroring your memory, figuring out how to remember thousands of vocabulary words\n- You're finding ways to be productive and be consistent, even though that's hard\n- You're learning about linguistics so you can make sense of Korean grammar\n- You're finding out what sort of resources do and don't work for you\n- You're learning to overcome failure and the fear of making mistakes\n- I could go on and on and on\n\nBasically, learning Korean is just so much bigger than just Korean itself.\n\nUnless you have the willpower of Thanos, you're not going to be able to force yourself to learn a language just because it's supposedly easy or good for your career. Motivation can only take you so far. To learn a language well, you need to be excited about it—to have things that compel you to engage with the language.\n\nCase and point: I started learning Spanish when I was twelve. I didn't read my first Spanish book until I was like 22. I started learning Japanese at age 19. I read my first Japanese book before I read my first Spanish book. This shouldn't make sense, according to the data, because Japanese is supposedly super hard. The thing was, there were all sorts of things I wanted to read in Japanese. Spending time with Japanese content made me excited.\n\nIf Korean does that for you, then that's a huge advantage.\n\n\u003C\u002Faccordion>\n\nAnyway, I digress.\n\n_Yes_. If you're reading this blog post, you should learn Korean.\n\n## What makes Korean hard to learn?\n\nThe issue isn't necessarily that Korean is hard so much as that English and Korean are different. Very different, and different in a lot of ways. As such, if you're learning Korean, you'll have to grapple with challenges like the fact that:\n\n### It's in a totally different language family\n\nKorean is very different than English. This is important. A language like Spanish, for example, gives native English speakers a bunch of freebies:\n\n- A lot of vocabulary is shared, from simple things like \"idea\" (which is _idea_ in Spanish) to more complex things like democracy (which is _democracía_ in Spanish)\n\n- A number of phrases are shared, such as \"in other words\" (_en otras palabras_) or \"judging by\" (_juzgar por_)\n\n- When in doubt, you can translate most English sentences word-for-word into Spanish and get a sentence that makes sense, even if it isn't totally natural\n\nAll this goes to say that Spanish isn't really a super foreign language—there's a lot about it that's really quite familiar.\n\n...But when a native speaker of English decides they want to speak Korean, that's a different story. Pretty much _nothing_ transfers. Korean vocabulary is different, Korean idioms are different... Korean is a completely new language. This means that there are many things you will need to learn, whereas a learner of a language like Spanish or French can simply intuit.\n\n### Its sentences are structured differently than English's\n\nWe go into this in more detail in [our post on basic Korean grammar](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-basic-korean-grammar), but if you want to learn the language, you're going to need to wrap your head around some very new linguistic concepts:\n\n- The main verb of an English sentence goes in the middle of the sentence, while it goes at the end of Korean sentences. This has significant implications for how the parts of the sentence get organized.\n\n- Each word or phrase in a Korean sentence gets marked with a grammatical particle—a little tag that indicates the grammatical purpose they're playing in the sentence\n\n- Koreans tend to omit pronouns (and information they think is made obvious by context) from their sentences, which is a bit confusing for English speakers\n\nA lot of this things in the Korean language won't feel very intuitive, so the only way to learn it is to spend a lot of time interacting with it. You're really learning a new language, and to do that you're going to need to get comfortable organizing your ideas in new ways.\n\n### Korean culture is very different than ours\n\nKorea places strong emphasis on social hierarchy and respect, and this is deeply embedded in the language via a quite complex system of what are called honorifics. Basically, Korean requires speakers to use different vocabulary and grammar depending on the social status and age of the person they are talking to, plus how familiar they are with each other. Even everyday conversations require careful consideration of these social dynamics, as using the wrong level of speech can be considered highly disrespectful.\n\nPart of learning Korean is learning the culture. You'll often find that, in theory, you have the grammar you need to express an idea... but you won't know how Korean speakers would express that idea. The result is that you can produce sentences that are perfectly correct, but still not natural.\n\n### Korean pronunciation is pretty challenging\n\nLet's start with a big breath of relief: Korean is not a tonal language. However, as we discuss in our in our post on [how to learn Hangul, the Korean alphabet](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-korean-hangul), that isn't to say that Korean pronunciation is _easy_, by any means.\n\nThe infamous example is that many Korean consonants come in threes. They sound the same to many speakers of English, but they aren't: they actually differentiate some words in Korean.\n\n- 바 (pa) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-바2.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> — The \"plain\" version of Korean's P sound is pretty similar to English's P sound\n- 파 (pa) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-파.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> — Its aspirated twin isn't too difficult for English speakers, but we aren't used to thinking about how heavily aspirated our consonants are (compare the P in _spy_ and _pie_; if you can't hear it, say each word while holding your hand in front of your mouth)\n- 빠 (ppa) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-빠.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> — A \"tense\" version of Korean's P sound, which requires you to tense the muscles in your throat\u002Fmouth\u002Flips\n\nKorean vowels aren't a walk in the park, either. Here's two to start with:\n\n- 으 (eu) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-으.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> — An \"uhh\" sound that isn't quite \"uhh\"\n- 의 (eui) \u003Ccustom-audio src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fko-의.mp3\" :type=\"3\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-audio> — Sounds kind of like the sound you make when you get hit in the stomach, doesn't it?\n\nSo, yeah. Learning any foreign language will require you to learn at least a few new sounds, but Korean has some doozies.\n\n## ...That's intense; what about Korean is easy to learn?\n\nJust so you know, I have an agenda. I want _you_ to start learning Korean.\n\nWe just covered some kinda scary stuff, so let's balance it out a bit:\n\n### The Korean writing system makes it easy to learn to read Korean words\n\nI won't go into a ton of detail here because [we have a whole blog post about this](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Flearn-korean-hangul), but you should know that the Korean writing system was literally designed to be logical and easy to learn.\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-wikipedia-hangul.jpeg\" width=\"1440\" height=\"768\" alt=\"A quick demonstration of Hangul, the Korean writing system, sourced from Wikipedia\" \u002F>\n\nYou see, for a long time, Korea didn't have an alphabet of its own. Government officials and such used Chinese characters to write Korean, but nobody really liked that: they took a long time to learn and did a frankly terrible job of reflecting the sounds that existed within Korean.\n\nThen, back in the 1400's, King Sejong came out and was like: \"Alright, here's the deal. Chinese characters suck. We're going to shrink the 3,000+ characters down to less than 30 Korean letters. There's going to be no more funny business with needing 15 strokes to write one character, and words are going to look the way they sound. That is all.\"\n\nHe didn't actually say that, but it's basically what he ended up doing. The Korean language is hard to learn for a lot of reasons, but its writing system is not one of them.\n\n(You don't need to get fluent in Korean to seriously level up your Korean karaoke skills is all I'm saying.)\n\n### Korean grammar is pretty regular \u002F predictable\n\nIf your native language is English, you've been getting the short end of the grammar and vocabulary stick for your entire life. So many English words have unpredictable past tense forms and participle forms (have ~ed). You can't really logic your way through English: you just have to memorize a lot of stuff.\n\nHere, Korean is different from English in a good way.\n\nWhile Korean has more verb forms than English, Korean verbs are very regular. Once you learn the basic pattern used for a tense, you can apply that pattern to pretty much any verb you want.\n\nThis could describe a lot of Korean grammar, really: a lot of it will be new and require some thinking to figure out initially, but once you've got it, you've got it.\n\n### Awesome Korean media and resources help you learn the language\n\nIf you're reading this post, you're probably aware of how awesome Korean media is. Whether your thing is K-pop, Korean TV shows on Netflix, or award-winning literature, there's no shortage of interesting Korean content to consume. This gives you a massive advantage in the intermediate stage, where you'll be learning primarily by directly interacting with the language.\n\nAnd it's not _just_ intermediate learners that benefit from this.\n\nCheck this out:\n\n\u003Ccustom-iframe src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fembed\u002FzFcTtqrsflc?si=Ru6BlHwmrDIDSneI\">\u003C\u002Fcustom-iframe>\n\nLearn Korean in Korean is an awesome YouTube channel that teaches you Korean... in Korean... without using any English. Accomplishing this takes a lot of creativity and experience as a teacher. _(And a bunch more stuff like this [here](https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.google.com\u002Fspreadsheets\u002Fd\u002F1EvnLN1-3g4SYXyzuhee1NFkomz-UoEEde0t5p1QtPcs\u002Fedit?gid=93462620#gid=93462620&fvid=1350608098).)_\n\nSuffice it to say that there are some incredible Korean resources out there that people have obviously put a lot of love into.\n\n## Nobody cares, just tell me how I can learn Korean faster\n\nI'm going to make a blanket statement here:\n\n> The best way to learn Korean is by interacting with it. When we consume content in another language, and we understand the messages within that content, we make progress. Period.\n\nYou don't need to spend a lot of money on Korean language courses. You don't need to move to Korea. You don't need to do \"this one weird trick\" that will help you learn Korean fast. All you have to do is spend time with Korean.\n\nMigaku is a language learning app made by language learners, and we teach Korean like this:\n\nFirst, you learn to read and pronounce Hangul:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-fundamentals.jpeg\" width=\"1754\" height=\"1220\" alt=\"A few screenshots from Migaku's Korean Fundamentals course, showing how we teach Hangul\" \u002F>\n\nAnd then you move onto our Korean Academy course:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-grammar-plug.jpeg\" width=\"1844\" height=\"1232\" alt=\"A screenshot showing an excerpt of Migaku's Korean Academy course, explaining the usage of the subject particle.\" \u002F>\n\nThis course teaches you ~300 grammar points and the ~1,200 most common Korean vocabulary words. It's a flashcard-based course, so you can do it anywhere, and by the time you finish, you'll recognize 80% of the words you see in Korean media. _(We did the math.)_\n\nFrom this point, you'll move on to the _real_ strength of Migaku:\n\n\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fassets\u002Fblog\u002Fmigaku-korean-kpop.jpeg\" width=\"2800\" height=\"1800\" alt=\"A screenshot of a K-pop video that Migaku has parsed, turning into a learning exercise\" \u002F>\n\nWe make Korean text in places like subtitles and X (formerly Twitter) interactive—you can simply click on new Korean words to see what they mean. If the word looks useful, you can click another button to turn it into a flashcard. We'll periodically ask you to review these flashcards, ensuring that you eventually remember the words they contain.\n\nAs a result, with Migaku, if you're interested in learning Korean, it's not super hard. I'd almost say that it's pretty easy. Simply consume the content you're interested in, we'll turn them into learning opportunities, and you'll work toward Korean fluency largely as a byproduct of consuming content you find interesting.\n\n\u003Cprose-button href=\"\u002Flearn-korean\" text=\"Learn Korean with Migaku\">\u003C\u002Fprose-button>\n\n\u003CCenteredText italic> Migaku is totally free for ten days, which is enough time to finish our Hangul course and learn how to pronounce Korean words. \u003C\u002FCenteredText>\n\n## Basically: Go study Korean, just don't expect to learn Korean in a year or something like that\n\nKorean is a challenging language to learn for native English speakers, but it's not impossible. You (probably) aren't going to become fluent in Korean in a year, but if you start now and put in consistent effort, you'll likely become able to do some cool things in Korean within a year.\n\nIf you're ready to take the plunge, here's [a step-by-step guide to building your foundation and reaching the intermediate level](\u002Fblog\u002Flanguage-fun\u002Fstages-of-language-learning).\n\nGood luck!\n",{"title":8069,"description":8658},"article\u002Fkorean\u002Fkorean-why-hard","auFL1ellzZOmL-gYQXWIIWoQHa18LkLuadlwusCDCy4","January 27, 2025",{"approximate_member_count":8676},20291,[8678,8694,8709,8723,8735,8748,8760,8772,8784,8797,8808,8821,8833,8846,8859,8872,8884,8897,8909,8921,8933,8945,8957,8969,8980,8992,9004,9015,9027,9039,9052,9064,9077,9089,9102,9114,9126,9138,9150,9162,9174,9185,9197,9209,9220,9232,9243,9254,9265,9276,9288,9300,9312,9324,9336,9348,9360,9371,9382,9394,9406,9417,9429,9442,9454],{"id":8679,"documentId":8680,"slug":8681,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8683,"description":8684,"image":8685,"tags":8691,"timestampUnix":8692,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},683,"th8hkrg7oom34iqot67xbj3q","korean-particles",null,"Complete Guide to Korean Particles for Korean Learners","Master Korean particles: subject markers 이\u002F가, topic markers 은\u002F는, object particles 을\u002F를, location particles, and more. Learn Korean grammar that actually works.",{"alt":8686,"src":8687,"width":8688,"height":8689,"previewOnly":8690},"korean-sign","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fistockphoto_2162922506_612x612_1cd3061217\u002Fistockphoto_2162922506_612x612_1cd3061217.jpg",612,330,false,[1822],1763335200000,0,{"id":8695,"documentId":8696,"slug":8697,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8698,"description":8699,"image":8700,"tags":8705,"timestampUnix":8708,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},266,"xmqg0xtce9zlwzbheamaf4zl","korean-swear-words","25 Korean Swear Words: Meanings and When Koreans Use Them","Learn the 25 most common Korean swear words, what they actually mean, and when Koreans use them. Honest breakdown of Korean profanity with cultural context.",{"alt":8701,"src":8702,"width":8703,"height":8704,"previewOnly":8690},"korean man and korean woman yelling at each other using korean swear words","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FGenerated_Image_October_23_2025_5_00_PM_fa926d481f\u002FGenerated_Image_October_23_2025_5_00_PM_fa926d481f.png",1008,925,[8706,8707],"culture","phrases",1761206640000,{"id":8710,"documentId":8711,"slug":8712,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8713,"description":8714,"image":8715,"tags":8720,"timestampUnix":8722,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},642,"huj4ks7sgxddxp2j6u724hwe","korean-numbers-sino-native-guide","Korean Numbers Guide: Learn Both Systems (Sino vs Native)","Master Korean numbers fast. Learn when to use Sino-Korean numbers (일, 이, 삼) vs native Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋) for counting in Korean with real examples.",{"alt":8716,"src":8717,"width":8718,"height":8719,"previewOnly":8690},"Counting Korean numbers","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fhq720_5_91363867c3\u002Fhq720_5_91363867c3.jpg",686,386,[8721],"numbers",1761872700000,{"id":8724,"documentId":8725,"slug":8726,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8727,"description":8728,"image":8729,"tags":8733,"timestampUnix":8734,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},249,"fpzf0k1vvzxijb87hqbztvm1","best-korean-textbooks","Best Korean Textbooks: Learn Korean with the Right Book for You","Discover the best Korean textbooks to learn Korean effectively. Compare Integrated Korean, SNU Korean, and more. Find the best book with grammar explanations for your goals.",{"alt":8730,"src":8731,"width":8732,"height":8732,"previewOnly":8690},"awesome alt text","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fmigakukorean_c1853c2381\u002Fmigakukorean_c1853c2381.png",1024,[1468],1761009600000,{"id":8736,"documentId":8737,"slug":8738,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8739,"description":8740,"image":8741,"tags":8746,"timestampUnix":8747,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},648,"vqsxyy99y2aytn9gyvv2j5p4","hello-in-korean","Hello in Korean: Learn the Right Way to Say 안녕하세요 & More","Learn how to say hello in Korean with 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo), 안녕 (annyeong), and formal greetings. Master Korean phrases for every situation in Korea.",{"alt":8742,"src":8743,"width":8744,"height":8745,"previewOnly":8690},"Hello in Korean","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FHello_in_Korean_Translation_feature_image_jpg_3b71555a6d\u002FHello_in_Korean_Translation_feature_image_jpg_3b71555a6d.webp",950,500,[8707],1761871140000,{"id":8749,"documentId":8750,"slug":8751,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8752,"description":8753,"image":8754,"tags":8758,"timestampUnix":8759,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},605,"hddzjh2ukhe0maxir1s1n47v","learn-korean-greetings","Korean Greetings: Basic Korean Greetings Beyond Hello","Learn Korean greetings beyond 안녕하세요. Master basic Korean greetings, pronunciation, and when to use formal vs casual greetings with native speakers.",{"alt":8755,"src":8756,"width":8757,"height":8757,"previewOnly":8690},"Girl saying hello in korean","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fkorean_words_cute_girl_saying_hello_in_korean_illustration_vector_ea28849d86\u002Fkorean_words_cute_girl_saying_hello_in_korean_illustration_vector_ea28849d86.jpg",980,[1822],1763093700000,{"id":8761,"documentId":8762,"slug":8763,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8764,"description":8765,"image":8766,"tags":8770,"timestampUnix":8771,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},566,"qmo9p1l69sheefvudbhmabsv","i-love-you-in-korean","I Love You in Korean: 사랑해, 사랑해요 & 4 Ways to Say It","Learn ways to say I love you in Korean with 사랑해 (saranghae), including formal and romantic expressions. Understand when to use each phrase correctly.",{"alt":8767,"src":8768,"width":8769,"height":7181,"previewOnly":8690},"Two hearts","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F14_final_love_heart_calling_3b88e29961\u002F14_final_love_heart_calling_3b88e29961.jpg",6250,[8707],1762745400000,{"id":8773,"documentId":8774,"slug":8775,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8776,"description":8777,"image":8778,"tags":8782,"timestampUnix":8783,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},629,"yhrgvskhwf21k0jfkng86oio","goodbye-in-korean","How to Say Goodbye in Korean: 7 Essential Phrases","Learn different ways to say goodbye in Korean. Master 안녕히 가세요, 안녕히 계세요, and casual vs. formal Korean farewell phrases without offending anyone.",{"alt":8779,"src":8780,"width":8745,"height":8781,"previewOnly":8690},"Korean people saying goodbye to each other.","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fk_M_Ruvj_Q6s2eabv_M_gw7_Dp_Q_0aedd3ca33\u002Fk_M_Ruvj_Q6s2eabv_M_gw7_Dp_Q_0aedd3ca33.jpg",365,[8707],1762137660000,{"id":8785,"documentId":8786,"slug":8787,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8788,"description":8789,"image":8790,"tags":8795,"timestampUnix":8796,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},638,"aox0omfb51bmznjioeldiu7n","best-apps-to-learn-korean","Best Apps to Learn Korean: What Works & What Doesn't (2025)","Tested every major Korean learning app—Duolingo, LingoDeer, Pimsleur, Memrise. Here's what actually helps you learn Korean and what's just a waste of time.",{"alt":8791,"src":8792,"width":8793,"height":8794,"previewOnly":8690},"Woman learning Korean.","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fdepositphotos_583371156_stock_illustration_funny_girl_speaking_korean_vector_0bb42c514f\u002Fdepositphotos_583371156_stock_illustration_funny_girl_speaking_korean_vector_0bb42c514f.jpg",600,368,[1822],1761968400000,{"id":8798,"documentId":8799,"slug":8800,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8801,"description":8802,"image":8803,"tags":8806,"timestampUnix":8807,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},643,"e272z02tpw6ria3sl94dey4x","thank-you-in-korean","Thank You in Korean: 감사합니다, 고마워 & How to Say Thanks","Learn how to say thank you in Korean with 감사합니다, 고마워요, and 고마워. Different ways of saying thanks for every formality level, plus pronunciation and cultural tips.",{"alt":8804,"src":8805,"width":8732,"height":8732,"previewOnly":8690},"Korean cartoons","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fchildren_with_korean_flag_looking_up_top_view_279539_1403_5b8c78b65a\u002Fchildren_with_korean_flag_looking_up_top_view_279539_1403_5b8c78b65a.avif",[8707],1761872220000,{"id":8809,"documentId":8810,"slug":8811,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8812,"description":8813,"image":8814,"tags":8819,"timestampUnix":8820,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},974,"wk1if2z1sg24q02vh4mkem45","korean-months","Korean Months: Simple Pattern + 2 Weird Exceptions Explained","Korean months follow one simple pattern (number + 월), except for June and October. Here's why they're different, plus when to use 월 vs 달 and how to remember it all.",{"alt":8815,"src":8816,"width":8817,"height":8818,"previewOnly":8690},"korean months","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F605_1087e4a4bc\u002F605_1087e4a4bc.jpg",821,471,[1822],1765041000000,{"id":8822,"documentId":8823,"slug":8824,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8825,"description":8826,"image":8827,"tags":8831,"timestampUnix":8832,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},756,"dbuzinqtvl3zlwmj97zcfpwt","korean-past-tense","Korean Past Tense: Master Verb Conjugation & Grammar Fast","Learn Korean past tense conjugation with -았어요 and -었어요 endings. Master Korean verb conjugation rules, irregular verbs, and practice with real Korean content.",{"alt":8828,"src":8829,"width":8688,"height":8830,"previewOnly":8690},"korean people smiling","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fistockphoto_543084318_612x612_56dced4eba\u002Fistockphoto_543084318_612x612_56dced4eba.jpg",408,[1822],1763868600000,{"id":8834,"documentId":8835,"slug":8836,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8837,"description":8838,"image":8839,"tags":8844,"timestampUnix":8845,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},954,"ynr3lg8s1fjlyzze1sf02sx9","how-to-say-love-in-korean","How to Say \"I Love You\" in Korean (사랑해, 사랑해요, 사랑합니다)","Learn how to say love in Korean with 사랑해, 사랑해요, and 사랑합니다. Includes pronunciation, when to use each form, and Korean dating culture context.",{"alt":8840,"src":8841,"width":8842,"height":8843,"previewOnly":8690},"korean finger heart","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fkorean_finger_hearts_everything_you_need_to_know_and_more_4d61b5293e\u002Fkorean_finger_hearts_everything_you_need_to_know_and_more_4d61b5293e.jpg",640,427,[8707],1765074000000,{"id":8847,"documentId":8848,"slug":8849,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8850,"description":8851,"image":8852,"tags":8857,"timestampUnix":8858,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},898,"vgmysdyhfde1tyz8sx4d3l22","yes-in-korean","How to Say Yes in Korean: 네, 예, 응 & Negative Questions","Learn how to say yes in Korean with 네, 예, and 응. Includes pronunciation guide, formality levels, and why negative questions work differently in Korean.",{"alt":8853,"src":8854,"width":8855,"height":8856,"previewOnly":8690},"yes face","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fthe_yes_face284cdcef0e9e6dc6a6dbff000009f253_3761bed116\u002Fthe_yes_face284cdcef0e9e6dc6a6dbff000009f253_3761bed116.jpg",1924,1283,[1822],1764728400000,{"id":8860,"documentId":8861,"slug":8862,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8863,"description":8864,"image":8865,"tags":8870,"timestampUnix":8871,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},902,"xglkcas15mzfzvh5zewyqge3","korean-honorifics","Korean Honorifics: Clear Guide for Beginners (Real Examples)","Master Korean honorifics with this beginner-friendly guide. Learn speech levels, honorific verbs, and Korean titles with clear examples that actually work in real conversations.",{"alt":8866,"src":8867,"width":8868,"height":8869,"previewOnly":8690},"korean honorifics","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F1104_schung_greetingsjeol1_6bc99a65f6\u002F1104_schung_greetingsjeol1_6bc99a65f6.webp",530,379,[1822],1764718200000,{"id":8873,"documentId":8874,"slug":8875,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8876,"description":8877,"image":8878,"tags":8882,"timestampUnix":8883,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},1085,"qirxjw4pmrrkel4xct1wsq7e","korean-slang","40+ Korean Slang Words You Must Know (2025 Guide)","Learn essential Korean slang words and phrases that textbooks skip. Master common Korean slang, text abbreviations, and K-pop terms to sound like a native speaker.",{"alt":8879,"src":8880,"width":8732,"height":8881,"previewOnly":8690},"korean cartoon","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fabbb59677500003f8f48d71a79d5214867180be0_2560x1438_f81dec3780\u002Fabbb59677500003f8f48d71a79d5214867180be0_2560x1438_f81dec3780.webp",575,[1822],1765594500000,{"id":8885,"documentId":8886,"slug":8887,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8888,"description":8889,"image":8890,"tags":8895,"timestampUnix":8896,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},1116,"koxxkf8pfj4ap2o4sog0mi7g","korean-sentence-structure","Korean Sentence Structure: The Only Guide You Need (2025)","Master Korean sentence structure with this practical guide. Learn SOV word order, particles, adjectives, and how to form natural Korean sentences.",{"alt":8891,"src":8892,"width":8893,"height":8894,"previewOnly":8690},"learning to study korean sentence structure","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fa_Q_Pc_Vl_L8_S_Bm_C_Gnli1_V8a_Hayley_How_to_study_Korean_05188aa25a\u002Fa_Q_Pc_Vl_L8_S_Bm_C_Gnli1_V8a_Hayley_How_to_study_Korean_05188aa25a.jpeg",1280,720,[1822],1765678800000,{"id":1090,"documentId":8898,"slug":8899,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8900,"description":8901,"image":8902,"tags":8906,"timestampUnix":8908,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},"nqi3casp5vtme7ray55gynck","korean-future-tense","Korean Future Tense: 3 Forms You Actually Need to Know","Korean has three future tense forms, and they're not interchangeable. Learn when to use -(으)ㄹ 거예요, -(으)ㄹ게요, and -겠어요 with clear examples.",{"alt":8903,"src":8904,"width":8732,"height":8905,"previewOnly":8690},"future word","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FKorean_Conjugation_Master_Korean_Future_Tense_1_1024x320_745b33ab26\u002FKorean_Conjugation_Master_Korean_Future_Tense_1_1024x320_745b33ab26.webp",320,[8907],"grammar",1765686600000,{"id":8910,"documentId":8911,"slug":8090,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8912,"description":8913,"image":8914,"tags":8919,"timestampUnix":8920,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},1104,"nqz87bfyw1iuakdyjzznr0qt","How Long Does It Take to Learn Korean? Fluency Timeline","Wondering how long it takes to learn Korean? For English speakers, expect 6-12 months for conversational fluency and 2-4 years to become fluent in Korean.",{"alt":8915,"src":8916,"width":8917,"height":8918,"previewOnly":8690},"woman learning korean language","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F0_il_E_Bsg0_En_P1_W84_3be4bed86d\u002F0_il_E_Bsg0_En_P1_W84_3be4bed86d.jpg",1400,933,[1822],1765679400000,{"id":8922,"documentId":8923,"slug":8924,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8925,"description":8926,"image":8927,"tags":8931,"timestampUnix":8932,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},1355,"htum02hzvownzy698wrj970b","korean-informal-speech","Korean Speech Levels: 반말 Guide (When to Use Informal)","Learn the 7 Korean speech levels and when to use 반말 (informal speech). Understand formal vs informal Korean, 존댓말 vs banmal, and how to avoid common mistakes.",{"alt":8928,"src":8929,"width":1574,"height":8930,"previewOnly":8690},"learn korean","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fwhy_you_should_learn_korean_in_2025_1_1000x670_1_e1f02e2373\u002Fwhy_you_should_learn_korean_in_2025_1_1000x670_1_e1f02e2373.jpg",670,[1822],1766370000000,{"id":8934,"documentId":8935,"slug":8936,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8937,"description":8938,"image":8939,"tags":8943,"timestampUnix":8944,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5484,"m91y5m4l4bvs9k7xxaqlz2xj","excuse-me-in-korean","How to Say Excuse Me in Korean: Complete Phrase Guide","Learn excuse me in Korean with 실례합니다, 저기요, and more. Situation-specific phrases for restaurants, crowds, and apologies with pronunciation tips.",{"alt":8940,"src":8941,"width":1574,"height":8942,"previewOnly":8690},"How to say excuse me in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_04_02_023851_086002b272\u002FScreenshot_2026_04_02_023851_086002b272.png",525,[8061,8707],1774890060000,{"id":8946,"documentId":8947,"slug":8948,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8949,"description":8950,"image":8951,"tags":8955,"timestampUnix":8956,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6224,"a6rtfp31s4hjj1h11femhq2y","korean-demonstratives-this-that-over-there","Korean Demonstratives: This, That, and Over There Explained","Learn Korean demonstratives (이거, 그거, 저거) with clear explanations of this, that, and over there for objects, places, and people. Practical examples included.",{"alt":8952,"src":8953,"width":1574,"height":8954,"previewOnly":8690},"Understanding this that and over there in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fnight_street_seoul_south_korea_shutterstock_578475466_4bfb50e111\u002Fnight_street_seoul_south_korea_shutterstock_578475466_4bfb50e111.jpg",1001,[2856,8061,8907],1774083660000,{"id":8958,"documentId":8959,"slug":8960,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8961,"description":8962,"image":8963,"tags":8967,"timestampUnix":8968,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4278,"fhk7gwxob0euadiah5yae1vu","korean-question-words","Korean Question Words: How to Ask Questions in Korean","Learn essential Korean question words like 누구, 뭐, and 언제 with examples, sentence patterns, and particles to start asking questions confidently.",{"alt":8964,"src":8965,"width":1574,"height":8966,"previewOnly":8690},"How to ask questions in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fistockphoto_1214403698_612x612_b06b75a095\u002Fistockphoto_1214403698_612x612_b06b75a095.jpg",323,[2856,8061,8707,8907],1772614860000,{"id":8970,"documentId":8971,"slug":8972,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8973,"description":8974,"image":8975,"tags":8978,"timestampUnix":8979,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5104,"jfzpmbb031e95bywth41542x","korean-comparatives-how-to-make-comparisons","Korean Comparatives: How to Make Comparisons in Korean","Learn how to make comparisons in Korean using 보다, 더, and 덜. Simple grammar lesson with examples, practice tips, and superlatives explained clearly.",{"alt":8976,"src":8977,"width":1574,"height":8500,"previewOnly":8690},"How to make comparisons in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fsunrise_tower_skyscrapers_seoul_121355_243_b354af6666\u002Fsunrise_tower_skyscrapers_seoul_121355_243_b354af6666.avif",[2856,8907],1774544400000,{"id":8981,"documentId":8982,"slug":8983,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8984,"description":8985,"image":8986,"tags":8990,"timestampUnix":8991,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4919,"xadz9g17koiajayhs0ihnk6g","duolingo-korean-review","Duolingo Korean Review: Does It Actually Work in 2026?","Honest Duolingo Korean review covering what works, what doesn't, and whether you can learn Korean with the app. Plus better alternatives to try.",{"alt":8987,"src":8988,"width":1574,"height":8989,"previewOnly":8690},"Honest review of Duolingo for learning Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fduolingo_b270c40bdc\u002Fduolingo_b270c40bdc.webp",364,[8061,1468,1822],1772938800000,{"id":8993,"documentId":8994,"slug":8995,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":8996,"description":8997,"image":8998,"tags":9002,"timestampUnix":9003,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6493,"q47ghuzg417gfcxh8hsd1foo","korean-negation-how-to-form-negative-sentences","Korean Negation: How to Form Negative Sentences","Learn how to form negative sentences in Korean using 안, 못, 지 않다, and other negation patterns. Step-by-step guide with examples for all levels.",{"alt":8999,"src":9000,"width":1574,"height":9001,"previewOnly":8690},"How to form negative sentences in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FHow_to_Stop_Drinking_Beer_92a0725376\u002FHow_to_Stop_Drinking_Beer_92a0725376.jpg",823,[2856,8907],1774371600000,{"id":9005,"documentId":9006,"slug":9007,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9008,"description":9009,"image":9010,"tags":9013,"timestampUnix":9014,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5790,"xrdw3vpt90y8xc9rq2ct0fjj","korean-internet-slang-texting-terms","Korean Internet Slang: Texting & Gen Z Terms You Need (2026)","Learn the most popular korean internet slang, texting abbreviations like ㅋㅋ and ㄱㅅ, and Gen Z expressions used across Korean social media in 2026.",{"alt":9011,"src":9012,"width":1574,"height":8500,"previewOnly":8690},"Popular Korean internet slang and online expressions - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fhand_holding_phone_browsing_internet_with_smartphone_closeup_804687_1038_0aa1616336\u002Fhand_holding_phone_browsing_internet_with_smartphone_closeup_804687_1038_0aa1616336.avif",[8061,8706,8707],1775509200000,{"id":9016,"documentId":9017,"slug":9018,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9019,"description":9020,"image":9021,"tags":9025,"timestampUnix":9026,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5496,"q7byu25hlepckgkpmr4ilr1f","best-korean-podcasts-language-learners","Best Korean Podcasts for Language Learners in 2026","Discover the best Korean podcasts for every level. From beginner lessons to advanced immersion, find free podcasts that actually improve your Korean fast.",{"alt":9022,"src":9023,"width":1574,"height":9024,"previewOnly":8690},"The best Korean podcasts for language learners - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fimage_14_1024x588_042c053bf1\u002Fimage_14_1024x588_042c053bf1.png",588,[1468,1822],1774976460000,{"id":9028,"documentId":9029,"slug":9030,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9031,"description":9032,"image":9033,"tags":9037,"timestampUnix":9038,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6394,"bosp60k3n8iv8z0cqzr78fae","korean-shopping-vocabulary","Korean Shopping Vocabulary: Words for Markets & Stores","Practical Korean shopping vocabulary for stores, markets, payments, and clothing sizes. Navigate real shopping situations in Korea with confidence.",{"alt":9034,"src":9035,"width":1574,"height":9036,"previewOnly":8690},"Shopping and market vocabulary in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fbest_place_to_shop_in_seoul_ehwa_university_shopping_street_2d23747cbb_73c42801c9\u002Fbest_place_to_shop_in_seoul_ehwa_university_shopping_street_2d23747cbb_73c42801c9.jpg",675,[8061,8707],1774170000000,{"id":9040,"documentId":9041,"slug":9042,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9043,"description":9044,"image":9045,"tags":9049,"timestampUnix":9051,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5512,"ddv9md2il55lk2a5xpfeb52j","how-long-to-learn-korean","How Long to Learn Korean? Real Timelines for Each Level","Learn Korean timelines from Hangul (1 week) to fluency (3-5 years). Realistic hours needed for each level, study tips, and what actually affects your speed.",{"alt":9046,"src":9047,"width":1574,"height":9048,"previewOnly":8690},"How long it takes to learn Korean at each level - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_04_02_032056_c5fe8dcdb8\u002FScreenshot_2026_04_02_032056_c5fe8dcdb8.png",594,[1822,9050],"deepdive",1775070000000,{"id":9053,"documentId":9054,"slug":9055,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9056,"description":9057,"image":9058,"tags":9062,"timestampUnix":9063,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5845,"stfrfjentuvao732tka9xnj5","korean-time-expressions","Korean Time Expressions: How to Tell Time in Korean","Learn how to tell time in Korean with hours (시), minutes (분), AM\u002FPM, and everyday time phrases. Master Korean time expressions with practical examples.",{"alt":9059,"src":9060,"width":1574,"height":9061,"previewOnly":8690},"How to tell time and use time expressions in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FAnalog_clock_fa46032e8d\u002FAnalog_clock_fa46032e8d.jpg",540,[2856,8061,8907],1775610000000,{"id":9065,"documentId":9066,"slug":9067,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9068,"description":9069,"image":9070,"tags":9074,"timestampUnix":9076,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5832,"kun5vssyl07hqvdc22muct8d","korean-school-vocabulary","Korean School Vocabulary: Essential Education Terms","Talk about your school life with Korean terms for school levels, subjects, classroom items, and academic life. Practical guide with audio and translations.",{"alt":9071,"src":9072,"width":1574,"height":9073,"previewOnly":8690},"School and education vocabulary in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F86_percent_of_South_Korean_students_suffer_from_schoolwork_stress_d3f551b3c9\u002F86_percent_of_South_Korean_students_suffer_from_schoolwork_stress_d3f551b3c9.jpg",430,[8061,8707,9075],"listicle",1773478800000,{"id":9078,"documentId":9079,"slug":9080,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9081,"description":9082,"image":9083,"tags":9087,"timestampUnix":9088,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5029,"eeg0opchw5lv49vgbb4547rt","good-night-in-korean","How to Say Good Night in Korean: Formal and Casual Phrases","Say good night in Korean with 잘 자요, 안녕히 주무세요, and more. Includes formal, casual, and sweet dreams variations with pronunciation tips and audio.",{"alt":9084,"src":9085,"width":1574,"height":9086,"previewOnly":8690},"How to say good night in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fn_seoul_tower_homepage_thumb_85595fe644\u002Fn_seoul_tower_homepage_thumb_85595fe644.webp",468,[8061,8707],1773010800000,{"id":9090,"documentId":9091,"slug":9092,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9093,"description":9094,"image":9095,"tags":9099,"timestampUnix":9101,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4276,"xg2iprye9i22kfzuu2m6077b","korean-alphabet-pronunciation-guide","Korean Alphabet Pronunciation: How to Read Every Hangul Letter","Pronounce every Korean alphabet letter with clear examples in this article. Master hangul consonants, vowels, and syllable blocks to read Korean fast.",{"alt":9096,"src":9097,"width":1574,"height":9098,"previewOnly":8690},"How to pronounce every Korean hangul letter - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2023_02_14_at_2_09_02_PM_52df1d73b5\u002FScreenshot_2023_02_14_at_2_09_02_PM_52df1d73b5.webp",650,[2856,8061,8707,9100,8907],"pronunciation",1772607660000,{"id":9103,"documentId":9104,"slug":9105,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9106,"description":9107,"image":9108,"tags":9112,"timestampUnix":9113,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4302,"rq0cgctrrklcczo1yulcz4el","korean-animals-vocabulary","Korean Animals Vocabulary: Learn 100+ Animal Names","Korean animals vocabulary with Hangul, romanization, and examples. Covers pets, farm animals, wild animals, sea life, and cultural notes.",{"alt":9109,"src":9110,"width":1574,"height":9111,"previewOnly":8690},"Animal vocabulary in Korean with examples - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fhappy_jindo_korea_fd7733235d\u002Fhappy_jindo_korea_fd7733235d.jpeg",533,[8061,8707],1772665260000,{"id":9115,"documentId":9116,"slug":9117,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9118,"description":9119,"image":9120,"tags":9124,"timestampUnix":9125,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4298,"bsef0dtgv9dt7r9ns6w6okv9","korean-colors","Korean Colors: How to Say and Use Colors in Korean","Understand colors in Korean with pronunciation tips, grammar rules, and cultural meanings. Master basic and advanced color vocabulary.",{"alt":9121,"src":9122,"width":1574,"height":9123,"previewOnly":8690},"How to say colors in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F20220726101047887_1_HS_6_IVQF_6d2734c750\u002F20220726101047887_1_HS_6_IVQF_6d2734c750.jpg",1086,[2856,8061,8707],1772643660000,{"id":9127,"documentId":9128,"slug":9129,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9130,"description":9131,"image":9132,"tags":9136,"timestampUnix":9137,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4860,"x8ef4ltvm3tilw0gzq5a5kj9","learn-korean-with-kdramas","Learn Korean With K-Dramas: Actually Effective Methods","Stop watching passively. Learn Korean with K-dramas using subtitle strategies, shadowing techniques, and drama selection by level.",{"alt":9133,"src":9134,"width":1574,"height":9135,"previewOnly":8690},"How to learn Korean from watching Korean dramas - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fkorean_dramas_overseas_viewers_korean_dramas_global_fans5_How_Watching_Korean_Dramas_99f1bea9f4\u002Fkorean_dramas_overseas_viewers_korean_dramas_global_fans5_How_Watching_Korean_Dramas_99f1bea9f4.webp",502,[1468,8706,1822],1772902800000,{"id":9139,"documentId":9140,"slug":9141,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9142,"description":9143,"image":9144,"tags":9148,"timestampUnix":9149,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4299,"ulescqv1eyxi29behmbgq0y8","korean-weather-vocabulary","Korean Weather Vocabulary: Essential Words and Phrases","List of Korean weather vocabulary for talking about conditions, seasons, and forecasts. Includes pronunciation, practical phrases, and conversation tips.",{"alt":9145,"src":9146,"width":1574,"height":9147,"previewOnly":8690},"Talking about the weather in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fmain_ad06619eb8\u002Fmain_ad06619eb8.jpg",684,[8061,8707],1772650860000,{"id":9151,"documentId":9152,"slug":9153,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9154,"description":9155,"image":9156,"tags":9160,"timestampUnix":9161,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4281,"wd42gmp077x7kolrn9r7qvco","korean-food-vocabulary-essential-restaurant-words","Korean Food Vocabulary: Essential Words for Restaurants","Essential Korean food vocabulary for ordering at restaurants, understanding menus, and talking about Korean cuisine. Practical words you'll actually use.",{"alt":9157,"src":9158,"width":1574,"height":9159,"previewOnly":8690},"Essential Korean food and restaurant vocabulary - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FHand_Luggage_Only_5_1_2e6a06b427\u002FHand_Luggage_Only_5_1_2e6a06b427.jpg",1067,[8061,8707],1772622060000,{"id":9163,"documentId":9164,"slug":9165,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9166,"description":9167,"image":9168,"tags":9172,"timestampUnix":9173,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4283,"l3e5vbjc2388s5zwsbj8bzur","korean-travel-phrases-essential-guide","Korean Travel Phrases: Essential Words for Your Korea Trip","Common Korean travel phrases to make your trip to South Korea smoother. Practical greetings, restaurant orders, directions, and emergency phrases.",{"alt":9169,"src":9170,"width":1574,"height":9171,"previewOnly":8690},"Essential Korean phrases for traveling - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FIMG_2887_69e3b8c13e\u002FIMG_2887_69e3b8c13e.webp",1667,[8061,8707],1772629260000,{"id":9175,"documentId":9176,"slug":9177,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9178,"description":9179,"image":9180,"tags":9183,"timestampUnix":9184,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4284,"zx8irkz7ay1cczbddaap3ykr","korean-family-vocabulary","Korean Family Vocabulary Guide: Parents, Siblings & More","Use these Korean family terms to address your parents, siblings, and relatives. 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Express happiness, sadness, frustration, and unique cultural feelings.",{"alt":9192,"src":9193,"width":1574,"height":9194,"previewOnly":8690},"How to express emotions and feelings in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fistockphoto_1389245520_640x640_c6614af423\u002Fistockphoto_1389245520_640x640_c6614af423.jpg",432,[8061,8707],1772658060000,{"id":9198,"documentId":9199,"slug":9200,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9201,"description":9202,"image":9203,"tags":9207,"timestampUnix":9208,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},4326,"nfzli3081zzvk6wmg4z9cec0","best-korean-shows-for-learning","Best Korean Shows for Learning: Top K-Dramas for Students","Discover the best Korean shows for learning the language in 2026. From beginner-friendly dramas to advanced variety shows with subtitles and slang.",{"alt":9204,"src":9205,"width":1574,"height":9206,"previewOnly":8690},"The best Korean dramas and shows for language learners - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FKdrama_538a6a0050\u002FKdrama_538a6a0050.jpeg",1333,[1468,8706,1822],1772672460000,{"id":9210,"documentId":9211,"slug":9212,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9213,"description":9214,"image":9215,"tags":9218,"timestampUnix":9219,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5143,"rkk5my16xufq8p41x0xldty3","how-are-you-in-korean","How Are You in Korean: 7 Ways to Ask (Formal & Casual)","Learn how to say \"how are you\" in Korean with formal, polite, and casual phrases. Includes pronunciation, responses, and when to use each greeting.",{"alt":9216,"src":9217,"width":1574,"height":8689,"previewOnly":8690},"Different ways to say how are you in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_12_021654_8897abf707\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_12_021654_8897abf707.png",[8061,8707],1773118800000,{"id":9221,"documentId":9222,"slug":9223,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9224,"description":9225,"image":9226,"tags":9230,"timestampUnix":9231,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5537,"xmxhjpkcf1tpufm2tz0t6nkq","korean-connector-endings","Korean Connector Endings: Link Clauses Like a Native","Use Korean connector endings like ~고, ~지만, and ~아서 to link clauses naturally. Practical guide with examples for building complex Korean sentences.",{"alt":9227,"src":9228,"width":1574,"height":9229,"previewOnly":8690},"How to connect clauses and sentences in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fp0hkvx8n_jpg_c0b9e55333\u002Fp0hkvx8n_jpg_c0b9e55333.webp",270,[8061,8707,8907],1773205260000,{"id":9233,"documentId":9234,"slug":9235,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9236,"description":9237,"image":9238,"tags":9241,"timestampUnix":9242,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5001,"q2kwkxaxexw4vb7gj2eqi5b2","korean-formal-vs-informal-speech","Korean Formal vs Informal Speech: 7 Levels Explained","Learn the 7 Korean speech levels, when to use formal vs informal speech, and how honorifics work. Understand 해요체, 반말, verb endings, and politeness rules.",{"alt":9239,"src":9240,"width":1574,"height":8500,"previewOnly":8690},"Understanding Korean speech levels and formality - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Ffour_korean_business_people_meeting_style_panasonic_lumix_1100924_436_f58e7e0e76\u002Ffour_korean_business_people_meeting_style_panasonic_lumix_1100924_436_f58e7e0e76.avif",[8706,9050],1774458000000,{"id":9244,"documentId":9245,"slug":9246,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9247,"description":9248,"image":9249,"tags":9252,"timestampUnix":9253,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5051,"jmkly8diw6vygky7fod4goxz","korean-false-friends","Korean False Friends: Konglish Words That Confuse Learners","Korean false friends and Konglish terms sound like English but mean different things. Learn common examples like \"handphone\" to avoid confusion.",{"alt":9250,"src":9251,"width":1574,"height":8918,"previewOnly":8690},"Korean words that confuse learners from other languages - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fshinsaibashi_kougaryu_1b350055f9\u002Fshinsaibashi_kougaryu_1b350055f9.webp",[8061,8707],1773046800000,{"id":9255,"documentId":9256,"slug":9257,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9258,"description":9259,"image":9260,"tags":9263,"timestampUnix":9264,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5121,"f3gr3k8xxzzxajjqfe3sd9mp","happy-birthday-in-korean","Happy Birthday in Korean: Formal, Polite & Casual Phrases","Say happy birthday in Korean with 생일 축하합니다. Learn pronunciation with audio, the Korean birthday song, and when to use formal vs casual phrases.",{"alt":9261,"src":9262,"width":1574,"height":8868,"previewOnly":8690},"How to say happy birthday in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fimg_20220702140017_9p53njq2_c0b6bba086\u002Fimg_20220702140017_9p53njq2_c0b6bba086.webp",[8061,8707],1773082800000,{"id":9266,"documentId":9267,"slug":9268,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9269,"description":9270,"image":9271,"tags":9274,"timestampUnix":9275,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5676,"p7m9n7dyzriiwt3peylt3ze3","korean-professions-vocabulary","Korean Professions Vocabulary: Jobs and Careers Guide","Learn essential Korean professions vocabulary for jobs and careers. From doctor to office worker, master the terms you'll actually use in conversations and K-dramas.",{"alt":9272,"src":9273,"width":1574,"height":8757,"previewOnly":8690},"Job and profession vocabulary in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fyoung_business_staff_asian_woman_working_with_headphone_and_computer_for_support_free_photo_1ce47c3e1b\u002Fyoung_business_staff_asian_woman_working_with_headphone_and_computer_for_support_free_photo_1ce47c3e1b.jpg",[8061,8707],1775250000000,{"id":9277,"documentId":9278,"slug":9279,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9280,"description":9281,"image":9282,"tags":9285,"timestampUnix":9287,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5572,"sy71vyitmfma0pi0600r0i0g","korean-passive-voice","Korean Passive Voice: How to Form and Use Passive Verbs","Learn how Korean passive voice works with clear examples. Understand passive verb suffixes, 되다 constructions, and when to use passive forms naturally.",{"alt":9283,"src":9284,"width":1574,"height":8793,"previewOnly":8690},"How to form and use the passive voice in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FWoman_Reading_A_Book_1024x600_5ef766bb9d\u002FWoman_Reading_A_Book_1024x600_5ef766bb9d.jpg",[2856,9286,8907,7185],"conjugation",1775156400000,{"id":9289,"documentId":9290,"slug":9291,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9292,"description":9293,"image":9294,"tags":9298,"timestampUnix":9299,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5861,"unr46p47wivnmpm3zcacd1kz","korean-idioms-meanings-guide","Common Korean Idioms: Meanings and Usage Guide","18+ common Korean idioms with literal translations, meanings, and cultural context. Sound more natural with expressions native speakers use daily.",{"alt":9295,"src":9296,"width":1574,"height":9297,"previewOnly":8690},"Common Korean idioms and their meanings - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F_713cf55842\u002F_713cf55842.jpg",311,[8061,8706,8707],1773565200000,{"id":9301,"documentId":9302,"slug":9303,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9304,"description":9305,"image":9306,"tags":9310,"timestampUnix":9311,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5580,"c6mcrpbx7kqg3zs2ofc55x5r","korean-prepositions-location-markers","Korean Prepositions: Location Markers in Korean Grammar","Korean prepositions work backwards from English. Learn the location markers (안, 위, 밖) and particles (에, 에서) you need to describe where things are.",{"alt":9307,"src":9308,"width":1574,"height":9309,"previewOnly":8690},"Understanding Korean location markers and postpositions - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_12_030037_7918ebd50a\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_12_030037_7918ebd50a.png",389,[2856,8061,8707,8907],1773248400000,{"id":9313,"documentId":9314,"slug":9315,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9316,"description":9317,"image":9318,"tags":9322,"timestampUnix":9323,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5733,"axmmxdjbevvw2semfi2t73x0","korean-house-vocabulary","Korean House Vocabulary: Rooms, Furniture & Home Items","Learn Korean house vocabulary for rooms, furniture, and household items. Practical words for daily conversations, shopping, and living in Korea.",{"alt":9319,"src":9320,"width":1574,"height":9321,"previewOnly":8690},"Home and furniture vocabulary in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fblog_seoul_things_to_do_cheonggyecheon_stream_b5df0c6146\u002Fblog_seoul_things_to_do_cheonggyecheon_stream_b5df0c6146.webp",1134,[8061,8707],1773342000000,{"id":9325,"documentId":9326,"slug":9327,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9328,"description":9329,"image":9330,"tags":9334,"timestampUnix":9335,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5692,"heawrvcqy6xjan54klv2dw0x","korean-restaurant-phrases-order-food","Korean Restaurant Phrases: Order Food Like a Local","Learn essential Korean restaurant phrases to order food confidently. From basic requests to payment, these practical phrases work anywhere you eat Korean food.",{"alt":9331,"src":9332,"width":1574,"height":9333,"previewOnly":8690},"How to order food at a restaurant in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F480275553_1159225155857483_3305494863039307989_n_27_729395db0d\u002F480275553_1159225155857483_3305494863039307989_n_27_729395db0d.jpg",1140,[8061,8707],1775336400000,{"id":9337,"documentId":9338,"slug":9339,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9340,"description":9341,"image":9342,"tags":9346,"timestampUnix":9347,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5274,"hew5h9h7kxw5m0q1mqkqxaw1","sorry-in-korean","How to Say Sorry in Korean: Complete Guide (2026)","Learn how to say sorry in Korean with 미안해요 and 죄송합니다. Master formal, polite, and casual apologies with pronunciation guides and real examples.",{"alt":9343,"src":9344,"width":1574,"height":9345,"previewOnly":8690},"How to say sorry and apologize in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_30_025214_8730b3da64\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_30_025214_8730b3da64.png",420,[8061,8707],1774630800000,{"id":9349,"documentId":9350,"slug":9351,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9352,"description":9353,"image":9354,"tags":9358,"timestampUnix":9359,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5286,"t0icgqdkjvvktgyk4ojpj2m3","korean-imperative-forms-commands-requests","Korean Imperative Forms: Commands and Requests Guide","Learn Korean imperative forms for commands and requests. Master (으)세요, 아\u002F어, and 지 마세요 with clear conjugation rules, examples, and politeness levels.",{"alt":9355,"src":9356,"width":1574,"height":9357,"previewOnly":8690},"How to give commands and make requests in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FHow_To_Discuss_Meals_And_Food_In_Korean_2615ec2fb8\u002FHow_To_Discuss_Meals_And_Food_In_Korean_2615ec2fb8.jpg",400,[2856,8907],1774717200000,{"id":9361,"documentId":9362,"slug":9363,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9364,"description":9365,"image":9366,"tags":9369,"timestampUnix":9370,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5360,"zs4423i91g3e4ki781ym8qh2","korean-counting-system-native-sino-numbers","Korean Counting System: Native vs Sino-Korean Numbers Guide","Learn when to use native Korean vs Sino-Korean numbers. Complete guide to the dual korean counting system with examples, counters, and common mistakes.",{"alt":9367,"src":9368,"width":1574,"height":8679,"previewOnly":8690},"Understanding native Korean vs sino Korean numbers - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fread_numbers_english_1024x683_jpg_85180906ee\u002Fread_numbers_english_1024x683_jpg_85180906ee.webp",[2856,8061,8707,8721],1773162000000,{"id":9372,"documentId":9373,"slug":9374,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9375,"description":9376,"image":9377,"tags":9380,"timestampUnix":9381,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5706,"ermlzspr81q0uy0iymwkkpdy","korean-texting-slang","Korean Texting Slang: How Koreans Actually Text in 2026","Learn the most common korean texting slang and abbreviations like ㅋㅋ, ㅇㅋ, and ㄱㅅ. Understand how Korean people actually communicate online and in casual chats.",{"alt":9378,"src":9379,"width":1574,"height":8830,"previewOnly":8690},"How Korean people text and common abbreviations - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fistockphoto_1399752872_612x612_166605ed2b\u002Fistockphoto_1399752872_612x612_166605ed2b.jpg",[8061,8706,8707],1775422800000,{"id":9383,"documentId":9384,"slug":9385,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9386,"description":9387,"image":9388,"tags":9392,"timestampUnix":9393,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5780,"umbkocglucgf9wmbib3wp3cd","korean-body-parts-vocabulary-guide","Korean Body Parts: Complete Vocabulary Guide (2026)","Learn Korean body parts vocabulary with Hangul, pronunciation, and practical phrases. Complete guide covering head, face, arms, legs, and internal organs.",{"alt":9389,"src":9390,"width":1574,"height":9391,"previewOnly":8690},"Body part vocabulary in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_16_011557_3189fb3d70\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_16_011557_3189fb3d70.png",284,[8061,8707,9075],1773399600000,{"id":9395,"documentId":9396,"slug":9397,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9398,"description":9399,"image":9400,"tags":9404,"timestampUnix":9405,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5603,"u6oj14tlfvecz96oik5ffnr2","korean-clothing-vocabulary","Korean Clothing Vocabulary: Essential Fashion Terms Guide","Learn Korean clothing vocabulary with practical terms for clothes, shoes, and accessories. Includes verbs for wearing different items and shopping phrases.",{"alt":9401,"src":9402,"width":1574,"height":9403,"previewOnly":8690},"Clothing and fashion vocabulary in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F95bcaf1b67df4ca77f0e45a7b6f0267ee429b418_578x488_b956a354dc\u002F95bcaf1b67df4ca77f0e45a7b6f0267ee429b418_578x488_b956a354dc.webp",488,[8061,8707],1773291600000,{"id":9407,"documentId":9408,"slug":9409,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9410,"description":9411,"image":9412,"tags":9415,"timestampUnix":9416,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},5894,"a7zuthf0eqqv199xt1j687l8","korean-alphabet-complete-guide","Korean Alphabet Guide: Learn Hangul Fast (Complete Breakdown)","Complete guide to the Korean alphabet (Hangul). Learn all 24 letters, pronunciation, syllable blocks, and reading tips. Most people learn in 90 minutes.",{"alt":9413,"src":9414,"width":1574,"height":8745,"previewOnly":8690},"Complete guide to the Korean Hangul alphabet - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fbelajar_hangul_korea_untuk_pemula_03a2015a73\u002Fbelajar_hangul_korea_untuk_pemula_03a2015a73.webp",[2856,8061,9100],1776020460000,{"id":9418,"documentId":9419,"slug":9420,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9421,"description":9422,"image":9423,"tags":9427,"timestampUnix":9428,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6439,"no1eimrvnljb8qogb5x5p6d2","korean-conditional-forms-if-when","Korean Conditional Forms: How to Say If and When","Express if and when with Korean conditional forms ~(으)면. Complete guide with formation rules, examples, and tense usage for all levels.",{"alt":9424,"src":9425,"width":1574,"height":9426,"previewOnly":8690},"How to say if and when in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_23_175140_efeaa1e8ce\u002FScreenshot_2026_03_23_175140_efeaa1e8ce.png",486,[2856,8061,8907],1774256400000,{"id":9430,"documentId":9431,"slug":9432,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9433,"description":9434,"image":9435,"tags":9439,"timestampUnix":9441,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6038,"h6t8jdiwok7eh2rhuwwup60r","korean-vs-chinese","Korean vs Chinese: Which Language Should You Learn?","Comparing Korean vs Chinese for language learners. We break down writing systems, pronunciation, and which is easier for English speakers to master.",{"alt":9436,"src":9437,"width":1574,"height":9438,"previewOnly":8690},"Comparing Korean and Chinese for language learners - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fad0c24c5e043e032f4bc760bd4140391_6cd7f9c999\u002Fad0c24c5e043e032f4bc760bd4140391_6cd7f9c999.webp",899,[1822,9440],"comparison",1773984180000,{"id":9443,"documentId":9444,"slug":9445,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9446,"description":9447,"image":9448,"tags":9452,"timestampUnix":9453,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6068,"v5vklqm390b7tpvyf66qxwv7","korean-adjectives-guide","Korean Adjectives Guide: How They Work as Descriptive Verbs","Korean adjectives conjugate like verbs. Here's the guide covering conjugation rules, common adjectives, and practical sentence examples for beginners.",{"alt":9449,"src":9450,"width":8732,"height":9451,"previewOnly":8690},"How Korean adjectives work as descriptive verbs - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002Fimage4_w1024_f2600d59f7\u002Fimage4_w1024_f2600d59f7.webp",634,[8061,8707],1773984240000,{"id":9455,"documentId":9456,"slug":9457,"category":1475,"lang":8682,"title":9458,"description":9459,"image":9460,"tags":9464,"timestampUnix":9465,"featured":8693,"locale":-1,"_dir":1475},6148,"di48p80g13iqf2dpxxp62jxw","what-is-your-name-in-korean","What Is Your Name in Korean: How to Ask and Answer","Learn how to ask \"what is your name\" (이름이 뭐예요) in Korean, respond with your name, and write English names in Hangul with proper transliteration rules.",{"alt":9461,"src":9462,"width":1574,"height":9463,"previewOnly":8690},"How to ask and say your name in Korean - Banner","https:\u002F\u002Fmigaku-cms-assets.migaku.com\u002F4b0fda28b20883a3eb218c0b2af83b86_8c0643db78\u002F4b0fda28b20883a3eb218c0b2af83b86_8c0643db78.webp",467,[8061,8707],1774011600000]