Learn Hangul in a week: the Korean alphabet for EPS-TOPIK

Hangul, the Korean alphabet, was designed to be easy to learn, and it is. Its letters are built logically and each block of letters is one syllable. For EPS-TOPIK, reading Hangul fluently is the foundation for everything else, so it’s worth spending one focused week on it.

How Hangul works

Korean is written in syllable blocks. Each block has:

1. A first consonant,
2. A vowel, and sometimes
3. A final consonant underneath (called batchim).

For example: ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 한 (han), and ㄱ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 글 (geul). Together, 한글 spells Hangul.

If a syllable starts with a vowel sound, it is written with the silent consonant ㅇ in front: 아 (a), 이 (i).

The 24 basic letters

14 consonants:

ㄱ (g/k) · ㄴ (n) · ㄷ (d/t) · ㄹ (r/l) · ㅁ (m) · ㅂ (b/p) · ㅅ (s) · ㅇ (silent at the start, ng at the end) · ㅈ (j) · ㅊ (ch) · ㅋ (k) · ㅌ (t) · ㅍ (p) · ㅎ (h)

10 vowels:

ㅏ (a) · ㅑ (ya) · ㅓ (eo) · ㅕ (yeo) · ㅗ (o) · ㅛ (yo) · ㅜ (u) · ㅠ (yu) · ㅡ (eu) · ㅣ (i)

Notice the pattern: adding a small extra stroke to ㅏ makes ㅑ, adding a y sound. The same happens with ㅓ→ㅕ, ㅗ→ㅛ, ㅜ→ㅠ.

The seven-day plan

Day 1: the ten basic vowels. Write each one ten times while saying it aloud. Practise with ㅇ in front: 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이.

Day 2: the first seven consonants (ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ). Combine each with every vowel: 가, 나, 다, 라, 마, 바, 사…

Day 3: the other seven consonants (ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ). Again, combine each with every vowel. Notice how ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅊ are “breathier” versions of ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ.

Day 4: final consonants (batchim). Add a consonant underneath: 각, 간, 갈, 감, 갑, 강. Learn that many final consonants sound alike: ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ and ㅎ at the end of a syllable all sound like a short t.

Day 5: double consonants and compound vowels. Double consonants are tense sounds: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ. Compound vowels combine basic ones: ㅐ and ㅔ (both sound like e), ㅘ (wa), ㅝ (wo), ㅟ (wi), ㅢ (ui) and others.

Day 6: read real words. Read signs and words you’ll meet at work: 출구 (exit), 입구 (entrance), 화장실 (toilet), 위험 (danger), 금연 (no smoking). Don’t worry about meaning yet; focus on reading the sounds correctly.

Day 7: review and speed. Read a short list of 50 words aloud with a timer. Repeat it until you can read the list twice as fast as the first time.

Rules that confuse beginners

• Sounds carry over. When a syllable ends in a consonant and the next starts with ㅇ, the consonant moves across: 한국어 is read han-gu-geo, not han-guk-eo.
• ㄹ changes. At the start of a syllable it’s closer to r; at the end it’s closer to l.
• ㅐ and ㅔ sound almost the same in modern Korean. Learn which one a word uses by reading it often.

Stop using romanisation early

Romanised Korean (annyeonghaseyo) is useful for the first two or three days. After that, it slows you down. The EPS-TOPIK paper is entirely in Hangul, so train your eyes to read it directly.

What comes next

Once you can read Hangul, move on to basic words and greetings, then to workplace vocabulary. Our guide on preparing for EPS-TOPIK without an academy lays out the next steps.

Prepyo’s Learn Korean course starts with Hangul too: short lessons with audio for every letter and word, then everyday and workplace Korean step by step, so you can go from the alphabet to exam practice in one place.