Korean letters (Hangul jamo) with stroke order

Hangul is built from 14 basic consonants, 5 double consonants, 10 simple vowels and 11 compound vowels, 40 letters in all. Each letter page shows the strokes in order, left to right and top to bottom.

Letters are combined into square syllable blocks: a consonant, a vowel, and sometimes a final consonant. Learn the letters first, then the blocks.

Consonant shapes copy the mouth: ㄱ is the tongue pressed up at the back, ㄴ the tongue at the front, ㅁ the closed lips. Vowels are built from three ideas: a vertical line, a horizontal line, and a short tick.

Hangul was designed in the 1440s to be learned in days. Learn the ten simple vowels and fourteen consonants, and you can read most signs and menus; the compound vowels and double consonants follow quickly.

Write each letter in the stroke order shown. Korean stroke order follows two rules: top to bottom, then left to right.

Letters are grouped into square blocks of two to four. A vertical vowel such as ㅏ sits to the right of the consonant, and a horizontal vowel such as ㅜ sits underneath it.

Practise a few blocks a day: 가, 나, 다, 마, 바, 사 are an easy first set to read aloud and write.

Hangul was published in 1446 by King Sejong the Great and his scholars, who designed the consonant shapes after the mouth and throat positions used to say them. It is one of the few writing systems with a known inventor and date.