Hangul has 14 basic consonants, and learning to write them is the first step to reading Korean. This free two-page worksheet gives you one row per consonant. Each row has a model letter with an English sound hint and nine boxes to trace. Print it, trace every row, and say each sound out loud as you write.
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Consonants Writing Worksheet
The 14 basic consonants
| Letter | Romanization | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | g / k | "g" in go |
| ㄴ | n | "n" in no |
| ㄷ | d / t | "d" in do |
| ㄹ | r / l | a light tap between "r" and "l", like the "l" in land |
| ㅁ | m | "m" in man |
| ㅂ | b / p | "b" in boy |
| ㅅ | s | "s" in say |
| ㅇ | silent / ng | silent at the start of a syllable, "ng" in bring at the end |
| ㅈ | j | "j" in job |
| ㅊ | ch | "ch" in much, with a puff of air |
| ㅋ | k | "k" in key, with a puff of air |
| ㅌ | t | "t" in ten, with a puff of air |
| ㅍ | p | "p" in part, with a puff of air |
| ㅎ | h | "h" in he |
Tips for learning the consonants
- The shapes draw your mouth. Hangul's basic consonants were designed after the speech organs. ㄱ shows the back of the tongue touching the throat, ㄴ the tongue tip touching behind the teeth, ㅁ the closed lips, ㅅ a tooth, and ㅇ the open throat.
- An extra stroke adds air. ㅋ is ㄱ plus a stroke, and ㅌ grows from ㄷ in the same way. Add a stroke and the sound becomes stronger and breathier. ㅊ and ㅍ follow the same idea for ㅈ and ㅂ.
- Stroke order: write from top to bottom and from left to right.
- Two sounds per letter for ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ and ㄹ: they sound softer at the start of a word and change slightly in other positions. Don't worry about the details yet. Just learn the shape and the basic sound.
What's next
Consonants can't make a sound on their own. They need a vowel. Next, practice the 10 basic vowels with the Korean vowels worksheet. After that, you'll combine the two into syllable blocks like 가 and 나.
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