Korean Syllable Chart: Every Consonant + Vowel Block

What you'll learn (about 30 minutes, after you know the basic letters)

• Read any of the 140 blocks by joining a consonant and a vowel.
• Explain why vertical and horizontal vowels change the block shape.
• Separate common blocks from rare ones, and note the 져/쳐/쪄 pronunciation rule.
• Read the words 나무, 바다 and 오리 using only chart blocks.

Korean Syllable Chart: 140 Blocks

The Korean syllable chart below has 14 rows and 10 columns. The row is the starting consonant and the column is the vowel. Each cell shows the block and its Revised Romanization (RR), South Korea's official Latin spelling, which is a learning aid only. The silent ㅇ in the ㅇ row means the block starts with the vowel sound alone, so 아 is just "a".

Cells such as 져 jyeo and 쳐 chyeo show letter-by-letter values. In verb forms they are pronounced [저] and [처], and RR then writes the sound, as in 가져 gajeo (bring). Every block in the chart has no consonant at the bottom. Blocks with a bottom consonant, called batchim (받침), are in the batchim chart. Audio for all 140 cells is available in the interactive chart; the audio is generated and awaits review by a Korean specialist.

Now that you have the chart, here is how it works.

How Does the Syllable Chart Work?

The syllable chart works by joining two letters into one block: pick a row for the consonant, pick a column for the vowel, and read the cell. The 14 consonants are in the traditional 가나다 order (ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ). The 10 vowels are in the order ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ, which alternates a basic vowel and its y-version.

Follow these steps for any cell:

1. Name the consonant at the left, for example ㅂ.
2. Name the vowel at the top, for example ㅓ.
3. Say them as one sound: ㅂ + ㅓ is "beo".
4. Check the block shape: ㅓ is a vertical vowel, so it sits to the right: 버.
5. Play the audio and compare.

You will know it worked when you can read a cell without looking at the romanization. The most common slip is reading across a row too fast and repeating the same vowel sound. Slow down on the y-vowels (ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ), which add a "y" in front.

The row for ㅇ is a special case. At the start of a syllable ㅇ is silent, so 아 야 어 여 오 요 우 유 으 이 are the ten vowels on their own. The lesson on Korean syllable blocks explains this in depth.

The next question is why the blocks look different from each other.

Why Do Blocks Change Shape?

Blocks change shape because Hangul fits every block into a roughly square space. A vertical vowel (ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅣ) is a tall line, so it sits to the right of the consonant. A horizontal vowel (ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ) is a flat line, so it sits below the consonant. The consonant adjusts to fit: the ㄱ in 가 is tall and narrow, and the ㄱ in 고 is wider and flatter.

In the chart, the first four columns (ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ) and the last column (ㅣ) are vertical, and the middle five (ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ) are horizontal. The shapes do not change the sound. They only change the position. See vertical-vowel blocks for the shape rules in detail.

Shape explains why the chart looks uneven. The next section covers which cells matter most.

Which Syllables Are Rare in Real Words?

Every cell in the chart is a valid block, but not every block is common in real words. Valid means the block follows the rules; common means many everyday words use it. For example, 뱌 and 퍄 are valid blocks that appear in very few words, while 가, 나, 바 and 사 appear everywhere.

A practical way to prioritise is by vowel:

• Common vowels: ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅣ with any consonant. These six columns cover most beginner words.
• Less common vowels: the y-vowels ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ. Blocks like 여, 요, 야 and 유 are very common when they start with ㅇ, but blocks such as 뱌 or 퍄 are rare.
• Row ㄹ: found mostly inside words, as in 하루 (day), 다리 (bridge; leg) and 오리 (duck), not at the start of native words.

This is a guide for learning order, not a rule about the language. Start with the six common vowel columns, and treat the rare cells as practice for your eyes and mouth.

You can drill the common blocks with the hangul syllable builder.

How Many Korean Syllables Are Possible?

Unicode encodes 11,172 modern Hangul syllables, and the number comes from multiplication: 19 starting consonants × 21 vowels × 28 endings = 11,172. The 28 endings are the 27 possible final consonants plus "no final consonant". Unicode is the international computer text standard. The chart on this page uses only the 140 blocks with no final consonant and the 14 basic consonants, which is 14 × 10 = 140.

Most real Korean words use only a few thousand of these. You never need to memorise the 11,172, because the rules for joining letters give you the rest. For the computing side, see Hangul in Unicode.

With the structure clear, try reading real words from the chart.

Worked Example: Reading 나무, 바다 and 오리

The way to read a word from the chart is to find each block, read the cell, and join them. This example uses three words that use only chart cells.

Word 1: 나무 (tree).

1. 나: row ㄴ, column ㅏ: "na".
2. 무: row ㅁ, column ㅜ: "mu".
3. Join: 나무 [나무] (namu).

Word 2: 바다 (sea).

1. 바: row ㅂ, column ㅏ: "ba".
2. 다: row ㄷ, column ㅏ: "da".
3. Join: 바다 [바다] (bada).

Word 3: 오리 (duck).

1. 오: row ㅇ, column ㅗ: "o". The ㅇ is silent.
2. 리: row ㄹ, column ㅣ: "ri".
3. Join: 오리 [오리] (ori).

You will know it worked when you can read the word from the Hangul alone. Six more words use only chart cells:

Between vowels, ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ become voiced: the ㄱ in 아기 and the second ㄱ in 고기 sound closer to English g than the ㄱ at the start of a word. Revised Romanization writes g, d, b and j for these letters before any vowel, in both positions.

Reading words is the goal. The next section covers where learners slip.

Common Mistakes When Using the Korean Syllable Chart

Learners most often make six mistakes with the chart. Each has a fix.

The 져/쳐/쪄 case is a real pronunciation rule. According to the South Korean standard pronunciation rules (표준 발음법, article 5), 져, 쪄 and 쳐 in conjugated verb forms are pronounced as if the vowel were ㅓ. So 가져 (bring) is [가저], and 다쳐 (get hurt) is [다처]. The spelling stays the same; only the sound simplifies.

Common misconception: Learners often assume that a valid block must be a real word. Actually, the chart shows what the writing system allows, and a block like 갸 is a legal block that appears inside only a few words, such as 갸름하다 (slender).

Limitation: the chart covers 140 of the 11,172 blocks, and it has no batchim. It also shows each block in isolation and cannot show the sound changes that happen when blocks meet in a word.

Now try the practice set.

Practice with the Chart

Do these exercises with the chart open, then close it and repeat.

Exercise 1: Row drill. Read the ㄱ row aloud: 가 갸 거 겨 고 교 구 규 그 기. Then read the ㄴ row.

Exercise 2: Build. Write the blocks for ㅁ + ㅗ, ㅅ + ㅜ and ㅎ + ㅏ.

Exercise 3: Read. Read aloud: 구두, 나비, 두부, 시계.

Exercise 4: Choose. Which is a vertical-vowel block: 노, 너 or 느?

Exercise 5: Listening. Play 가 / 거 / 고 / 구 in random order five times and write which you heard. Four out of five means you are ready to move on.

Answers to the Practice

1. ga gya geo gyeo go gyo gu gyu geu gi; then na nya neo nyeo no nyo nu nyu neu ni.
2. 모, 수, 하.
3. 구두 (shoes), 나비 (butterfly), 두부 (tofu), 시계 (clock; 계 is read [계] or [게]).
4. 너, because ㅓ is a vertical vowel.
5. A score of 4 or 5 means you hear the difference. Below 4, replay slowly and repeat.

For more practice, use the Hangul worksheets.

A One-Week Drill Plan

A short daily drill works better than one long session. Each day takes about 5 minutes: read the rows aloud with the audio on, then cover the romanization and read them again.

This plan is a suggestion and not a measured result. If a row feels hard, repeat it a second day before moving on.

What to Learn Next

After the syllable chart, learn blocks with a bottom consonant. The best next step is the batchim chart, which adds the seven final sounds to the blocks you can already read. For the full set of charts, return to all Hangul charts.

Scope of this page: the chart covers the 140 basic consonant-vowel blocks. It does not cover double consonants, compound vowels or batchim. Those live in the linked lessons.

The Korean syllable chart is a reference you can print and keep: 14 rows, 10 columns and 140 blocks to read aloud.

Frequently Asked Questions

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