The Korean 가나다 Chart: Read Your First 70 Syllables (by Sight and Sound)

You’ve seen it on every Korean sign, menu, and K-pop lyric video: 가 나 다 라. It looks like a wall of little shapes. It isn’t. It’s a chart — and once you can read the chart, you can read Korean.

Here’s the good news up front: Korean spelling is almost perfectly regular. Each block makes one sound, nearly every time — none of English’s “cough / though / through” chaos. So you’re not memorizing hundreds of words. You’re learning one small chart and how it clicks together.

🎧 This lesson is taught by ear. The 🔊 buttons are the textbook. The English spellings next to them are just a rough guide — tap and copy the sound, don’t trust the letters. Open this where you can listen.

The one thing to know before the chart

Korean doesn’t write in a straight line like English. It packs each syllable into a little square block — a consonant and a vowel, stacked into one shape you say in one beat. Tap ↻ and watch the pieces snap together:

A g sound (ㄱ) on the left, an ah sound (ㅏ) on the right → 가 (ga), one syllable. That’s the whole trick. Change the consonant and you slide down the chart (가 → 나 → 다); change the vowel and you slide across it (가 → 거 → 고).

You won’t drill the letters alone. Just like a Korean child, you’ll read the finished blocks — 가, 나, 다 — as whole sounds, and the pieces will sink in on their own. Ready? Here’s the chart.

First, the 5 vowels running across the top

The chart has five columns, one per vowel. Hear each once — that’s all you need to read every row. They’re grouped in sound pairs on purpose: the two that open your mouth (ㅏ/ㅓ), the two that round your lips (ㅗ/ㅜ), and the thin one (ㅣ).

Two spots where English ears trip: ㅗ is the real “oh” — but ㅓ is “uh,” not “oh” (even though its English spelling “eo” tempts you toward “oh”). Keep them straight: 오 = oh, 어 = uh. That’s exactly why these two sit side by side in the chart — so you can tap 거/고 or 너/노 back to back and hear the difference. You’ll drill it later; for now, just read across.

Note: Korean kids recite the chart in a slightly different order (가갸거겨…, weaving in the “y” vowels). We’ve grouped it by sound instead, which is easier for training your ear. You’ll meet the traditional order naturally as you go.

The 가나다 chart — 14 consonants × 5 vowels

Here’s the whole chart. It’s big on purpose — it’s a reference to keep, not a test to finish today. Do two or three rows now, out loud, and come back for the rest. You’re not memorizing it; you’re learning to read it, and that comes from tapping and echoing a few at a time.

Read row by row, left to right — tap each block, say it aloud. Don’t worry about the small header letters; just read the big syllables. Notice how each row is the same vowel with a new consonant sliding in front.

That’s it — 70 syllables, and you can read every one. Two things worth a quick note, because they’re where beginners pause:

• ㅇ makes no sound at the front. In the 아 row it’s just a placeholder, holding the spot so the vowel can stand alone — so 아 is simply “ah,” 오 is “oh.” (It does get a sound when it sits at the bottom of a block, but none of these blocks have a bottom piece, so ignore that for now.)
• ㄹ isn’t quite English “r” or “l.” It’s a light tap, halfway between — 라 is closer to a soft “la” with a flicked tongue. Just copy the 🔊.
• ㅅ softens to “sh” before ㅣ. So 시 sounds like “shee,” not “see.” It’s the one spot the “s” label bends — the 🔊 has it right.

Shadowing drill: pick any one row, play it across, and echo each block right after the audio — say it before the next one plays. Do three rows this way. Your mouth learns the chart faster than your eyes do.

The one sound difference to catch: 가 vs 카

Look at two rows you just read — ㄱ (가) and ㅋ (카). To an English ear they can sound almost the same, but Korean keeps them apart, and the difference changes the meaning. It comes down to a puff of air. Tap each side, then “이어서 듣기” to hear them back to back:

Hold your hand in front of your mouth. On 카 you feel a burst of air; on 가, almost none. Same for 다/타 and 바/파 — tap back and forth until you hear it:

You don’t need to master it today — just know the pairs are different, so 카 isn’t a typo of 가. (There’s actually a third version — an even tighter sound like 까 — but that’s a later lesson. For now, just the two: soft 가, airy 카.)

Read real words — every block straight off the chart

Every syllable in these words is straight off the chart above. Sound each out before you tap:

You just read five real Korean words — every block decoded, no memorizing shapes. That’s reading Korean.

Check yourself

Now try a few without the breakdown — sound out each block yourself, then tap to check. Answer out loud before tapping.

Q1. Read this word off the chart: 고기 (hint: what a butcher sells).

answer

go-gi — meat. 고 (ㄱ+ㅗ) + 기 (ㄱ+ㅣ). Same consonant, two different vowels. 고기🔊

Q2. These two look alike — which one has the puff of air? 자 or 차?

answer

차 (ch) has the air; 자 (j) doesn’t. 차 also means “tea” or “car.” 자🔊 ↔ 차🔊

Q3. Read both blocks: 나무 (hint: it grows in a forest).

answer

na-mu — tree. 나 (ㄴ+ㅏ) + 무 (ㅁ+ㅜ). Two rows of the chart, one word. 나무🔊

Before you go

• I can read any row of the 가나다 chart out loud
• I know ㅇ at the front is silent — 아 is just “ah”
• I hear that 카 has a puff of air and 가 doesn’t
• I read 커피, 바나나, 나무 as real words, no romanization

📌 Pocket cheat sheet — the 14 consonants: ㄱg ㄴn ㄷd ㄹr/l ㅁm ㅂb ㅅs ㅇ*(silent)* ㅈj ㅊch ㅋk ㅌt ㅍp ㅎh · the 5 vowels: ㅏah ㅓuh ㅗoh ㅜoo ㅣee

You’ve read 70 syllables and your first words. Next, we add the “y” vowels (ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ) — one extra stroke that slips a y into the sound — and finish filling in the chart.