How to learn Korean from scratch: a step-by-step guide
To learn Korean from scratch, follow this order: Hangul (the alphabet), pronunciation, vocabulary, conversation and, finally, sentences and grammar. Study a little every day and review what you got wrong often. This is how the course is organized: each stage builds on the previous one, with review along the way.
Before you start: what is different from Portuguese
Korean is quite different from Portuguese, but the differences are predictable. Knowing them before you start avoids frustration in the first weeks.
The five main differences
- Its own writing. Korean uses Hangul, an alphabet designed logically. It looks strange at first, but it is the fastest part to learn.
- Verb at the end. A sentence follows the order subject, object, verb. Instead of "I eat rice", the structure is closer to "I rice eat".
- Particles. Small markers attached to words show each word's role in the sentence, such as who does the action and what receives it.
- Levels of formality. The ending of verbs changes with the situation: talking to a friend, to someone older or in a formal setting uses different forms.
- New sounds. Some consonants and vowels do not exist in Portuguese, so listening and repeating makes a big difference.
Realistic expectations: reading Hangul and recognizing your first words is an achievable goal early on. Speaking fluently takes longer and depends on how many days a week you study and how much you review. Consistency beats long, rare sessions.
Stage 1: learn to read Hangul
Start here, before any vocabulary. Without reading Hangul, you get stuck with romanization (writing Korean sounds with Latin letters), which is imprecise and becomes a hard habit to drop.
With regular study, many people read the basic letters in a few days and gain reading fluency in a few weeks.
Suggested order
- Basic vowels: ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅣ
- Basic consonants: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅎ
- More vowels (ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ) and the aspirated consonants (ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ)
- Double consonants (ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ) and compound vowels (ㅐ ㅔ ㅘ ㅝ ...)
- Batchim (the final consonant) and reading short words
How to study each group of letters
- Read out loud. Join a consonant and a vowel into syllables and read each one out loud.
- Learn with words. Attach each letter to a real word as soon as you learn it. This fixes the sound and already builds vocabulary.
- Test yourself early. A short quiz after each group of letters shows what you have already fixed and what still confuses you.
You have finished this stage when you can read out loud a Hangul word you have never seen, even without knowing its meaning.
See all the letters, with name, sound and examples, in the Korean alphabet guide →
Stage 2: pronunciation, listen and repeat
Reading the letters is not enough. In Korean, some sounds do not exist in Portuguese and the sound of certain consonants changes with its position in the syllable. Training pronunciation from the start avoids habits that are hard to fix later.
A short training routine
- Listen to the word, preferably with audio from a native speaker.
- Repeat out loud, imitating the rhythm and the sound.
- Record your voice and compare it with the original.
- Go back to the words that still sound different.
What to train
- Consonants in three tones. ㄱ/ㅋ/ㄲ, ㄷ/ㅌ/ㄸ, ㅂ/ㅍ/ㅃ and ㅈ/ㅊ/ㅉ form trios: plain, aspirated (with a puff of air) and tense (more tension, no puff). Portuguese does not make this difference, so it is the point that asks the most of your ear.
- Similar vowels. ㅓ and ㅗ, as well as ㅡ and ㅜ, are often confused at first. Compare each pair by listening and repeating.
- Batchim. The final consonant is pronounced in a reduced way, with seven possible sounds: [k], [n], [t], [l], [m], [p] and [ng]. Different letters, such as ㄱ, ㅋ and ㄲ, sound like [k] at the end of a syllable.
- Linking sounds. When a syllable ends in a consonant and the next starts with a vowel, the consonant moves to the next syllable: 한국어 (Korean) is read "han-gu-geo".
Avoid depending on romanization to pronounce: it is only a bridge and does not reproduce every sound. Always practice while looking at the Hangul.
Stage 3: basic vocabulary, words from the first letters
You do not need to finish the alphabet to learn words. It is best to learn, right after each group of letters, a few real words that use those letters. That way you practice reading with meaning from the start.
Examples with the first vowels: 아이 (ai, child), 우유 (uyu, milk) and 오이 (oi, cucumber).
How to choose your first words
- Short, concrete words. Objects, foods and people are easier to remember than abstract words.
- Words with the letters you just learned. This reinforces letter recognition and shows what the letters are for.
- Image, sound and writing together. Link the word to an image and say it out loud while you read. Three paths help memory.
Goal for this stage: recognize and read your first few dozen words without depending on romanization.
Vocabulary beyond the basics: everyday words and the Hanja trick
After the first words, prioritize the most frequent ones instead of random lists. A small vocabulary of very common words takes you further than a big one full of rare words.
About 70% of Korean words are built from Hanja (한자어), ancient ideographic characters shared across many cultures of Asia. Each character has a fixed sound and meaning and works almost like a prefix or suffix: words are formed by combining them. Since the same character reappears in many words, once you know the meaning and sound of a character it becomes much easier to predict the meaning of new words.
How to use this in practice
- Learn the character, not just the word. When you see 校 in a new word, you already have a clue to its meaning.
- You do not need to write the characters. The goal is to recognize the sound and meaning of each one, not to draw the strokes.
- Not every word is built from Hanja. Many everyday words, such as 밥 (rice), are native Korean and do not follow this pattern.
Stage 4: conversation, speaking early
Speaking is the skill that motivates the most and the one most often lost when it is left for later. That is why conversation comes before formal grammar: you start with ready-made, useful phrases, and grammar then explains what you already know how to use.
Start with the polite speech level (ending in 요), which works in almost every everyday situation and is safe for beginners.
How to train speaking on your own (shadowing)
- Pick a short dialogue with audio from a native speaker.
- Listen to the whole thing once while reading the Hangul text.
- Repeat out loud right after the audio, imitating rhythm and intonation.
- Repeat until you can say the sentence without looking at the text.
Where to start
- Ready-made survival phrases. Greetings, thanking, apologizing, asking for something and asking the price. Learn each one as a block, without worrying about analyzing the parts.
- Swap one word at a time. With a model sentence, such as "은/는 어디예요? (where is...?)", you only need to swap the word to create dozens of new sentences.
- Listen before you speak. Hearing a lot of native audio in real situations makes your rhythm and intonation more natural when you start speaking.
- Mistakes are part of it. Being understood matters more than speaking perfectly. Correcting little by little works better than waiting until you feel ready.
As soon as you can, practice with another person: a teacher, a classmate or a language-exchange partner. Real conversation is what turns memorized phrases into spontaneous speech.
Goal for this stage: be able to introduce yourself, greet, ask for something simple and understand short answers.
Stage 5: sentences and basic grammar
Once you have a repertoire of phrases and words, grammar stops being abstract: you start to understand why the things you already say work. Always study grammar with example sentences, never as loose rules.
What to study first
- Sentence order. Subject, object and verb, with the verb always at the end.
- Main particles. -은/는 (topic), -이/가 (subject) and -을/를 (object) show the role of each word.
- Verb endings. Learn the polite form in 요 and then the tense variations, such as the past.
- Negation and questions. Simple ways to say "not" and to ask, which multiply what you can express.
The conversation and grammar lessons of the online course are being prepared (coming soon).
How to study every day: a simple, steady method
What weighs most on results is regularity. Short daily sessions of about 15 to 20 minutes usually work better than one long session a week, because the brain consolidates what it reviews little by little.
Principles that work
- A little every day. Keep the habit even on busy days. A little every day beats a lot once in a while.
- Spaced review. Review content at growing intervals, just before you forget it. That is how long-term memory forms.
- Review your mistakes. What you get wrong is what most needs to come back. Note it and review the hard items more often.
- Mix the skills. Read, listen, write and speak in the same week instead of training only one of them.
In the online course, the adaptive quiz identifies what you already master and what you still confuse, and recommends exactly those items for review.
Common mistakes of beginners
Almost every beginner goes through these slips. Knowing them beforehand helps you avoid them.
- Depending on romanization. It helps on day one, but it does not reproduce every sound and slows down reading Hangul.
- Skipping pronunciation. Fixing a wrong habit later is much harder than learning it right from the start.
- Memorizing lists without context. Loose words are forgotten quickly. Learn them inside sentences and real situations.
- Studying a lot one day and disappearing. A lack of consistency erases what was learned and is discouraging.
- Avoiding speaking for fear of mistakes. Speaking early, even with mistakes, speeds up fluency more than waiting to be ready.
- Starting with heavy grammar. Without vocabulary and a trained ear, the rules have nothing to rest on.
Books, PDFs, apps and courses: what each one offers
There is no perfect material. Each type has strengths and limits, and combining them usually works best.
- Textbooks. They bring structure and complete explanations, but usually have little audio and no correction.
- PDFs and charts. Great for quick reference, like the Hangul chart, but they do not teach pronunciation or demand practice.
- Flashcard apps. They help you review vocabulary regularly, but offer little context and little explanation.
- Free videos. Good for listening and getting to know the language, but they do not guide what to study or check that you learned.
- Structured courses. They give order and guided practice, but require commitment to pay off.
- Teacher. Gives personalized feedback and answers questions, at a higher cost.
Study alone or with a teacher?
You can go a long way on your own in parts like Hangul, reading and vocabulary, which depend on repetition and review. Pronunciation and speaking, on the other hand, improve a lot with someone who corrects you and talks with you.
A good combination is to study the basics on your own, with an organized method, and use lessons with a teacher to ask questions and practice conversation.