Korean syllable builder
Pick a starting consonant, a vowel and, if you like, a final consonant, and the builder arranges them into the square block Korean uses for one syllable. The picture shows our own drawing of the letters; the large character is the standard Unicode syllable you can copy.
How the block is arranged
Hangul is written in square blocks, not in a line. Inside every block the letters follow the same rules, which is why Korean can be read once you know the 40 letters.
A vertical vowel (ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅣ) sits to the right of the first consonant, as in 가. A horizontal vowel (ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ) sits underneath it, as in 고. Combined vowels such as ㅘ and ㅢ take the bottom right. A final consonant, called a batchim, is written along the bottom of the block, as in 간.
The silent ㅇ at the start of a syllable fills the slot when a syllable begins with a vowel sound: 아 is the vowel ㅏ with the silent ㅇ in front. At the end of a syllable ㅇ is the sound ng, as in 강.
Learn the letters on their own pages first: all 40 Korean letters with stroke order.
Questions
How do Korean letters form a syllable?
Every syllable is one square block with an initial consonant, a vowel and, sometimes, a final consonant. A vertical vowel goes to the right of the consonant, a horizontal vowel goes underneath, and a final consonant goes at the bottom.
Why does the first consonant sometimes look like a circle?
The circle ㅇ is silent at the start of a syllable. It fills the empty consonant slot so that every block has the same shape.
How many syllable blocks are there?
Mathematically there are 11,172 (19 initials × 21 vowels × 28 finals including none), but a few thousand are used in ordinary Korean.