How to study korean com

Audio Packages

In the twenty five lessons of Unit 1, I explain the most fundamental aspects of Korean grammar. In Unit 2, I start to apply these basic concepts to more complicated sentences. I continue this application to many grammatical principles in Unit 3. My explanations are backed up with an enormous amount of examples that show how the explained grammar concepts fit into a Korean sentence. In total, there are 1,250 of these example sentences in Unit 1, 1200 in Unit 2, 1200 in Unit 3 and 900 in Unit 4. All of these example sentences on the website have an audio link that allows you to listen to a Korean person (my wife!) pronouncing the sentence.

In addition, there are 1050 vocabulary words introduced in Unit 1, 800 vocabulary words introduced in Unit 2, 625 vocabulary words introduced in Unit 3 and 600 vocabulary words introduced in Unit 4. All of these words on the website have an audio link that allows you to hear the correct pronunciation of each word.

Using our website and the audio links is great, but users often want to have these audio files on their computer or mobile device to practice their listening on-the-go or when they are not connected to the internet.

Each package comes organized in 25 folders – one folder for each lesson. Within each folder, the audio files are numbered in the order in which they are presented in their respective lessons.

Also included with each is a PDF Directory, which you can use to look up a specific sentence or word. The Directory provides a transcript for each audio file in Korean (with an English translation), and is numbered in the same order that the audio files appear in the folders. Check the images below to see how the folders, audio files and Directory are organized. (The images show the organization of the Unit 1 Example Sentence package, but the Vocabulary Packages are organized the same way)

The files come organized in a “.zip” file. If you don’t know what that is, it basically just allows you to download a folder containing many files instead of just one file at a time.

Please remember that all of these audio files are free on the website. If you would like to support our website and conveniently download all of these files at once, click the links below. Note that you can purchase all of them for a bulk discount below.

Lesson List

Lesson 1:
Consonants ㅂ, ㅈ, ㄷ, ㄱ, ㅅ, ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅎ.
Vowels ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅡ, ㅜ, ㅗ.
Word structure.

Lesson 2:
Consonants o, ㄲ, ㅋ, ㅃ, ㅍ, ㅉ, ㅊ, ㅆ,

Lesson 3:
Korean diphthongsㅑ, ㅕ, ㅠ, ㅛ, ㅐ, ㅔ, ㅟ, ㅝ, ㅚ, ㅘ, ㅢ, ㅖ, ㅒ, ㅞ

Lesson 1:
Korean word order
Basic Korean particles
To be: 이다
This and That: 이/그

Lesson 2:
Particles 이 and 가
To be somewhere/to have: 있다

Lesson 3:
Korean verbs
Korean adjectives
Possessive Particle 의
좋다 and 좋아하다

Lesson 4:
Conjugating Korean adjectives: ㄴ/은
Korean adjective 많다
Korean particle 도

Lesson 5:
Past, present and future tense in Korean

Lesson 8:
Korean adverbs
Negative sentences

Lesson 10:
Korean numbers
Korean counters
처음 and 마지막

Lesson 11:
Time words: 동안, 시간, 초, 지난, 다음, 일, 날, 하루, 주, 달, 개월, 년
(seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, next, last)

Lesson 12:
Korean particles: 들, 만, 에서, 부터, 까지, (으)로

Lesson 13:
Korean particles: and, with, to, from, for, about

Lesson 14:
Korean passive verbs

Lesson 15:
Miscellaneous Korean Grammar
Difference between 좋아하다 and 좋다 and the Subject – Object – Adjective form
Korean word 들다
Korean compound verbs
Different/similar/same (다르다/비슷하다/같다)
Korean homonyms
Being sick

고
I want to ___

고 있다
Adding 어/아지다 to adjectives

Lesson 19:
Comparatives and Superlatives
보다, 가장, 더

Lesson 20:
Do something “well,” do something “poorly”
잘/잘하다, 못/못하다, 잘못

Lesson 21:
Asking questions using: why, when, where, who

Lesson 22:
Asking questions using: how, what, which and how many

Lesson 23:
ㅎ irregular, Korean colors
Using 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다

Lesson 24:
Before, after, since, within
전, 후, 이래로, 이내, 안

Lesson 25:
Anybody, anywhere, anything, everybody, somebody, nobody, nowhere, nothing, etc…
아무나, 아무데나, 아무거나, 모든, 누구나, 아무도, 아무데도, 아무것도, etc…

Lesson 26:
Using verbs to describe nouns (

었/았던 to describe past tense

는 것 (My favorite thing, irregulars, 싶은 것, 있는 것)

ㅁ/음 to make nouns

Lesson 30:
Using 지 as a noun in sentences (할 지 모른다/한 지 1년 됐다)

Lesson 33:
The special noun of: 중

Lesson 34:
Thorough explanations of difficult words:
자기/자신, 훨씬, 관하다/관련하다, 주위, 일단, 전혀/별로, words dealing with weight, and words ending in

ㄹ 것 같다
To be like, to seem like

같이 보이다, (adj.)아/어 보이다
To look like, to look (adj.)

아/어서
Because, therefore, so

기 때문에
Because, therefore, so

Lesson 39:
Honorific ending 시
Honorific words: 드리다, 계시다, 말씀하다, 주무시다

Lesson 40:
The imperative mood: 아/어, 아/어라, (으)세요, (으)십시오

Lesson 41:
To give, to do for somebody, thank you for…
주다, 아/

Lesson 42:
When I do, when I did, whenever I…

Theme Lessons

Although our regular lessons present all the grammar and vocabulary you need to learn Korean, they do not offer specific sentences or information tailored to a specific theme. You might be able to find some sentences related to school, some sentences related to weather, and some sentences related to transportation scattered across our various lessons, these are by no means organized in one place. That is… until now.

The purpose of our Theme Lessons is to present you with sentences and vocabulary that you would come across in a specific situation. For example, if you were a student (or teacher) in a school, you might be interested in learning sentences and vocabulary that would be useful in this setting.

The purpose of these Theme Lessons is not to teach the grammar within the sentences provided. However, in order to understand most of the grammar within the Theme Lessons, we suggest that you complete at least Lesson 25 of our regular lessons. On top of this (especially for learners still in Unit 1 of our regular lessons), there will definitely be some grammar that you are not familiar with. My original goal was to have the Unit 1 Theme Lessons present sentences that only used grammar introduced in Unit 1. I realized that the grammar introduced until Lesson 25 is not sufficient to make a ton of natural sentences.

Use this as an opportunity to maybe skip ahead to some grammatical principles that are more common but a little bit advanced. The most common grammatical principles that you might find in the Theme Lessons of Unit 1 that have not been introduced yet are:

The list above is by no means complete, but by knowing the grammar introduced in Unit 1, and having a general idea of some of these more difficult grammatical principles, you will definitely be able to challenge yourself with learning some great sentences.

In addition to the pile of sentences that will be provided, common words that relate to the particular theme will be given. All of the vocabulary words introduced in our Theme Lessons will also be introduced somewhere in our regular lessons. The purpose of these Theme Lessons is to organize all of the words (and sentences) that focus on a central subject.

In time, we will continue to update more Theme Lessons to this Unit.

In addition, we will eventually make Theme Lessons that fall under later Units. Theme Lessons under later Units will gradually be focused on more and more complex themes.

Keep scrolling to see the different types of YouTube videos we have!

About Us

I started learning Korean sometime in 2008, and moved to Korea in 2010 to get more exposure to the language. I never took any formal classes, and taught Korean to myself from piecing it together from whatever information I could find. I would take this information and ask Korean people for more detailed explanations and their opinion, feedback and feelings about anything I learned. Although frustrating and time consuming at the time, in the end this process gave me a very deep understanding of vocabulary, grammatical principles and how they all come together to make Korean sound natural. (It helped that the vice principal at the school I used to work at taught Korean language in a Korean high school for 20 years).

I’m very meticulous with everything, and learning Korean was no exception. For more than two years, I kept log-books of every word and grammatical principle that I learned in Korean. At the time, I didn’t do this for any purpose other than to organize my learning. After two years, I realized that I unintentionally had written a step-by-step organization of concepts that any English speaker would need in order to begin learning Korean.

These notes ended up being the foundation of this website. However, having gone through the whole process of teaching Korean to myself, I realized I could present these concepts even better than I had originally taught them to myself in the first place. I knew what was difficult; I knew what was easy; I knew what was confusing; I knew what was important; I knew what was not important; and I knew the order in which grammatical concepts should be learned. Each lesson that you see is something that I taught to myself many years ago, but with the benefit of me already having gone through the process before.

Now, here in 2022, I have had many years to reflect on what I learned back when I first started learning Korean. My lessons are a reflection of each concept I learned and explained step-by-step in a way that I would have wanted them to be explained to me as a Korean learner.

But that’s not all.

My lessons are constantly adapting and changing. They adapt based on feedback I receive from learners, and they adapt based on my understanding and reflections of concepts. For example, I have a Unit 1 PDF that is a compilation of every Lesson in Unit 1. This document started out as 130 pages, but has now grown to be 290 pages. How did I come up with an additional 160 pages? I added content, I expanded on explanations, I made explanations more clear and I provided more examples. Anytime a learner contacts me and asks me a question, if I cannot answer their question by saying “The answer to that is explained in Lesson X”, then I add an explanation to my lessons.

Nine years of constantly expanding and clarifying explanations of Korean grammar concepts has gotten me to this point. My method is simple. I provide you with everything you need to learn Korean. The only thing you need to do is follow our lessons from Lesson 1. If there is something that you cannot understand, contact us and I will be happy to make the explanation more clear for you, and all the learners after you.

Everything you see on this website was written, designed and explained by me. Although everything is originally written by me, everything written in Korean is checked by a native Korean speaker. The Korean speaker helping me with this website is my wife. We have been together since 2010, and we got married in 2015. She makes sure that everything written in Korean is correct and is also the voice behind the audio recordings that you hear. The only other thing on this website not done by me are the translations to other languages. If you look in our earlier lessons specifically, you’ll find at least one lesson translated into the following languages: Italian, Spanish, Russian, German, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Finnish, Polish, Greek, Bulgarian, Czech, Romanian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Azerbaijani, Canadian English, Turkish and Kurdish. These translations are done by fans of the website who want to help speakers of their own language learn through my method.

Although I am just one man, I have huge plans to continue to develop this resource in the future. I am always coming up with new ideas and new things I can add to this website to enhance the learning experience even more.

If you have any questions, you can always check out our FAQ or Contact Us.

Workbooks

In addition to our lessons, we also offer supplemental Workbooks – where you can practice your Korean doing interesting and effective exercises relevant to what you learned in our Lessons. These workbooks are designed to be a supplement, to be used after reading individual lessons to help you practice and grasp what we teach. We have had a lot of feedback from our readers and they have all been asking us to add this to our list of things that we offer on this website.

If you live in Korea, you could also send us the funds directly. E-mail us at howtostudykorean@gmail.com for more information.

We currently offer Workbooks for Lessons in Unit 0, Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5 and Unit 6.

Unit 0: Lessons 1 – 3

Use this Workbook to get all the practice you need in order to memorize all the letters in the Korean alphabet. Not only will you be able to memorize the alphabet, but you will also be able to properly read and write every letter after finishing this Workbook. In addition to this, you will be able to practice writing blocks of syllables and words using all the letters that you learned. Click the picture to the left to see an example of the first page of the Workbook (the full Workbook is 15 pages).

Unit 1: Lessons 1 – 8

Use this Workbook to practice the basic Korean grammar you learned in the first eight lessons of Unit 1. Put your brain to the test by using the various words, particles and grammatical principles in a variety of different Korean grammar exercises. In addition to this, by using our exercises you will get practice reading, writing and understanding sentence structure and how to conjugate Korean verbs and adjectives correctly. There is also an answer key so you can check your answers to all of your completed exercises! Click the picture to the left to see an example of the first pages of the Workbook (the full Workbook is 20 pages).

Unit 1: Lessons 9 – 16

Unit 1: Lessons 17 – 25

Use this Workbook to get tons of practice using the concepts you learned in Lessons 17 – 25. Start off by practicing the correct usage of various connecting and ending grammatical principles, including

아/어지다. Following that, you will find a variety of exercises where you can practice comparative and superlative sentences (using 더, 보다, 가장), and the confusing usages of 잘, 잘하다, 못, 못하다, and

지 못하다. You will then be able to practice making sentences using question words and practice making clauses using 전 and 후. Finally, you will practice using all the confusing “some—, every—, any—, no—” words!
As with the previous Workbooks, there is an answer key where you can check your answers for all exercises. Click the picture to the left to see an example of some of pages in the Workbook (the full Workbook is 17 pages)!

Unit 2: Lessons 26 – 33

Here we go! With our first Workbook in Unit 2, you can practice everything that you learned in Lessons 26 to 33! Start off with a variety of exercises allowing you to better your understanding of the

는 것 principle. Everything including simple

는 것 sentences, using

는 것 in the past and future tenses,

는 것 irregulars, and the common nouns that often replace “것” (지, 중, 적, etc…). In addition, you will be able to practice making your own sentences using the principles discussed in these eight lessons.
Of course, an answer key is provided. Click the picture to the left to see an example of some of the pages in the Workbook (the full Workbook is 13 pages).

Unit 2: Lessons 34 – 41

Now we are starting to get a little bit more difficult! In this Workbook, you will be able to practice all the concepts that you learned in Lessons 34 – 41. Start out by constructing sentences using the difficult words presented in Lesson 34 and using the

ㄹ 것 같다 principle presented in Lesson 35. Following that, you will better understand how to say “because/therefore” in Korean by practicing the correct usage of

기 때문에 in sentences. Finally, you will practice creating imperative sentences and using the honorific

(으)시 ending.
As with all Workbooks, an answer key is provided. Click the picture to the left to see an example of some of the pages in the Workbook (the full Workbook is 13 pages).

Unit 2: Lessons 42 – 50

Now that you have reached these higher (more difficult) lessons, your understanding of Korean grammar should be very good. What you need now is practice using the variety of sentence-connecting and sentence-ending grammatical principles to make your sentences more complex. In this Workbook, you will be able to practice connecting two clauses by saying “if” and “when” using

ㄹ/을 때. Following that, you will practice using the sentence-ending grammatical principles:

아/어도 되다. In addition, the final exercise allows you to practice all the concepts you learned up to this point.
Again, an answer key is provided. Click the picture to the left to see an example of some of the pages in the Workbook (the full Workbook is 16 pages).

Unit 3: Lessons 51 – 58

Now it’s time to really get serious. Get ready to practice all the grammatical principles you learned in Lessons 51 to 58. A lot of these lessons were centered on quoting in Korean – so you can be sure you will be getting lots of practice making proper quotes sentences in this Workbook. In addition to that, you will be able to practice how to use things like

게.
The Workbooks in Unit 3 also use sentences with more difficult vocabulary to allow you to be familiar with more complicated situations. Of course, all the answers are provided. (Workbook length: 15 pages)

Unit 3: Lessons 59 – 66

In this Workbook, you can get more practice using the grammatical principles you learned in Lessons 59 – 66. Not only will you be able to practice the difficult words you learned at the beginning of these eight lessons, but you will also get practice using

(으)면서. Of course, you will also get more practice distinguishing amongst the various usages of

까(요).
The Workbooks in Unit 3 also use sentences with more difficult vocabulary to allow you to be familiar with more complicated situations. Of course, all the answers are provided. (Workbook length: 12 pages)

Unit 3: Lessons 67 – 75

In this Workbook, you can apply the knowledge of the grammatical principles you learned in Lessons 67 – 75. Tons of grammatical principles in these lessons – all of which are important to master before you embark on Unit 4. Get practice using:

아/어, 제외하다, 포함하다, 만큼, 정도, 대신, 상관없다 and 신경 안 쓰다!
The Workbooks in Unit 3 also use sentences with more difficult vocabulary to allow you to be familiar with more complicated situations. Of course, all the answers are provided. (Workbook length: 14 pages)

Unit 4: Lessons 76 – 83

You thought Unit 3 was hard? Get ready to practice the difficult (and natural!) grammar that you learned in Lessons 76 to 83. Of course, you will get practice using

는데, because Lessons 76 and 77 were dedicated to that. Following that, you will practice using

(으)로 인해, and the difficult words you learned in Lesson 79. In addition, you will be able to practice using things like 되다,

Unit 4: Lessons 84 – 91

In this Workbook, you can get more practice using the grammatical principles you learned in Lessons 84 – 91. You will be able to practice using

자마자, 줄 알다/모르다, 아니라,

기로 하다, fractions,

잖다 and the many meanings of

The Workbooks in Unit 4 use sentences with more difficult vocabulary and grammar to allow you to be familiar with more complicated situations. Answers and English translations are provided for every problem. (Workbook length: 13 pages)

Unit 4: Lessons 92 – 100

In this Workbook, you can apply the knowledge of the grammatical principles you learned in Lessons 92 – 100. Lots of stuff in these lessons – all of which are important to understand before you start with Unit 5. Get practice using:

는 척하다, and the many meanings of 텐데.

The Workbooks in Unit 4 use sentences with more difficult vocabulary and grammar to allow you to be familiar with more complicated situations. Answers and English translations are provided for every problem. (Workbook length: 15 pages)

Lessons 101 – 108

Get a jump on the materials introduced in Unit 5. We introduce some fundamental, confusing twists on concepts that you learned all the way back in Unit 1. Get practice with Korean internet slang, quoted abbreviations (

도, 았/었었다, and the many other smaller principles like

Of course, all of exercises have solutions (with translations to English). (Workbook length: 16 pages)

Lessons 109 – 116

Build on the concepts that really add to your fluency. Things like

ㄹ/을걸 그렇다 are difficult, semi-uncommon concepts that make your speech sound very natural. In addition, get practice with concepts that utilize the

는 것 principle like

English translations – yes! Answers – yes! (Workbook length: 12 pages)

Lessons 117 – 125

Woah, this was a tough one. Tons of grammatical principles that have

더 added to the stem of a word. Get practice with

다니까. In addition, practice the use of

ㄹ/을 만하다 and 가치 from Lesson 124.

English translations – you know it! Answers – of course! (Workbook length: 12 pages)

Lessons 126 – 133

Here we go with our first Workbook in Unit 6. Here you will get practice with 별(로),

아/어 놓다 and 넘다, big Korean numbers,

ㄹ/을 수록 and everybody’s favorite thing – the 사이시옷!

Lessons 134 – 141

This Workbook starts off with exercises that allow you to practice Konglish words and words with 성. Then, you will find exercises that will allow you to practice distinguishing between the similar grammatical principles