How to type Korean

The Dubeolsik layout

Korean keyboards use Dubeolsik, the 2-set layout: consonants on the left half, vowels on the right. You type the letters (jamo) and the input method stacks them into syllable blocks for you. The full map, named by the key in the same place on a US keyboard:

The 19 consonants

Five of them are doubled (tense) consonants, typed with Shift. Romanization follows the Revised Romanization of Korean; where two values are shown, the first is used before a vowel and the second at the end of a syllable.

The 21 vowels

14 vowels have their own key; the other 7 are typed as two keys and combine by themselves:

How syllables are built

Every syllable block has an initial consonant, a vowel, and sometimes a final consonant. A syllable that starts with a vowel sound uses the silent ㅇ as its initial. Type the jamo in reading order and they stack:

Unicode encodes every possible combination as its own character: 19 initials × 21 vowels × 28 final options (including none) = 11,172 syllables.

Why the last consonant jumps

When you type a consonant after a vowel, the input method first treats it as a final. If a vowel comes next, that consonant moves to start the new syllable. Typing 사람 shows 살 after ㄹ, then 사라 when you type ㅏ, then 사람 with the last ㅁ. Keep typing; the blocks sort themselves out.

The 11 double final consonants

A syllable can end in two different consonants. Type both, one after the other:

Tips

• Backspace inside a syllable removes the last jamo, not the whole block.
• Double consonants are Shift: ㄲ Shift + R, ㄸ Shift + E, ㅃ Shift + Q, ㅆ Shift + T, ㅉ Shift + W.
• ㅒ and ㅖ are Shift + O and Shift + P.

Questions

What keyboard layout do Koreans use?

Dubeolsik (2-set): consonants on the left, vowels on the right.

How do I type double consonants like ㄲ?

Hold Shift: Shift + R types ㄲ, Shift + T types ㅆ.

How do I type ㅘ or ㅢ?

Type the two vowels in order: ㅗ then ㅏ gives ㅘ, ㅡ then ㅣ gives ㅢ.

How many Korean syllables are there?

Unicode encodes 11,172 precomposed Hangul syllables.

Try it on the keyboard

• Korean keyboard
• Japanese keyboard

More guides

• Keyboard layouts of the world
• Dead keys explained
• Hebrew keyboard layout
• Hebrew final letters
• Arabic harakat on the keyboard
• Romaji chart
• Russian keyboard layout
• How to add a keyboard language

Sources

• libhangul keyboard and combination tables
• Unicode Standard, Hangul syllables
• National Institute of Korean Language, Revised Romanization of Korean

Every key and count in this guide is computed from the layout data when the site is built, so it always matches the keyboards here.