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100 Essential Korean Words for Beginners

A first Korean conversation needs only a few words: 안녕하세요 (hello), 감사합니다 (thank you), 물 (water) and 먹다 (to eat). Below are 100 beginner words in 9 groups — greetings & basics, people & family, everyday verbs, describing words, colors, numbers, time, food & drink and home — each with its English meaning and its pronunciation in Latin letters.

Key takeaways

  • Korean is written in Hangul, so every word below has its pronunciation beside it in Latin letters. For example, 안녕하세요 is read “annyeonghaseyo”.
  • You can already count to three: 하나 (one), 둘 (two) and 셋 (three).
  • Verbs follow a pattern: 16 of the 16 verbs here end in -다, such as 이다, 갖다, 하다.
Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul
Photo: cskkkk

Greetings & basics

16 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
hello안녕하세요annyeonghaseyointerjection
goodbye안녕히 가세요annyeonghi gaseyointerjection
yes예yeinterjection
no아니요aniyointerjection
please부탁합니다butakhamnidainterjection
thank you감사합니다gamsahamnidainterjection
sorry죄송합니다joesonghamnidainterjection
and그리고geurigoconjunction
but하지만hajimanconjunction
or또는ttoneunconjunction
because왜냐하면waenyahamyeonconjunction
here여기yeogiadverb
there거기geogiadverb
always언제나eonjenaadverb
never절대jeoldaeadverb
together함께hamkkeadverb

People & family

14 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
man남성namseongnoun
woman여성yeoseongnoun
boy소년sonyeonnoun
girl소녀sonyeonoun
friend친구chingunoun
mother어머니eomeoninoun
father아버지abeojinoun
brother형hyeongnoun
sister여동생yeodongsaengnoun
son아들adeulnoun
daughter딸ttalnoun
child아이ainoun
husband남편nampyeonnoun
wife아내anaenoun

Everyday verbs

16 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
to be이다idaverb
to have갖다gatdaverb
to do하다hadaverb
to go가다gadaverb
to come오다odaverb
to eat먹다meokdaverb
to drink마시다masidaverb
to want원하다wonhadaverb
to need필요하다piryohadaverb
to know알다aldaverb
to speak구사하다gusahadaverb
to read읽다ikdaverb
to write쓰다sseudaverb
to listen듣다deutdaverb
to work일하다ilhadaverb
to buy사다sadaverb

Describing words

10 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
good좋은joeunadjective
bad나쁜nappeunadjective
new새로운saerounadjective
old나이 든nai deunadjective
young젊은jeolmeunadjective
tall키가 큰kiga keunadjective
short키가 작은kiga jageunadjective
nice상냥한sangnyanghanadjective
kind친절한chinjeolhanadjective
shy수줍은sujubeunadjective

Colors

8 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
red빨간ppalganadjective
blue파란paranadjective
green초록색choroksaekadjective
yellow노란noranadjective
black검은geomeunadjective
white흰huinadjective
orange주황색juhwangsaekadjective
purple보라색borasaekadjective

Numbers

12 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
one하나hananumber
two둘dulnumber
three셋setnumber
four넷netnumber
five다섯daseotnumber
six여섯yeoseotnumber
seven일곱ilgopnumber
eight여덟yeodeolnumber
nine아홉ahopnumber
ten열yeolnumber
zero영yeongnumber
twenty스물seumulnumber

Time

10 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
today오늘oneuladverb
tomorrow내일naeiladverb
yesterday어제eojeadverb
morning아침achimnoun
afternoon오후ohunoun
evening저녁jeonyeoknoun
night밤bamnoun
day하루harunoun
week주junoun
month달dalnoun

Food & drink

10 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
water물mulnoun
coffee커피keopinoun
tea차chanoun
milk우유uyunoun
bread빵ppangnoun
cheese치즈chijeunoun
fruit과일gwailnoun
apple사과sagwanoun
egg계란gyerannoun
rice쌀ssalnoun

Home

4 words
EnglishKoreanPronunciationType
house집jipnoun
door문munnoun
window창문changmunnoun
bed침대chimdaenoun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Korean words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Korean words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Download on the App Store

Keep going with Korean

Korean vocabulary by topicLonger word lists, one topic at a time Korean quizTest yourself on what you have learned Korean vocabulary testFind your level How long does Korean take to learn?A realistic plan

Korean for beginners questions

What are the first Korean words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Korean that means words like 안녕하세요 (hello), 감사합니다 (thank you), 물 (water) and 먹다 (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

Do I need to learn the Korean script before these words?

You can start without it: Korean is written in Hangul, and every word here has a pronunciation in Latin letters beside it so you can sound it out. Learning the script soon after is still worth it, because real signs, menus and messages are not romanised. Treat the Latin-letter pronunciation as a guide to the sound, and listen to the language as well.

Is 100 words enough to speak Korean?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Korean words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.

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