Your first 100 Korean words

How did we count Korean words?

This list is measured, not guessed. We took the 48 free chapters at A1 and A2 in the Contos Korean library, chapters 1 and 2 of each of 24 series, and counted which words a beginner actually meets. Korean makes that harder than it sounds: a space in Korean comes after a word plus everything attached to it, so 편지를, 편지는 and 편지가 are three spellings of one word, 편지 (letter). Here is how we grouped them:

1. Split the text at spaces and punctuation, giving 6,048 spaced words in 2,587 different spellings.
2. Took the common particles off nouns and pronouns: 은/는, 이/가, 을/를, 에, 에서, 도, 의, 와/과, 으로/로 and 에게. We only did this where the rest was clearly a noun, so 작은 (small) stays an adjective rather than becoming 작 + 은. The copula -이다 (is) stays with its noun, so 얼굴이다 counts as 얼굴.
3. Grouped verb and adjective forms under the dictionary form. 본다, 봤다, 봅니다 and 봤어요 all count as 보다; 작은 and 작게 count as 작다. Adverbs with their own dictionary entry, such as 조용히 (quietly) and 많이 (a lot), stay separate, as do compound verbs such as 물어보다 (to ask) and 들어오다 (to come in).
4. Split look-alikes by context. 들었다 is "held" in most chapters but "heard" in three; 그 is "that" before a noun but "he" with a particle; 안 is "not" on its own but "inside" with a particle, so it appears twice.
5. Left out character names (about 13% of the text, with a few sounds such as 아 and 어), then ranked by how many chapters use the word, then by total uses. 편지 has 34 uses but appears in only 7 chapters, so it misses the cut; spread matters more than one series' favourite prop.

One tie remained for the last place: 듣다 (to hear), 울리다 (to ring), 그것 (that thing), 아무것도 (nothing) and 조용히 (quietly) each appear 9 times in 9 chapters. We kept 아무것도, which is in five A1 chapters; none of the others is in more than three. Romanization follows Korea's official Revised Romanization, which spells words as they sound: 있다 is itda, 앉다 is anda. The Korean writing system guide explains why.

Which particles come with these words?

The particles are not in the 100, because we took them off the words, but you will need them from the first page. The first three are in every chapter we counted.

Where a particle has two shapes, the first follows a consonant and the second a vowel: 손이 (hand) but 목소리가 (voice). That is also why coverage looks lower here than in a list for Spanish or Japanese: there, little words like "the" or は are counted on their own and top the list.

Which verbs should you learn first?

Thirty-one verbs make the list, counting 있다, 없다 and 아니다. The "form seen most" column shows why it pays to learn more than the dictionary form: most narration uses the plain -ㄴ다 ending (본다, 말한다), a few series narrate in polite -ㅂ니다 (봅니다), and characters talk to each other in -아요/-어요 (봤어요).

있다 shows why grouping matters. It appears 190 times in 21 different spellings, from 있다 (74) and 있었다 (29) to 있을까요 and 있니. Counted by spelling, it would still lead, but most of its relatives would scatter far down the list.

Two verbs say a lot about the stories. 대답하다 (to answer) appears 18 times, and 14 of them are 대답하지, as in 대답하지 않는다: "doesn't answer". And 창백해지다 (to turn pale) makes the list because faces keep changing colour: of the 35 times 얼굴이 appears, 9 go pale and 7 go red (빨개지다).

Which describing words make the list?

Korean adjectives behave like verbs: 작다 means "is small". Before a noun they take a modifier ending, which is the shape you will see most often.

작은 is 28 of the 40 uses of 작다, nearly always in front of a noun: 작은 문 (a small door), 작은 가게 (a small shop). 오래된 and 낡은 both translate as "old", but 낡은 adds worn out; neither is used for people.

Which nouns come up most?

Beginner stories are about people looking at each other, so the nouns are faces, hands, eyes and voices, plus the doors, houses and bags the plots turn on.

것 is a special case: a noun that rarely stands alone. It turns a phrase into "the thing that…", and in speech it shrinks to 거 or, with the subject particle, 게 (모르는 게 좋아요: it's better not to know).

Which pronouns, question words and small words make the list?

Pronouns, question words and numbers

One of these needs a warning: 너 (you) is only for close friends, children and people younger than you. Two words you may expect are missing. 그 (he) and 그녀 (she) belong to written narration, and Koreans rarely use them in speech: they use a name, a title such as 할머니, or nothing at all. Our beginner chapters mostly do the same, so neither makes the list. The NIKL learner list puts 그녀 in its third and hardest grade.

Linking words, adverbs and a greeting

그런데 and 하지만 both mean "but", and between them they appear 61 times: 하지만 sets up a contrast, while 그런데 also changes the subject, like "by the way" or "and then".

What do these words look like in a real sentence?

Beginner sentences lean heavily on the list. In these three from free chapters, every word except one noun is on it, once the particles come off.

Over whole chapters the share is lower, because names and story props fill the gaps: the 100 words cover 50% of the free chapters of Operation Eightieth Feast and 36% of The Bookshop Notes. Across all A1 chapters it is about 43%.

How should you learn your first 100 Korean words?

1. Learn each verb with two forms: the dictionary form for looking things up, and the form you will meet. 보다 and 본다, 말하다 and 말했어요. Irregular stems change shape: 듣다 becomes 들었다, 모르다 becomes 몰라요.
2. Learn nouns with their particles. 손이 떨린다 (her hand is shaking) teaches 손, 이 and 떨리다 at once, and shows the particle doing its job.
3. Use romanization as a crutch for a week, not a month. The Revised Romanization spellings above help you check a sound; reading the Hangul is what you will do in every chapter.
4. Meet the words again soon. The researcher Paul Nation calls vocabulary learning from reading "very fragile": a word met once and not again fades. Read a chapter, spot the list words, and save the ones you tap as flashcards.
5. Then go further. For the road from here to 500, 1,500 and 4,000 words, see how many Korean words you need.

Which everyday words are missing from the list?

A list measured from stories reflects what stories do. Narration is full of looking, asking and not answering, and short on small talk. 안녕하세요 made it, in 13 chapters, but 감사합니다 (thank you) is in only 3 of the 48, 미안해 (sorry) in 3 and 먹다 (to eat) in 4.

Learn those as phrases instead: hello, thank you, sorry and yes and no in Korean. For themed sets, the common Korean verbs and common nouns pages cover ground the stories skip, and frequency lists explains what lists like this one can and can't do.