Hangul · consonant · 2 of 40
ㄴ 니은
- Name
- 니은 nieun
- Sound
- n, as in 나
- How it sounds
- A plain English n at the start of a word, between vowels and at the end of a block.
- Memory hook
- The corner shows the tip of the tongue lifted to touch the ridge behind the top teeth, the position for n. Trace the angle with your tongue as you say 나.
- Watch for
- Missing that ㄴ next to ㄹ is said as l, so 신라 is silla, not sinra.
Words that use ㄴ
Romanisation help
나무
namu
tree
누나
nuna
older sister (said by a male)
눈
nun
eye; snow
How to write ㄴ
Stroke order · 1 stroke
1
- 1. Down from the top left, then turn and go across to the right.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes are written left to right, vertical ones top to bottom.
- Many corners are turned without lifting the pen, so ㄱ and ㄴ are each a single stroke.
- ㅇ is drawn anticlockwise, starting from the top.
- Vowels follow the same order: ㅏ and ㅜ start with the long line, while ㅓ and ㅗ start with the short stroke.
- In a block, write the consonant first, then the vowel, then any final consonant.
Practise it with a tracing guide and a from-memory pass on the writing practice page.
ㄴ is taught on day 2 of the Hangul course, alongside ㄱ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ, with a memory hook, words to read and two writing passes.