Korean Keyboard Converter

Type Korean with the English keys you already have

A Korean keyboard is a normal QWERTY keyboard with Hangul letters printed on the same keys. Press D, K, S, S, U, D with a Korean input method turned on and you get ㅇ, ㅏ, ㄴ, ㄴ, ㅕ, ㅇ, which join into 안녕, a casual hello. Press the same keys with English input and you get the letters dkssud. This converter turns that pattern into a tool: type English letters (or tap the on-screen keys) and the result comes out as Hangul you can copy, with no Korean keyboard installed.

This is not romanization. Typing annyeong will not give you 안녕, because the tool follows key positions on the standard 2-set (dubeolsik) layout, KS X 5002, and not pronunciation. It also works backwards: paste Hangul such as ㅗ디ㅣㅐ and you get the English keys, hello. The direction is picked automatically from the letters you enter, and you can choose it yourself.

When this helps

• Your computer has no Korean input method: a school lab, an office PC or a shared computer where you cannot install one. Type with the English keys or tap the on-screen keyboard, then copy the Hangul into a chat, a document or a comment.
• You want to learn the layout before installing anything: the on-screen keyboard shows each key with its consonant or vowel, and a word's replay lights the keys in the order you would press them.
• A Korean friend sent something like rkatkgkqslek: that is a message typed while the keyboard was still in English mode. Paste it and read the Hangul.
• You want a short phrase in a fan comment or message: build 사랑해요 or 화이팅 from the keys and copy it.
• You are checking where your fingers go for a Hangul word: switch to Hangul to English keys, paste the word and replay the key presses.
• You typed Hangul by accident: if an English word came out as ㅗ디ㅣㅐ, the same tool turns it back into hello.

How to use it

1. Type English letters into the input box, or tap the on-screen keys. A tapped key puts its English letter at the cursor. The first screen holds a short greeting typed in English letters, and the Examples buttons load other samples.
2. Tap Shift once on the on-screen keyboard to turn the next key into a double consonant (ㅃ ㅉ ㄸ ㄲ ㅆ) or ㅒ or ㅖ. The Shift state applies to one key only.
3. Check the direction. Auto is the default, and the current choice is marked under the Auto button. You can pick English keys to Hangul or Hangul to English keys yourself.
4. Tap Copy result to take the Hangul with you.
5. Tap any word in the result to see how it was typed: the letters build up step by step (ㅇ, 아, 안, 안ㄴ, 안녀, 안녕) and the keys light up on the keyboard. Use Replay to watch it again.

The 2-set Korean keyboard layout

The Standard Korean Language Dictionary describes dubeolsik as a layout that does not separate first, middle and last sounds: one set of consonants sits on the left of the keyboard and one set of vowels on the right. Microsoft's Korean IME guide says the same thing in practice: type consonants with your left hand and vowels with your right. The one exception in the table is ㅠ, which sits on the B key, on the left, though people usually type it with the right hand. Hold Shift and the Q, W, E, R, T keys give the double consonants ㅃ, ㅉ, ㄸ, ㄲ, ㅆ, and O and P give ㅒ and ㅖ. The other 19 keys give the same letter with or without Shift.

How letters join into syllable blocks

Hangul is written in blocks, and each block is one syllable made of a first consonant (initial), a vowel (medial) and sometimes a final consonant (batchim). Unicode defines the modern syllables as 19 initials x 21 vowels x 28 finals (including no final), which makes 11,172 blocks, and it places them with this formula: 0xAC00 + (initial number x 21 + vowel number) x 28 + final number. For 한, ㅎ is initial number 18, ㅏ is vowel 0 and ㄴ is final 4, so the code is 0xAC00 + (18 x 21 + 0) x 28 + 4 = 0xD55C. The converter turns keys into letters, then uses this formula to build blocks. In the other direction it takes blocks apart with the same formula.

Some vowels and final consonants are made by pressing two keys in a row. These are the combinations.

The 2-set layout has no separate key for a final consonant. A consonant typed after a vowel first sits at the end of the block, and if a vowel comes next it moves over to start the next block. After a compound final, only the second consonant moves. This is why 앉아 needs a silent ㅇ: without it you get 안자. The replay under each word shows exactly this.

Common words and what they take to type

These are everyday words and the English keys behind them. Keys counts the English letter keys, not Shift separately. The second table is for the opposite case: English typed while a Korean keyboard was active, which is what a Korean friend's message can look like.

Some English words come out as finished Hangul blocks, like world, and others as loose letters, like hello. Either way, Hangul to English keys restores the English word.

Capitals, Caps Lock and phone auto-capitals

In English keys to Hangul, a capital letter can mean two things. Q, W, E, R, T, O and P are read as the Shift letters (ㅃ ㅉ ㄸ ㄲ ㅆ ㅒ ㅖ). The other 19 keys read the same in capitals as in lowercase. So Ekfrl becomes 딸기 and ekfrl becomes 달기.

With Caps Lock on, keys without Shift come out as capitals and keys with Shift come out lowercase, so the case is flipped. The converter treats a word as typed with Caps Lock when it has at least 2 capitals among those 19 keys and more capitals than lowercase letters, and it flips the case before reading. A note above the result lists those words, and Read capitals as typed switches it off.

A phone keyboard that capitalizes the first letter of a sentence cannot be detected. If you typed Rkatkgkqslek because your phone capitalized the R, the R is read as a Shift ㄲ and you get a double consonant at the start. Change that one letter to lowercase in the input box.

Mixed text

The converter works word by word. In English keys to Hangul, a run of English letters is one word and parts that are already Hangul stay as they are. Digits, spaces, punctuation and line breaks are kept. If an English word you meant to keep was converted, tap it in the result and turn on Keep as is; every copy of that word stays unchanged. Web addresses (https://, www.) and email addresses are left alone from the start, and a note tells you how many were kept.

Adding a Korean keyboard to your device

If you will type Korean often, a real Korean input method is faster. The menu names below come from the English help pages and can change with system updates.

On Windows, the On-Screen Keyboard (Windows logo key + Ctrl + O) helps you learn which Hangul letter sits on which English key, according to Microsoft. The on-screen keyboard on this page does the same job, and keys you press on your own keyboard light up on it too.

Common mistakes

• Typing romanization: annyeong is read as key presses and turns into 무ㅜㅛ대ㅜㅎ, not 안녕. Type the keys of the Hangul layout instead: dkssud.
• Wrong direction: if the result looks the same as the input, check the direction. dkssud set to Hangul to English keys has no Hangul to change.
• Lowercasing a pasted text: Ekfrl and ekfrl are different words (딸기 and 달기). Keep capitals as they are.
• Missing the silent ㅇ: 앉아 needs the d key before the vowel, otherwise the final moves over and you get 안자.
• A different layout: the 3-set layout and phone layouts such as Cheonjiin work differently, so text typed with them cannot be reversed with a 2-set table.
• Autocorrect got there first: if a keyboard changed your English-letter text into real English words, the original key order is gone.
• A skipped key: dksud, with one s missing, gives 아녕. Use the key breakdown to see where it goes wrong.

Limits

• Only the standard 2-set layout (KS X 5002) on a QWERTY keyboard is supported. The 3-set layout, old Hangul and phone-only layouts are not.
• Consonants typed one after another, such as ㄱ and ㅅ, are not merged into ㄳ the way some input methods do. They stay as separate letters.
• The tool does not guess which words were English to begin with. The direction is chosen from the whole text, and you decide what to keep.
• Caps Lock detection is an estimate from the mix of capitals and lowercase. Automatic capitals on a phone are not detected.
• The result shows the first 2,000 words with markup; the rest follows as plain text. Copy result copies everything.
• It converts key positions. It does not romanize or translate, so annyeong and hello are never produced from 안녕.

Basis: the key layout follows KS X 5002 (2-set) and the syllable formula follows section 3.12 of the Unicode 18.0 standard. Switching keys and settings paths were checked against Microsoft, Apple and Google help on 21 October 2026 and may differ after system updates.

Sources

• 01e-Nara Standard Certification: KS X 5002 keyboard layout for information processingThe national standard for the 2-set Hangul keyboard (Korean-language page)
• 02National Institute of Korean Language: Standard Korean Language Dictionary, 두벌식One set of consonants on the left and one set of vowels on the right (Korean-language page)
• 03The Unicode Standard 18.0: 3.12 Conjoining Jamo BehaviorSBase AC00, LCount 19, VCount 21, TCount 28, 11,172 syllables
• 04Microsoft Learn: Korean IMERight Alt to switch, left-hand consonants and right-hand vowels, Shift + Q W E R T O P, On-Screen Keyboard
• 05Apple: Korean Input Method Guide (Mac)2-Set Korean is the default Hangul input source in macOS; Caps Lock switching option
• 06Apple: Mac User Guide, Write in another languageControl-Space and Control-Option-Space to change input source
• 07Apple: iPhone User Guide, Add or change keyboardsSettings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard
• 08Gboard Help: Add a language on GboardLanguages > Add keyboard; touch and hold the space bar to switch

Frequently asked questions

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