If you’re learning Korean, understanding how to give and ask for directions, describe positions, or follow location-related instructions is essential โ especially when you’re in Korea!
Whether youโre navigating a map, exploring the city, or talking to locals, this list of important Korean direction and position vocabulary and expressions will help you feel more confident and connected. ๐บ๏ธ
๐ Basic Direction Words in Korean
Korean | Pronunciation | English |
---|---|---|
์ผ์ชฝ | oen-jjok | Left |
์ค๋ฅธ์ชฝ | o-reun-jjok | Right |
์ | ap | Front |
๋ค | dwi | Back / behind |
์ | wi | Above / on top |
์๋ / ๋ฐ | a-rae / mit | Below / under |
์ | yeop | Beside / next to |
์ | an | Inside |
๋ฐ | bakk | Outside |
์ฌ์ด | sa-i | Between |
๊ฐ์ด๋ฐ | ga-un-de | Middle / center |
์ฃผ๋ณ | ju-byeon | Around / nearby |
๐งญ Directional Verbs & Movement
Korean | Pronunciation | English |
---|---|---|
๊ฐ๋ค | ga-da | To go |
์ค๋ค | o-da | To come |
๋์๊ฐ๋ค | dol-a-ga-da | To return |
๊ฑด๋๋ค | geon-neo-da | To cross |
์ง๋๊ฐ๋ค | ji-na-ga-da | To pass |
์ผ์ง์ ์ผ๋ก ๊ฐ๋ค | il-jik-seon-eu-ro ga-da | To go straight |
๋์์๋ค | dol-a-seo-da | To turn |
๋ฉ์ถ๋ค | meom-chu-da | To stop |
์ฌ๋ผ๊ฐ๋ค | ol-la-ga-da | To go up |
๋ด๋ ค๊ฐ๋ค | nae-ryeo-ga-da | To go down |
๐ Common Places Used in Directions
Korean | Pronunciation | English |
---|---|---|
๊ธธ | gil | Street / road |
์ฌ๊ฑฐ๋ฆฌ | sa-geo-ri | Intersection |
ํก๋จ๋ณด๋ | hoeng-dan-bo-do | Crosswalk |
์ ํธ๋ฑ | sin-ho-deung | Traffic light |
๊ฑด๋ฌผ | geon-mul | Building |
์ ๋ฅ์ฅ | jeong-ryu-jang | Bus stop |
์ญ | yeok | Station |
์ถ๊ตฌ | chul-gu | Exit |
์ ๊ตฌ | ip-gu | Entrance |
๊ณจ๋ชฉ | gol-mok | Alley |
๐ฃ๏ธ Useful Korean Expressions for Asking/Giving Directions
Korean | Pronunciation | English |
---|---|---|
์ด๋์์? | eo-di-ye-yo? | Where is it? |
…์ด๋์ ์์ด์? | …eo-di-e i-sseo-yo? | Where is … located? |
…์ผ๋ก ์ด๋ป๊ฒ ๊ฐ์? | …eu-ro eo-tteo-ke ga-yo? | How do I get to …? |
์ฌ๊ธฐ์์ ๊ฐ๊น์์? | yeo-gi-e-seo ga-kka-wo-yo? | Is it close to here? |
์ญ ๊ฐ์ธ์. | jjuk ga-se-yo | Go straight. |
์ค๋ฅธ์ชฝ์ผ๋ก ๊ฐ์ธ์. | o-reun-jjok-eu-ro ga-se-yo | Go to the right. |
์ผ์ชฝ์ผ๋ก ๊ฐ์ธ์. | oen-jjok-eu-ro ga-se-yo | Go to the left. |
์ด ๊ธธ์ ๋ฐ๋ผ ๊ฐ์ธ์. | i gil-eul tta-ra ga-se-yo | Follow this road. |
์ฒซ ๋ฒ์งธ ์ฌ๊ฑฐ๋ฆฌ์์ ์ฐํ์ ํ์ธ์. | cheot beon-jjae sa-geo-ri-e-seo u-hoe-jeon-ha-se-yo | Turn right at the first intersection. |
ํก๋จ๋ณด๋๋ฅผ ๊ฑด๋์ธ์. | hoeng-dan-bo-do-reul geon-neo-se-yo | Cross the crosswalk. |
์ฌ๊ธฐ ๊ทผ์ฒ์ ์์ด์. | yeo-gi geun-cheo-e i-sseo-yo | Itโs nearby here. |
์ ๊ธฐ ๋ณด์ด๋ ๊ฑด๋ฌผ์ด์์. | jeo-gi bo-i-neun geon-mul-i-e-yo | Itโs that building over there. |
๐ถ Everyday Direction-Related Conversations in Korean
๐ธ Tourist:
๊ฒฝ๋ณต๊ถ์ด ์ด๋์์?
Gyeong-bok-gung-i eo-di-ye-yo?
Where is Gyeongbokgung Palace?
๐ธ Local:
์ด ๊ธธ๋ก ์ญ ๊ฐ๋ค๊ฐ ์ค๋ฅธ์ชฝ์ผ๋ก ๋์ธ์.
I gil-lo jjuk ga-da-ga o-reun-jjok-eu-ro do-se-yo.
Go straight on this road and turn right.
๐ธ Traveler:
์งํ์ฒ ์ญ์ด ๊ฐ๊น์์?
Ji-ha-cheol-yeok-i ga-kka-wo-yo?
Is the subway station nearby?
๐ง Bonus Tips for Remembering Directions
- Use mnemonics: “์ค” (o) in ์ค๋ฅธ์ชฝ (right) sounds like “OK” (thumbs up on right hand).
- Learn with real-world context: Try asking directions when traveling in Korea or through language exchange.
- Use flashcards for directional pairs: left/right, up/down, in/out.
๐ Practice Time!
Letโs test your Korean:
1๏ธโฃ What is the Korean word for “left”?
2๏ธโฃ How do you say โTurn right at the intersectionโ in Korean?
3๏ธโฃ Whatโs the word for โentranceโ in Korean?
Comment your answers below! ๐
๐ Want to Learn More?
โ๏ธ Renting a House in Korean
โ๏ธ Hotel in Korean
โ๏ธ Korean Cooking Vocabulary
Do you need personalized Korean lessons? ๐ Click here to book a session! ๐
๐ Support My Work
If you found this post helpful, consider supporting me!
Your donation helps me create more Korean learning content and improve this website.
๐ Thank you for your support!
Every donation goes directly toward improving my website and creating high-quality Korean language content. I truly appreciate your generosity!