Korean Words for Beginners: 44 Basic Words from the DPRK Dictionary
October 18, 2026 · KoryoTalk · 7 min read
Short answer: about forty words are enough for a first conversation in Korean. Below are 44 basic Korean words with transcriptions, all in the northern standard (문화어) that the DPRK dictionary records as the literary norm: 동무 "comrade", 로씨야 "Russia", 녀자 "woman", 렬차 "train". The words are grouped by topic — people, home, food, politeness, verbs and questions — so you can learn them in blocks of ten a day. At the end: how northern words differ from southern ones, and why the KoryoTalk dictionary simply has no southern variants.
People: 7 words to start with
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 사람 | saram | person, human |
| 남자 | namja | man |
| 녀자 | nyeoja | woman |
| 동무 | dongmu | comrade (the everyday address in the DPRK) |
| 로동자 | rodongja | worker |
| 학생 | haksaeng | student, pupil |
| 나라 | nara | country, state |
동무 is the signature word of the northern norm: in the DPRK it is the neutral way to address anyone, "comrade". In South Korea the same word means "friend" and sounds archaic — one of the first traps when translating northern texts.
Home and things: 10 words
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 집 | jip | house, home |
| 학교 | hakkyo | school |
| 책 | chaek | book |
| 탁자 | thakja | table |
| 창문 | changmun | window |
| 우물 | umul | well |
| 랭장고 | raengjango | refrigerator |
| 콤퓨터 | kompyuto | computer |
| 텔레비죤 | thellebijon | television, TV set |
| 렬차 | ryeolchha | train |
Food: 5 words
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 밥 | pap | cooked rice; meal |
| 찌개 | jjigae | thick stew |
| 우유 | uyu | milk |
| 물고기 | mulgogi | fish |
| 료리 | ryori | cookery, dish |
Note 료리: the DPRK dictionary lists it in the northern spelling with word-initial "r" — the southern variant with "y" is not part of the KoryoTalk dictionary base. Same for 렬차: this is the northern word for a train; southern phrasebooks use a different word entirely.
Country and language: 5 words
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 조선 | Joseon | Korea (the country's name in the DPRK) |
| 조선말 | Joseonmal | the Korean language |
| 로씨야 | Rosiya | Russia |
| 단어 | daneo | word (a unit of language) |
| 아침 | achim | morning; breakfast |
Politeness: 6 words that open a conversation
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 안녕 | annyeong | peace, well-being (the root of the greeting) |
| 안녕하십니까 | annyeonghasimnikka | hello (formal) |
| 실례 | sillye | discourtesy, breach of manners |
| 실례했습니다 | sillyehaetseumnida | excuse me (lit. "I have been discourteous") |
| 감사 | gamsa | thanks, gratitude |
| 감사합니다 | gamsahamnida | thank you (polite form) |
The first phrase of a conversation in the DPRK: "안녕하십니까, 동무!" — "Hello, comrade!". The greeting is built on 안녕 "well-being"; the formal form literally asks whether the other person lives in well-being.
Verbs and question words: 11 words
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 | meokda | to eat |
| 마시다 | masida | to drink |
| 오다 | oda | to come |
| 하다 | hada | to do |
| 좋다 | jota | to be good, to be pleasing |
| 다르다 | dareuda | to be different |
| 같다 | gatda | to be the same, to resemble |
| 누구 | nugu | who |
| 어디 | eodi | where, which place |
| 왜 | wae | why |
| 얼마 | eolma | how much, how many |
The verbs are given in the dictionary form ending in -다. Words are joined by particles: 은/을/이 after a consonant, 는/를/가 after a vowel. A minimal example: 사람이 오다 — "a person comes". Turning dictionary forms into polite phrases is a topic for a separate article in this series.
How to learn Korean words: ten a day
The method is paper cards — the same ones used for the alphabet: the word on one side, the meaning and transcription on the back.
- Days 1–2. People and politeness (13 words): conversations start with them. Build the phrase "안녕하십니까, 동무!" right away.
- Days 3–4. Home and things (10 words): place the cards on the real objects around the room.
- Day 5. Food (5 words) plus the verbs 먹다 and 마시다 — they click together with food into first phrases.
- Day 6. Country and language plus the question words (9 words): 누구, 어디, 왜, 얼마.
- Day 7. Review all 44 words at random; test recognition from both sides of each card, not the order.
Practise out loud: Korean oppositions like "p/pp" or "t/tt" are far easier to tell apart by ear (how the sound system works — in the pronunciation article). You can listen to the words from the tables and check them in the KoryoTalk bot: a dictionary base of 2.2 million Korean–Russian entries plus a separately built layer of verified northern equivalents.
How northern words differ from southern ones
The same thing often has different names in the two norms. The northern words from the tables against southern counterexamples:
| North (DPRK) | South (counterexample) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 동무 | 친구 | comrade / friend |
| 녀자 | 여자 | woman |
| 로씨야 | 러시아 | Russia |
| 렬차 | 기차 | train |
| 탁자 | 책상 | table |
| 료리 | 요리 | cookery, dish |
| 랭장고 | 냉장고 | refrigerator |
| 콤퓨터 | 컴퓨터 | computer |
| 텔레비죤 | 텔레비전 | television, TV set |
The right-hand column shows southern spellings; they are absent from the KoryoTalk dictionary and listed only as marked counterexamples. The difference also affects word beginnings: under the dueum rule the north keeps initial ㄴ/ㄹ where the south dropped them — more in the dueum article. The overall picture of the two norms is covered in "One Language, Two Norms", and the history of the script in the alphabet hub.
Bottom line
The 44 words in this article cover the everyday minimum: greet people, name objects and food, ask 누구/어디/얼마. After that two things keep you moving: daily cards and live pronunciation checks — easy to do in the KoryoTalk bot, which translates with the northern norm by default.
Fact check: the words and terms in this article — 사람, 남자, 녀자, 동무, 로동자, 학생, 나라, 집, 학교, 책, 탁자, 창문, 우물, 랭장고, 콤퓨터, 텔레비죤, 렬차, 밥, 찌개, 우유, 물고기, 료리, 조선, 조선말, 로씨야, 단어, 아침, 안녕, 안녕하십니까, 실례, 실례했습니다, 감사, 감사합니다, 먹다, 마시다, 오다, 하다, 좋다, 다르다, 같다, 누구, 어디, 왜, 얼마, 카드 — are confirmed by the KoryoTalk dictionary base (exact entries with definitions; the form 감사합니다 — via the phrasebook layer of the same base). Southern 친구, 여자, 러시아, 기차, 책상, 요리, 냉장고, 컴퓨터, 텔레비전 are counterexamples per the National Institute of Korean Language reference (korean.go.kr); they are absent from the northern dictionary. Demand data (Yandex Wordstat, Oct 18): "корейские слова" 16734/mo, "корейский язык слова" 2597/mo — the RU cluster this article was built from.