Learn How to Read Hangul
The three lessons in this page will give you everything you need to be able to read Korean. Having taught all of this to myself, I understand the challenges that an English speaker can have when learning how to read. So, as in every lesson, I will explain everything in a way in which allowed me to understand it when I was teaching it to myself.
Study hard, and make sure you understand everything in these lessons before you move on. In Unit 1 you will meet my older brother… he’s a mean boy… and he will begin to teach you Korean grammar and vocabulary.
For now, don’t even think about words or grammar or anything until you can read and pronounce Korean letters and syllables. Without being able to read Korean, it is very difficult to continue studying other parts of the language.
In the Unit 0 lessons I will provide the Romanized equivalents to the Korean alphabet. However, I highly suggest that once you know how to read the Korean alphabet, you should completely abandon the Romanizations. For example, in the future, instead of studying like this:
학교 (hak-kyo) = school
You should study like this:
학교 = school
You should study like this:
학교 = school
At any rate, study these characters like crazy. Memorizing them at first is hard, but it needs to be done. Luckily, Korean has a fairly simple ‘alphabet’, although it seems strange to most English speakers at first because it is completely different than English.
| Note that the letters I teach you in these lessons in Unit 0 are not in alphabetical order. Rather, I am presenting the most simple letters first, and presenting more complex letters later. Unless you plan on attending kindergarten in Korean in the next few weeks, there is no immediate need to learn the alphabetical order. I’ve lived in Korea for years, and the only time it actually comes in handy is when I input my student’s scores into the system on my computer at work – as knowing the alphabetical order helps me find their names quicker. It’s definitely good to know, but for now, you have way more important things to worry about. Nonetheless, here is the actual alphabetical order, which is separated into consonants and vowels:ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ |
The following are the first set of Korean consonants that you need to get into your brain. There is no easy way to explain them, you just need to memorize them:
ㄱ= k
ㄴ= n
ㄷ= d
ㄹ=r/l
ㄴ= n
ㄷ= d
ㄹ=r/l
- (This sound is very difficult to write in English, and is the reason why people from Korea/Japan have trouble pronouncing the R and L sound in Engrish. The sound of this letter (to me) is half way between an R and L. For example, if you were to say “I hadda good time last night” the ㄹ sound is very similar to the “dd” in the slang “hadda.” It’s not quite and R, and it’s not quite an L.)
ㅁ= m
ㅂ= b
ㅅ= s
ㅈ= j
ㅎ= h
ㅂ= b
ㅅ= s
ㅈ= j
ㅎ= h
I want to say one incredibly important thing before you continue. People constantly ask me about the pronunciation of Korean letters, and how they can be best represented using English (Latin) characters. There is no perfect way to represent Korean characters using English letters (or sounds). The English letters presented above are the letters that you will commonly find being used to represent their respective Korean letters. While it is helpful (at first) to memorize the general sound of a Korean letter by using the English letter – you have to remember that Korean sounds are vastly different than English sounds. Not only are Korean sounds different than English sounds – but English sounds different depending on who is speaking (because of accents). Therefore, there is no perfect way to represent the Korean sounds in English.
For example, you will often see:
“K” and “G” used to represent “ㄱ.”
Or “D” and “T” to represent “ㄷ”
Or “R” and “L” to represent “ㄹ”
Or “D” and “T” to represent “ㄷ”
Or “R” and “L” to represent “ㄹ”
Truth is, none of those letters matches perfectly with the sound of their respective Korean letter. The only way to know exactly how a Korean letter sounds is to listen to it. Trying to represent it with an English letter (whose pronunciation could change based on the person speaking) doesn’t work. Throughout our lessons (not just in this Unit, but in future Units as well), you will find thousands of audio files attached to vocabulary, letters and example sentences. The best thing you can do is listen to those audio recordings as much as possible to train your ear to the correct sounds.
Anyways, memorize the English equivalents of the characters to help you at this stage, but try not to think that the sounds are exactly the same.
For now, don’t even think about words or grammar or anything until you can read and pronounce Korean letters and syllables. Without being able to read Korean, it is very difficult to continue studying other parts of the language.
In the Unit 0 lessons I will provide the Romanized equivalents to the Korean alphabet. However, I highly suggest that once you know how to read the Korean alphabet, you should completely abandon the Romanizations. For example, in the future, instead of studying like this:
학교 (hak-kyo) = school
You should study like this:
학교 = school
You should study like this:
학교 = school
At any rate, study these characters like crazy. Memorizing them at first is hard, but it needs to be done. Luckily, Korean has a fairly simple ‘alphabet’, although it seems strange to most English speakers at first because it is completely different than English.
| Note that the letters I teach you in these lessons in Unit 0 are not in alphabetical order. Rather, I am presenting the most simple letters first, and presenting more complex letters later. Unless you plan on attending kindergarten in Korean in the next few weeks, there is no immediate need to learn the alphabetical order. I’ve lived in Korea for years, and the only time it actually comes in handy is when I input my student’s scores into the system on my computer at work – as knowing the alphabetical order helps me find their names quicker. It’s definitely good to know, but for now, you have way more important things to worry about. Nonetheless, here is the actual alphabetical order, which is separated into consonants and vowels:ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ |
The following are the first set of Korean consonants that you need to get into your brain. There is no easy way to explain them, you just need to memorize them:
ㄱ= k
ㄴ= n
ㄷ= d
ㄹ=r/l
ㄴ= n
ㄷ= d
ㄹ=r/l
- (This sound is very difficult to write in English, and is the reason why people from Korea/Japan have trouble pronouncing the R and L sound in Engrish. The sound of this letter (to me) is half way between an R and L. For example, if you were to say “I hadda good time last night” the ㄹ sound is very similar to the “dd” in the slang “hadda.” It’s not quite and R, and it’s not quite an L.)
ㅁ= m
ㅂ= b
ㅅ= s
ㅈ= j
ㅎ= h
ㅂ= b
ㅅ= s
ㅈ= j
ㅎ= h
I want to say one incredibly important thing before you continue. People constantly ask me about the pronunciation of Korean letters, and how they can be best represented using English (Latin) characters. There is no perfect way to represent Korean characters using English letters (or sounds). The English letters presented above are the letters that you will commonly find being used to represent their respective Korean letters. While it is helpful (at first) to memorize the general sound of a Korean letter by using the English letter – you have to remember that Korean sounds are vastly different than English sounds. Not only are Korean sounds different than English sounds – but English sounds different depending on who is speaking (because of accents). Therefore, there is no perfect way to represent the Korean sounds in English.
For example, you will often see:
“K” and “G” used to represent “ㄱ.”
Or “D” and “T” to represent “ㄷ”
Or “R” and “L” to represent “ㄹ”
Or “D” and “T” to represent “ㄷ”
Or “R” and “L” to represent “ㄹ”
Truth is, none of those letters matches perfectly with the sound of their respective Korean letter. The only way to know exactly how a Korean letter sounds is to listen to it. Trying to represent it with an English letter (whose pronunciation could change based on the person speaking) doesn’t work. Throughout our lessons (not just in this Unit, but in future Units as well), you will find thousands of audio files attached to vocabulary, letters and example sentences. The best thing you can do is listen to those audio recordings as much as possible to train your ear to the correct sounds.
Anyways, memorize the English equivalents of the characters to help you at this stage, but try not to think that the sounds are exactly the same.
.
Next are the basic vowels you will need to know. Again, do whatever you can to memorize the English representations to help you learn them.
ㅣ = i
ㅏ = a
ㅓ = eo (Romanized as “eo” but it sounds closer to “uh” in English)
ㅡ = eu
ㅜ = u
ㅗ = o
ㅏ = a
ㅓ = eo (Romanized as “eo” but it sounds closer to “uh” in English)
ㅡ = eu
ㅜ = u
ㅗ = o
You should notice that the first three vowels are drawn vertically, and the bottom three are drawn horizontally. If you can’t see what I mean, look at the following picture for a more exaggerated depiction.
In that picture, it should be clear that the ones on the left are drawn vertically, and the ones on the right are drawn horizontally. The difference is very important because the way every Korean letter is written depends on if the vowel is drawn vertically or horizontally.
Let’s take a look at how it is done.
Korean is written into “blocks” that make up one syllable. One block always has exactly one syllable. The blocks are ALWAYS drawn in one of the following ways:
Important rules you need to know about these structures:
1. Number “2” is ALWAYS a vowel. Always always always always always.
2. Number “1, 3 (and sometimes 4) are ALWAYS consonants. Always.
3. Blocks containing a horizontally drawn vowel are always drawn in one of these two ways:
2. Number “1, 3 (and sometimes 4) are ALWAYS consonants. Always.
3. Blocks containing a horizontally drawn vowel are always drawn in one of these two ways:
4. Blocks containing a vertically drawn vowel are always drawn in one of these two ways:
Now that you know those rules, it is just a matter of putting the consonants and vowels together to make blocks. For example, if I want to write “bab”:
Step 1: Determine if the vowel is horizontal or vertical. a (ㅏ) is vertical, so we will use:
Step 2: Determine if the syllable ends in a consonant. Yes, it does. So we need to fill 1, 2 and 3, so we need to use:
Step 2: Determine if the syllable ends in a consonant. Yes, it does. So we need to fill 1, 2 and 3, so we need to use:
Step 3: Place the starting letter “b (ㅂ)”, the middle letter “a (ㅏ)” and the ending letter “b (ㅂ)” into 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
Let’s practice a few before we finish:ㄱ = k
ㅏ = a
ㄴ = n
ㅏ is vertically aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 간 (kan)
ㅂ = b
ㅓ = eo
ㅂ = b
ㅓ is vertically aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 법 (beob)
ㅓ = eo
ㅂ = b
ㅓ is vertically aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 법 (beob)
ㅈ = j
ㅜ = u
ㅜ is horizontally aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 주 (ju)
ㅜ = u
ㅜ is horizontally aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 주 (ju)
ㅎ = h
ㅗ = o
ㅗ is horizontally aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 호 (ho)
ㅗ = o
ㅗ is horizontally aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 호 (ho)
The following tables show all of the letters presented in this lesson, and how they match up to create syllables.
The first table only shows syllables created without the use of a final consonant. By factoring in the use of a final consonant, many more varieties of syllables can be created, and those will be presented a little bit lower.
Click the letters on the left of the table to hear how each letter is pronounced with each vowel. Be sure to listen to how the vowels are pronounced, as well as the syllables. Also, when listening to these sounds, try to understand where some of the ambiguity comes from when trying to represent these sounds with English (Latin) letters. I often get questions from learners who are confused whether to use “G” or “K” to represent “ㄱ.” Listen to the “ㄱ” column and tell me which letter best represents that sound in all cases. You can’t. This is why there is confusion amongst early learners of Korean in terms of the correct pronunciation of letters. The same can be said for other letters, like “B” and “P” with “ㅂ” and “R” and “L” with “ㄹ.”
However, as I said before, you should try your best to abandon all English/Latin representations of Korean words, as it just adds to confusion. It much better to only use Korean letters to represent Korean sounds, even though it may be difficult at first.
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 비 | 바 | 버 | 브 | 부 | 보 |
| ㅈ | 지 | 자 | 저 | 즈 | 주 | 조 |
| ㄷ | 디 | 다 | 더 | 드 | 두 | 도 |
| ㄱ | 기 | 가 | 거 | 그 | 구 | 고 |
| ㅅ | 시 | 사 | 서 | 스 | 수 | 소 |
| ㅁ | 미 | 마 | 머 | 므 | 무 | 모 |
| ㄴ | 니 | 나 | 너 | 느 | 누 | 노 |
| ㅎ | 히 | 하 | 허 | 흐 | 후 | 호 |
| ㄹ | 리 | 라 | 러 | 르 | 루 | 로 |
When looking at this table, it is important to note how each vowel pairs up with a consonant. I am showing you this table (and the ones that follow) to allow you to get familiar with the structure of a Korean syllable. Note that these constructions are not necessarily words, and that it usually takes more than one syllable to make a word.
The following nine tables are similar to the table presented above. However, in each table, one specific consonant is being used as the final consonant of the syllable. Again, I am showing you these tables to allow you to familiarize yourself with the variety of constructions that could be made with the letters you learned today. You should specifically look for the patterns that exist for every letter. You do not, by any means, need to memorize any of these constructions – as that will come naturally as you progress through your study of Korean.
Also note that while some of the syllables shown in the tables below are very common, some you will never find in any word in Korean. Notice that some of the syllables in the table are colored gray. You will probably never find that syllable in any Korean word, ever. The one’s in black are syllables that you will see within words. The colored/underlined syllables are actually words on their own. If you hover your mouse over these words, you will see the translation in English. I have done this only for convenience, and you do not need to memorize any of this at this point.
Final Consonant: ㅂ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빕 | 밥 | 법 | 븝 | 붑 | 봅 |
| ㅈ | 집 | 잡 | 접 | 즙 | 줍 | 좁 |
| ㄷ | 딥 | 답 | 덥 | 듭 | 둡 | 돕 |
| ㄱ | 깁 | 갑 | 겁 | 급 | 굽 | 곱 |
| ㅅ | 십 | 삽 | 섭 | 습 | 숩 | 솝 |
| ㅁ | 밉 | 맙 | 멉 | 믑 | 뭅 | 몹 |
| ㄴ | 닙 | 납 | 넙 | 늡 | 눕 | 놉 |
| ㅎ | 힙 | 합 | 헙 | 흡 | 훕 | 홉 |
| ㄹ | 립 | 랍 | 럽 | 릅 | 룹 | 롭 |
Final Consonant: ㅈ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빚 | 밪 | 벚 | 븢 | 붖 | 봊 |
| ㅈ | 짖 | 잦 | 젖 | 즞 | 줒 | 좆 |
| ㄷ | 딪 | 닺 | 덪 | 듲 | 둦 | 돚 |
| ㄱ | 깆 | 갖 | 겆 | 긎 | 궂 | 곶 |
| ㅅ | 싲 | 샂 | 섲 | 슺 | 숮 | 솢 |
| ㅁ | 밎 | 맞 | 멎 | 믖 | 뭊 | 몾 |
| ㄴ | 닞 | 낮 | 넞 | 늦 | 눚 | 놎 |
| ㅎ | 힞 | 핮 | 헞 | 흦 | 훚 | 홎 |
| ㄹ | 맂 | 랒 | 렂 | 릊 | 룾 | 롲 |
Final Consonant: ㄷ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빋 | 받 | 벋 | 븓 | 붇 | 볻 |
| ㅈ | 짇 | 잗 | 젇 | 즏 | 줃 | 졷 |
| ㄷ | 딛 | 닫 | 덛 | 듣 | 둗 | 돋 |
| ㄱ | 긷 | 갇 | 걷 | 귿 | 굳 | 곧 |
| ㅅ | 싣 | 삳 | 섣 | 슫 | 숟 | 솓 |
| ㅁ | 믿 | 맏 | 먿 | 믇 | 묻 | 몯 |
| ㄴ | 닏 | 낟 | 넏 | 늗 | 눋 | 녿 |
| ㅎ | 힏 | 핟 | 헏 | 흗 | 훋 | 혿 |
| ㄹ | 릳 | 랃 | 럳 | 륻 | 룯 | 롣 |
Final Consonant: ㄱ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빅 | 박 | 벅 | 븍 | 북 | 복 |
| ㅈ | 직 | 작 | 적 | 즉 | 죽 | 족 |
| ㄷ | 딕 | 닥 | 덕 | 득 | 둑 | 독 |
| ㄱ | 긱 | 각 | 걱 | 극 | 국 | 곡 |
| ㅅ | 식 | 삭 | 석 | 슥 | 숙 | 속 |
| ㅁ | 믹 | 막 | 먹 | 믁 | 묵 | 목 |
| ㄴ | 닉 | 낙 | 넉 | 늑 | 눅 | 녹 |
| ㅎ | 힉 | 학 | 헉 | 흑 | 훅 | 혹 |
| ㄹ | 릭 | 락 | 럭 | 륵 | 룩 | 록 |
Final Consonant: ㅅ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빗 | 밧 | 벗 | 븟 | 붓 | 봇 |
| ㅈ | 짓 | 잣 | 젓 | 즛 | 줏 | 좃 |
| ㄷ | 딧 | 닷 | 덧 | 듯 | 둣 | 돗 |
| ㄱ | 깃 | 갓 | 것 | 긋 | 굿 | 곳 |
| ㅅ | 싯 | 삿 | 섯 | 슷 | 숫 | 솟 |
| ㅁ | 밋 | 맛 | 멋 | 믓 | 뭇 | 못 |
| ㄴ | 닛 | 낫 | 넛 | 늣 | 눗 | 놋 |
| ㅎ | 힛 | 핫 | 헛 | 흣 | 훗 | 홋 |
| ㄹ | 릿 | 랏 | 럿 | 릇 | 룻 | 롯 |
Final Consonant: ㅁ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빔 | 밤 | 범 | 븜 | 붐 | 봄 |
| ㅈ | 짐 | 잠 | 점 | 즘 | 줌 | 좀 |
| ㄷ | 딤 | 담 | 덤 | 듬 | 둠 | 돔 |
| ㄱ | 김 | 감 | 검 | 금 | 굼 | 곰 |
| ㅅ | 심 | 삼 | 섬 | 슴 | 숨 | 솜 |
| ㅁ | 밈 | 맘 | 멈 | 믐 | 뭄 | 몸 |
| ㄴ | 님 | 남 | 넘 | 늠 | 눔 | 놈 |
| ㅎ | 힘 | 함 | 험 | 흠 | 훔 | 홈 |
| ㄹ | 림 | 람 | 럼 | 름 | 룸 | 롬 |
Final Consonant: ㄴ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빈 | 반 | 번 | 븐 | 분 | 본 |
| ㅈ | 진 | 잔 | 전 | 즌 | 준 | 존 |
| ㄷ | 딘 | 단 | 던 | 든 | 둔 | 돈 |
| ㄱ | 긴 | 간 | 건 | 근 | 군 | 곤 |
| ㅅ | 신 | 산 | 선 | 슨 | 순 | 손 |
| ㅁ | 민 | 만 | 먼 | 믄 | 문 | 몬 |
| ㄴ | 닌 | 난 | 넌 | 는 | 눈 | 논 |
| ㅎ | 힌 | 한 | 헌 | 흔 | 훈 | 혼 |
| ㄹ | 린 | 란 | 런 | 른 | 룬 | 론 |
Final Consonant: ㅎ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빟 | 밯 | 벟 | 븧 | 붛 | 봏 |
| ㅈ | 짛 | 잫 | 젛 | 즣 | 줗 | 좋 |
| ㄷ | 딯 | 닿 | 덯 | 듷 | 둫 | 돟 |
| ㄱ | 깋 | 갛 | 겋 | 긓 | 궇 | 곻 |
| ㅅ | 싷 | 샇 | 섷 | 슿 | 숳 | 솧 |
| ㅁ | 밓 | 맣 | 멓 | 믛 | 뭏 | 뫃 |
| ㄴ | 닣 | 낳 | 넣 | 늫 | 눟 | 놓 |
| ㅎ | 힣 | 핳 | 헣 | 흫 | 훟 | 홓 |
| ㄹ | 맇 | 랗 | 렇 | 릏 | 뤃 | 롷 |
Final Consonant: ㄹ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빌 | 발 | 벌 | 블 | 불 | 볼 |
| ㅈ | 질 | 잘 | 절 | 즐 | 줄 | 졸 |
| ㄷ | 딜 | 달 | 덜 | 들 | 둘 | 돌 |
| ㄱ | 길 | 갈 | 걸 | 글 | 굴 | 골 |
| ㅅ | 실 | 살 | 설 | 슬 | 술 | 솔 |
| ㅁ | 밀 | 말 | 멀 | 믈 | 물 | 몰 |
| ㄴ | 닐 | 날 | 널 | 늘 | 눌 | 놀 |
| ㅎ | 힐 | 할 | 헐 | 흘 | 훌 | 홀 |
| ㄹ | 릴 | 랄 | 럴 | 를 | 룰 | 롤 |
That’s it for this lesson! Hopefully you aren’t too confused!
At this point I suggest you practice making as many blocks (syllables) as possible on your own. Study everything I just taught you for a few days, and make sure you understand everything. Before we move on, you should be able to:
- Recognize the vowels and consonants that were taught in today’s lesson
- Be able to make syllables by putting together formations of vowels and consonants
.In our previous lesson, we studied the most basic letters in the Korean alphabet. There are still some more letters that you will need to wrap your head around before we go any further. Thankfully, now that you know the basics for making syllables, the rest is just a matter of learning more letters of the alphabet.
The first new letter that you will learn is confusing at first but, again, is something you need memorize before you go any further. Our new letter is: ㅇ
In the previous lesson, you learned that Korean syllables are always written in one of the following ways:
In the previous lesson, you learned that Korean syllables are always written in one of the following ways:
You also learned that number 2 is ALWAYS a vowel and the other numbers are always consonants. Always always always.
This means that Number 1 is always a consonant (as well as Number 3, if there is one). But does that mean that every syllable must start with a consonant?
The answer: Sort of.
When the letter ‘ㅇ’ is placed at Number 1 in the syllable it is silent, and the first sound that is made is the vowel in the Number 2 position. Some examples:
안 = an
운 = un
온 = on
업 = eob
운 = un
온 = on
업 = eob
Using this silent letter, we are able to follow the rule that you learned earlier “Number 2 is ALWAYS a vowel”
What makes the letter ‘o’ slightly more tricky is that it makes another sound when placed as Number 3. When placed as Number 3, it has the sound of ‘ng’ as in “walkiNG”. Some examples:
강 = kang
방 = bang
깅 = king
공 = kong
방 = bang
깅 = king
공 = kong
The letter ㅇ can be placed as both Number 1 and 3:
앙 = ang
In addition to that letter, there are some more letters that need to be learned. Luckily, each of the following letters is very similar in appearance and sound to the letters you have already learned. Unfortunately, this usually adds to the confusion for English speakers, because it is very hard to distinguish between two different letters.
.
I’ll present them in sets:
ㄱ set
ㄱ is the letter you already learned (k)
ㄲ is a new letter. It is two ㄱ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄱ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘kk’
ㅋ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄱ’ and is Romanized as ‘k’
ㄱ set
ㄱ is the letter you already learned (k)
ㄲ is a new letter. It is two ㄱ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄱ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘kk’
ㅋ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄱ’ and is Romanized as ‘k’
ㅂ set
ㅂ is the letter you already learned (b)
ㅃ is a new letter. It is two ㅂ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅂ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘bb’
ㅍ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅂ’ but is Romanized as ‘p.’ It is closer to a ‘p’ in English, but, even in English, B and P are VERY similar (say box and pox and try distinguishing the two)
ㅂ is the letter you already learned (b)
ㅃ is a new letter. It is two ㅂ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅂ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘bb’
ㅍ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅂ’ but is Romanized as ‘p.’ It is closer to a ‘p’ in English, but, even in English, B and P are VERY similar (say box and pox and try distinguishing the two)
ㅈ set
ㅈ is the letter you already learned (j)
ㅉ is a new letter. It is two ㅈ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅈ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘jj’
ㅊ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅈ’ but is Romanized as ‘ch.’ It is closer to a ‘ch’ in English, but, even in English, J and CH are VERY similar (say char and jar and try distinguishing the two)
ㅈ is the letter you already learned (j)
ㅉ is a new letter. It is two ㅈ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅈ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘jj’
ㅊ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅈ’ but is Romanized as ‘ch.’ It is closer to a ‘ch’ in English, but, even in English, J and CH are VERY similar (say char and jar and try distinguishing the two)
ㄷ set
ㄷ is the letter you already learned (d)
ㄸ is a new letter. It is two ㄷ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄷ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘dd’
ㅌ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄷ’ but is Romanized as ‘t’ It is closer to a ‘t’ in English, but, even in English, T and D are VERY similar (say task and dask and try distinguishing the two)
ㄷ is the letter you already learned (d)
ㄸ is a new letter. It is two ㄷ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄷ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘dd’
ㅌ is also a new letter, this also sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄷ’ but is Romanized as ‘t’ It is closer to a ‘t’ in English, but, even in English, T and D are VERY similar (say task and dask and try distinguishing the two)
ㅅ set
ㅅ is the letter we already learned (s)
ㅆ is a new letter. It is two ㅅ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅅ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘ss’
ㅅ is the letter we already learned (s)
ㅆ is a new letter. It is two ㅅ’s placed side by side. It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅅ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation. It is Romanized as ‘ss’
As I said earlier, in one way, those new letters are very simple, because they are just building on the letters in which you already know. On the other hand, they add confusion because the new letters sound very similar to the previous ones.
All of the new letters can form syllables just like the letters you learned in Lesson 1. For example:
ㄸ = dd
ㅏ = a
ㅇ = ng
ㅏ is vertically aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 땅 (ddang)
ㅏ = a
ㅇ = ng
ㅏ is vertically aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 땅 (ddang)
ㅌ = t
ㅗ = o
ㅇ = ng
ㅗ is horizontally aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 통
ㅗ = o
ㅇ = ng
ㅗ is horizontally aligned, so if we make a syllable we would write: 통
The following table, just like the tables presented in the previous lesson will show you how to match up the letters you learned in this lesson to form syllables.
This first table shows you all of these new letters (plus the letters from Lesson 1) without the use of a final consonant.
This first table shows you all of these new letters (plus the letters from Lesson 1) without the use of a final consonant.
Again, while it is important to familiarize yourself with construction patterns of these syllables, you do not need to memorize any of them. All of the following can be found in words.
Also, notice that you can listen to each new consonant being pronounced with all of the vowels that you know up to this point.
Also, notice that you can listen to each new consonant being pronounced with all of the vowels that you know up to this point.
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 비 | 바 | 버 | 브 | 부 | 보 |
| ㅈ | 지 | 자 | 저 | 즈 | 주 | 조 |
| ㄷ | 디 | 다 | 더 | 드 | 두 | 도 |
| ㄱ | 기 | 가 | 거 | 그 | 구 | 고 |
| ㅅ | 시 | 사 | 서 | 스 | 수 | 소 |
| ㅁ | 미 | 마 | 머 | 므 | 무 | 모 |
| ㄴ | 니 | 나 | 너 | 느 | 누 | 노 |
| ㅎ | 히 | 하 | 허 | 흐 | 후 | 호 |
| ㄹ | 리 | 라 | 러 | 르 | 루 | 로 |
| ㅇ | 이 | 아 | 어 | 으 | 우 | 오 |
| ㄲ | 끼 | 까 | 꺼 | 끄 | 꾸 | 꼬 |
| ㅋ | 키 | 카 | 커 | 크 | 쿠 | 코 |
| ㅃ | 삐 | 빠 | 뻐 | 쁘 | 뿌 | 뽀 |
| ㅍ | 피 | 파 | 퍼 | 프 | 푸 | 포 |
| ㅉ | 찌 | 짜 | 쩌 | 쯔 | 쭈 | 쪼 |
| ㅊ | 치 | 차 | 처 | 츠 | 추 | 초 |
| ㄸ | 띠 | 따 | 떠 | 뜨 | 뚜 | 또 |
| ㅌ | 티 | 타 | 터 | 트 | 투 | 토 |
| ㅆ | 씨 | 싸 | 써 | 쓰 | 쑤 | 쏘 |
Even to somebody who has been learning Korean for years, it is very difficult to distinguish the differences between: ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ; ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ; and ㅅ and ㅆ. If you have access to a Korean person, asked them to use those letters in words so you can try to get accustomed to distinguishing them. It’s not easy, but doing so is not imperative at this point.
For example, try to distinguish the difference between:
ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ
While it is fairly east to distinguish “ㄲ” from the others, ㄱ and ㅋ essentially sound exactly the same.
ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ
While it is fairly east to distinguish “ㄲ” from the others, ㄱ and ㅋ essentially sound exactly the same.
In the previous lesson, I made multiple tables to present all of the syllable possibilities that could arise from the letters taught in Lesson 1. Now, in Lesson 2, with the addition of 10 more consonants, presenting all possible syllable possibilities would be redundant. Instead, I have created a table that shows all of the consonants and vowels being used with ‘ㅇ’ as the final consonant:
As I did in the first lesson – if a syllable below is a word by itself, it is underlined an highlighted. If you hover your mouse over these words, the English translation will pop up on the screen.
Last letter: ㅇ
| ㅣ | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅡ | ㅜ | ㅗ | |
| ㅂ | 빙 | 방 | 벙 | 븡 | 붕 | 봉 |
| ㅈ | 징 | 장 | 정 | 증 | 중 | 종 |
| ㄷ | 딩 | 당 | 덩 | 등 | 둥 | 동 |
| ㄱ | 깅 | 강 | 겅 | 긍 | 궁 | 공 |
| ㅅ | 싱 | 상 | 성 | 승 | 숭 | 송 |
| ㅁ | 밍 | 망 | 멍 | 믕 | 뭉 | 몽 |
| ㄴ | 닝 | 낭 | 넝 | 능 | 눙 | 농 |
| ㅎ | 힝 | 항 | 헝 | 흥 | 훙 | 홍 |
| ㄹ | 링 | 랑 | 렁 | 릉 | 룽 | 롱 |
| ㅇ | 잉 | 앙 | 엉 | 응 | 웅 | 옹 |
| ㄲ | 낑 | 깡 | 껑 | 끙 | 꿍 | 꽁 |
| ㅋ | 킹 | 캉 | 컹 | 킁 | 쿵 | 콩 |
| ㅃ | 삥 | 빵 | 뻥 | 쁭 | 뿡 | 뽕 |
| ㅍ | 핑 | 팡 | 펑 | 픙 | 풍 | 퐁 |
| ㅉ | 찡 | 짱 | 쩡 | 쯩 | 쭝 | 쫑 |
| ㅊ | 칭 | 창 | 청 | 층 | 충 | 총 |
| ㄸ | 띵 | 땅 | 떵 | 뜽 | 뚱 | 똥 |
| ㅌ | 팅 | 탕 | 텅 | 틍 | 퉁 | 통 |
| ㅆ | 씽 | 쌍 | 썽 | 씅 | 쑹 | 쏭 |
Hopefully you aren’t too confused, because there are still some more letters that you need to know. In the next lesson, you will learn the final letters that you will need to know before studying real words and sentences. I suggest now that you try to make as many “blocks” as possible with the new letters that you learned. Before moving on to the next lesson, you should be able to:
- Recognize the new consonants that were taught
- Be able to make syllables by putting together formations of vowels and new consonants.
Korean pronunciation is vastly different from English, and it takes a lot of practice to be able to be able to pronounce words correctly. The biggest mistake you can make is assume that the pronunciation of a Korean letter is identical to the pronunciation of that letter’s Romanization in English. This is simply not the case and is a mistake that virtually all new learners of Korean make.
Listen to some of the syllables in sequence so you can get a feel for what they should sound like:
강, 밥, 숨, 독, 어, 민, 육
실, 력, 교, 예, 무, 화, 동
학, 김, 의, 월, 식, 꿈, 완
빵, 몸, 왜, 산, 씹, 했, 찌
강, 밥, 숨, 독, 어, 민, 육
실, 력, 교, 예, 무, 화, 동
학, 김, 의, 월, 식, 꿈, 완
빵, 몸, 왜, 산, 씹, 했, 찌
In addition to the syllables above, continue listening to the audio files in Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 (Unit 0) in the tables presented in those lessons.
Korean pronunciation is entirely different in structure compared to English pronunciation. You may have noticed this from listening to the recording files above. In English, whenever a word ends in a consonant, we always make a little sound after saying that last letter. It is very faint and difficult to hear for a person with a ‘non-Korean ear’ to hear. But try to hear the difference.
In English, if I were to say “ship”, there is a tiny sound of breath following the ‘p’ when our lips open.
In English, if I were to say “dock”, there is a tiny sound of breath following the ‘ck’ when your throat opens.
In English, if I were to say “cod”, (or kod) there is a tiny sound of breath following the ‘d’ when your tongue is removed from the roof of your mouth.
In English, if I were to say “dock”, there is a tiny sound of breath following the ‘ck’ when your throat opens.
In English, if I were to say “cod”, (or kod) there is a tiny sound of breath following the ‘d’ when your tongue is removed from the roof of your mouth.
In Korean, they do not have this final ‘breath’ sound. This is hard to understand at first to English speakers. Whatever position one’s mouth is in when they make the sound of a final consonant in a syllable – it stays like that. Listen to the following differences in English and Korean pronunciation of the same syllables:
However…
If a word has a consonant as its final sound, and the first letter on the following syllable is ‘ㅇ’ (meaning that the first sound is a vowel) the breath from the final consonant from the first syllable gets pronounced with the vowel from that syllable. It is confusing to write in a sentence, so I will show you an example:
If a word has a consonant as its final sound, and the first letter on the following syllable is ‘ㅇ’ (meaning that the first sound is a vowel) the breath from the final consonant from the first syllable gets pronounced with the vowel from that syllable. It is confusing to write in a sentence, so I will show you an example:
For example:
먹 in Korean is pronounced the same way as described earlier (i.e. by cancelling out the ‘last-breath’ after the ‘ㄱ’ in ‘먹.’ For example
먹 in Korean is pronounced the same way as described earlier (i.e. by cancelling out the ‘last-breath’ after the ‘ㄱ’ in ‘먹.’ For example
먹
If the following syllable is a consonant, nothing changes and the two syllables are pronounced as usual:
However, if the next syllable starts with a vowel the ‘breath’ after the ‘k’ sound is made along with this vowel. For example:
Technically, it sounds like:
머거
Note that it is not actually written like this, but only sounds like this.
Note that it is not actually written like this, but only sounds like this.
Also note that if these two syllables were pronounced separately (먹 and 어), this phenomenon would not happen.
먹 + 어 (pronounced separately)
먹 + 어 (pronounced separately)
The most confusing of this rule is when ㅅ or ㅆ are the last letters in a syllable. When either of these is the final letter of a syllable, they are NOT pronounced as ‘S.’ Instead, they are pronounced similar to a ‘D’ sound. The reason for this is the same as I described earlier, that is, Korean people don’t allow that ‘breath’ of air out of their mouth on a final consonant. As soon one’s tongue touches their teeth when making the “S” sound, the sound stops and no breath is made after it.
Listen to the following syllables to train your ear:
싯, 했, 겠, 었, 았, 짓
싯, 했, 겠, 었, 았, 짓
But, just like 먹 and 어, if syllables ending in ㅅ or ㅆ connect to another syllable where the first sound is a vowel, that ㅅ or ㅆ is pronounced as S combined with the following vowel (I know, it is very confusing).
As with 먹다, if the following syllable starts with a consonant, it gets pronounced normally:
했다
했다
Explaining why different endings would come after a word (for example, 먹다 vs. 먹어 and 했다 vs. 했어) is too difficult to explain in this lesson. In Lesson 5 and Lesson 6 of Unit 1, you will be introduced to conjugation and when you would have to use these different pronunciation rules.
There are also some variants to pronunciation when ㄹ is the final consonant of a syllable and is followed by a consonant in the next syllable. The reason for these changes in pronunciation is simply because it is hard to move your tongue fast enough to make the sounds as if their written. ㄹ is a bit of an awkward sound in Korean, and is very rarely used to start a word (it is usually only seen at the start of loan-words from English). Because it is such an awkward sound to make, there are some exceptions to how it is pronounced:
When the final consonant of one syllable is ㄱ and the first consonant of the next syllable is ㄹ, the ㄹ gets pronounced as ㄴ:
Example:
복 + 리 (pronounced separately)
복리 (pronounced together)
Example:
복 + 리 (pronounced separately)
복리 (pronounced together)
When the final consonant of one syllable is ㅇ and the first consonant of the next syllable is ㄹ, the ㄹ gets pronounced as ㄴ:
Example:
상 + 록 (pronounced separately)
상록 (pronounced together)
Example:
상 + 록 (pronounced separately)
상록 (pronounced together)
When the final consonant of one syllable is ㄴ and the first consonant of the next syllable is ㄹ, the ㄴ gets pronounced as ㄹ:
Example:
원 + 래 (pronounced separately)
원래 (pronounced together)
Example:
원 + 래 (pronounced separately)
원래 (pronounced together)
Finally, when the final consonant of one syllable is ㅂ and the first consonant of the next syllable is ㄴ, the ㅂ gets pronounced as ㅁ.
This one is not that hard mainly because it is usually only seen in one form (~습니다)
This one is not that hard mainly because it is usually only seen in one form (~습니다)
.
The pronunciation of syllables that contain a fourth letter is a little bit different than above. If you are a beginner, you definitely do not need to memorize these rules/sounds/concepts from the very beginning. Being comfortable with Korean pronunciation takes years, and is not something that you can wrap your head around in a day. The best thing you can do as a beginner is to simply familiarize yourself with what is presented below (and above, for that matter). As you progress through our lessons, you will eventually come across these words in our Vocabulary Lists and in example sentences in our Lessons. Lucky for you, our vocabulary words and example sentences have audio files attached to them so you can listen to them as they are presented (if they don’t have an audio link, they will eventually). Familiarizing yourself with what is presented below will help you when you are introduced to these words later in our lessons. I’ll repeat my point one more time: While it is important to know how to pronounce things in Korean – this will not happen overnight. Use the concepts presented here to set yourself off on the right foot, but don’t get too bogged down on memorizing everything right now. It will come – with time.
If a syllable contains a fourth letter and is pronounced by itself, usually only one of the two final consonants is audible.
For example, if you listen to the word “닭“, the “ㄹ” is not audible and the word is actually pronounced as “닥”
Another example is the word “삶”, where the “ㄹ” is not audible and the word is actually pronounced as “삼”
This is hard for me to explain because you probably haven’t learned very much (if any) Korean grammar by this point. If I explain something that goes over your head in terms of grammar – don’t worry about that too much and try to just focus on the pronunciation notes I mention.
The two words above are nouns.
For all intents and purposes, it would be rare to find a noun just sitting by itself in a sentence. Rather, in Korean, one of many particles (or other things) would be attached to it. You haven’t learned about these particles yet, but you will be introduced to them throughout our lessons.
For example:
닭과
닭만
닭이랑
닭이다
닭이나
etc…
닭만
닭이랑
닭이다
닭이나
etc…
You will learn about the meanings of all of these in later lessons, but don’t worry about that now. Let’s just focus on pronunciation.
If the thing that attaches to these words starts with a consonant, the same rule from above applies, and only one of the two bottom consonants is pronounced. For example (There are two separate examples in the audio file below. I thought it would be better to give two examples instead of one in each case):
닭과 – 닭만(This sounds closer to “닥과 – 닥만”)
However, if the thing that attaches to these words starts with a vowel, the pronunciation of the final consonant, in theory, should move to the upcoming syllable. For example:
닭을 – 닭이다(This should sound closer to “달글 – 달기다”… but I admit it does sound like 닥을 – 닥이다.)
That is a native Korean speaker pronouncing those words, and there probably is a reason why she pronounced it that way. This is way beyond the scope of this lesson. Again, just try to understand what is being presented here in theory. You will have thousands of audio files to help you as you progress to later lessons.
That is a native Korean speaker pronouncing those words, and there probably is a reason why she pronounced it that way. This is way beyond the scope of this lesson. Again, just try to understand what is being presented here in theory. You will have thousands of audio files to help you as you progress to later lessons.
닭 is a noun, but various things are also attached to verbs/adjectives as well that change pronunciation.
The following are three common verbs in Korean that have this fourth letter (All verbs end with “~다” but don’t worry about that for now):
Listen to the pronunciation of each of those words. You will notice that (just like the word “닭” above), because each of the four-letter syllables is followed by a consonant (다), only one of the two final consonants is pronounced. As you can here, the letter that is not pronounced is not the same is ever word.
In 앉다, ㅈ is not pronounced (sounds like “안”)
In 읽다, ㄹ is not pronounced (sounds like “익”)
In 없다, ㅅ is not pronounced (sounds like “업”)
In 읽다, ㄹ is not pronounced (sounds like “익”)
In 없다, ㅅ is not pronounced (sounds like “업”)
This is beyond your understanding right now, but various grammatical principles can replace “다” to have different meanings. You will learn about all of these in later lessons. For example:
앉겠다
앉고
앉거나
앉는
앉아
앉으면
앉아요
앉아서
앉을
앉은
etc…
앉고
앉거나
앉는
앉아
앉으면
앉아요
앉아서
앉을
앉은
etc…
If the thing that replaces “다” starts with a consonant, the same rule from above (with nouns) applies, and only one of the two bottom consonants is pronounced. For example, if 앉 is followed by a consonant:
앉겠다 – 앉고(This sounds closer to “안겠다 – 안고”)
However, if the thing that replaces “다” starts with a vowel, the pronunciation of the final consonant moves to the upcoming syllable. For example, if 앉 is followed by a vowel:
앉아 – 앉으면(This sounds closer to “안자 – 안즈면”)
You can see the same phenomenon with all words that have this 4th letter. Let’s listen to “읽다” when “다” is replaced by something starting with a consonant compared to a vowel.
Followed by a consonant:
읽겠다 – 읽고(Sounds closer to “익겠다 – 익고”)
읽겠다 – 읽고(Sounds closer to “익겠다 – 익고”)
Let’s do the same thing with 없다
Let’s do the same thing with 긁다 (to scratch)
Again, explaining the difference in meaning and purpose between…
앉다 vs. 앉고 vs. 앉아
읽다 vs. 읽고 vs. 읽어
없다 vs. 없고 vs. 없어
닭 vs. 닭과 vs. 닭을
읽다 vs. 읽고 vs. 읽어
없다 vs. 없고 vs. 없어
닭 vs. 닭과 vs. 닭을
… is a matter of Korean grammar, which will be explained in our lessons. As I mentioned earlier, our later lessons will have many example sentences with audio recordings so you can continue to train your ear as you progress through your studies. You absolutely do not need to memorize these concepts before you move on. You will memorize them naturally as you progress with our Lessons.
Forget how to read? Don’t worry! Take a look at the letters bellow and get them back into your memory!
ㅂ= b
ㅈ= j
ㄷ= d
ㄱ= k
ㅅ= s
ㅁ= m
ㄴ= n
ㅎ= h
ㄹ= r/l
ㅇ = silent letter or -ng
ㅈ= j
ㄷ= d
ㄱ= k
ㅅ= s
ㅁ= m
ㄴ= n
ㅎ= h
ㄹ= r/l
ㅇ = silent letter or -ng
ㅣ= i
ㅏ= a
ㅓ= Romanized as “eo” but it sounds closer to “uh” in English
ㅡ= eu
ㅜ= u
ㅗ= o
ㅏ= a
ㅓ= Romanized as “eo” but it sounds closer to “uh” in English
ㅡ= eu
ㅜ= u
ㅗ= o
ㄲ = kk
ㅋ = k
ㅋ = k
ㅃ = bb
ㅍ = p
ㅍ = p
ㅉ = jj
ㅊ = ch
ㅊ = ch
ㄸ = dd
ㅌ = t
ㅌ = t
ㅆ = ss
ㅑ = ya
ㅕ = yeo
ㅠ = yu
ㅛ = yo
ㅐ = ae (identical to ㅔ)
ㅔ = e (identical to ㅐ)
ㅟ = wi
ㅝ = wo
ㅚ = oe
ㅘ = wa
ㅢ = ui
ㅕ = yeo
ㅠ = yu
ㅛ = yo
ㅐ = ae (identical to ㅔ)
ㅔ = e (identical to ㅐ)
ㅟ = wi
ㅝ = wo
ㅚ = oe
ㅘ = wa
ㅢ = ui
ㅙ = wae
ㅒ= yae
ㅞ = we
ㅒ= yae
ㅞ = we
source http://www.howtostudykorean.com/unit0/reading-quick-reference/
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