All posts by John

Lesson 2: Making a Korean Word

Now we are going to make a word.

ㅇ+ㅏ+ㅂ+ㅓ+ㅈ+ㅣ= 아버지 (ah-bu-ji)  It means father.
ㅇ+ㅓ+ㅁ+ㅓ+ㄴ+ㅣ= 어머니 (uh-mu-ni) It means mother.

Lots of the Korean letters have final consonants.

ㅎ+ㅏ+ㄴ+ㄱ+ㅜ+ㄱ= 한국 (han-gook) It means Korea.
ㅎ+ㅏ+ㄴ+ㄱ+ㅡ+ㄹ= 한글 (han-geul) It means Korean language

ㄱ+ㅏ+ㅇ+ㅇ+ㅏ+ㅈ+ㅣ= 강아지 (gang-ah-ji) It means puppy.

* In this case, the first ㅇsounds ~ng and second one has no sound.

Lesson 1: The Korean Alphabet is 24 Letters

A Korean letter is Hangul. ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ are consonants and ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ are vowels.

Consonants:

ㄱ sounds like g.

ㄴ sounds like n.

ㄷ sounds like d.

ㄹ sounds like l.

ㅁ sounds like m.

ㅂ sounds like b.

ㅅ sounds like s.

ㅇ doesn’t have any sound when it comes first and sounds like ~ng when it is at the bottom.

ㅈ sounds like j.

ㅊ sounds like ch.

ㅋ sounds like k.

ㅌ sounds like t.

ㅍ sounds like p.

ㅎ sounds like h.

Vowels:

ㅏ sounds like a.

ㅑ sounds like ya.

ㅓ sounds like u.

ㅕ sounds like yu.

ㅗ sounds like o.

ㅛ sounds like yo.

ㅜ sounds like oo.

ㅠ sounds like yoo.

ㅡ sounds like eu

ㅣ sounds like i

There are some mixed consonants and vowels.

ㄲ sounds like gg.

ㄸ sounds like dd.

ㅃ sounds like bb

ㅆ sounds like ss.

ㅉ sounds like jj.

ㅐ sounds like ae

ㅒ sounds like yae

ㅔ sounds like ae

ㅖ sounds like yae

ㅚ sounds like oi

ㅙ sounds like oae

ㅟ sounds like we

ㅞ sounds like wae

ㅢ sounds like eui

ㅝ sounds like wu.

Now we are going to make a letter.

ㄱ + ㅏ = 가  (ga)

ㄴ + ㅏ = 나  (na)

ㄷ + ㅏ = 다  (da)

ㄹ + ㅏ = 라  (la)

ㅁ + ㅏ = 마  (ma)

ㅂ + ㅓ = 버  (bu)

ㅅ + ㅓ = 서  (su)

ㅇ + ㅓ = 어  (uh)  (If ㅇcomes at the beginning of the letter it has no sound.)

ㅈ + ㅓ = 저  (ju)

ㅊ + ㅓ = 처  (chu)

ㅌ + ㅗ = 토  (to)

ㅍ + ㅗ = 포  (po)

ㅋ + ㅗ = 코  (ko)

ㅎ + ㅗ = 호  (ho)

ㄲ + ㅜ = 꾸  (ggoo)

ㄸ + ㅜ = 뚜  (ddoo)

ㅃ  +ㅣ = 삐  (bbi)

ㅆ + ㅣ = 씨  (ssi)

ㅉ + ㅡ = 쯔  (jjeu)

Here is a basic letter chart.

Korean Letters