Let's Learn Hangul~

Recently, I'm studying Hangul vowels and consonants..

Kinda hard, but anyway Practice is the Key to Success..

Just sharing out my hobby..

Well, goodluck~ Fighting~

Appearance and Sound of Hangul

The Consonants

Due to the subjective nature of language, pronunciations will vary from region to region as well as person to person.

To hear a sample of the pronunciation of each letter, click the icon to the left of the Korean character. You can then hear its name and pronunciation.

Name	Hangul	Pronunciation at the...
		Start of a word	Start of a syllable	End of a word
기역 (giyok)	ㄱ	k (kite)	g (ghost)	k (walk)
쌍기역 (ssang giyok)	ㄲ	g (gone)	<- same	<- same
니은 (nieun)	ㄴ	n (now)	<- same	<- same
디귿 (digeut)	ㄷ	t (talk)	d (mind)	t (hot)
쌍디귿 (ssang digeut)	ㄸ	d (dog)	<- same	<- same
리을 (rieul)	ㄹ	r (run)	<- same	l (real)
미음 (mieum)	ㅁ	m (mop)	<- same	m (hum)
비읍 (bieup)	ㅂ	p (pool)	b (bay)	p (lap)
쌍비읍 (ssang bieup)	ㅃ	b (bird)	<- same	<- same
시옷 (siot)	ㅅ	s (show)	<- same	t (hot)
쌍시옷 (ssang siot)	ㅆ	s (sun)	<- same	t (hot)
이응 (ieung)	ㅇ	silent	<- same	ng (ring)
지읒 (jieut)	ㅈ	ch (chop)	j (jar)	t (hot)
쌍지읒 (ssang jieut)	ㅉ	j (jim)	<- same	t (hot)
치읓 (chieut)	ㅊ	ch (itch)	<- same	t (hot)
키읔 (kieuk)	ㅋ	kh (khaki)	<- same	<- same
티읕 (tieut)	ㅌ	t (tip)	<- same	t (hot)
피읖 (pieup)	ㅍ	p (pit)	<- same	p (lap)
히읕 (hieut)	ㅎ	h (hot)	<- same	silent

The Vowels

Due to the subjective nature of language, pronunciations will vary from region to region as well as person to person.

To hear a sample of the pronunciation of each letter, click the icon to the left of the Korean character. You can then hear its name and pronunciation.

Hangul	Pronunciation
ㅏ	ah (Rah)
ㅓ	uh (run)
ㅗ	oh (dough)
ㅜ	oo (moon)
ㅡ	uh (brook)
ㅣ	ee (meek)
ㅐ	ae (at)
ㅔ	eh (met)
ㅑ	yah (yawn)
ㅕ	yuh (yum)
ㅛ	yoh (yodel)
ㅠ	yoo (view)
ㅒ	yae (yak)
ㅖ	yeh (yes)
ㅘ	wah (wand)
ㅙ	wae (wax)
ㅝ	wuh (wonder)
ㅞ	weh (web)
ㅚ	weh (wait)
ㅟ	wee (week)
ㅢ	uey (muey)

For a look into how Korean letters are constructed into syllables, click on to the Structure page.

Head to the Pronunciation page to see and hear how these characters are used.

Structure of Hangul

Syllable Construction

Syllables are always constructed beginning with a consonant. Then a vowel follows. The syllable could stop here, or there could be another vowel, or consonant, or both. The syllable begins with the initial consonant on the left or top and the vowel(s) and other consonant(s) follow to the right or bottom, like this:

가 where ㄱ "k" is the consonant, and ㅏ "ah" is the vowel. It is pronounced "Kah".

고 where ㄱ "k" is the consonant, and ㅗ "oh" is the vowel. It is pronounced "Koh".

When constructing syllables, always move from left to right and top to bottom. This is the same for reading. Sound out the initial consonant and then the following vowel(s), making it flow into the other ending consonant(s), if any. It's just like reading in English. Read left to right, sounding out each letter. And there you have the pronunciation of the syllable. Then move on to the next syllable. Words are separated by spaces, and syllables are right next to each other. Again, just like in English.

달 where ㄷ "t" is the consonant, and ㅏ "ah" is the vowel, followed by another consonant, ㄹ "l". It is pronounced "Tahl".

돌 where ㄷ "t" is the consonant, and ㅗ "oh" is the vowel, followed by another consonant, ㄹ "l". It is pronounced "Tohl".

When writing Hangul, start in the upper left of the letter and move left to right, top to bottom. Always write the characters in this manner. If you practice this way, then as you write more and more, your Korean writing will become more natural. This way even your quickly and messily written Hangul will be legible to Koreans.

Some Examples

Above is a brief chart showing the construction of every two-character configuration. Do you notice that there are some vowels missing? That's because those other vowels are dipthongs, which are sounds made from two vowels next to each other. We do the same in English, as in "o and "u" put together make an "ow" sound as in "out". Study this chart and check out the dictionaries, and you'll find you can sound out the syllables.

Korean Pronunciation

Pronunciation of Korean can be tricky, but reading it is easier. Most people can memorize the sounds of Korean letters in a matter of days. Simply make some flash cards and drill, drill, drill. We've provided this page as an aid to understanding the sounds. The grammar lessons do not contain "Romanized" Korean (Hangul written out in English phoenetics) like this, therefore we strongly encourage you to study the Korean. Go to the Appearance page to get started.

To hear a native speaker voice these sentences, simply click the speaker next to the Korean sentence.

Note: you may notice that the sound of some letters change when next to each other, like ㅂ and ㄴ together make a "mn" sound instead of the expected "bn" sound.

I'm American.

제가 미국인입니다.

Che-ga meegookin imneeda.

I'm studying Korean.

한국말을 공부합니다.

Hangook-mal-ul kongbu-hamneeda.

or: Hangoong-mal-ul kongbu-hamneeda.

My name is Charles.

제 이름은 Charles입니다.

Che eerum-un Charles imneeda.

I like exercising.

운동을 좋아해요.

Oondong-ul cho-ah-haeyo.

He speaks English well.

저분은 영어를 잘 합니다.

Cho-boon-un yongo-rul chal hamneeda.

I live in Seoul.

저는 서울에서 살고 있습니다.

Cho-nun soh-ul-eh-soh salgo issumneeda.

Where do you work?

어디에서 일하십니까?

Oh-dee-eh-soh il-ha-shimni-gha?

(We're) eating now.

지금 식사하는 중입니다.

Chi-gum shiksa-hanun joong-imneeda.

This is delicious.

맛있어요.

Mashee-eessoyo.

Kim Mi Kyong is a student.

김 미경은 학생입니다.

Kim mee kyong-un hak-saeng imneeda.

It looks like rain.

비가 올 것 같아요.

Piga ol goht katahyo.

I can read Korean.

한글을 읽을 수 있어요.

Hangul-ul ilgul soo issoyo.

Korean Romanization

Romanization is the translation of sounds of a foreign language into English letters. Romanization of Korean words allows those who can't read Korean to phonetically pronounce it. Below are two tables showing the Romanization rules for transliterating from Korean to English:

Consonants

Vowels

Running sounds together

In the table below, note the resulting sound of the ending character on a syllable (final) and the beginning character on the following syllable (initial).

Rules in Brief

• When ㅅ is followed directly by ㅣ, it should be Romanized as shi.

Example: 다시 (again) would be dashi.

• To avoid confusion of syllables, a hyphen can be used.

Example: 후에 (after) would be hu-e.

• When ㄱ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅂ are found directly before vowel, they are Romanized as g, d, r, b.
• When ㄱ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅂ are found directly before a consonant, they should be Romanized as k, t, r, p.

 Keep practising and have passion~~ <3