My last post addressed the basic 24 characters in the Korean alphabet called Hangul. In this post, I will continue with the rest of the characters.
As a review, here are the basic 14 consonants and 10 vowels:
Consonants: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
Vowels: ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ
Assuming that you have been practicing the first 24 characters, we will now move on to the double consonants and compound vowels, which make up an additional 16 letter forms (5 consonants and 11 vowels).
Double Consonants
Before we go over the following consonants, I need to let you know that several Korean consonant families contrast three types of sounds: plain, aspirated, and tense.
The doubled letters represent tense consonants. They are not simply longer versions of the plain consonants. English comparisons are only approximate; listen to Korean recordings to learn the contrast. The table uses Revised Romanization.
| Korean | Revised Romanization | Sound note |
|---|---|---|
| ㄲ | kk | Tense counterpart of ㄱ; compare plain ㄱ, aspirated ㅋ, and tense ㄲ. |
| ㄸ | tt | Tense counterpart of ㄷ; compare ㄷ, ㅌ, and ㄸ. |
| ㅃ | pp | Tense counterpart of ㅂ; compare ㅂ, ㅍ, and ㅃ. |
| ㅆ | ss | Tense counterpart of ㅅ; not the spelling “sc.” |
| ㅉ | jj | Tense counterpart of ㅈ; compare ㅈ, ㅊ, and ㅉ. |
Whew! The proper pronunciation would be so much easier to show you in person! I hope you get the general idea. Don’t get discouraged if these sounds take practice. You will get better as you practice. It may feel silly, but keep trying to vocalize the sounds out loud. Listening and repeating short examples can help.
Now, let’s move on to the rest of the vowels.
Complex and Compound Vowels
| Korean | Revised Romanization | Sound note |
|---|---|---|
| ㅐ | ae | Traditionally distinct from ㅔ, but merged with it for many speakers; not reliably the English vowel in “cat.” |
| ㅔ | e | An e-like vowel, approximately the vowel in “pet.” |
| ㅒ | yae | A y-like glide plus ㅐ. |
| ㅖ | ye | A y-like glide plus ㅔ; often close to ㅒ in contemporary speech. |
| ㅘ | wa | ㅗ + ㅏ; a w-like glide followed by ㅏ. |
| ㅚ | oe | A rounded front vowel; a we-like pronunciation is also standard. |
| ㅙ | wae | ㅗ + ㅐ; a w-like glide followed by ㅐ. |
| ㅝ | wo | ㅜ + ㅓ; a w-like glide followed by ㅓ. |
| ㅞ | we | ㅜ + ㅔ; a w-like glide followed by ㅔ. |
| ㅟ | wi | A rounded front vowel; a wi-like pronunciation is also standard. |
| ㅢ | ui | ㅡ + ㅣ. Pronunciation varies by position and grammatical use; see the note below. |
ㅢ pronunciation: At the start of a word, as in 의사, practice the ui sequence. When ㅢ follows a written consonant other than the silent ㅇ, it is pronounced like ㅣ, as in 희망. In noninitial syllables, an i-like pronunciation is also permitted, and the possessive particle 의 may be pronounced like 에. The spellings and romanization still use ㅢ and ui where appropriate.
You have now been introduced to the modern Hangul letter forms. Final consonants and sound changes still need practice.
Syllable Blocks
Keeping in mind that we are learning a language that is so different from the languages that use the Roman alphabet, we have to talk about how the characters physically come together to make words.
Rather than writing the characters in a linear chain, the Hangul characters are grouped together by syllable. Hangul letters represent sounds, and each written syllable occupies a block. Pronunciation can change when letters combine, so spelling is not always a direct sound-by-sound transcription. We call this a syllable block. A syllable block is made up of two or more characters to make one syllable. And every word is made up of one or more syllable blocks.
For this lesson, we can group syllable layouts into nine useful patterns. “Compound vowel” below means a vowel whose written shape occupies both the space to the right of and the space below the initial consonant, such as ㅘ. We will cover the first three patterns here.
- Consonant + Vertical Vowel
- Consonant + Horizontal Vowel
- Consonant + Compound Vowel
- Consonant + Vertical Vowel + Final Consonant
- Consonant + Horizontal Vowel + Final Consonant
- Consonant + Compound Vowel + Final Consonant
- Consonant + Vertical Vowel + (Final Consonant + Final Consonant)
- Consonant + Horizontal Vowel + (Final Consonant + Final Consonant)
- Consonant + Compound Vowel + (Final Consonant + Final Consonant)
Let’s take a look at the first three types of syllable blocks:
Notice that the shape and size of the consonant changes depending on what vowel is used. The reason for this is to keep the size of each syllable block uniform. The consonant is elongated vertically with the vertical vowel, is elongated horizontally with a horizontal vowel, and becomes smaller when used with a compound vowel.
Once you have practiced writing Korean words, this pattern will become second nature to you. Of course, if your writing is mainly on the keyboard or on your mobile device, the adjustments are automatically made for you. Isn’t technology great?
Word Practice
We still have to cover the other syllable blocks; but already, you can write so many words with what we have learned so far. You can begin to build your vocabulary starting today!!
Keep in mind that the romanization is just for reference and may not be the exact pronunciation of the words. After you have memorized all the sounds in the Hangul alphabet, you should get used to reading Hangul without the romanization.
As we progress further into our learning, you can use an online resource, such as the Naver Korean Dictionary to hear how the words should sound.
Let’s now look at some words:
Sample Korean Vocabulary: People
| Korean | Revised Romanization | English |
|---|---|---|
| 아빠 | appa | Dad |
| 오빠 | oppa | Older brother of a female speaker; also a familiar term for an older male |
| 누나 | nuna | Older sister of a male speaker; also a familiar term for an older female |
| 이모 | imo | Mother’s sister; maternal aunt |
| 고모 | gomo | Father’s sister; paternal aunt |
| 의사 | uisa | Doctor |
| 가수 | gasu | Singer |
Sample Korean Vocabulary: Body parts
| Korean | Revised Romanization | English |
|---|---|---|
| 코 | ko | Nose |
| 다리 | dari | Leg; also bridge, depending on meaning |
| 머리 | meori | Head; also hair in context |
| 귀 | gwi | Ear |
Sample Korean Vocabulary: Food
| Korean | Revised Romanization | English |
|---|---|---|
| 고기 | gogi | Meat |
| 소고기 | sogogi | Beef (소, cow/cattle + 고기, meat) |
| 돼지고기 | dwaejigogi | Pork (돼지, pig + 고기, meat) |
| 포도 | podo | Grapes |
| 사과 | sagwa | Apple |
| 오이 | oi | Cucumber |
| 두부 | dubu | Tofu |
| 치즈 | chijeu | Cheese |
| 차 | cha | Tea |
| 커피 | keopi | Coffee |
| 우유 | uyu | Milk |
| 과자 | gwaja | Snack, biscuit, cookie, or confection, depending on context |
Now that you know the first three types of syllable blocks, you can practice writing the above words on your own. Remember, do your best to adjust the size of the characters to make all the syllable blocks as uniform as possible!
Conclusion
In my next post, I will be explaining the final consonant. That will lead us into the remaining types of syllable blocks. Then we will finally be ready to start learning some grammar and be on our way to writing simple sentences!
In the meantime, please leave a comment below if you have any questions about anything I have covered in this post!