Korean Alphabet

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The Korean alphabet is very easy to learn, in fact it might only take you 35 min to learn. When
learning Korean, the first thing to do is probably learning how to read it. Its really a very simple
and quite scientific way of writing and can be learned in no time. If you dont learn the writing,
then youll have a really hard time pronouncing things correctly. Here is a guide to reading Korean:
The Korean writing system, Hangul, is an alphabetic syllabary. In other words, there is a character
for each sound, but they are put together in syllabic units. Each syllabic unit also forms a character
in itself. So if I were to write a name (Dan) in English, but in Korean style, I would write it like
this: .
There are four possible spots for letters in Korean. In the following diagram, C means consonant,

and V means vowel. There must always be something in the first C position and the V
position, but the C positions on the bottom are optional.
The consonants of the Korean alphabet are as follows:

Alphabet English Equivalent Extra Points Examples

An unaspirated k at the beginning of a

By unaspirated, I mean that its not pronounced very
word, and a g most of the time in the ! ka "Go!"
hard, like the English k.
middle of words.

Made by almost biting on the tongue at the ends of

n words, and by placing the tongue behind the top na "I"
teeth otherwise.

Like, , this consonant is like the

unaspirated t in English. It is a d in the ta "all"
middle of words.

A mixture between the English r and

l. When between vowels, it is like a ! ka-ra
single rolled Spanish r or like the tt in "Go!"

butter in some American dialects. If tal-li
there are two of them together, it "differently"
becomes a solid l.

ma-m
m
"heart"

An unaspirated p at the beginning of pan

words, and a b in the middle of words. "half"
 Alphabet English Equivalent Extra Points Examples

san
When coming before the "ee" sound, it becomes an "mountain"
s
sh. shi
"poem"

In the bottom of syllables, this character is

ing-
like the English ng without the g
"carp"
sound. At the beginning of syllables, this
yng-
character is just a place marker and has
"English"
no sound.

cha
Unaspirated ch at the beginning of ruler

words, j inside words. cha-ja
"Lets sleep"

cha
Strongly aspirated ch.
"car"

ka-pe
Strongly aspirated k.
"Caf"

tan-
Strongly aspirated t. nae "burnt
smell"

pae
Strongly aspirated p.
"medal"

Almost silent after , , , between vowels. When

hae
h it comes before or follows, ,, or , it makes the
"sun"
consonants aspirated: , ,, respectively.

There are also a few double consonants that are "forticized." These consonants must be
pronounced with more force than their regular counterparts, but without aspiration (this is
somewhat difficult, at least for native English speakers). Here are the possible double consonants:

Alphabet English Equivalent Extra Points Examples

Forticized k. Written kk. kka-ch'i "magpie"

Forticized t. Written tt. ttal "daughter"

Forticized p. Written pp. ppal-li "quickly"

 Alphabet English Equivalent Extra Points Examples

Forticized s. Written ss. ssal "uncooked rice"

Forticized ch. Written tch. tchak "companion"

There are 21 possible combinations of vowels and are as follows (shown here with the place
marker to make them into real syllables):
Alphabet English Equivalent Extra Points Examples

a-ga
Like the a in father.
"baby"

This best explained as a rounded low back vowel. It

Like the British augh in caught. t "more"
is sometimes pronounced like the u in sun.

Like the ee in tee. pi "blood"

Like the o in oh but more rounded. o "five"

Like the oo in boot, but more

ku "nine"
rounded.

We sometimes called this the "gutslash" because it

Like the u in put. k "that"
seems to come from the gut.

Like the ay in hay. pae "boat"

This and the one before it are almost

Like the ay in hay. indistinguishable even Koreans cant tell the che "my"
difference most of the time.

A combination of and , this

! pwa "look!"
sounds like the wa in wand.

This is a combination of and, and ? mw

sounds like the first part of0 "whoa." "what?"

Like the English "we." wi above

kwe-do
Like English "way."
"orbit"

Like English "way." ? wae "why?"

Like English "way." choe "sin"

 Alphabet English Equivalent Extra Points Examples

A combination of and , this is
pronounced like the u in put
followed by the ee in tee.
This syllable is also used as the possessive marker
i
like the "s" in English. When such is the case, it is
"righteousness"
pronounced the same as .

Like the ya sound in yacht. ! ya "hey"

Somewhat similar to the you in

yt "taffy"
young.

yo
Like the yo in yo wassup.
"bedspread"

u-yu
Like the English you.
"milk"

yae-gi
Like the English yea.
"story"

Like the ye in yet. ye "yes"

Read more: http://www.linguanaut.com/korean_alphabet.htm#ixzz4eg5VNa3w