Hangugo 1

9:30 AM | Labels: hangugo

#1 Lesson: Hangeul

The very first thing you must know when you learn korean language is the letters or hangeul. Actually when I see the hangeul for the first time, it really not makes sense to me. But after I learn them it’s quiet easy though :D

Okaay let’s rooool \^o^/

Hangeul has 40 letters that consist of 19 consonants and 21 vowels. The consonants divided into two which are basic consonants and double consonants. The vowels divided into two part as well, which are basic vowels and complex vowels.

# Consonant #

		The letter’s name	How to read at the beginning of a syllabel	How to read at the end of a syllabel
Basic consonants	ㄱ	GiyeoK	G	K
	ㄴ	NieuN	N	N
	ㄷ	DigeuT	D	T
	ㄹ	RieuL	R	L
	ㅁ	MieuM	M	M
	ㅂ	BieuP	B	P
	ㅅ	SieoT	S	T
	ㅇ	ieuNG	-	NG
	ㅈ	JieuT	J/CH	T
	ㅊ	CHieuT	CH/CH’	T
	ㅋ	KHieuK	KH	K
	ㅌ	THieuT	TH	T
	ㅍ	PHieuP	PH	P
	ㅎ	HieuT	H	T
Doble consonants	ㄲ	ssang giyeoK	K	K
	ㄸ	ssang digeuT	T	-
	ㅃ	ssang bieuP	P	-
	ㅆ	ssang SieoT	SS	T
	ㅉ	ssang jieut	C	-

That’s the consonants ^^

The letter 'o' or ieung is called as blank consonant. It always paired with the vowel that position is at the beginning of syllable. Because korean syllable always consist of consonant+vowel. So the vowel that has to be at the beginning of syllable need a consonant will be paired with 'o'.

If you still confused with my explanation, see the vowel part below, all of the vowel is preceded by 'o'.

Now, see the romaji one, I bold the first and the last letter. It shows you how to read the letter when you found it at the beginning and at the end of a syllable. If you find the consonant at the end of a syllable then you call it as final consonant or batchim (받 침).

# Vowel #

		Sound	The letter’s name
Basic vowels	ㅏ	아	A
	ㅑ	야	Ya
	ㅓ	어	Eo
	ㅕ	여	Yeo
	ㅗ	오	O
	ㅛ	요	Yo
	ㅜ	우	U
	ㅠ	유	Yu
	ㅡ	으	Eu
	ㅣ	이	I
Complex vowels	ㅐ	애	Ae
	ㅒ	얘	Yae
	ㅔ	에	E
	ㅖ	예	Ye
	ㅘ	와	Wa
	ㅙ	왜	Wae
	ㅚ	외	Oe (We)
	ㅝ	워	Wo
	ㅞ	웨	We
	ㅟ	위	Wi
	ㅢ	의	Eui

And that’s the vowels ^^

As you can see, the vowels have a pattern. For example, in the basic vowels part, when you add one line on 아 (a) the letter will become 야 (ya), and so on. As for the complex vowels, you just need the basic vowels together. For example, when you add 오 (O) and 아(A) together you get a

와 (Wa).

Personally, I think it’s harder to differentiate the pronunciation between the vowels. Because there are some vowels that almost has same pronunciation. For example you can read 외, and웨 as ‘We’, the difference are very vague.

If you really curious about the pronunciation, I think it’ll be better if you watch some video tutorial at youtube heheh ^^v

Well, that is for the first lesson. Although I don’t really explain anything here but I hope it can be some help to you somehow ;) Feel free to ask me if you have question or maybe you have some advices or tips about hangugo for me or for how should I explain in the future :3

PS: the next lesson will be about batchim (final consonant) and how you write and read hangeul :)

See you in the next lesson~

As always comment is welcome :D