One of the first things I learned as I was beginning to embark upon my Korean speaking journey was learning how to read Hangul. Hangul (or Hangeul) is the name of the Korean alphabet. Now that I live in Korea, the time I spent learning Hangul is really paying off in dividends! Everything I see when I go outside is written in Hangul (which of course makes sense because, hello, I’m kind of in Korea where everyone speaks Korean 🤷🏽‍♀️). Recognizing all of the letters really makes navigating around so much easier.

 

Hangul consists of 19 consonants and 21 vowels.

Consonants

: 기역  (gi-yeok)
: 쌍기역  (ssang-gi-yeok)
: 니은  (ni-eun)
: 디귿  (di-geut)
: 쌍디귿  (ssang-di-geut)
: 리을  (ri-eul)
: 미음  (mi-eum)
: 비읍  (bi-eup)
: 쌍비읍  (ssang-bi-eup)
: 시옷  (si-ot)
: 쌍시옷  (ssang-si-ot)
: 이응  (i-eung)
: 지읒  (ji-eut)
: 쌍지읒  (ssang-ji-eut)
: 치읓  (chi-eut)
: 키읔  (ki-euk)
: 티읕  (ti-eut)
: 피읖  (pi-eup)
: 히읗  (hi-eut)

Vowels

a
= ya
= eo
= yeo
= o
yo
= u
= yu
= e
= ye
= ae
= yae
ㅘ = wa
ㅙ = wae
ㅚ = we
ㅝ = wo
ㅞ = we
ㅟ = wi
ㅡ = eu
ㅢ = ui
ㅣ = i

Letters cannot stand alone. There has to be at least one consonant and one vowel in a Korean syllable in order to make a sound. Letters are not written side by side like we might see in English, but they are grouped together as syllables. These are the four types of syllable structures:

1. Vowel
So yes, I know I said that there has to be a vowel and a consonant present and that the title of #1 is “Vowel”. But don’t let the title throw you off. There is a consonant present. That consonant is ㅇ(i-eung). When a syllable begins with a vowel, the vowel is paired with this consonant which is always placed in the initial position. When ㅇ is in the initial position, it has no sound and is used as a place holder.

아, 야, 오, 이

 

2. Consonant + Vowel

With this letter combination (as with all others), the consonant comes first. When a consonant + vowel combination occurs, the consonant sound is pronounced. Consonants in the initial position in a syllable are always pronounced (unless that initial consonant is a ㅇ, which is used as a soundless placeholder in the initial position). These letters will be written left to right or top to bottom. If the vowel is a vertical vowel (like ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ), the consonant will be placed to the left of the vowel. If the vowel is a horizontal vowel (like ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ), the consonant will be placed below the vowel.

자, 무, 고, 네

3. Vowel + Consonant

This syllable combination is written with the vowel on top and the consonant on the bottom. The vowel at the top will, once again, begin with the soundless ㅇ. The consonant will be placed below the vowel.

앞, 입, 옆, 응*

*Note: 응 is pronounced eung. ㅇ is only soundless in the initial position. When placed elsewhere in the syllable, it is pronounced.

 

4. Consonant + Vowel + Consonant

The last syllable combination features three letters and sometimes four. If a combination has four letters, the last two letters are consonants. This syllable always begins with a consonant.

집, 만, 읽, 많

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