한글 - Korea's Writing System

Introduction

Video Courses

If you do not like a giant wall of text explaining Hangul then here are some video courses you can watch. If you're ever in doubt about pronunciation ask a native! I also included Understanding Korean Pronunciation which won't teach you Hangul per say but gives you great explanations of the sounds. So come back for that one after you've learned Hangul.

• GoBilly Korean - Learn Hangul in 90 Minutes
• SweetandtastyTV - Learn Hangul Playlist
• Conversational Korean- Understanding Korean Pronunciation

Learning Hangul

Korean Syllable Blocks

While hangeul is an alphabet the writing system isn't like other alphabets. Hangeul is grouped into syllabic units. These groups of letters can be written vertically or horizontally depending on the vowels.

All syllabic units will have at least one consonant and one vowel. There are nine possible combinations.

The initial and final area will always be a consonant while the medial will always be a vowel.

Stroke Order

The stroke order given is the proper stroke order that is taught in Korea to kids. It is important to know because it is what affects their "cursive" handwriting. It's much easier to learn to understand handwriting when you have the proper strokes ingrained. That said not everyone follows the stroke order exactly for some characters but most Koreans do.

Hangul Vowels

The vowel system of Hangul is very interesting. There are 3 components: a horizontal line (earth/ground), a vertical line (human) and a dot (sky).

These three combine to make all 21 vowels in Hangul. Modern Korean uses lines now instead of dots but if you see historical dramas or sometimes old style advertising you may run across them.

Hangul letters look very similar to each other as a beginner so it may be confusing at first. Just try to remember how hangul works. You will remember them all in time.

Vertical Vowels

The first of the two major types of vowels is the vertical vowel.

The base of the vertical vowel is... ㅣ

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅣ	I

Now we can add a dot/line to make the next vowels. All vowels are made using the base and adding dots/lines to represent sounds.

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅏ	A
ㅓ	Eo

Syllable Block

For vertical vowels the vowel is placed to the right of the consonant.

• ㄱ + ㅣ = 기
• ㄱ + ㅏ = 가
• ㄱ + ㅓ = 거

Horizontal Vowels

The second of the two major types of vowels is the horizontal vowel.

The base of the horizontal vowel is... ㅡ

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅡ	Eu

Remember we can add a dot/line to make new vowels.

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅗ	O
ㅜ	U

Syllable Block

For horizontal vowels the vowel is placed under the consonant

• ㄱ + ㅡ = 그
• ㄱ + ㅗ = 고
• ㄱ + ㅜ = 구

Y-Vowel Transformation

When you add a second line to the vowels you get their y combination.

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅑ	Ya
ㅕ	Yeo
ㅛ	Yo
ㅠ	Yu

Syllable Block

These use the same syllable block as their base.

• ㄱ + ㅑ = 갸
• ㄱ + ㅕ = 겨
• ㄱ + ㅛ = 교
• ㄱ + ㅠ = 규

E-Vowel Combinations

E-Vowels always use two vertical lines.

Individual	Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅏ+ㅣ	ㅐ	Ae
ㅓ+ㅣ	ㅔ	E

These two are pronounced the same. They used to be pronounced differently in the past but now use the same pronunciation. If you're talkig to older people you might be able to hear the difference.

Syllable Block

These are placed like their base

• ㄱ + ㅐ = 개
• ㄱ + ㅔ = 게

Y-E-Vowel Combinations

If you were curious about adding another dot/line to the E-Vowels you absolutely can! Let's see what you get!

Individual	Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅐ	ㅒ	Yae
ㅔ	ㅖ	Ye

Just like ㅐ & ㅔ these two are pronounced the same.

Syllable Block

These use the same syllable block as their base.

• ㄱ + ㅒ = 개
• ㄱ + ㅖ = 계

W-Vowel Combinations

Individual	Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅡ+ㅣ	ㅢ	Eui
ㅗ+ㅣ	ㅚ	Oe
ㅗ+ㅏ	ㅘ	Wa
ㅜ+ㅣ	ㅟ	Wi
ㅜ+ㅓ	ㅝ	Weo

Syllable Block

These combinations are slightly different but totally guessable. The vowels still go where they should so they just push the consonant into the top left of the box the syllable block.

• ㄱ + ㅢ = 긔
• ㄱ + ㅚ = 괴
• ㄱ + ㅘ = 과
• ㄱ + ㅟ = 귀
• ㄱ + ㅝ = 궈

W-E Combinations

Almost there. W-E Combinations are the last of the combinations.

Individual	Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㅗ+ㅐ	ㅙ	Wae
ㅜ+ㅔ	ㅞ	We

Syllable Block

Made just like the W-Vowel comibations.

• ㄱ + ㅙ = 괘
• ㄱ + ㅞ = 궤

Basic Consonants

Hangul has 19 consonants in total. We're going to focus on just 9 basic consonants because they are used to build the others. Consonants on their own don't make any sound. They have to be paired with a vowel so for the alphabet ㅏ is used.

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㄱ	G
ㄴ	N
ㄷ	D
ㄹ	R / L
ㅁ	M
ㅂ	B
ㅅ	S / SH
ㅈ	J
ㅇ	No consonant sound		N/A

Remember that the romanization is just a rough pronunciation. For example if you listen to ㅈ you'll notice it sounds more similar to 'ch' not 'j'

What is ㅇ?
In Hangul just like you can't have a consonant on it's own you can't just write a vowel so you have to use this blank consonant. You'll get a good explanation in a bit!

ㄹ Pronunciation
ㄹ is the hardest out of all the pronunciations for English speakers. We write it as either R or L but its actually different from both of those sounds.
For the correct pronunciation touch the front of the ceiling of your mouth with your tongue and move it down. This is unlike L where you are touching the back of your teeth.

Adding Dots/Lines to Consonants

Like we added dots/lines to the vowels we can also add them to the basic consonants to get new sounds.

Basic	New	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㄱ	ㅋ	K
ㄷ	ㅌ	T
ㅁ	ㅍ	P
ㅈ	ㅊ	Ch
ㅇ	ㅎ	H

Doubling Consonants

Some hangul letters have a twin!

These consonants are usually taught as being the plosive counterpart to their base. While they are plosive their pronunciation is done by tensing the throat like when you say the 'e' in 'Ear'. It's going to take some practice but I believe in you.

Hangul	Romanization	Stroke	Audio
ㄲ	Gg
ㄸ	Dd
ㅃ	Bb
ㅆ	Ss
ㅉ	Jj

Batchim

The last step to learning Korean is learning about the Batchim. Batchim is what can make Korean hard to pronounce and listen to at first. A batchim is the final consonant of a syllable block. So not all syllables have batchim. When a consonant ends in a syllable block it makes a different sound than the initial sound. So let's go over the consonants and learn their endind sounds. When writing the syllable block just squeze the characters up a bit to make room to write underneath.

Double Batchim

There are some words that have two batchim. Like 닭. There are only a set number of these and they'll all be shown below as we learn the pronunciation.

Batchim Basic Pronunciation

Batchim can be hard for English learners. Essentially what happens is your mouth position goes to start pronouncing the consonant but you make a hard stop.

There are 7 ways that batchim can sound at the end.

ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ, ㄳ, ㄺ

Will end with the ㄱ sound

ㄴ, ㄵ, ㄶ

Will end with the ㄴ sound

ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ

Will end with a ㄷ sound

When ㅎ ends a syllable block it always has a sound change so it doesn't occur in Korean where it would make the ㄷ sound.

ㄹ, ㄼ, ㄾ, ㅀ, ㄽ

Will end with a ㄹ sound

ㄾ & ㄽ are rare, between both of them I could only find four words.

ㅁ, ㄻ

Will end with a ㅁ sound

ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅄ, ㄿ

Will end with a ㅂ sound

ㄿ is rare I could only find two words - 읊다 and 옲다

ㅇ

As you know from above does not make a sound in the initial position. However when it is the final consonant it makes a 'ng' sound.

Batchim Pronunciation Changes

Batchim may seem easy but there are some sound changes we need to learn that happen when we have words and syllables next to each other. These changes are based on the sounds they make in their final position.

Batchim + ㅇ

If the next syllable block starts with ㅇ. Then the batchim sound moves forward to the next syllable. There are always exceptions so just be prepared (eg. 웃어른 > 우더른 but 웃어요 > 우서요).

ㅎ + ㄱ,ㄷ,ㅂ,ㅈ

They will sound like their strong consonants

ㅎ + ㄴ

ㅎ will sound like ㄴ

ㅎ + ㅇ

No sound is made

ㄷ + 이, 히

Sounds like 치

ㄱ + ㄴ or ㅁ

They will be pronounced as ㅇ

ㅂ + ㄴ or ㅁ

They will sound like ㅁ

ㄴ + ㄹ or ㄹ + ㄴ

ㄴ will sound like ㄹ

ㅇ, ㅁ + ㄹ

ㄹ will sound like ㄴ

ㄹ + ㄱ,ㄷ,ㅂ,ㅅ,ㅈ

They will sound like their tense consonants

ㅅ + ㅣ,ㅑ,ㅕ,ㅖ,ㅒ,ㅛ,ㅠ

Sounds more like "Sh" than "S"

ㅂ + ㄹ or ㄱ + ㄹ

ㅂ sounds like ㅁ and ㄹ will sound like ㄴ, ㄱ will sound like ㅇ

Double Batchim + ㅇ

If the next syllable block starts with ㅇ. Then the batchim moves its second consonant to the ㅇ. Then follow any sound changes you learned from above (eg. 읽어 > 일거 > 일꺼).

This is not the case with ㄲ or ㅆ. It's because they're considered one character/sound instead of two put together.