Korean

The Korean Alphabet

Learning Korean for the first time!

Hangeul or 한글 (the Korean alphabet) literally means "the Korean writing."

In 한글, the Korean alphabet, consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

•Cosonants: ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ

•Vowels: ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣ

In addition, there are 5 double consonants and 11 double vowels.

•Double consonants: ㄲㄸㅃㅆㅉ

•Double vowels: ㅐㅒㅔㅖㅘㅙㅚㅝㅞㅟㅢ

Additionally, there are 11 final double consonants.

•Final double consonants: ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅄ

자음[Consonants]

ㄱ = g

ㄴ = n

ㄷ = d

ㄹ = l, r (ㄹ is a sound somewhere between l and r)

ㅁ = m

ㅂ = b

ㅅ = s

ㅇ = "no sound" when used as a first consonant, "ng" when used as a final consonant.

ㅈ = j

ㅊ = ch

ㅋ = k

ㅌ = t

ㅍ = p

ㅎ = h

모음[Vowels]

ㅏ = a

ㅑ = ya

ㅓ = eo

8

ㅕ = yeo

ㅗ = o

ㅛ = yo

ㅜ = u

ㅠ = yu

ㅡ = eu

ㅣ = i

쌍자음[Double consonants]

ㄲ = gg Click on the link to hear the difference between the sounds of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ.

ㄸ = dd Note the difference in sounds; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ.

ㅃ = bb Note the difference in sounds;ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ.

ㅆ = ss Note the difference in sounds; ㅅ and ㅆ

ㅉ = jj Note the difference in sounds; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ

쌍모음[Double Vowels]

ㅐ = ae

ㅒ = yae (rarely used)

ㅔ = e

ㅖ = ye

ㅘ = wa

ㅙ = wae

ㅚ = oe

ㅝ = wo

ㅞ = we (rarely used)

ㅟ = wi

ㅢ = ui