Basic Consonants — 기본 자음

Korean has 14 basic consonants: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ. Their shapes copy the mouth and tongue, and an added stroke makes the sound stronger. In this lesson you learn each sound, the three-way contrast, and your first real words.

1. Why learn this

Consonants carry most of the information in a Korean word. If you know the 10 vowels from lesson 1, the 14 basic consonants complete your starter kit. With both sets you can already sound out hundreds of everyday words.

The good news is that the consonants are not random shapes. Five of them are pictures of the mouth, and the others are made by adding strokes to those five. Learn the five and the rest follow.

Some sounds are new for English speakers. Korean separates plain, aspirated, and tense sounds, where English hears only one. This lesson trains your ear and your mouth for that difference.