Basic Consonants · 기본 자음

2. How it works

2.1 Five letters copy the mouth

King Sejong designed the first five consonants as drawings of the speech organs. Each letter shows where your tongue or lips sit when you make the sound.

ㄱ   the back of the tongue rises to the soft palate   →  g
ㄴ   the tip of the tongue touches the gum behind the teeth   →  n
ㅁ   the lips close, and the shape is a closed mouth   →  m
ㅅ   the teeth, with air passing through   →  s
ㅇ   the open throat, a round circle   →  no sound at the start

You do not need to memorize the pictures. They are a memory hook, and you can come back to them whenever a letter slips.

2.2 Add a stroke, add strength

Other letters are made by adding a stroke to a basic shape. The extra stroke means a stronger, breathier sound.

ㄱ  →  ㅋ           g  →  k
ㄴ  →  ㄷ  →  ㅌ     n  →  d  →  t
ㅁ  →  ㅂ  →  ㅍ     m  →  b  →  p
ㅅ  →  ㅈ  →  ㅊ     s  →  j  →  ch
ㅇ  →  ㅎ           silent  →  h

More strokes usually mean more air. So ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ are the breathy versions of ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ.

2.3 The 14 consonants at a glance

The sounds below are for the start of a syllable. The names are used when you spell a letter aloud, and you do not need them to read.

The vowel ㅏ is used for every example here. Any basic vowel can take its place.

2.4 Plain, aspirated, and tense

Four sounds come in three strengths. English has only two of them, so the middle and the last one need practice.

Plain sounds are soft and relaxed. Aspirated sounds have a strong puff of air. Tense sounds have no puff at all, and the throat is tight, like a short stop.

The tense letters are just the plain letter written twice. So ㄲ is a double ㄱ. Note that ㅅ has no aspirated partner, only the plain ㅅ and the tense ㅆ.

2.5 The special letters ㄹ and ㅇ

ㄹ is between r and l. At the start of a syllable it is a quick tap of the tongue, like the middle of "butter" in American English. It is neither a hard English r nor a full l.

ㅇ at the start of a syllable is silent. It only holds the place so that a vowel can be written. You used it in lesson 1, and you will see it in front of vowels in every lesson.

2.6 How consonants join vowels

A consonant and a vowel make a block. The consonant goes first, then the vowel sits to its right or below it. Lesson 3 explains this in detail, but you can try it now.

ㄱ + ㅏ  →  가    ga     vowel on the right
ㄴ + ㅗ  →  노    no     vowel below