Take your time on these introductory lessons, and go through them slowly. 한글 can be difficult because it’s an alphabet and there are numerous letters and rules to cover, but you’ll be using it everywhere once we start learning Korean and it will become second nature. Once you’re ready to move on, let’s get started and finish learning everything you will need to know about 한글.
Double Consonants
A double consonant is simply two of the same consonant combined together. There are five of them to learn, but they shouldn’t be a problem to remember. Let’s learn them all at the same time.
Notice how each double consonant is composed of two of the same consonant – ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, and ㅈ. In addition, they’re drawn in the same space that one single consonant would normally take up.
Pronunciation: Each of these is pronounced the same way as their singular versions, but is spoken by tensing your mouth before saying them.
Before pronouncing a double consonant, take a short, quick pause. This will naturally cause the sound after the pause to come out tensed.
Stroke Order: Each of these is drawn the same way as their singular versions. Draw the left half first, then draw the right half.
For comparison, take a look at the following two syllables:
가 / 까
The left one is somewhere between a "ka" or "ga." Think of ㄲ as the "k" in the English word "ska" – notice that while saying "ska" the "k" becomes tense because of its position in the word (coming after an "s"). This is what a double consonant sounds like.
다 / 따
Think of ㄸ as the "t" in the English word "stop."
바 / 빠
Think of ㅃ as the "p" in the English word "spa."
사 / 싸
Think of ㅆ as either of the "s" sounds in the English word "seesaw," or "psycho." It’s more of a hissing "s" sound than simply saying "snake."
자 / 짜
Think of ㅉ as the "ch" sound in "got’cha" ("got you").
Double Consonant Practice
Practice by reading the following sounds.
가 / 까 / 다 / 따 / 바 / 빠 / 사 / 싸 / 자 / 짜 / 고 / 꼬 / 도 / 또 / 보 / 뽀 / 소 / 쏘 / 조 / 쪼
New Vocabulary
Let’s take a look at a few examples of words that use double consonants.
딸 - "daughter"
빵 - "bread"
쌀 - "(uncooked) rice"
꼭 - "surely," "certainly"
뿔 - "horn(s)"
똥 - "poop"
말씀 - "words"
꿀 - "honey"
Strong Consonants
A strong consonant is similar to a normal consonant, but pronounced with more force. Imagine saying 가, but putting more force into your voice when saying the consonant – it would come out sounding more like a strong "k," like the word "kite." This is what a strong consonant is. There are only four to learn. Let’s take a look at all of them before we go over them individually.
Three of these four should be simple to learn, as they look similar to their normal versions.
Normal → Strong
ㄱ → ㅋ
ㄷ → ㅌ
ㅂ → ㅍ
ㅈ → ㅊ
Advanced Notes:
Another word for strong consonant is "aspirated consonant." Depending on what additional sources you use for studying Korean, you might see them referred to in this way.
Pronunciation: This is pronounced more strongly than a ㄱ, so you can think of it as a hard "k."
Number of Strokes: 2
Stroke Order: First draw a ㄱ. Start the second stroke from the left, going right, connecting with the middle of the first stroke.
Pronunciation: This is pronounced more strongly than a ㄷ, so you can think of it as a hard "t."
Number of Strokes: 3
Stroke Order: Draw the first line, on top, going from left to right. Start a second line parallel to the first and below it. Begin the third line from the left side of the first stroke, going down and touching the left side of the second stroke, and continuing a bit further. Without starting a fourth stroke, draw a straight line to the right.
Advanced Notes:
You might also see this letter written in the above way; either way is fine. To draw it this way, simply draw the third line beginning from the left side of the second stroke. The rest is drawn in the same way.
Pronunciation: This is pronounced more strongly than a ㅂ, so you can think of it as a hard "p."
Number of Strokes: 4
Stroke Order: First draw a line on top, going to the right. Begin the second stroke from the first line, a bit to the right from the far-left side, going down. Start the third stroke also from the first line, parallel to the second, a bit to the left from the far-right side, going down. Draw the fourth line on the bottom, from left to right, touching the second and third strokes.
Pronunciation: This is pronounced more strongly than a ㅈ, so you can think of it as a hard "ch."
Number of Strokes: 4
Stroke Order: First draw a short line from the top middle, going down. Then draw a ㅈ attached to it.
Advanced Notes:
You might also see this letter written in the above way; either way is fine. To draw it this way, simply draw the first stroke horizontally instead of vertically, going from left to right. The rest is drawn in the same way as normal.
Normal Consonants, Double Consonants, and Strong Consonants
Here’s a useful trick. You can see the difference between a normal consonant, a double consonant, and a strong consonant by using a piece of paper.
Hold a single sheet of paper out in front of your mouth, and try saying the following three sounds one at a time.
가 / 까 / 카
The 카 should cause the piece of paper to shake. In comparison, the 가 will only cause the piece of paper to wobble slightly. However, the 까 should not cause the piece of paper to move noticeably at all.
This is because strong consonants require more energy to say, and therefore more air to say them. Double consonants, however, are made by taking a short, quick pause before saying them. As a result most of the air released when pronouncing a double consonant is dissipated – the air isn’t leaving the mouth in a concentrated burst like it is for normal consonants or strong consonants.
Pay close attention to the different sounds made from normal consonants, double consonants, and strong consonants. Knowing the difference is extremely important, and words can easily be misunderstood if pronounced using the wrong one.
Although 불 means "fire," 뿔 means "horns," and 풀 can mean "grass" or "glue." Koreans can easily hear the differences between these sounds because they’re accustomed to using them on a regular basis, and with practice so can you.
More Consonant Practice
Practice reading these syllables on your own.
가 / 까 / 카 / 다 / 따 / 타 / 바 / 빠 / 파 / 자 / 짜 / 차 / 고 / 꼬 / 코 / 도 / 또 / 토 / 보 / 뽀 / 포 / 조 / 쪼 / 초
Practice writing just a few more syllables, using double consonants and strong consonants.
New Vocabulary
Here are a few new words to read over and practice. Notice how words using normal consonants, double consonants, and strong consonants can each have separate, unrelated meanings.
코 - "nose"
털 - "hair," "fur" (not on the head)
핸드폰 - "cell phone" (literally, "hand phone")
검 - "sword"
껌 - "gum"
춤 - "a dance"
컴퓨터 - "computer"
덕 - "moral"
떡 - "rice cake"
턱 - "chin"
베다 - "to cut (into)"
빼다 - "to remove"
패다 - "to beat," "to bash"
자다 - "to sleep"
짜다 - "to be salty"
차다 - "to kick"
Diphthongs
What is a diphthong? Well, it’s nothing to be afraid of. A diphthong is a combination of more than one vowel into a single new vowel. Imagine taking a 오 sound (ㅗ) and mixing it with a 아 sound (ㅏ) – you’d get a "wa" sound, right? Right! And in Korean, there’s an easy way to combine two vowels together into a new vowel. These combinations are called diphthongs.
Let’s go over each of them. There are seven in total.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅡ and ㅣ. It is pronounced the same way as saying 으 immediately followed by 이, quickly – as in "uh-ee."
Number of Strokes: 2
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅡ. Next, draw a ㅣ.
Although this diphthong is pronounced "uh-ee" when written as 의, when used with any other consonant besides ㅇ it becomes pronounced the same as ㅣ. For example, 희 is simply pronounced 히.
Advanced Notes:
There’s also one more situation where 의 is pronounced differently, and that’s when it’s used as the Possessive Marker. We’ll learn about the Possessive Marker in Chapter 11.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅗ and ㅏ. It is pronounced the same way as saying 오 immediately followed by 아, quickly – as in "wa."
Number of Strokes: 4
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅗ. Next, draw a ㅏ.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅜ and ㅓ. It is pronounced the same way as saying 우 immediately followed by 어, quickly – as in "u-uh" or the English word "whoa."
Number of Strokes: 4
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅜ. Next, draw a ㅓ.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅜ and ㅣ. It is pronounced the same way as saying 우 immediately followed by 이, quickly – as in "u-ee" or the French word "oui."
Number of Strokes: 3
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅜ. Next, draw a ㅣ.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅗ and ㅐ. It is pronounced the same way as saying 오 immediately followed by 애, quickly – as in "o-e" or the English word "way."
Number of Strokes: 5
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅗ. Next, draw a ㅐ.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅗ and ㅣ. However, it is pronounced differently than it may look. It is actually pronounced the same way as saying 오 immediately followed by ㅔ, quickly – as in "o-e" or the English word "way." Just like how ㅔ and ㅐ are pronounced similarly, ㅙ and ㅚ are similar as well; feel free to pronounce ㅚ the same way as ㅙ.
Number of Strokes: 3
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅗ. Next, draw a ㅣ.
Advanced Notes:
You will never see a diphthong that is written combining ㅗ and ㅔ. It can’t even be typed on a Korean keyboard. Instead, remember to use either ㅙ or ㅚ when writing.
Pronunciation: This is a combination of ㅜ and ㅔ. It is pronounced the same way as saying 우 immediately followed by 에, quickly – as in "u-e."
Number of Strokes: 5
Stroke Order: First draw a ㅜ. Next, draw a ㅔ.
Practicing Diphthongs
Now that wasn’t so bad, right? Practice reading these syllables on your own.
의 / 와 / 워 / 위 / 왜 / 외 / 웨
희 / 과 / 궈 / 귀 / 괘 / 괴 / 궤
긔 / 봐 / 줘 / 뒤 / 돼 / 뇌 / 쉐
흰 / 촬 / 꿩 / 윈 / 괜 / 뵙 / 웬
New Vocabulary and Final Practice
Here are a few new words you can learn using diphthongs.
의사 - "doctor"
희망 - "hope"
과일 - "fruit"
원 - "Won" (the Korean currency)
귀 - "ear"
왜 - "why"
열쇠 - "key"
웰빙 - "healthy" (literally, "well being")
For a final exercise, before moving onto sound changes, practice writing 한글 using the following block forms. Try to use different letters for each syllable as much as possible, and incorporate diphthongs in several of them; to keep things simple it might be best at first to practice using diphthongs in syllable blocks with fewer letters (2 or 3).
Of course, don’t limit your 한글 practice to solely these exercises. Also don’t limit yourself to using block forms when writing – they’re only for helping you to adjust to the way that 한글 syllables are written. Practice writing in a notebook, on your own, as much as possible. If you have time, I’d also recommend copying down as much as you can from this book as you move through it, such as conversations and example sentences, in order to improve your writing even more.