LESSON 2

Consonants

The consonants m ㅁ, n ㄴ, and h ㅎ are pronounced much like in English.

The consonant written ng ㅇ is pronounced as in sing, singer (but NOT as in English finger which sounds like fingger). You will often see the same letter ㅇ at the beginning of a Korean syllable. In this case, it has no sound. It is only pronounced as ng at the end of a syllable.

The consonants b ㅂ, d ㄷ, and g ㄱ sound like weakly articulated English pin, tin, kin; but at the end of a syllable (hip, hit, hick) be careful not to give these consonants a special release—just shut the sound off.

The sounds written p ㅍ, t ㅌ and k ㅋ are said with a heavy puff of breath like English upheaval, penthouse, cookhouse.

The sounds written pp ㅃ, tt ㄸ, and kk ㄲ are pronounced with the throat and mouth muscles very tense and released sharp with no puff of breath, a little like English spy, stay, skid.

B, d, and g are LAX; p, t, and k are BREATHY; and pp, tt, and kk are TENSE. In the same way j ㅈ is lax (as in English church weakly articulated), ch ㅊ is breathy (as in English beach house), and jj ㅉ is tense.

You may hear pp, tt, kk, and jj like English bit, dip, go, and Joe— if you pronounce these words with a specially strong emphasis. But ordinarily English b, d, g, and j are rather weakly pronounced like the way Korean b, d, g, and j sound between voiced sounds.

The Korean sound s ㅅ is lax and sounds like a very weak English s—or, sometimes, especially in front of the vowel i, like English sh. The Korean sound ss ㅆ is tense and sounds like a very emphatic English s. Don’t worry if you can’t hear the difference between these two; there are few situations in which you will be misunderstood if you confuse them.

The Korean sound which we write sometimes l ㄹ and sometimes r ㄹ is very difficult for Americans because it sounds like a number of different English sounds. Within a word when it sounds like the l in fill we write it l; when it sounds like the r in British berry (or the t in English Betty; or the Japanese r, or the single Spanish r) we write it r.

Here are some common words to practice the consonants.

bi	rain	비
pi	blood	피
maekju	beer	맥주
byeo	rice plant	벼
pyo	ticket	표
ppyeo	bone	뼈
dal	moon	달
tal	mask	탈
ttal	daughter	딸
do	province	도
top	a saw	톱
tto	again, yet	또
gi	spirit, disposition	기
ki	height, size	키
kki	a meal	끼
gae	dog	개
kal	knife	칼
kkae	sesame seed	깨
jo	millet	조
cho	candle	초
jjok	side, direction	쪽
sal	flesh	살
ssal	uncooked rice	쌀
seoda	stands up	서다
sseuda	writes	쓰다
dambae	cigarettes	담배
gongbu	study	공부
Ilbon	Japan	일본
yeoseot beon	six times	여섯 번
chimdae	bed	침대
bando	peninsula	반도
dalda	is sweet	달다
chuptta	is cold	춥다
jaktta	is small	작다
Yeongguk	England	영국
gwail	fruit	과일
sipgu	nineteen	십구
namja	man, male	남자
hwanja	patient	환자
maekju	beer	맥주
jongi	paper	종이
dongan	interval; baby face	동안
iri	this way	이리
geureoke	in that way, so	그렇게
leseutorang	restaurant	레스토랑
ladio	radio	라디오
piryo	necessity	필요
parwol	August	팔월
il	work, job	일
mul	water	물
mullon	of course	물론
ppalli	fast	빨리