Syllables 1
Korean Basic Syllables
A syllable is a unit of pronunciation or sound. It can form the whole or a part of a word. A Korean syllable must contain at least one consonant and one vowel. When we combine the basic consonant and basic vowel, we call it a basic consonant. In this chapter, you will get to know about this.
How to Study Basic Syllables
Our goal in this chapter is to be able to read and write the basic syllables.
To practice, here is a way to study.
1. See how each consonant combines with vowels.
2. You can click each syllable or watch the videos to listen and repeat the sounds.
3. Download a worksheet and practice writing. If you want to download worksheets to practice, please click here.
4. Since the basic syllable is a combination of the letters you've learned already, it won't be too difficult to make them after a few tries. You can take a look at all the sections below, but if you understand and grab a concept quickly, you won't have to go through every single syllable.
5. Take a quiz to check if you can understand the sounds and make the letters!
About Basic Syllables
How to Make Basic Syllables?
1. Consonant + Vowel
To make a basic syllable, you always need to write a consonant first and then add one vowel. For example, to make the sound "ga", you need to combine ㄱ(g) and ㅏ(a) and write 가(ga). Imagine one syllable is written in one invisible square. Each syllable needs to be pronounced as one, not separate sounds.
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2. Placing
The vowels with a long top-down line such as "ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ" come to the right side of a consonant. See how the consonant "ㅇ" combines with them. Since this circle-looking letter "ㅇ" doesn't have any sound (when it comes to the first consonant position), you can pronounce the vowels as they are.
The vowels with a long left-right line such as "ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ" come under a consonant. See how the no-sound letter ㅇ combines with them.
ㄱ and vowels
ㄱ is a consonant that sounds "G" like "game" or "gate". Make sure you read each syllable in one chunk. For example, "고" is like English "go". Not separate "g" and "o". You can listen to the whole syllables with ㄱ by clicking the play button. The syllables are in the order of the basic vowels. You can also listen to each syllable sound by clicking the words in the box.
You may notice how ㄱ looks slightly different between the top 5 and bottom 5.
ㄱ can be written with straight lines no matter what vowel you write after. There is a way to write ㄱ bent like the example above. However, it only happens when it meets the vowels that come to the right side of the consonant. (ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ) You don't bend ㄱ when you write it with vowels that go under it. As a beginner, you can keep the straight ㄱ to practice for now.
ㄴ and vowels
ㄴ has an "N" sound like "no" or "night." To write "no" sound in Korean, you will add ㄴ(n) and ㅗ(o) and make 노. Practice how syllables sound with ㄴ and vowels. You can listen to the full syllables at once by clicking the play button. You can also click the syllables in the chart to listen individually. The chart is organized as the vowels' locations.
If you take a look, you might notice ㄴ with "ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ" is longer-looking and ㄴ with "ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ" seems wider. That is because one syllable is supposed to be in one invisible square. So, the length of consonants will be slightly different depending on the vowel it meets.
ㄷ and vowels
ㄷ has a "D" sound like "door" or "dog." Just like 고 [go] and 노 [no], 도 will sound [do]. Though the English word "do" sounds 두 [du]. Click the play button to listen to the whole ㄷ syllables in the basic vowel order.
You can click each syllable in the chart to listen to each sound.
ㄷ with top-down line vowels (ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ) has longer height. ㄷ with left-right line vowels (ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ) has longer length. You can watch the video to practice more!
ㄹ and vowels
ㄹ sounds "L" in English like "lion" or "leaf." These days, there are many foreign words (loanwords) that come from English. However, since there is no "R" sound in Korean, those words with "R" are written by using "ㄹ" instead. For example, "radio" is written as 라디오 (la-di-oh).
Look at how ㄹ seems different between the top and bottom rows. Can you find the difference?
Extra Reading: You may notice some syllables like 랴, 려, 료, 류, and 리 are hard to pronounce. It is a natural thing! So, when these syllables come to the first position of words they become 야, 여, 요, 유, and 이. One of the Korean family name 이 is "Lee" in English. It came from the Chinese charter 리, but over time it became 이.
ㅁ and vowels
ㅁ has an "M" sound like "mouse" or "mommy." Mommy can be written as 마미[ma-mi]. Click the play button to listen to the whole basic syllables with ㅁ. You can click each word in the chart or watch the video to practice more.
ㅁ looks like a square alone. However, when it meets vowels ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ becomes more like a rectangle that has a longer height. When it meets vowels ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ becomes a rectangle that has a longer length.
ㅂ and vowels
ㅂ has a "B" sound like "bee" or "view." There is no "V" sound in Korean, so the loanwords with "v" can be written this ㅂ. The English word "bee" can be written like "비" and "view" is "뷰". Try to listen and repeat each syllable.
Like other consonants, it becomes slightly taller with vowels that come to the right side (ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ) and slightly wider with vowles that come under (ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ.)
ㅅ and vowels
ㅅ sounds "S" like "see-saw" or "snake." "See-saw" in Korean is "시소(si-so)" as well. Click the play button to listen to the whole ㅅ basic syllables. You can also check out each sound by clicking words in the chart.
Don't forget to pay attention to the proportion! As you saw in other syllables, ㅅ is also a bit taller in the top row than in the bottom row.
ㅇ and vowels
ㅇ has no sound when it comes to the first consonant position. (That means, it will have a sound when it comes to another place, but that is a story for another day.) So, you can simply just say the vowels when you see the syllables like below.
Try to write ㅇ with vowels to practice the placing of consonants and vowels.
Depending on the fonts, you can write this circle-looking letter ㅇ to an oval shape. When you add the top-down long vowels ㅣ,ㅏ,ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ it becomes an oval. When you add the left-right long vowels ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ,ㅜ, ㅠ, it becomes a wide oval. The good news is you can write ㅇ like a circle no matter what vowels you attach to it!
ㅈ and vowels
ㅈ has "J" sound like "jazz" or "jam". Korean doesn't have a "Z" sound, so a loanword with Z is written using this ㅈ letter. For example, "zebra" we can Koreanize it as 지브라 [ji-beu-la].
To write a syllable in an invisible square, a proportion of ㅈ can be changed like other consonants. It gets taller with "ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ" and wider with "ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ."
ㅊ and vowels
ㅊ has "CH" sound like "cheese" or "chew". Cheese is also 치즈(chi-jeu) in Korean. Chew can be Koreanized as 츄. Click the play button to listen to the whole ㅊ basic syllables. You can also click each word in the chart to listen.
ㅊ is basically a letter that has one more line on the top of the ㅈ. The top line can be either attached vertically to ㅈ or a separated horizontal line. Can you find two different styles of ㅊ in this section?
ㅋ and vowels
ㅋ sounds "K" like "key" or "king". For the word "Key," you can write it as 키. People do use "키" for a key in Korea. Click each letter or play button to listen!
Just like ㄱ, ㅋ also can be slightly bent for "ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ" but you don't have to do that. Just use three straight lines to write ㅋ.
ㅌ and vowels
This E-looking letter ㅌ has a "T" sound like "tiger" or "tea". The word "tiger" can be written as "타이거 [ta-i-geo]" and "tea" or "tee" as "티 [ti]". For t-shirts, Korean use the word "티셔츠 [ti-shyeo-cheu]."
Pay attention to the proportion when you write! ㅌ(t) becomes slightly longer with "ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ." It becomes slightly wider with "ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ."
ㅍ and vowels
ㅍ has a "P" sound like "pig" or "pie". "Pig" can be written as "피그" and Koreans use "파이 [pa-i]" for "pie." The word 표 [pyo] means a table(chart), and it looks like a table, doesn't it?
The top row's ㅍ is top-down long to match the size of the vowels. The bottom row's ㅍ is wide to match the left-to-right long vowels.
ㅎ and vowels
ㅎ sounds "H" like "hippo" or "hi". "Hi" can be written as "하이(ha-i)." Hippo can be Koreanized as "히포(hi-po)." Click the play button to listen to the ㅎ syllables. You can listen to each syllable by clicking each word in the chart.
Check how ㅎ changes between the top and bottom rows. Just like we looked at ㅇ, you don't have to follow the exact look for this one. You can use the circle not oval to write ㅎ.
Quiz
Try to listen and choose the right syllables.
Worksheets
Here are my worksheets for you! They are free printable PDF files. So, please download them and utilize your Korean journey! Please subscribe if you like my website!