나는 한국어를 좋아해요!
I like Korean!
A short introduction to the Korean language.
Contents
Alphabet
Consonants
ㄴ | n | ㄱ | g | ㅅ | s | ㅁ | m | ㅇ | -/ng | |||||
ㄷ | d | ㅋ | k | ㅈ | j | ㅂ | b | ㅎ | h | |||||
ㅌ | t | ㅊ | ch | ㅍ | p | |||||||||
| + | ||||||||||||||
ㄹ | r/l |
The symbols on the top row are the basic consonants. The symbols below are derived from them by adding extra lines to indicate extra strength.
Consonant combinations
ㄸ | dd | ㄲ | gg | ㅆ | ss | ㅃ | bb | |||||||
ㅉ | jj |
Vowels
ㅏ | ah | ㅓ | oh | ㅗ | o | ㅜ | u | ㅡ | u* | ㅣ | i | ||||||
ㅑ | yah | ㅕ | yoh | ㅛ | yo | ㅠ | yu |
The extra line in the symbols on the bottom row can be thought of as the ㅣ symbol. So, ㅑ is really ㅣ+ㅏ (that is, ee + ah → yah).
ㅡ is Korea's neutral vowel, similar to the a in caress.
Vowel combinations
ㅏ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅐ | eh | |
ㅑ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅒ | yeh | |
ㅓ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅔ | eh | |
ㅕ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅖ | yeh | |
ㅗ | + | ㅏ | = | ㅘ | wa | |
ㅗ | + | ㅐ | = | ㅙ | weh | |
ㅗ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅚ | weh | |
ㅜ | + | ㅓ | = | ㅝ | woh | |
ㅜ | + | ㅔ | = | ㅞ | weh | |
ㅜ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅟ | wi | |
ㅡ | + | ㅣ | = | ㅢ | ui |
Characters
A character in written Korean represents a single syllable in spoken Korean. For example:
물 |
= mool, which means "water" | |||
|
= ba-na-na, which means "banana" |
Each character either follows the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern or the consonant-vowel pattern. When the ㅇ symbol appears in the initial consonant position, it is treated as a silent consonant, but when it appears in the final consonant position, it is takes the "ng" sound:
|
= ahn-nyong, which means "hello" |
Sometimes you will see two consonants, or two vowels, clustered together:
|
= ahnj-u-se-yo, which means "Please sit." |
- ㄴ+ㅈ - when pronounced, the "ㅈ" moves to the beginning of the next syllable, replacing the empty "ㅇ". Thus, the example is pronounced, "ahn-ju-se-yo".
- ㅓ+ㅣ - this is a special vowel combination which is pronounced "eh" as in "yes".
Grammar
Basic sentence structure
Connective words
Adjectival phrases
Sorry, the above sections have not been writen yet. Check back soon.
Materials for practice
- Korean language examples at language-examples.com is a good source of example sentences translated between English and Korean.
- Yahoo!'s Korean-English dictionary is useful for translating words between Korean and English.
Last but not least, practice conversing with real Koreans. If you don't know any, PenPalParty lists many looking to do a language exchange with English speakers.