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Korean Alphabet

The letters of the Korean language are known as Hangul, which is the official writing system in both South and North Korea. Hangul is considered one of the simplest and most intelligent writing systems in the world, as it was designed to be easy to learn and read.

There are 40 letters in the Korean alphabet, divided into: 14 basic consonants (자음) 5 double consonants (쌍자음) 10 basic vowels (모음) 11 compound vowels (이중 모음)

Basic Consonants

ㅈ J ㄱ K

ㅊ CH ㄴ N

ㅋ K ㄷ D

ㅌ T ㄹ R / L

ㅍ P ㅁ M

ㅎ Hـ ㅂ B

ㅇ Silent ㅅ S

Double Consonants :

ㄲ KK

ㄸ DD

ㅃ BB

ㅆ SS

ㅉ JJ

Basic Vowels :

ㅏ A

ㅑ YA

ㅓ EO

ㅕ YEO

ㅗ O

ㅛ YO

ㅜ U

ㅠ YU

ㅡ EU

ㅣ I

Compound Vowels :

ㅐ AE

ㅒ YAE

ㅔ E

ㅖ YE

ㅘ WA

ㅙ WAE

ㅚ WI

ㅝ WO

ㅞ WE

ㅟ OUI

ㅢ EUI

Basic Consonants Pronunciation Rules in Korean

ㄴ N

pronounced with the 'n' sound.

ㄱ K

is pronounced with the 'k' sound when it appears at the beginning of a word

pronounced with the 'g' sound when it appears in the middle or at the end of a word.

ㄹ R / L

pronounced with the 'l' sound when it appears at the beginning of a word.

pronounced with the 'r' sound when it appears in the middle or at the end of a word.

ㄷ D / T

pronounced with the 't' sound when it appears at the beginning of a word.

pronounced with the 'd' sound when it appears in the middle or at the end of a word.

ㅂ B

pronounced with the 'b' sound when it appears at the beginning of a word.

pronounced with the 'p' sound when it appears in the middle or at the end of a word.

ㅁ M

pronounced with the 'm' sound.

ㅇSilent

ronounced with the 'ng' sound when it appears at the end of a word.

ㅅ S

pronounced with the 's' sound when it appears at the beginning of a word.

pronounced with the 'sh' sound when a vowel follows.

ㅊCH

pronounced with the 'ch' sound.

ㅈ J

pronounced with the 'j' sound.

ㅋ K

pronounced with the 'k' sound.

ㅌ T

pronounced with the 't' sound.

ㅎ H

pronounced with the 'h' sound.

ㅍ P

pronounced with the 'p' sound.

Basic Vowel Pronunciation Rules in Korean:

Vowels give movement to consonants, as consonants do not have inherent movement and are pronounced as they are silent. When vowels are added to consonants, their pronunciation changes. These vowels function similarly to certain vowels in Arabic (such as kasra, fatha, etc.).

For example:

ㅁ (m) is a consonant, and when combined with the vowel ㅏ (a), it becomes 마 (ma).

ㄱ (g) when combined with ㅣ (i) becomes 기 (gi).

ㅑYA

It is pronounced YA when it follows a consonant and the vowel

ㅏA
It is pronounced A when it appears at the beginning of a word with the syllable

ㅕYEO

It is pronounced YEO when following a consonant.

ㅓ EO

It is pronounced EO when following a consonant.

ㅛ YO

It is pronounced YO when following a consonant.

ㅗ O

t is pronounced O and the sound "Oo" when following a consonant.

YU ㅠ

It is pronounced like YU when following a consonant.

U ㅜ

t is pronounced U and the sound "Uu" when following a consonant.

I ㅣ

It is pronounced I when following a consonant.

EU ㅡ

It is pronounced EU when following a consonant.

Rules for Pronunciation of Compound Vowels

YAE ㅖ

It is pronounced YAE when following a consonant.

ㅔAE

It is pronounced AE when following a consonant.

YE ㅒ

It is pronounced YE when following a consonant.

E ㅐ

It is pronounced E when following a consonant.

WO ㅝ

It is pronounced WO when following a consonant.

WA ㅘ

It is pronounced WA when following a consonant.

UI ㅢ

It is pronounced UI when following a consonant.

WI ㅟ

It is pronounced WI when following a consonant.

WAE ㅙ

It is pronounced WAE when following a consonant.

OE ㅚ

It is pronounced OE when following a consonant.

WE ㅞ

It is pronounced WE when following a consonant.