3. Basic Consonants

 

Consonants are modeled after the position they are pronounced. Another consonant was created by adding strokes or overlapping the same letters.

A detailed explanation will be dealt with later in 'the Principles of the Creation of Hangeul'.

 

There are 14 basic consonants in Hangeul. ( [ ] = Pronunciation. Beware there are some differences from the Korean notation of foreign words.)

 

• ㄱ [g/k] : go = [고] , kick = [킥] 

                     the sound [g] and the final sound [k] in English are recognized as the sound [ㄱ] in Korean. 

• ㄴ [n] : no = [노] , gun = [건]
• ㄷ [d/t] : do = [두] , hat = [핻] ('햇' in foreign language notation)

                     The sound [g] in English and the final sound [t] are recognized as the sound [ㄷ] in Korean.  

• ㄹ [r/l] : raw = [러] , law = [러] , tell = [텔]

                     Both [r] and [l] sounds in English are [ㄹ] sounds in Korean. 

                     The final sound [r] is recognized by combining it with a vowel. Example : air = [에어]

• ㅁ [m] : mom = [맘]
• ㅂ [b/p] : boy = [보이] , cap = [캡]

                     The sound [b] and the final sound [p] in English are recognized as the sound [ㅂ] in Korean. 

• ㅅ [s] : sea = [시/씨] , desk = [데스크] 

                    The first sound [s] is recognized as [ㅆ] rather than [ㅅ]. Other than the first position, [s] sounds '스' in Korean.

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㄷ] sound.

• ㅇ [ng] : long = [롱] 

                    As in English, the [ng] sound is used only as an ending sound. 

                    The presence of ㅇ in place of the first position is a sign that there is no sound.

• ㅈ [j, z] : joy = [조이] , zero = [지로] ('제로' in foreign language notation), buzz = [버즈]

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㄷ] sound.

• ㅊ [ch, tʃ, tʃi] : cheese = [치즈] , inch = [인치] , its = [이츠]

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㄷ] sound.

• ㅋ [k] : coffee = [커피] , kitchen = [키친]

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㄱ] sound.

• ㅌ [t] : two = [투] 

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㄷ] sound.

• ㅍ [p] : pen = [펜]

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㅂ] sound.

• ㅎ [h] : high = [하이]

                    When used as a base(final sound), it is recognized as a [ㄷ] sound.