Basic 예사소리 |
Letter (jamo) | ㄴ | ㅂ | ㅇ | |||||||
Romanization Pronunciation |
n [n] |
b or p [b] or [p] |
- (initial) silent |
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Letter (jamo) | ㅏ | |||||||||
Romanization Pronunciation |
a [a] |
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Welcome back! This is the second lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean".
In the last lesson, you already learned four letters: ㅂ (bieup), ㅏ (a), ㄴ (nieun) and ㅇ (ieung). In this lesson, you will learn four new letters. Combined with the four you already know, they will open up quite a few Korean words to you.
The consonant ㅁ (mieum)
editㅁ (mieum) stroke order |
Sound sample of ㅁ (mieum) (help·info) |
The first new consonant to learn is ㅁ (mieum):
Letter (jamo): | ㅁ |
Pronunciation: | [m] |
ㅁ (mieum) is pronounced just like a regular English m. Be careful not to confuse it with 'ㅇ', which doesn't have corners.
Letter (jamo): | ㅁ | ㅏ | => | 마 |
Pronunciation: | [m] | [a] | [ma] |
Exercise
editTry to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅁ (mieum). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: ma-na-ma (transliteration), "Manama"
English: an-nam (transliteration), "Annam"
English: am-man (transliteration), "Amman"
The vowel ㅣ (i)
editㅣ (i) stroke order |
Sound sample of ㅣ (i) (help·info) |
The first new vowel to learn is ㅣ (i):
Letter (jamo): | ㅣ |
Pronunciation: | [i] |
The vowel ㅣ (i) looks much like the English letter I and is pronounced like the i in "machine", so it's easy to remember. It also looks similar to the Korean letter ㅏ (a), except that the dash to the right is missing. (Note: all Korean vowels are based on long horizontal or vertical lines, most with short dashes attached to them.)
Letter (jamo): | ㅁ | ㅣ | => | 미 |
Pronunciation: | [m] | [i] | [mi] |
Exercise
editTry to read the following Korean words that contain the letter ㅣ (i). Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: na-mi-bi-a (transliteration), "Namibia"
English: bin-na (transliteration), "Vienna"
The consonant ㄹ (rieul)
editㄹ (rieul) stroke order |
Sound sample of ㄹ (rieul) (help·info) |
The next consonant, ㄹ (rieul), has two different sounds:
Letter (jamo): | ㄹ |
Romanization: | l or r |
Pronunciation: | [ɾ] or [l] |
ㄹ (rieul) is pronounced like the l in let or like the r in the Spanish word árbol, and is transliterated as r or l.
Letter (jamo): | ㄹ | ㅏ | => | 라 |
Romanization: | r | a | ra | |
Pronunciation: | [ɾ] | [a] | [ɾa] |
Exercise
editEach of these words has ㄹ (rieul). Translate each word into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: (ba-ba-la) Barbara
English: (i-lan) Iran
English: (li-ma) Lima
English: (ma-nil-la) Manila
English: (mal-li) Mali
English: (lil) Lille
English: (ma-il) mile
English: (li-bi-a) Libya
English: (al-ba-ni-a) Albania
The consonant ㄱ (giyeok)
editㄱ (giyeok) stroke order |
Sound sample of ㄱ (giyeok) (help·info) |
Finally, the consonant ㄱ (giyeok) will unlock lots of words to you:
Letter (jamo): | ㄱ |
Pronunciation: | [g] or [k] |
ㄱ (giyeok) is pronounced like the k in sky or the c in scrape. It is not aspirated, so it does not sound like the c in cry or vacation. Many English speakers liken it more to the g sound. It is transliterated as g or k. Be careful not to confuse it with ㄴ (nieun). When ㄱ (giyeok) is combined with a vowel such as ㅏ (a) or ㅣ (i), it changes shape slightly:
Letter (jamo): | ㄱ | ㅣ | => | 기 |
Romanization: | g | i | gi | |
Pronunciation: | [k] | [i] | [ki] |
Exercise
editTranslate these words with ㄱ (giyeok) into English. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: (ga-na) Ghana
English: (li-ga) Riga
English: (gi-ni) Guinea
English: (ga-i-a-na) Guyana
English: (gam-bi-a) Gambia
End of lesson 2
editVery good! You have now learned 8 Korean letters already and the rest won't be difficult either. Feel free to continue with the next lesson.
Basic 예사소리 |
Letter (jamo) | ㄱ | ㄴ | ㄹ | ㅁ | ㅂ | ㅇ | ||||
Romanization Pronunciation |
g or k [g] or [k] |
n [n] |
r or l [ɾ] or [l] |
m [m] |
b or p [b] or [p] |
- (initial) silent |
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Letter (jamo) | ㅏ | ㅣ | ||||||||
Romanization Pronunciation |
a [a] |
i [i] | ||||||||