LESSON 2
Consonants
The consonants m ㅁ, n ㄴ, and h ㅎ are pronounced much like in English.
The consonant written ng ㅇ is pronounced as in sing, singer (but NOT as in English finger which sounds like fingger). You will often see the same letter ㅇ at the beginning of a Korean syllable. In this case, it has no sound. It is only pronounced as ng at the end of a syllable.
The consonants b ㅂ, d ㄷ, and g ㄱ sound like weakly articulated English pin, tin, kin; but at the end of a syllable (hip, hit, hick) be careful not to give these consonants a special release—just shut the sound off.
The sounds written p ㅍ, t ㅌ and k ㅋ are said with a heavy puff of breath like English upheaval, penthouse, cookhouse.
The sounds written pp ㅃ, tt ㄸ, and kk ㄲ are pronounced with the throat and mouth muscles very tense and released sharp with no puff of breath, a little like English spy, stay, skid.
B, d, and g are LAX; p, t, and k are BREATHY; and pp, tt, and kk are TENSE. In the same way j ㅈ is lax (as in English church weakly articulated), ch ㅊ is breathy (as in English beach house), and jj ㅉ is tense.
You may hear pp, tt, kk, and jj like English bit, dip, go, and Joe— if you pronounce these words with a specially strong emphasis. But ordinarily English b, d, g, and j are rather weakly pronounced like the way Korean b, d, g, and j sound between voiced sounds.
The Korean sound s ㅅ is lax and sounds like a very weak English s—or, sometimes, especially in front of the vowel i, like English sh. The Korean sound ss ㅆ is tense and sounds like a very emphatic English s. Don’t worry if you can’t hear the difference between these two; there are few situations in which you will be misunderstood if you confuse them.
The Korean sound which we write sometimes l ㄹ and sometimes r ㄹ is very difficult for Americans because it sounds like a number of different English sounds. Within a word when it sounds like the l in fill we write it l; when it sounds like the r in British berry (or the t in English Betty; or the Japanese r, or the single Spanish r) we write it r.
Here are some common words to practice the consonants.
| bi | rain | 비 |
| pi | blood | 피 |
| maekju | beer | 맥주 |
| byeo | rice plant | 벼 |
| pyo | ticket | 표 |
| ppyeo | bone | 뼈 |
| dal | moon | 달 |
| tal | mask | 탈 |
| ttal | daughter | 딸 |
| do | province | 도 |
| top | a saw | 톱 |
| tto | again, yet | 또 |
| gi | spirit, disposition | 기 |
| ki | height, size | 키 |
| kki | a meal | 끼 |
| gae | dog | 개 |
| kal | knife | 칼 |
| kkae | sesame seed | 깨 |
| jo | millet | 조 |
| cho | candle | 초 |
| jjok | side, direction | 쪽 |
| sal | flesh | 살 |
| ssal | uncooked rice | 쌀 |
| seoda | stands up | 서다 |
| sseuda | writes | 쓰다 |
| dambae | cigarettes | 담배 |
| gongbu | study | 공부 |
| Ilbon | Japan | 일본 |
| yeoseot beon | six times | 여섯 번 |
| chimdae | bed | 침대 |
| bando | peninsula | 반도 |
| dalda | is sweet | 달다 |
| chuptta | is cold | 춥다 |
| jaktta | is small | 작다 |
| Yeongguk | England | 영국 |
| gwail | fruit | 과일 |
| sipgu | nineteen | 십구 |
| namja | man, male | 남자 |
| hwanja | patient | 환자 |
| maekju | beer | 맥주 |
| jongi | paper | 종이 |
| dongan | interval; baby face | 동안 |
| iri | this way | 이리 |
| geureoke | in that way, so | 그렇게 |
| leseutorang | restaurant | 레스토랑 |
| ladio | radio | 라디오 |
| piryo | necessity | 필요 |
| parwol | August | 팔월 |
| il | work, job | 일 |
| mul | water | 물 |
| mullon | of course | 물론 |
| ppalli | fast | 빨리 |
LESSON 3
Sound Changes
When you link words together without pausing between, certain sound changes take place. If the first word ends in a consonant and the second begins with a vowel, the final consonant of the first word is pronounced as the initial consonant of the second word:
| NOTE PRONUNCIATION CHANGE | |||
| seom-i | 섬이 | island (as subject) | = seo mi |
| seom-e | 섬에 | to the island | = seo me |
If the final consonant is p, t, ch, or k it changes in sound to b, d, j, or g:
| NOTE PRONUNCIATION CHANGE | |||
| chaek-i | 책이 | book (as subject) | chae gi |
| hanguk-e | 한국에 | to Korea | Hangu ge |
| bap-i | 밥이 | cooked rice (as subject) | ba bi |
| naj-e | 낮에 | in the daytime | na je |
If the final consonant is l, it changes in sound to r:
| NOTE PRONUNCIATION CHANGE | |||
| il-i | 일이 | work (as subject) | = i ri |
| mul-eul | 물을 | water (as object) | = mu reul |
If the second word begins with m or n and the first word ends in p, t, or k, these change to m, n, and ng respectively:
| NOTE PRONUNCIATION CHANGE | |||
| jib mada | 집마다 | every house | jim mada |
| mot meok kko | 못먹고 | can’t eat | mon meok kko |
| chaek mada | 책마다 | every book | chaeng mada |
The combinations tp, ts, and tk usually sound like pp, ss, and kk:
| NOTE PRONUNCIATION CHANGE | |||
| mot bwayo | 못봐요 | can’t see | mo ppwayo |
| mot sayo | 못사요 | can’t buy | mo ssayo |
| mot gayo | 못가요 | can’t go | mo kkayo |
At the end of a word before a pause or another consonant, the only consonants which occur are p, t, k, m, n, ng, and l. But there are a few words which have basic forms (the forms you hear when linked with a following word beginning with a vowel) in other consonant combinations. These are changed as follows (see also Lesson 16):
| BEFORE VOWEL | BEFORE PAUSE OR CONSONANT | |
| P | P | |
| jib-e 집에 | to the house | jip 집 house, jipdo 집도 house too |
| Sh | P | |
| gapshi | price (subj.) | gaps (not kap) 값 price; |
| 값이 | gapdo 값도 (the s is silent here) price too |
Here the s is moved to the next