Did you jump to step 2?

Did you skip step 1 because you were eager to just start learning the alphabet? Don't do it! We recommend you you go back to step 1 and read the general information on Hangeul, there are some important details that will help you from being confused later.

Introduction

A consonant paired with a horizontal vowel and a consonant paired with a vertical vowel

We will introduce a consonant and vowel in pairs since consonants cannot be pronounced without the help of a vowel. Steps 2 through 4 are all either a consonant paired with a horizontal vowel or a consonant paired with a vertical vowel.

In this lesson, you will learn:

Consonants: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㄷ, ㅇ
Vowels: ㅏ, ㅜ, ㅗ, ㅣ

Also note that some of these files are set to loop, so you must manually stop the files yourself.

Step 2

ㅏ (vowel)

ㄱ (consonant)

This is a vertical vowel and written to the right of the consonant. Think of the <a> in <art> or the French <a> in <ami>. IPA symbol: /a/. For full information about this letter, see ㅏ.

Male
Female

This is pronounced like a mix between a G and a K at the beginning of a word. It is unvoiced like a K, but unaspirated like a G. Think of the <k> in <skill>. However, when found between vowels, the sound is voiced and makes a /g/ sound. IPA symbol: /k/ /g/. For full information about this letter, see ㄱ.

Practice
가

ㅜ (vowel)

ㄴ (consonant)

This sound makes an "ooh" sound, similar to 'moon' or 'blue' or the U sound in Spanish (i.e. usted in "usted"). This is a horizontal vowel and written below the consonant. IPA symbol: /u/. For full information about this letter, see ㅜ.

Male
Female

This sound is the same as the N sound in English. IPA symbol: /n/. For full information about this letter, see ㄴ.

Practice
누
나
구

ㅗ (vowel)

ㅁ (consonant)

Think of the Canadian or Scottish O. Many speakers do not say aw-oo or o-oo like Americans and do not say ay-oo like Londoners. This is a straight "o" sound, tight but not as tight as the ㅜ. This is a horizontal vowel and written below the consonant. IPA symbol: /o/. For full information about this letter, see ㅗ.

Male
Female

This sound is the same as the M sound in English. IPA symbol: /m/. For full information about this letter, see ㅁ.

Practice
모
마
무
고
노

ㅣ (vowel)

ㄷ (consonant)

This sound is similar to the 'ee' sound in 'see' or 'free.' A little quicker though, more like the <y> in <happy> but not the Scottish "happay." This is a vertical vowel and written to the right of the consonant. IPA symbol: /i/. For full information about this letter, see ㅣ.

Male
Female

This is pronounced like a mix between the sounds of a T and a D at the beginning of a word. It is voiceless like a T and unaspirated like a D. Think of the <t> in <stop>. However, when found between vowels, the sound is voiced and makes a /d/ sound. IPA symbol: /t/ /d/. For full information about this letter, see ㄷ.

Practice
디
다
두
도
기
니
미

ㅇ (consonant)

ㅇ represents no sound when found in the initial position of a syllable. Instead, it simply acts as a placeholder since vowels cannot be written by themselves. However, if ㅇ is in the final (bottom) position, it makes an NG sound, eg 'sing' or 'wrong', but these final position sounds will not be discussed until step 5 of this lesson. For now, think of it as a placeholder for a consonant when only a vowel sound must be written. IPA symbol: /./ /ŋ/. For full information about this letter, see ㅇ.

Practice
아
우
오
이

Real Examples

Word	Audio
가구 (furniture)
가나다 (Korean alphabet, i.e. abc)
가다 (to go)
가두다 (to lock in)
고구마 (sweet potato)
고기 (meat)
고모 (father's sister)
구두 (dress shoes)
기도 (prayer)
나가다 (go out)
나누다 (to divide)
나무 (tree)
나오다 (to come out)
나이 (age)
누가 (who)
누구 (who)
누나 (older sister)
다가가다 (approach to someone)
다니다 (to go to, work, school etc)
도구 (instrument,tool)
마다 (every)
마디 (joint, knot)
모기 (mosquito)
아기 (baby)
아마도 (maybe,perhaps)
아우 (man's younger brother-but not used anymore)
아이 (child)
오다 (to come)
오이 (cucumber)
이기다 (to win)
이모 (mother's sister)

Writing

Characters are written in a certain stroke order. Korean letters are written left to right, top to bottom. Remember stroke order is important, so please practice.

ㄱ is written like this when combined with a horizontal vowel like ㅗ or ㅜ.	ㄱ is written like this when combined with a vertical vowel such as ㅏ or ㅣ.	ㄴ is written similarly to an L.
Do not let the font confuse you, ㅁ is written like a box.	ㄷ is written in 2 strokes, do not write it like a 'C.'	ㅇ is written the same way as a Roman 'O'
ㅏ is written with 2 strokes.
	One straight line from top to bottom.