Consonants

• 바 - ba
• 자 - ja
• ㄷ - da
• ㄱ - k/ga
• 사 - sa
• 마 - ma
• 나 - na
• ㅇ - silent/ng
  • If this consonant is placed before a vowel, it is silent. For example: 이 we just ignore the consonant and pronounce the vowel (ee) If this consonant is placed at the end/bottom of a syllable - it makes an ‘ng’ sound. Now if we take this for example 송 (song) the ㅇ makes an ‘ng’ sound at the bottom of the syllable.
    • ㅇ at the start of a syllable = silent
    • ㅇ at the end of a syllable = ‘ng’ sound
• 라 - r/la
• 하 - ha
• 카 - ka
• 타 - ta
• 차 - cha
• 파 - pa

Vowels

• 아 - ah
• 어 - uh
• 이 - ee
• 오 - oh
• 우 - oo
• 요 - yoh
• 유 - yoo
• 야 - yah
• 여 - yuh
• 으 - euh (sounds like the uh gross sound you make when you find something disgusting, minimal effort needed in pronunciation)

Diphthongs

• (Diphthongs are two vowels combined to make one new vowel)
• ㅏ+ㅣ= 애 - ae (eh sound)
• ㅓ +ㅣ= 에 - e (eh sound)
• ㅑ+ㅣ= 얘 - yae (yeh sound)
• ㅕ+ㅣ= 예 - ye (yeh sound)
• ㅜ +ㅓ= 워 - weo (wuh sound)
• ㅜ + ㅣ= 위 - wi (wee sound)
• ㅜ + ㅔ= 웨 - oe (weh sound)
• ㅗ + ㅏ= 와 - wa (wah sound)
• ㅗ + ㅣ= 외 - oe (weh sound)
• ㅗ + ㅐ= 왜 - wae (weh sound)
• ㅡ +ㅣ= 의 - oi (uh-wee sound)

Aspirated Consonants

• ㅋ - (k)
• ㅌ - (t)
• ㅊ - (ch)
• ㅍ - (p)

Double Consonants

• ㅂ - ㅃ (bb)
• ㅈ - ㅉ (jj)
• ㄷ - ㄸ (dd)
• ㄱ - ㄲ (gg)
• ㅅ - ㅆ (ss)

받침 (Batchim) Rules

• Rule 1: Consonants in batchim sound different!
  • Consonants in batchim have an almost silent trait to them, but there is still a sound! It sounds like you are about to pronounce that letter but then just stop.
  • We can call this ‘stop and drop’ for learning purposes.

For example the word 입 (lips) - ㅂis in the batchim position so we pronounce very subtly like the 'stop and drop’ rule we mentioned before.

• Rule 2: There can be two consonants in the batchim position!
  • In this group you usually pronounce the first consonant only:

읷 읺 읹 읿 잁 잆 잃

• In the second group we pronounce the second consonant only:

잀 읾 잂

• Rule 3: If the first sound in a syllable after batchim is a vowel we carry over the last consonant’s sound from the last syllable (the explanation probably doesn’t make sense so I’ll use an example)
  • 있아면 - (ee-ta-myeon) The ㅆ that makes a ’t’ sound because of the batchim rule, is carried over to the second syllable.

Pronunciation Rules With Batchim

• Sound silent/muted in batchim: ㄱ ㅂ ㄷ ㅈ ㅅ
• ㅇ - Becomes ‘ng’ at the end of a syllable.
• ㄲ + ㅆ are the only double consonabts that ever appear in batchim
• If ㅌ in batchim comes before an 이 in the next syllable it is pronounced as a ㅊ
  • Example: 같이 would be pronounced at 가치
• The carry over rule: If a consonant is in batchim and the next syllable starts with a vowel, carry over the consonant sound.
  • Example: 집에서 is actually pronounced ji-be-seo.
  • 씻다 - (sheet-dah) 씻어요 (shee-seo-yo)
• If the syllable ends on a consonant and another one starts withe same consonant the carry over rule just makes it a double consonant. But if it’s not then use the muted/silent batchim sounds that I wrote about above.
  • Example: 듣다 pronounced as 드따

Four Ways You Can See A Syllable

• C
• V
• C
  • CV
  • C
    • CV
    • CC
      • C
      • V
      • CC