As you begin your journey to Korean mastery, let’s start with the word for go:
가다
ga-da
“to go”
This two-syllable word is written in two blocks, each consisting of the initial consonant and the vowel, with the consonant on the left and the vowel on the right.
Note that the ㄱ takes a slightly different shape if written independently on in a syllable block. Most Korean letters will slightly adjust their size and shape to fit the syllable block.
- ㄱ (g) is not exactly the same as the English “g”, but it is a decent representation. Sometimes, it sounds more like a “k.” In fact, the ㄱ sound exists in the space between /g/ and /k/.
- In the same way ㄷ is a sound midway between /d/ and /t/, but we will usually write it as “d.”
- ㅏis not the sharp “a” in “dad” or “cat,” rather it is the soft “a” as in “haha” or “father.”
If ga means “go,” how does one write the sound for go in Korean?
고기
go-gi
“meat”
Note how the “o” vowel is a horizontal line ㅗ, as opposed to the vertical line ㅏ. All vowels in Korean are either horizontal or vertical, and the consonants change to fit the orientation.
- ㅗ is the “o” sound in “go” although it sometimes sounds a little closer to a “oo.”
- ㅣ, though transcribed as an “i” is actually the “e” sound in “cheese” or “ghee”
While we are covering vowels that sound like the names of English letters (e.g. “o” and “e”), let’s introduce the sound of the letter “a.”
개
gae
“dog”
- ㅐ looks like the letter “H” (also pronounced with the /ae/ sound), but is really a compound of ㅏandㅣ for the same reason we spell it “ay” as in “day”, “say”, “pay.”
One could combine 개 and 고기, but let’s not do that!
It’s possible for some consonants and vowels to be written so that they touch, for example:
그 게
geu ge
“that” “crab”
At this point, we should be familiar enough with both forms ofㄱ to easily separate it from the vowels ㅡ andㅔ, respectively.
- ㅡis easily the trickiest vowel to pronounce in Korean. It is written as “eu” and is roughly the sound when you try to say “you” while smiling very wide, like you are making a ㅡ with your lips.
- ㅔhas a direct counterpart in English through the short “e” as in “bed” or “wet.”
One must be careful to distinguish ㅔ and ㅐ, not only do the letters look rather similar, but in common practice the distinction between “e” and “ae” is not as pronounced in Korean as in English.
Practice:
가 개 게 고 그 기
다 대 데 도 드 디
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