Korean Consonants and Vowels

There are 14 consonants and 10 vowels and there are further 5 double consonants and 11 double vowels. In addition, there are 11 final double consonants in Korean. In this lesson, I am going to teach you how to pronounce each Korean alphabets so please become familiar with these beautiful geometric shapes.

Consonants (자음)

ㄱ = g
ㄴ = n
ㄷ = d
ㄹ = l, r (ㄹ is a sound somewhere between l and r)
ㅁ = m
ㅂ = b
ㅅ = s
ㅇ = “no sound” when used as a first consonant, “ng” when used as a final consonant.
ㅈ = j
ㅊ = ch
ㅋ = k
ㅌ = t
ㅍ = p
ㅎ = h

Vowels (모음)

ㅏ = a
ㅑ = ya
ㅓ = eo
ㅕ = yeo
ㅗ = o
ㅛ = yo
ㅜ = u
ㅠ = yu
ㅡ = eu
ㅣ = i

Double Consonants (쌍자음)

ㄲ = gg Click on the link to hear the difference between the sounds of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ.
ㄸ = dd Note the difference in sounds; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ.
ㅃ = bb Note the difference in sounds;ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ.
ㅆ = ss Note the difference in sounds; ㅅ and ㅆ
ㅉ = jj Note the difference in sounds; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ

Double Vowels (쌍모음)

ㅐ = ae
ㅒ = yae (rarely used)
ㅔ = e
ㅖ = ye
ㅘ = wa
ㅙ = wae
ㅚ = oe
ㅝ = wo
ㅞ = we (rarely used)
ㅟ = wi
ㅢ = ui