By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify basic Korean consonants

• Pronounce Korean consonant sounds

• Write Korean consonants correctly

• Combine consonants with vowels to form syllables

• Read simple Korean syllables

Korean consonants are called 자음 (Jaeum).

Consonants represent sounds that are combined with vowels to create syllables and words.

Hangul has 14 basic consonants and several additional double consonants.

In this lesson, we will focus on the most important basic consonants used by beginners.

Every Korean word contains consonants and vowels working together.

Vocabulary

Content

Let's learn the 14 basic Korean consonants.

These sounds may change slightly depending on their position in a word.

Practice

Listen to the voice of each vowel and then repeat and read aloud.

ㄱ is pronounced as "G / K"

ㄴ is pronounced as "N"

ㄷ is pronounced as "D / T"

ㄹ is pronounced as "R / L"

ㅁ is pronounced as "M"

ㅂ is pronounced as "B / P"

ㅅ is pronounced as "S"

The consonant ㅇ is unique in Korean.

At the Beginning of a Syllable

ㅇ has no sound.

Examples:

• 아 = A

• 오 = O

• 우 = U

At the End of a Syllable

ㅇ sounds like "NG".

Examples:

• 강 (Gang)

• 공 (Gong)

• 방 (Bang)

This consonant is very common in Korean words.

Reading Practice

Read:

아 is pronounced as "Ah"

오 is pronounced as "Oh"

우 is pronounced as "ooh"

강 is pronounced as "Gang"

공 is pronounced as "Gong"

방 is pronounced as "Bang"

Now let's combine consonants and vowels.

Examples:

These combinations create the foundation of Korean reading.

Reading Practice

Practice slowly and clearly.

Read aloud:

가

나 is pronounced as "Na"

다 is pronounced as "Da"

라 is pronounced as "La"

마 is pronounced as "Ma"

바 is pronounced as "Ba"

사 is pronounced as "Sa"

자 is pronounced as "Ja"

Writing practice helps students remember Korean letters.

Practice writing each consonant five times:

• ㄱ

• ㄴ

• ㄷ

• ㄹ

• ㅁ

• ㅂ

• ㅅ

• ㅇ

• ㅈ

• ㅊ

• ㅋ

• ㅌ

• ㅍ

• ㅎ

Focus on writing neatly and consistently.

Writing Activity

Write these syllables:

• 가

• 나

• 다

• 마

• 바

Repeat each syllable five times.

Congratulations!

In this lesson, you learned:

• What Korean consonants are

• The 14 basic Korean consonants

• The special use of ㅇ

• How consonants and vowels combine

• Basic reading and writing practice

You can now read many simple Korean syllables.

In the next lesson, you will learn how to combine consonants and vowels into complete Hangul syllable blocks and start reading simple Korean words.