Thank you all for joining me on this journey to learn Korean. Our topic for today is "Know Your Characters: Korean Consonants". Our honoured guest is none other than the Evil Magnae himself, Cho Kyuhyun!

Anyway, moving on...

Probably one of the most important things when learning a new language is to get the alphabet or characters of that language down. In Korea, they have their own set of characters, which are called 한글 [hangeul] Good news for us though: 한글 [hangeul] is one of the easiest (if not the easiest) to learn of all the East Asian character systems! Yes!

Anyway...

So, 한글 [hangeul] is made up of consonants and vowels, similar to the English alphabet. These are arranged into syllables in either of one or two patterns: 

C + V (Consonant + Vowel)

C + V + C (Consonant + Vowel + Consonant)

Don't worry too much about understanding that just yet. It helps to see some examples first. So, let's get started with consonants! In Korean, there are 19 consonants.

The first 9 consonants are basic. These are: 

ㄱ= g, k

ㄴ= n

ㄷ= d, t

ㄹ= r, l

ㅁ= m

ㅂ= b, p

ㅅ= s, sh

ㅇ= ∅/ng

ㅈ= j, ch

So, let's talk about our first consonant: ㄱ.

ㄱ is pronounced similar to "k" at the beginning of a word (most of the time) and at end of a syllable, while in other places, it sounds more like "g".

Ex:   가자= [kaja] Let's go

게임 = [geim] game 

미국 = [miguk] U.S.A. 

규현= Kyuhyun!

ㄴ sounds like "n". Not really much else to say with this one.

Ex:   나비= [nabi] butterfly

남한= [namhan] South Korea

남자친구= [namjachingu] boyfriend

ㄷ is pronounced similarly to a "t" at the beginning of a word and at the end of a syllable (usually). At other places it sounds closer to a "d".

Ex:   도서관= [toseogwan] library 

달= [tal] moon

디비디= [dibidi] DVD

드레스= [deureseu] dress

ㄹ is pronounced kind of like an "l" at the end of a syllable. At other times, it's closer to "r". Just so you know, Koreans don't hear the difference between the "r" and "l" sounds, so this becomes a little hard for them when speaking English. So, that's why you may think your oppa's "Engrish" sounds cute/funny. 

Ex:   라면= [ramyeon] instant noodles (though I think you knew that. :P )

빨리= [ppalri] hurry (Notice the "l" sound at the end of the first syllable and the "r" sound at the beginning of the second syllable)

라디오= [radio]

ㅁ sounds like "m". (Plain and simple. Mmhmm. ^-^ )

Ex:   = 미안합니다 [minahamnida] I'm sorry! Excuse Me! (apology)

마음= [maeum] heart

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