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About Korean Consonants Chart
Need to know what are the consonants when it comes to Korean language? In articulatory phonetics, a Korean consonant is actually a speech sound that’s articulated using complete or simply partial closure of the vocal region. The term consonant is usually employed to relate to a letter of a Korean alphabet that indicates a consonant sound. Learn More
Korean Consonants Chart
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Korean Consonants in Alphabet
| Most Korean consonants come in three versions, namely unaspirated (without a puff of air), aspirated (with a puff of air) and tensed (stressed). Unaspirated consonants exist in English too, but never alone: compare the sound of 'p' in "pot" (aspirated) and "spot" (unaspirated). Many English speakers find it helpful to pronounce an imperceptible little "m" in front to 'stop' the puff. Tensing isn't really found in English, but pronouncing the consonant quick and hard is a reasonable substitute. | |
| like 'p' in "spit" (unaspirated) | b (p) ㅂ |
| like 'p' in "pig" (aspirated) | p (p', ph) ㅍ |
| tensed 'p', like 'p' in "petit" in French | pp ㅃ |
| like 't' in "stab" (unaspirated) | d (t) ㄷ |
| like 't' in "top" (aspirated) | t (t', th) ㅌ |
| tensed 't' | tt ㄸ |
| like 'k' in "skate" (unaspirated) | g (k) ㄱ |
| like 'c' in "cat" (aspirated) | k (k', k) ㅋ |
| tensed 'k' | kk ㄲ |
| like 'g' in "gin" (unaspirated) | j (ch) ㅈ |
| like 'ch' in "chin" (aspirated). Usually pronounced as a light aspiratd 't' as a final consonant | ch (ch') ㅊ |
| tensed 'j' | jj ㅉ |
| like 's' in "soon", 'sh' before i or any "y" dipthong. Usually pronounced as a very light 't' as a final consonant | s ㅅ |
| tensed 's', 's' in 'sea', never 'sh' | ss ㅆ |
| Standalone consonants: | |
| like 'n' in "nice" | n ㄴ |
| like 'm' in "mother" | m ㅁ |
| somewhere between 'l', 'r' and 'n', original sound is 'r' or 'l'. and 'n' sound occurs through initial consonant mutation. | l ㄹ |
| like 'h' in "help" | h ㅎ |
| like 'ng' in "sing". Unpronounced (placeholder) when at the start of a syllable. | ng ㅇ |
| While the rules above are usually correct for the first consonant, those in the middle of a word are usually (but not always) voiced, which means that ㅂㄷㅈㄱ turn into English "b", "d", "j" and "k". The best rule of thumb is to concentrate on remembering that the first consonant is "special" and the rest are more or less as in English: bibimbap (비빔밥) is pronounced "pee-bim-bap", not "bee-bim-bap" or "p'ee-bim-bap". | |
| The aspirated spellings with "h" are used only in the official North Korean orthography. | |
| Loanwords | |
| Native Korean words can end only in vowels or the consonants k, l, m, n, ng, p or s, and any words imported into Korean are shoehorned to fit this pattern, usually by padding any errant consonants with the vowel eu (ㅡ). For example, any English word ending in "t" will be pronounced as teu (트) in Korean, eg. Baeteumaen (배트맨) for "Batman". In addition, the English sound "f" is turned into p and has that vowel tacked on, so "golf" becomes golpeu (골프). |
Korean Diphthongs in Alphabet
| Korean has two standalone diphthongs: | |
| to summarize the assimiliated vowel diphthongs mentioned above, |
Select the links directly below to view a number of helpful Korean travel words and phrases that are sorted by group. For every holiday word or phrase in Korean, you will find the actual English interpretation.
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