koreaboo | learning korean

└ 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥 + 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬

Welcome back to another episode of koreaboO! Today, we're gonna learn how to combine korean letters! Yay! Isn't this fun?!

Before we begin, I have a trivia! Did you know that Korean alphabets in North Korea and South Korea are named differently? It is called 한글 (hangeul) in South Korea and 조선글 (joseongeul) in North Korea. Amazing, right?

Moving on!!

The basic unit of a Korean letter is a syllable- a complete written korean letter must have atleast one consonant and a vowel.

• Let's take ㅏ /a/ for example. Simply, ㅏ alone is not considered as a korean syllable. Although it is considered as a vowel, unlike English, we still need to put a consonant symbol to make the letter complete. In this case, we must add ㅇ before - it does not read as /nga/ as what we've learned about ㅇ in the previous chapter. The use of ㅇ symbol is special in that it is used as a zero-value consonant when it appears before a vowel. This means, if ㅇ is followed by a vowel, it automatically becomes silent. Its function is a place holder in a word-initial position.

Another example is ㅑ. It should be written as 야 (not ㅑ). Again, although it is pronounced as /ya/, you still have to start with a zero-value consonant ㅇ to make it a complete letter - 야.

• Next! It can have a vowel followed by a consonant (but not exempting the first one stated above). For example: 안 /an/, 온 /on/, 연 /yeon/, 왜 /wae/

• It can have a consonant followed by a vowel. For example: 가 /ga/, 서 /seo/, 제 /je/, 파 /pa/

• It can also be composed of consonant-vowel-consonant/two consonants. For example: 몸 /mom/, 달 /dal/, 곰 /gom/, 셋 /set/, 덟 /deol/

The position of the vowel symbols is either on the right or below the initial consonant symbol, such as 나 and 무. If the syllable has a consonant after a vowel symbol, it is always below the vowel, such as 남 /nam/ and 묵 /muk/.

You must remember a few things:
• Korean syllable does not start with two consonants (unlike the English word "tree").

• Each syllable should look about the same size no matter how many symbols it contains (나,흙,둘). See?

• 한글 [Hangeul] follows the spelling convention and Korean spellings do not change just because it reads a little differently from its symbol combinations.

• Just like in English, one should not write just as each word sounds. Do you spell heinous as heynus? No, right? It's the same in Korean, each word has it's own spelling.

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※Tip for practicing your 한글※

• Get a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, of course.
• Go to google and look for some korean songs. After you've chosen a song, go to its ROMANIZATION.
• From there, try to write everything in 한글 [hangul]. After you've done it, you can check your work in its 한글 version. !!! NO CHEATING WHILE WRITING !!! Just remember, it's for your own good.

And let me know if you did well! :)

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Any questions so far?
If none, let's do some brain exercise!
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𝐸𝑋𝐸𝑅𝐶𝐼𝑆𝐸 1.1
Write the romanization of the words below:

1. 안돼
2. 귀
3. 그만
4. 뭐
5. 싫어
6. 두근두근
7. 심쿵
8. 행복
9. 우유
10. 딸기

𝐸𝑋𝐸𝑅𝐶𝐼𝑆𝐸 1.2
Write the 한글 [Hangul] for these words:

1. Joseon
2. ireum
3. annyeong
4. meori
5. ib
6. gom
7. wang
8. nun
9. pal
10. ramyeon

𝐸𝑋𝐸𝑅𝐶𝐼𝑆𝐸 1.3
The following Korean words are the English borrowed words used in Korean. Can you guess which is which?
(ski, banana, hamburger, pen, sandwich, camera, pizza, orange, television, card)

1. 햄버거
2. 피자
3. 카메라
4. 스키
5. 카드
6. 바나나
7. 펜
8. 오렌지
9. 텔레비전
10. 샌드위치

The answers will be revealed
at the end of the lesson.

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