There will always be at least 2 characters in a syllable. A consonant and a vowel. Depending on whether the vowel is tall or wide, the vowel will either go to the right of the consonant, or under the consonant, like so:
If the syllable ends with a consonant(which is the only thing that can go in the patchim, the bottom consonant), it goes below the 2 character syllable, like so:
And then there are two types of those with differentiation: 1) 2 vowels, and 2) 2 Patchims. And then one type of block with five characters: 1 Beginning consonant, 2 vowels, and 2 Patchims. Lets Take a look:
2 Vowels
2 Patchims
'Super' Block
NOTE: the asterisk (*) on the 2 denotes a vowel diphthong.
On the 3, double patchim. There are certain rules to this pronunciation we will learn as we Learn Koreaan!
Also, I get more into setting my pronunciation guides, and I want you to know that there are actual rules for Romanization(or turning them into letters of our alphabet), but I'm not giving a transliteration. I'm giving pronunciation. My best advice is to ditch everything and everything with Romanization, it will just confuse you.
The only times you will see me give pronunciation of Hangul is now, in these Learn Hangul lessons. In the actual Learn Korean, I will only use Hangul and then the English word with the same meaning, never pronunciation. For the beginner lessons, if the pronunciation is different than how it's spelled, I will give the pronunciation -in Hangul- in parentheses.
On to the Hangul Characters!
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ㅇAs we learned briefly last lesson, ㅇ has no pronunciation when it is the beginning consonant. As with the rest of the main consonants we will learn, this sounds different at the bottom of a block, or syllable, patchim, remember? In this case, it is pronounced like a light 'ng' sound, as in sing. If this is in the beginning of a syllable, I will type the pronunciation starting with the vowel. Remember, a syllable always starts with a consonant, this consonant is just silent at the beginning.
When the ㅇ has a patchim before it, it creates a liaison and the patchim takes the place of the ㅇ in sound. For example: 만아 is pronounced as 마나.
ㅣ
This vowel is an 'ee' sound. No simpler way to describe it. I will be using the 'ee' for this vowel.
Remember how I told you that the Hangul consonant ㅅ has one more pronunciation? ㅅ takes on an 'shh' sound when immediately followed by the ㅣ vowel. (**ㅅ also turns into a 'sh' sound in front of the 'y' vowels we will learn later). In these cases, I will type 'sh' for ㅅ.
*시 is pronounced like SHE, not SEE.
EXAMPLES
이
This is pronounced 'ee'. The ㅇ consonant is the beginning consonant, so there is no sound made, in this case, just the vowel is sounded.
인
The ㅇ isn't pronounced, and then we sound the vowel and the patchim. This block is pronounced as 'een'.
뭉
This is pronounced as 'moong'. Kind of like MUNG beans, except the vowel isn't 'uh', it's 'oo', and there isn't as much pronunciation on the 'g' sound, but it is there.
심미
Pronounced like SHEE-MEE, as in 'shimmy and shake' or 'shimmy on down there' if the 'i' sounded like 'ee'.
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ㅎ
This consonant sounds like our 'h' sound, like the 'h' in HA, or HAT. As a patchim, ㅎ is pronounced as a 'tt' sound, like how ㅅ does in the same position. And when it is next to one of the consonants in the next lesson, it is silent, but it changes the pronunciation of those consonants, it makes them aspirated. We'll talk about those in Lesson 4, and we'll take a deeper look into the irregularities in a future lesson. In pronunciation text I provide, the beginning of the syllable will be 'h' and the end will be 't', and the aspirations(when we get to it, will be an 'h' with parentheses "(h)".
ㅡ
This vowel, along with the last vowel in this lesson, is awkward. We don't have and exact matching sound in English. To put in perspective, the block 스 would be pronounced as the 'suh' when you don't say the word SIR correctly. Like how yessum is 'yes ma'am',yessuh is 'yes sir'. So suh. I will update with audio of this as soon as I can! Maybe another way to explain this is when you go to say 'ugh', but without the g sound? I will be using 'uh' in my pronunciations of the letter for the closest sound.
EXAMPLES
흫
This block of Korean text would be pronounced as 'huht'. It may remind you of saying 'hurt' mixed with 'hut', but the 'r' barely, JUST BARELY being apart of anything.
한
Pronounced 'hahn. Remember how to pronounce ㅏ.
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ㄹ
This consonant is pronounced 'rr' at the beginning of a block(syllable) and before a 'ㅇ'. By 'rr', I mean almost a Spanish rolling 'r'. It even has a light 'd' sound. Maybe a mix between 'r' and 'd'? Again, I will try to get an audio clip for this sound. When it's at the end of a word/block or right before another consonant, it's pronounced like a 'L' sound. If there are two of these characters in a row, it is NO DOUBT pronounced 'l'. It's tricky, but you'll get the hang of it. I will be using an 'r' when it has the r/d sound, and an 'l' when it has the l sound.
REMEMBER, the tongue makes this sound always, not like our 'R' in ROW, that 'R' is made with our lips.
ㅓ
This vowel is also tricky. It is another 'o' vowel, but it's not the 'oh' like ㅗ. Your lips aren't rounded for the ㅓ vowel, like it is for the ㅗ. Try saying 아, but then leave your mouth the way it is, and say 'oh', but never moving your mouth, the only thing that changes is the vowel sound, from ah to o. I will be using 'o' in my pronunciations for this vowel, but please know that there is a difference between ㅓ and ㅗ.. 'o' and 'oh'.
EXAMPLES
롤
Pronounced like ROLL-over, except the r sound is the r/d sound. So in my pronunciation: rohl
멀
Pronounced 'mol', remember how ㅓ sounds.
말이
Pronounced 'mah-ree'. Since the 2nd block starts with the silent consonant, the patchim on the previous block takes it's place. This would sound like MARY, except the A is 'ah' and the R is the r/d sound.
실라
Pronounced like the name 'Sheila' or 'she'-'la'. Sheel-la
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Download a Pronunciation Worksheet here:
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Video to come!
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