Consonant Assimilation

The nasal consonants are ㄴ and ㅁ. To keep pronunciation easy and flowing some consonants get changed before these two consonants as shown below :

1) Some p-based sounds become ‘m’:
    ㅂ, ㅍ becomes ㅁ sound

2) Some t, s, ch, and h-based sounds become ‘n’:
    ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ becomes ㄴ sound

3) k/g based sounds become ‘ng’, like in English singer (not sin-ger)
    ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ becomes ㅇ sound

Examples :

Actual Spelling	Sound	Actual Pronounce	Sound
입니다	ip-ni-da	임니다	im-ni-da
있는데	iss-neun-de	인는데	in-neun-de
일학년	il-hak-nyeon	이랑년	i-lang-nyeon

ㄹ also has its own assimilation rules. If ㄹ and ㄴ come together, the ㄹ wins (don’t say the ㄴ at all). It means the n BECOMES an l. If ㄹ comes before an ‘ｉ’ or ‘y’ sound the ㄹ sound is doubled. More of an ‘l’ sound than an ‘r’ sound.

ㄹ + ㄴ becomes double ㄹ (l) sound

ㄹ + (이, 야, 여, 유, etc.) becomes double ㄹ (l) sound

Examples :

Actual Spelling	Sound	Actual Pronounce	Sound
진리	jin-ri	질리	jil-ri
곤란	kon-lan	골란	kol-lan
팔년	pal-nyeon	팔련	pal-lyeon
서울역	seo-ul-yeok	서울력	seo-ul-lyeok

These changes are made to keep pronunciation economical.

Have you ever wondered how Koreans seem to be able to speak so fast? This is one of the reason.

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Pronouncing Final Consonants

All the consonants except for ㄸ, ㅃ and ㅉ can be final consonants. However, there are only seven final consonant sounds when pronouncing individual syllables. These are called Batchim (받침) and have their own sound:

Consonant	Sound	Example	Pronounce	Meaning
ㄱ	k/g	극장	keug-jang	cinema
ㄴ	n	눈	nun	eye; snow
ㄷ	t/d	듣기	teud-gi	listening
ㄹ	r/l	발	pal	foot
ㅁ	m	음악	eum-ak	music
ㅂ	p/b	밥	pab	cooked rice; meal
ㅇ	ng	싱가포르	shing-ga-po-reu	Singapore

Other final consonants take on one of the above seven end consonant sounds:

Consonant	Sound	Example	Pronounce	Meaning
ㅋ	k (ㄱ)	부엌	pu-eok	kitchen
ㄲ	k (ㄱ)	깎다	kkak-da	cut down
ㅅ	t (ㄷ)	옷	ot	clothes
ㅆ	t (ㄷ)	샀다	sat-da	bought
ㅈ	t (ㄷ)	낮	nat	daytime
ㅊ	t (ㄷ)	꽃	kkot	flower
ㅌ	t (ㄷ)	끝	kkeut	end
ㅎ	t (ㄷ)	히읗	hi-eut	name of  Korean letter ‘ㅎ’
ㅍ	p (ㅂ)	앞	ap	front

From this 2nd table, what I'm trying to say is :

~For example, we take 샀다 (sat-da) From what you've learned before, don't you think that it was supposed to pronounced as sas-da, but why I wrote sat-da instead? The reason is because, there are some Korean words that supposed to be pronounced like that. As soon as you learn more, you'll recognized more words. 

If you have any confusion, pls don't hesitate to ask me.


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Tensed Consonants

For tensed consonants, we have :

Hangeul	Pronounce	Example
ㄲ	kk	as in sky
ㄸ	tt	as in stop
ㅃ	pp	as in spy
ㅉ	jj	similar to its easy
ㅆ	ss	as in essence

A tensed consonant such as ㄲ sounds like trying to pronounce two ㄱ at the same time. It requires more effort and you need to tense the muscles around your vocal chords.

Now practise writing these consonants:

Further examples :

Hangeul	Pronounce	Meaning
꼬리	kko-ri	tail
따라 하세요	tta-ra-ha-se-yo	repeat after me
바빠요	pa-ppa-yo	(I am) busy
짜요	jja-yo	(It is) salty
싸요	ssa-yo	(It is) cheap

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Basic Consonants

Basically, we have :

(1)   ㄱ      k/g (as in kid or game)
(2)   ㄷ      t/d (as in tiger or dog)
(3)   ㅂ      p/b (as in pig or bed)
(4)   ㅈ      ch/j (as in charming or jungle)
(5)   ㅅ      s (as in speech)
(6)   ㅁ      m (as in mother)
(7)   ㄴ      n (as in noise)
(8)   ㄹ      r/l (as in rain or lily)
(9)   ㅎ      h (as in high)

(10) ㅇ      ng (as in ring) This sound only applies when ㅇ is the final consonant of a syllable.When the same symbol is used at the start of a syllable it has no sound, and acts as a dummy consonant for syllables that begin with a vowel.

***Note : According to the original Hunmin Jeongeum text :
ㄱ   depicts the root of the tongue blocking the throat;
ㄴ   depicts the outline of the tongue touching the upper palate;
ㅁ   depicts the outline of the mouth;
ㅅ   depicts the outline of the incisors (the teeth at the front);
ㅇ   depicts the outline of the throat.

The other symbols were derived by adding strokes to the basic ones.

Practise writing the consonants, paying attention to the stroke order shown below.

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