Expanded Consonants and Vowels

These are also for you to practice writing :

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24 Basic Consonants and Vowels

This table is for you to practice writing :

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Classroom Expressions

Here are some examples of daily expressions in classroom for you to practice :

Expressions	Sound	Meaning
책 펴세요.	Chaek pyeoseyo.	Open your book.
잘 들으세요.	Jal deureuseyo.	Listen carefully.
따라 하세요.	Ttara haseyo.	Repeat after me.
읽어 보세요	Ilgeo boseyo	Please read.
대답해 보세요	Daedaphae boseyo.	Answer (the question).
써 보세요.	Sseo boseyo.	Please write it.
알겠어요?	Algesseoyo?	Do you understand?
네, 알겠어요.	Ne, algesseoyo.	Yes, I understand.
[아뇨] 잘 모르겠는데요.	[Anyo] jal moreugenneundeyo.	No, I don’t really understand.
질문 있어요?	Jilmun isseoyo?	Do you have any questions?
네, 있는데요.	Ne, inneundeyo.	Yes, I have (a question).
[질문] 없는데요.	[Jilmun] eomneundeyo.	I don’t have (any questions).
천천히 [말씀]해 주세요.	Cheoncheonhi [malsseum]hae juseyo.	Please speak/say it slowly.
잊어버렸는데요.	Ijeobeoryeonneundeyo.	I’ve forgotten.
“Test” 한국어로 뭐예요?	“Test” hangugeoro mwoyeyo?	How do you say “test” in Korean?
“시험”이라고 해요.	“Siheom”irago haeyo.	You say “siheom”.
한국말로 하세요.	Hangungmalro haseyo	Please say it in Korean.
다시 한번 해 보세요.	Dashi hanbeon hae boseyo	Try it again.
맞았어요.	Majasseoyo.	That’s correct.
틀렸는데요.	Teulryeonneundeyo.	That’s not right.
오늘은 이만 하겠어요.	Oneureun iman hagesseoyo.	We’ll stop here today.

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Aspiration and ㅎ weakening

The ‘h’ sound is very weak in English as well as Korean. For example, when you pronounce ‘hour’ it sounds like ‘our’. The ‘ㅎ’ tends to become silent in casual speech between vowels, after the nasal consonants ㄴ and ㅁ, or after the consonant ㄹ. Examples :

Spelling	Pronounciation	Sound	Meaning
좋아요	조아요	jo-a-yo	okay or like it
전화	저놔	jeo-nwa	phone
감히	가미	ka-mi	dare
말해 봐	마래 봐	ma-rae-bwa	tell me

When ㅎ precedes or follows immediately ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ or ㅈ, it becomes silent but making these soft consonants harder (or aspirated):

Softer	Harder	Sound
ㄱ	ㅋ	k(h)
ㄷ	ㅌ	t(h)
ㅂ	ㅍ	p(h)
ㅈ	ㅊ	c(h)

For examples :

Spelling	Pronounciation	Sound	Meaning
축하	추카	chu-kha	celebrate
좋다	조타	jo-tha	like it
입학	이팍	i-phak	admissions
그렇지	그러치	ke-reo-chi	that’s right

You don’t have to think of these sound shifts as a set of rules that you must learn. If you practise saying the syllables quickly, running them together, the reason for the shifts will become obvious, and eventually altering your pronunciation in this way will become natural.

Pronouncing Korean is relatively easy because, apart from these sound shifts, Korean words sound the way they look. As you will be introduced to new words, sentences, and the like, through printed text, it is important that you devote some time to learning Hangeul.

***If you have any confusion, please, don't hesitate to ask me :)


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Tensification

The following shows the difference between untensed and tensed consonants in Korean:

Untensed	Sound	Tensed	Sound
ㄱ	k/g	ㄲ	kk
ㄷ	d/t	ㄸ	dd
ㅂ	b/p	ㅃ	bb
ㅅ	s	ㅆ	ss
ㅈ	j	ㅉ	jj

Sometimes it’s easier to tense a consonant when it’s before another strong consonant, rather than assimilating it like we did with the nasal consonants ㄴ and ㅁ.

Spelling	Pronunciation	Sound	Meaning
학교	학꾜	hak-kkyo	school
식당	식땅	shik-ddang	restaurant
국밥	국빱	kuk-bbap	soup
책상	책쌍	chaek-ssang	desk
숙제	숙쩨	suk-jje	homework

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