Korean Alphabets (Vowels and Consonants)

There are 14 consonants and 10 vowels and there are further 5 double consonants and 11 double vowels. In addition, there are 11 final double consonants in Korean. In this lesson, I am going to teach you how to pronounce each Korean alphabets so please become familiar with these beautiful geometric shapes.

Consonants (자음)

ㄱ = g

ㄴ = n

ㄷ = d

ㄹ = l, r (ㄹ is a sound somewhere between l and r)

ㅁ = m

ㅂ = b


ㅅ = s

ㅇ = “no sound” when used as a first consonant, “ng” when used as a final consonant.

ㅈ = j

ㅊ = ch

ㅋ = k

ㅌ = t


ㅍ = p

ㅎ = h

Vowels (모음)

ㅏ = a

ㅑ = ya

ㅓ = eo

ㅕ = yeo

ㅗ = o

ㅛ = yo


ㅜ = u

ㅠ = yu

ㅡ = eu

ㅣ = i

Double Consonants (쌍자음)

ㄲ = gg Click on the link to hear the difference between the sounds of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ.

ㄸ = dd Note the difference in sounds; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ.

ㅃ = bb Note the difference in sounds;ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ.

ㅆ = ss Note the difference in sounds; ㅅ and ㅆ


ㅉ = jj Note the difference in sounds; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ

Double Vowels (쌍모음)

ㅐ = ae

ㅒ = yae (rarely used)

ㅔ = e

ㅖ = ye

ㅘ = wa

ㅙ = wae

ㅚ = oe


ㅝ = wo

ㅞ = we (rarely used)

ㅟ = wi

ㅢ = ui

taken from : http://letslearnkorean.com/2010/korean-consonants-and-vowels/