Korean grammar #3 – Verb (동사)

Verb in Korean dictionary will do some form changing when it is used in the actual, this changing depend on context and when the sentence is being used, for example verb that has activity which is held in past, will have different form changing with verb that has activity which held in the future, this verb changing will be discuss in detail later.

Verb position in Korean language is different with verb position in common language, usually common language like English, America, will place verb in the middle of subject and object, but Verb in Korean will place in the end of sentence and between subject, object and verb will be connected by specify particle depend on the context of sentences.

This is the simple Korean sentence form

Subject + Object + Verb

Usually in the Korean sentence, when the subject refers to ‘I’, it will disappear and will not be spoken.

Hangul	Romanization	Meaning
보다	boda	to watch
기다리다	gidalida	to wait
자다	jada	to sleep
사다	sada	to buy
읽다	ilkda	To read
쓰다	sseuda	to write
먹다	meokda	to eat

Example in a sentence :

I learn Korean language

내가 한국말을 공부해요

naega hangugmal-eul gongbuhaeyo

Take the bus

버스를 타세요

buseureul taseyo

Korean Grammar #2 - Final Consonants (받침)

In Korean language, one consonant letter can have 2 pronunciation, we call it first consonant and final consonant, when I searching in http://learnkorean.128pro.net, I found this article.

받침

The 받침 is the final consonant (or consonant cluster) at the end of a Korean syllable. The 받침 is written in the bottom/final position. Conjugation rules will often depend on if there is a 받침 or not. The consonant in the 받침 position is said to be in the "final position."

The sound of the jamo may also differ from its original sound if not followed by a vowel.

A sentence example where the 받침 is in red:

Significance

The 받침 is important for grammar conjugation. Many grammar pattern's conjugation method depends on whether it has a 받침 or not, for example the subject markers 가(if there's no 받침) and 이(if there is a 받침).

Pronunciation: Consonant followed by a vowel

If a consonant in the final position is followed by a vowel, the consonant sound shifts over to the syllable with the vowel. The only sounds that don't shift over to the next syllable are ㅇ since it is impossible to begin a syllable with an "ng" sound and ㅎ becomes silent when followed by a vowel. Also when ㅌ is in the final position and followed by the vowel 이, the sound becomes 치, see ㅌ + 이. Similarly when ㄷ is in the final position and followed by the vowel 이, the sound becomes 지. See ㄷ + 이.

Pronunciation When Followed By a Vowel

Original	Actual Pronunciation	Comment
맞아	마자	ㅈ sound shifts over to the next syllable
먹어	머거	ㄱ sound shifts over to the next syllable
집에	지베	ㅂ sound shifts over to the next syllable
좋아	조아	ㅎ sound goes silent if followed by a vowel
놀아	노라	ㄹ sound shifts over to the next syllable, becomes an /ɾ/ sound (flapped /r/) rather than an /l/ sound.
필요하다	피료하다	ㄹ sound shifts over to the next syllable, becomes an /ɾ/ sound rather than an /l/ sound.
영어	영어	The ㅇ 받침 sound does not shift over
한국어	한구거	ㄱ sound shifts over to the next syllable
같이	가치	ㅌ + 이 = 치. See ㅌ + 이
굳이	구지	ㄷ + 이 = 지. See ㄷ + 이
졸업	조럽	ㄹ sound shifts over to the next syllable, becomes an /ɾ/ sound rather than a /l/ sound.
십일	시빌	ㅂ sound shifts over to the next syllable
중앙	중앙	The ㅇ 받침 sound does not shift over

Pronunciation: Consonant not followed by a vowel

If a consonant is in the final position and it is not followed by a vowel (meaning it is the last syllable of the word or followed by another consonant), then it may have a different pronunciation. Notice from the table below that many characters share the same sound when in the 받침 position. Also note: ㅃ, ㄸ, and ㅉ can't appear in the final position.

Pronunciation for Consonants in 받침 Position When Not Followed By a Vowel

Letter(s)	Pronunciation	Comment	Examples	Audio
ㄱ,ㄲ,ㅋ	/k/	The /k/ sound is cut short.	먹다 부엌 깎다	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㅂ,ㅍ	/p/	The /p/ sound is cut short.	밥 수업 춥다 높다	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㄹ	/l/ sound	If ㄹ is followed by a vowel it is a /ɾ/ sound	말 살 칼 잘 팔다 멀다 알다	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㅇ	/ŋ/ sound	Normally ㅇ acts as a placeholder for a consonant and makes no sound, only in the final position does it make a sound.	강 성 왕 콩 선생	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf
ㄷ, ㅎ,ㅈ,ㅅ,ㅆ,ㅌ,ㅊ	/t/ sound		옷 곧 찾다 있다 같다 꽃	/wiki/extensions/audio_player/player.swf

Consonant assimilation

When certain consonant sounds meet each other, there are consonant assimilation rules that modify the standard pronunciation. For a complete set of rules, see the consonant assimilation section.

Examples of Consonant assimilation Rules

Word	Actual Pronunciation	Consonant assimilation Rule
원래 (Originally)	월래	ㄴ + ㄹ → ㄹ, ㄹ
작년 (Last year)	장년	ㄱ + ㄴ → ㅇ, ㄴ
대학로 (An area in Seoul)	대항노	ㄱ + ㄹ → ㅇ, ㄴ
종로 (Jogno, an area in Seoul)	종노	ㅇ + ㄹ → ㅇ, ㄴ
열 하나 (Eleven)	여라나	ㄹ + ㅎ → ㄹ
행복하다 (To be happy)	행보카다	ㄱ + ㅎ → ㅋ
입학 (School admission)	이팍	ㅂ + ㅎ → ㅍ
그렇지 (That's right)	그러치	ㅎ + ㅈ → ㅊ
곧 할 거야 (I'll do it soon.)	고탈꺼야	ㄷ + ㅎ → ㅌ

Double 받침

It is possible to have two different consonants in the final syllable position (a consonant cluster). Note when we say double 받침 we are not refering to ㄲ, ㅆ. If the next syllable starts with a vowel, the sound in the second 받침 position will shift to the next syllable unless it is an ㅎ, in which case the sound is simply ignored. If the next syllable starts with a consonant, only one of the two 받침 consonants will be pronounced, but the second may assimilate with the following consonant.

Example

Pronunciation for double 받침 when followed by a vowel

Original	Actual Pronunciation	Comment
얽어	일거	The ㄱ in cluster ㄺ shifts over to the next syllable
없어	업서	The ㅅ in cluster ㅄ shifts over to the next syllable
앉아	안자	The ㅈ in cluster ㄵ shifts over to the next syllable
짧아	짤바	The ㄱ in cluster ㄺ shifts over to the next syllable
싫어	실어 → 시러	ㅎ goes silent when followed by a vowel, ㄹ sound shifts over
괜찮아	괜찬아 → 괜차나	ㅎ goes silent when followed by a vowel
많이	많이 → 마니	ㅎ goes silent when followed by a vowel
핥아	핥아 → 할타	The ㅌ in cluster ㄾ shifts over to the next syllable
굶어	굶어 → 굴머	The ㄹ in cluster ㄻ shifts over to the next syllable
읊어	읊어 → 을퍼	The ㅍ in cluster ㄿ shifts over to the next syllable

However if it is followed by a consonant in the next syllable over, there is no specific rule as to which sound to pronounce; you must memorize the words individually. The second consonant in the 받침 can also affect the next syllable if one of the consonant assimilation rules applies. See the picture example.

Pronunciation for double 받침 when followed by a vowel

Original	Actual Pronunciation	Comment
닭	닥	With the cluster ㄺ, ㄱ gets pronounced
읽다	익따	With the cluster ㄺ, ㄱ gets pronounced. Then ㄱ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
많다	만타	The consonant assimilation rule ㅎ + ㄷ applies, making ㄷ sound become a ㅌ sound.
없다	업따	With the cluster ㅄ, ㅂ gets pronounced. Then ㅂ 받침 + ㅅ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
젊다	점따	With the cluster ㄻ, ㅁ gets pronounced. Then ㅁ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
굶다	굼따	With the cluster ㄻ, ㅁ gets pronounced. Then ㅁ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
짧다	짭따	With the cluster ㄼ, ㅂ gets pronounced. Then ㅂ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
앉다	안따	With the cluster ㄵ, ㄴ gets pronounced. Then ㅈ 받침 + ㄷ makes the ㄷ sound become a ㄸ sound.
넋	넉	With the cluster ㄳ, ㄱ gets pronounced
여덟	여덜	With the cluster ㄼ, ㄹ gets pronounced

Exceptions

Words like 닭(chicken) when followed by the subject marker 이 and the object marker 을 would normally have the pronunciation "달기" and "달글" respectively if they followed the normal rules. However they get pronounced as "다기" and "다글" instead.

Korean Grammar #1 - Syllable Blocks

Syllable Blocks

Korean words are written from left to right and words are formed by writing each syllable in a block-like shape. Each letter inside the block forms a sound. The word for 'person' is 사람, romanized as 'saram,' and consists of two syllables. The letters ㅅ + ㅏ make the syllable block of 사 ('sa'), while ㄹ + ㅏ + ㅁ make the next syllable 람 ('ram'). The picture below will show you a sound approximation of each of the Korean sounds contained in the word. Also note that written Korean doesn't actually draw boxes around the syllables, this is just for illustrative purposes.

Korean syllables are organized into blocks of letters that have a beginning consonant, a middle vowel, and an optional final consonant. A syllable block is composed of a minimum of two letters, consisting of at least one consonant and one vowel. In our lesson plan, Steps 2, 3 and 4 will focus on just words with a consonant and one horizontal vowel, and words with a consonant and one vertical vowel (see below). Step 5 will introduce the final consonant concept and step 6 will show syllables that can consist of double vowels.

Also note if you want to write only a vowel, it must be written with the consonant ㅇ, which acts as a silent placeholder for the consonant position. Why? Think of the ying and the yang concept. If one wants to write the vowel ㅏ, they would have to write it as 아 with ㅇ being a silent placeholder for the consonant position. An easy way to remember this is to think of the ㅇ as a zero. More examples below:

Original vowel	Written by itself
ㅏ	아
ㅐ	애
ㅓ	어
ㅔ	에
ㅗ	오
ㅜ	우
ㅡ	으
ㅣ	이

Writing

As already mentioned, Korean words are written from left-to-right and top-to-bottom in block-like forms. In the next few sections you will learn how to write each letter and its appropriate stroke order. While stroke order may not seem important at first, it is important when writing Korean naturally and helps others to be able to read your handwriting. The shapes and size of the letters can be stretched or compressed to fill in the block space and to make it evenly sized with other all other syllables. In the example below, you can see how the size and shape of the letter ㄱ changes to fill in this imaginary block (highlighted in sky blue).

Now we are going to start learning some letters, which are called jamo. Please note that, in order to view these lessons in their entirety, you must have Adobe Flash Player installed. This will allow you to play all included audio files on the following pages. Don't worry, you more than likely have it installed on your computer already.

source : http://learnkorean.128pro.net

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/