BASIC HANGUL
Hangul Vowels (모음)
The graphemes of Korean vowels are inspired by three core elements of Korean cosmology (heaven, man, earth), to which are respectively associated three graphic elements: a mark, a vertical line and a horizontal line.

Each component represents 'sky', 'earth/ ground', and 'human'.

SKY	EARTH/ GROUND	HUMAN
천	지	인

The dot represents the ‘sky’, horizontal line represents ‘flat earth / ground’, while the vertical line represents a ‘still human’. And you can make all 21 Hangul vowels with just these three components.

You can distinguish Hangul vowels with 2 major types: vertical and horizontal. Every Hangul vowel is made based on those 2.

Hangul Vertical Vowel
Draw a vertical line. It looks like ‘I’ in the Latin alphabet. Interestingly, the pronunciation is also the same as ‘i (ee)’.

A. Single Vertical Line
This letter represents ‘human’ and it looks like a standing person.

HANGUL	ROMANIZATION	SOUND
	(i)	‘ee’ in feet

B. Vertical + 1 Line
Now, add a small branch to that skinny tree.

HANGUL	ROMANIZATION	SOUND
	(a)	‘a’ in father
	(o)	‘o’ in God

Hangul Horizontal Vowel
Draw a horizontal line, this letter represents ‘ground’ or ‘earth’.

A. Single Horizontal Line
This letter represents ‘ground’ or ‘earth’ and looks like a laid tree.

HANGUL	ROMANIZATION	SOUND
	(eu)	‘oo’ in good

B. Horizontal + 1 Line
Now, add a line on the top/ bottom of the laid tree.

HANGUL	ROMANIZATION	SOUND
	(o)	‘o’ in dough
	(u)	‘u’ in flu

Hangul Consonants (자음)
Hangul has 19 consonants in total, and we will start learning Hangul with the 9 consonants considered to be the most basic consonants.

Why are they considered the most basic consonants?
The reason is that they are the base to build other Hangul letters by combining and transforming.

Example:
‘ㄷ’ is used to build ‘ㅌ’ and ‘ㄸ’.

Hence, the next 9 consonants will help you to build more Hangul letters.

BASIC CONSONANT	APPROXIMATE EQUIVALENT IN ENGLISH
ㄱ	(g), (k)	This is a light ‘g’ or ‘k’ sound. It sounds like ‘g’ when it is the first consonant in the syllable. It sounds like ‘k’ when it is the final consonant in the syllable.
ㄴ	(n)	is a character that usually sounds like an 'n'.
ㄷ	(d), (t)	This is a light d or t sound. When it is at the final of the syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.
ㄹ	(r), (l)	Think of it as either a light 'l' sound or a rolling 'r' sound, depending on where it is. If it falls between two vowels, it will most likely be a rolling 'r' sound. If it is at the end of a syllable, it will usually be a light 'l' sound.
ㅁ	(m)	It sounds just like an "m" sound.
ㅂ	(b), (p)	It will have a light 'b' or 'p' sound. It sounds like ‘p’ when it is the first consonant in the syllable. It sounds like ‘b’ when it is the final consonant in the syllable.
ㅅ	(s), (t)	This is a consonant that sounds like a ‘s’ in English. When it is at the final of the syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.
ㅇ	No consonant sound, (ng)	It makes no sound at all when it is the first consonant in the syllable. When it falls at the end of a syllable, it sounds like a light "ng" sound in "running".
ㅈ	(j), (t)	This is a light ‘j’ sound in between vowels. At the beginning of the word, it is often heard as a "ch" sound instead. When it is at the final of the syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.

Tips:
What you must keep in mind is that each Hangul pronunciation is very different from romanization or any alphabet, even if some Hangul and alphabet sound similar.

Example:
‘ㅈ’ sounds more like 'ch' than 'j'. Pay close attention to the audio examples to see the differences between the Hangul and Latin alphabets.

ㅇ - The No Consonant Sound
You can’t write only vowels in Hangul so you have to use a default consonant which follows the next vowel sound.

ㄹ - The R or L
In fact, Korean ㄹ isn’t either L or R. It’s a completely different pronunciation from both. For the correct basic ㄹ pronunciation, touch the front ceiling of the mouth (not back of your upfront teeth, way behind than L) with your tongue and move it down while you make a sound.