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Complex Consonants

The Complex Consonants

Complex Consonants
In the previous level, we made more vowels by adding an additional line like ‘ㅣ’ to ‘ㅏ’ and ‘ㅓ’. Hangul consonants use additional lines to make more letters and sounds.

More Lines for Consonants
The consonant with more lines makes a stronger and breathing out sounds. These sounds are called ‘the plosive sound’.

The plosive sounds describe a pop sound on lips like [p] or a breathing out sound like [c] or [h].

HANGUL	ROMANIZATION	SOUND
ㅈ → ㅊ	(ch)	‘ch’ in chart
ㄱ → ㅋ	(k)	‘k’ in kettle
ㄷ → ㅌ	(t)	‘t’ in t-shirt
ㅁ → ㅍ	(p)	‘p’ in pig
ㅇ → ㅎ	(h)	‘h’ in horse

Twin Consonants
Some Hangul letters have identical twins. ‘ㄲ’, ‘ㄸ’, ‘ㅃ’, ‘ㅆ’, ‘ㅉ’ are those. They are called ‘twin consonant (쌍자음)’.

Twin consonants must sound like the plosive sounds to you such as ‘ㅋ [k]’, ‘ㅌ [t]’, ‘ㅍ [p]’, ‘ㅊ [ch]’.

HANGUL	ROMANIZATION	SOUND
ㅈ → ㅉ	(jj)	It sounds very similar to the original, but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation.
ㄱ → ㄲ	(kk)
ㄷ → ㄸ	(dd)
ㅂ → ㅃ	(bb)
ㅅ → ㅆ	(ss)

Tips
When ㄱ, ㄲ, and ㅋ are followed by horizontal vowels such as ㅜ or ㅗ, the second stroke is written as a straight vertical line; whereas in front of vertical vowels such as ㅏ, ㅓ,ㅣit is longer and curved.

HANGUL

Hangul's Missing Sounds
You discovered some Hangul pronunciations that your language lacks. Then Hangul most likely lacks some pronunciations that your language does.

‘f’, ‘r’, ‘v’, ‘z’,, and th are not sounds in Hangul. When writing your language, you must replace them with similar Hangul pronunciations. If you want to write your name and it contains the letters ‘f’, ‘r’, ‘v’, ‘z’ or ‘th’, you must replace them with other letters.

LETTER	REPLACEMENT
f	ㅍ (p)
r	ㄹ (l)
v	ㅂ (b)
z	ㅈ (j)
th	ㅅ (s)/ ㅆ (ss)

Names of the Korean Letters
Each one of the Korean Alphabet consonants and vowels has names. Here is a table with all Hangul consonants and their names.

CONSONANT NAME		APPROXIMATE EQUIVALENT IN ENGLISH
ㄱ	기역 giyeok (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	니은 nieun (n)	is a character that usually sounds like an 'n'.
ㄷ	디귿 digeut (d), (t)	This is a light d or t sound. When it is at the final of syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.
ㄹ	리을 rieul (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	미음 mieum (m)	It sounds just like an "m" sound.
ㅂ	비읍 bieup (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	시옷 siot (s), (t)	This is a consonant that sounds like a ‘s’ in English. When it is at the final of syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.
ㅇ	이응 ieung 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	지읒 jieut (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 syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.
ㅊ	치읓 chieut (ch), (t)	This is a ‘cha’ sound. It is similar to the ㅈ sound, except said with more air to it. When it is at the final of syllable, it sounds like a ‘t’.
ㅋ	키읔 kieuk (k)	This is like ‘kha’, much like ㄱ sound, except is said with more air.
ㅌ	티읕 tieut (t)	This is a t sound, much like ㄷ sound, except is said with more air.
ㅍ	피읖 pieup (p)	It has an airy P sound to it. Similar to ㅂ but with more air.
ㅎ	히읗 hieut (h), (t)	It is like a 'h' sound.
ㄲ	쌍기역 ssangiyeok (kk), (k)	It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄱ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation.
ㄸ	쌍디귿 ssangdigeut (dd)	It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㄷ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation.
ㅃ	쌍비읍 ssangbieup (bb)	It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅂ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation.
ㅉ	쌍지읒 ssangjieut (jj)	It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅈ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation.
ㅆ	쌍시옷 ssangsiot (ss), (s)	It sounds very similar to the original ‘ㅅ’ but it is more forced at the beginning of the pronunciation.