"Hangul" The Korean Writing System

Let's try to learn Hangul or the Korean Alphabet writing system in a very systematic and fun way. Here you will learn Hangul consonants, vowels and it's writing order and orientation. Let's start!

Vowels

The black is all the vowels and the blue green is all the diphthongs.

Now let's see the consonants

But right now let's just focus on the first five consonants and vowels. 

Vowelㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅐ

Consonant ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ 

** Consonant and vowel to create simple Hangul **

When creating a hangul character you will always start with a consonant, and then follow it with a vowel. Let’s look at some simple consonant + vowel combinations: 

1.ㄱ + ㅏ = 가 Ka why not Ga?

2. ㄴ +ㅏ = 나 Na

3. ㄷ +ㅓ = 더 Doe ; ㄷ+ㅗ =도 Do

4. ㄹ +ㅜ = 루 Ru why not Lu?

       And so on...

* K/G - ㄱ can be pronounced like a G or a K. Typically at the beginning of a sentence or word you will hear  like a K, and if it is in the middle of a word it’s closer to a G.

 * L/U - ㄹ  can be pronounced like an R or an L. Typically at the beginning of a sentence you will hear  like a R and in the middle more like L.  As you learn Korean you will find that, depending on the word, the sound of and will shift. In many cases you just have to learn how that particular word is pronounced. 

** Writing order and orientation**

There are standing (vertical) and laying (horizontal) vowels. Standing vowels always “stand” to the right of the consonant. Laying vowels always “lay” below the consonant. 

This is the basic order and orientation! Another orientation you may want to learn in advance are these 4!

Now let's put it to work and learn few words that we can learn from CV combinations. Write the appropriate Hangul characters.  

1. All, everything - Da
2. Furniture- GaGu
3. Country - naRa
4. Who - NuGu
5. Older sister (said by males)- NuNa
6. Sand - MoRae
7. Dog - Gae

Writing practice is the key in memorizing Hangul characters. Take time to look for other words that you can learn.