Why not start with the characters that make up Hangul?

The first character is

ㅎ

It has a couple variations. Generally, it is like an “h” sound. If it is at the beginning of a word, it will sound like an “h”.

ㅏ

This is a vowel, and it is an “a” sound, as in father. It pretty much never varies and always has the same sound. Quite a simple character. This vowel will always be placed to the right of the first consonant. It does not fall below the consonant.

ㄴ

is a character that usually sounds like an “n”. It only has one irregular form, which is in next lesson.

So far, we have a “h” sound, an “a” sound, and a “n” sound. Or, we have ㅎ, ㅏ, and ㄴ. Together, these form the first half of Hangul, 한.

Now let’s break down the second syllable.

ㄱ

This is a light “g” or “k” sound. Don’t push the air too hard or try and make this sound too heavy, it is a light sound. Don’t emphasize the character. Especially at the end of a word, this character is very light. At the end of a word, it is almost as if you don’t say the character.

ㅡ

This a little harder to explain. I think the best way to say it is, it sounds like the “oo” part in “good”.

Let me phrase this another way...

It is like a short “u”, said in the back of the mouth. It is almost like a grunt! Be sure you don’t actually grunt though when you say it.

This vowel will always be placed below the first consonant. It does not fall to the right of the consonant.

ㄹ

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.

It does not come at the beginning of a syllable of any Korean word, but will be used at the beginning for borrowed words, like loanwords.

That’s it! You now have learned 6 characters. You can now write

한글

and you can! You can write both in Hangul, and the word Hangul.

Now, do you remember what each of those characters is like?

Have a little practice. Read these words to yourself, try to refer to the previous chapter: Consonants and Vowels. And post your answers in commentbox below! (I will post the answers in the next chapter.)

나

가

낙

하

근

는