Hangul was created in 1443 by King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty. Before that, Koreans used Chinese characters when writing Korean language.However, Chinese characters were too difficult for ordinary people without education. Thus, King Sejong created Hangul, which can be easily used by ordinary people.
The Korean language is a fascinating and unique linguistic system that has evolved over centuries. It’s renowned for its efficient writing system, known as Hangul, which combines vowels and consonants to create syllables. Let’s delve deeper into the Korean language, its vowels, consonants, and syllables. This article is about Consonants.
(1) Consonants: Consonant letters were made like this.
There are 14 basic consonants in the Korean writing system. Each consonant represents a distinct sound. Here are some examples:
- ㄱ (g): Similar to the ‘g’ in “go.” The name of this consonants is 기역(gi-yeok).
- ㄴ (n): Similar to the ‘n’ in “nice.” The name of this consonants is 니은(ni-eun).
- ㄷ (d): Similar to the ‘d’ in “dog.” The name of this consonants is 디귿(di-geut).
- ㄹ (r/l): The sound varies between ‘r’ and ‘l’ depending on its position in a word.
The name of this consonants is 리을(ri-eul). - ㅁ (m): Similar to the ‘m’ in “moon.” The name of this consonants is 미음(mi-eum).
- ㅂ (b): Similar to the ‘b’ in “book.” The name of this consonants is 비읍(bi-eup).
- ㅅ (s): Similar to the ‘s’ in “sun.” The name of this consonants is 시옷(si-ot).
- ㅇ (ng): Similar to the ‘ng’ in “song.” It is used as a placeholder sound at the beginning of syllables.
The name of this consonants is 이응(ie-ung). - ㅈ (j): Similar to the ‘j’ in “jump.” The name of this consonants is 지읒(ji-eut).
- ㅊ (ch): Similar to the ‘ch’ in “chat.” The name of this consonants is 치읓(chi-eut).
- ㅋ (k): Similar to the ‘k’ in “kite.” The name of this consonants is 키읔(ki-euk).
- ㅌ (t): Similar to the ‘t’ in “table.” The name of this consonants is 티읕(ti-eut).
- ㅍ (p): Similar to the ‘p’ in “pen.” The name of this consonants is 피읖(pi-eup).
- ㅎ (h): Similar to the ‘h’ in “hat.” The name of this consonants is 히읗(hi-eut).
- ㄲ (kk): Represents a tense ‘k’ sound. The name of this consonants is 쌍기역(ssang-gi-yeok).
- ㄸ (tt): Represents a tense ‘t’ sound. The name of this consonants is 쌍디귿(ssang-di-geut).
- ㅃ (pp): Represents a tense ‘p’ sound. The name of this consonants is 쌍비읍(ssang-bi-eup).
- ㅆ (ss): Represents a tense ‘s’ sound. The name of this consonants is 쌍시옷(ssang-si-ot).
- ㅉ (jj): Represents a tense ‘j’ sound. The name of this consonants is 쌍지읒(ssang-ji-eut).
