Syllable Building (음절 만들기)
Practice combining consonants and vowels into syllable blocks. Read your first Korean words!
Building Syllable Blocks
Now that you know all the consonants and vowels, it's time to put them together! Korean characters are built as syllable blocks, where letters stack together in a square-ish shape. There are two basic patterns: • CV (Consonant + Vowel): 가, 나, 다, 오 • CVC (Consonant + Vowel + Consonant): 간, 말, 밥, 음 Vertical vowels (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅣ, etc.) go to the RIGHT of the consonant. Horizontal vowels (ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ) go BELOW the consonant. Let's practice reading real Korean words!
Syllable Block Patterns
Let's see how syllable blocks are built: ■ CV Pattern (Consonant + Vowel): ㄱ + ㅏ = 가 (ga) ㄴ + ㅏ = 나 (na) ㅁ + ㅓ = 머 (meo) ㅎ + ㅏ = 하 (ha) ■ CVC Pattern (Consonant + Vowel + Consonant): ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 한 (han) ㄱ + ㅜ + ㄱ = 국 (guk) ㅂ + ㅏ + ㅂ = 밥 (bap) ㅁ + ㅜ + ㄹ = 물 (mul) Try sounding out each block: identify the consonant, add the vowel sound, then the final consonant if present.
가방 (gabang) — bag
noun
가방이 크다. — The bag is big.
나라 (nara) — country
noun
한국은 좋은 나라예요. — Korea is a good country.
다리 (dari) — leg / bridge
noun
다리가 길다. — The legs are long.
머리 (meori) — head / hair
noun
머리가 아파요. — My head hurts.
바다 (bada) — sea / ocean
noun
바다가 예뻐요. — The sea is beautiful.
사람 (saram) — person / people
noun
좋은 사람이에요. — They are a good person.
하늘 (haneul) — sky
noun
하늘이 파래요. — The sky is blue.
학교 (hakgyo) — school
noun
학교에 가요. — I go to school.
우리 (uri) — we / our
pronoun
우리 같이 가요. — Let's go together.
여기 (yeogi) — here
adverb
여기 앉으세요. — Please sit here.
Your First Pronunciation Rule
You might have noticed something interesting with the word 학교 (school). When written, the final ㄱ of 학 sits right before ㄱ of 교. In this situation, the second consonant becomes tense -- so it sounds like [학꾜] instead of [학교]. This is called 경음화 (fortition or tensification). When certain consonants meet at a syllable boundary, the second one becomes its tense (double) version: • ㄱ + ㄱ → [ㄱㄲ] (학교 → 학꾜) • ㄱ + ㄷ → [ㄱㄸ] • ㄱ + ㅈ → [ㄱㅉ] Don't memorize all the rules now -- you'll learn them naturally as you encounter more words. The pronunciation rules engine in HangeulMate will always show you both the "as written" and "as spoken" forms!
Building Syllable Blocks
Now that you know all the consonants and vowels, it's time to put them together! Korean characters are built as syllable blocks, where letters stack together in a square-ish shape. There are two basic patterns: • CV (Consonant + Vowel): 가, 나, 다, 오 • CVC (Consonant + Vowel + Consonant): 간, 말, 밥, 음 Vertical vowels (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅣ, etc.) go to the RIGHT of the consonant. Horizontal vowels (ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ) go BELOW the consonant. Let's practice reading real Korean words!