Hangul: the plain consonants

Nine consonants drawn from the mouth

The plain consonants are ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ ㅎ, and their shapes are not arbitrary. ㄱ is the back of the tongue lifting to the soft palate; ㄴ is the tongue tip touching behind the teeth; ㅁ is the closed lips; ㅅ is the tooth; ㅇ, which you already know, is the open throat. The others are these five with a stroke added: ㄷ is ㄴ with a lid, ㄹ is ㄷ bent, ㅂ is ㅁ with two horns, ㅈ is ㅅ with a hat, ㅎ is ㅇ with a hat. Put any of them in front of a vowel and the block reads itself: 가 나 다 라 마 바 사 자 하.

Three sounds that sit between two English ones

ㄹ is the one everyone asks about: between vowels it is a quick flap like the tt in American butter, close to a soft r, and 다리 or 머리 have it. ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ at the start of a word are soft and unaspirated – nearer to k t p ch said without a puff of air than to g d b j – but between vowels they voice naturally, so the second syllable of 고기 sounds like gi. ㅅ is s, and before ㅣ it becomes sh: 시 is shi. ㅎ is an ordinary h.

사자가 자요The lion is sleeping.

모자하고 구두a hat and shoes