LinguaNine 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.
| Consonant | Sound | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | k/g | 고기 |
| ㄴ | n | 나무 |
| ㄷ | t/d | 다리 |
| ㄹ | flapped r/l | 머리 |
| ㅁ | m | 모자 |
| ㅂ | p/b | 바다 |
| ㅅ | s, sh before ㅣ | 사자 |
| ㅈ | ch/j | 지도 |
| ㅎ | h | 하나 |
사자가 자요The lion is sleeping.
모자하고 구두a hat and shoes
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 나무 | tree | 나무예요 It is a tree. |
| 다리 | leg | 다리예요 It is a leg. |
| 머리 | head | 머리가 아파요 My head hurts. |
| 바다 | sea | 바다예요 It is the sea. |
| 사자 | lion | 사자가 와요 A lion is coming. |
| 모자 | hat | 모자가 커요 The hat is big. |
| 고기 | meat | 고기예요 It is meat. |
| 구두 | dress shoes | 구두예요 They are dress shoes. |
| 지도 | map | 지도가 어디예요? Where is the map? |
| 어머니 | mother | 어머니예요 She is my mother. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 4
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which consonant is shaped like closed lips and sounds *m*?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.