LinguaOne consonant, three strengths
Korean has a three-way contrast that English does not: the plain ㄱ, the aspirated ㅋ and the tense ㄲ. 가 is soft with no puff of air, 카 comes with a strong breath you could feel on your hand, 까 is tight and short, made with the throat squeezed and no breath at all. The same ladder runs through the other stops: ㄷ ㅌ ㄸ, ㅂ ㅍ ㅃ, ㅈ ㅊ ㅉ, and ㅅ has only a tense partner, ㅆ. The aspirated letters are the plain ones with an extra stroke; the tense ones are the plain letter written twice.
The vowels that combine
Two more simple vowels first: ㅐ and ㅔ are both an e as in bed, and most Koreans today pronounce them the same, so you learn the spelling word by word (개 dog, 게 crab). Then the compound vowels, each a glide plus a vowel: ㅘ wa, ㅝ wo, ㅚ and ㅞ both we, ㅟ wi, ㅙ wae, ㅢ ui, and ㅒ ㅖ yae ye. In a block the horizontal half sits under the consonant and the vertical half stands to the right, so 과 wraps the ㄱ on two sides.
| Plain | Aspirated | Tense |
|---|---|---|
| 가 | 카 | 까 |
| 다 | 타 | 따 |
| 바 | 파 | 빠 |
| 자 | 차 | 짜 |
| 사 | none | 싸 |
차가 비싸요The car is expensive.
왜요?Why?
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 코 | nose | 코가 커요 The nose is big. |
| 토마토 | tomato | 토마토예요 It is a tomato. |
| 포도 | grapes | 포도가 싸요 The grapes are cheap. |
| 치마 | skirt | 치마가 예뻐요 The skirt is pretty. |
| 커피 | coffee | 커피예요 It is coffee. |
| 꼬리 | tail | 꼬리예요 It is a tail. |
| 아빠 | dad | 아빠예요 He is my dad. |
| 과자 | snack, cookie | 과자가 짜요 The snack is salty. |
| 사과 | apple | 사과예요 It is an apple. |
| 의사 | doctor | 의사가 와요 The doctor is coming. |
| 돼지 | pig | 돼지예요 It is a pig. |
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 syllable is the aspirated *k*, said with a strong puff of air?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.