한글 배우기 Learning Korean: 1.Korean characters - basic rules to read and write

Hi guys 

Finally we are starting the first lesson! In this lesson, we will look at how each korean characters are made from consonants and vowels. Beside we will learn how to write or read Korean characters from which direction to which direction.
In Korean, there are 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels. These consonants can be combined together to make stronger sound or make a slightly different sounds. Also vowels can be combined together to make a bit more complicated sounds.
They basically look like this:  

Those ones marked with green box are called 자음 [ja eum] : consonant and those ones with orange box are called 모음 [mo eum] : vowel. 

 Types of Korean Characters

There are theoretically only two types of characters.

 Case 1. consonant + vowel

 Case 2. consonant + vowel + consonant

So, in order to make one Korean character we need at least one consonant and one vowel. The first consonant is called 초성 [cho seong] : first sound. The vowel is called 중성 [joong seong] : middle sound. And the last consonant in 2. is called 종성 [jong seong] : ending sound. As you can see, some Korean characters do not have ending sound but all Korean characters have the first sound and the middle sound. When we read or write Korean characters, the order to read/write is the first sound, the second sound and the ending sound if there's any ending sound. 
Let's see some examples of 
 Case 1. consonant + vowel

This character is composed of one consonant and one vowel. As you can see 
ㄱ is consonant (first sound) and ㅏ is vowel middle sound. So, let's try to read this.
ㄱ sounds like [g] when it comes to the first sound. And ㅏ sounds like [a:].. like when you go to your dentist, say "Ah~"
So you make a sound of [g] first then [a] later. 가 sounds like [ga]. Easy? If you want to write, you write ㄱ first then ㅏ later. From left to write.

ㄱ[g] + ㅏ[a] = 가 [ga]

Let's see the next example.

This one is also composed of one consonant and one vowel. But this one looks different. This is because its vowel ㅜ is vertically long vowel while ㅏis horizontally long vowel. So for this one you have to write ㅅ first then ㅜ later from top to bottom.
Let's try to read this again. ㅅ sounds like [s] when it comes to the first sound. And ㅜ sounds like [woo].. like when you say "boots", remove b and ts sounds. 
So you make a sound of [s] first then [woo] later. 수 sounds like [soo] or [su]. Note that words in [ ] is not always correctly romanized words. It is just written version of pronunciation for help.

ㅅ[s] + ㅜ [woo] = 수 [su]

Let's see the next one. 

This one is also with one consonant and one vowel. But its vowel is combined vowel which is combination of ㅗ and ㅏ. When you write this combined vowel, you should write the left one ㅗ first, then write ㅏ later. Let's read this again.
The first sound, ㅇ does not have any sound when it comes to the first sound. So it is just mute sound. In other words, you don't pronounce it but just ignore it. Its middle sound, ㅘ sounds like [wa]. So, if you read this character, it will sound like [wa]. easy a? When you write down it, you write ㅇ first then ㅘ later.

ㅇ[X] + ㅘ[wa] = 와 [wa]

Now we are going to look at the other type:

 Case 2. consonant + vowel + consonant

From now, we will look at some examples with ending sound at the end.

This one is composed of one consonant, one vowel and one consonant. So this is case 2. Let's see.
Its first sound is ㅂ which sounds like [b]. And the middle sound is, yeah we did this in the first example, [a:] like opening your mouth at your dentist. And the ending sound is also ㅂ but when consonant comes to the ending sound, it sounds bit differently. It sounds like [-p] not [b]. So, when you read this.. 

ㅂ[b]+ ㅏ[a] + ㅂ[-p] = 밥 [bap] 

which means rice (or meal). Let's try the next one.

This one is also composed of one consonant, one vowel and one consonant. 
Its first sound is ㅈ which sounds like [j]. When you say juice, just the first sound. And the middle sound is [o] like when you say orange just the first short bit. And the ending sound is ㅇ but I told you when consonant comes to the ending sound, it sounds bit differently. When ㅇ comes as the first sound, it does not have any sound. But when it comes to the end, it sound like [-ng]. 
So, when you read this.. 

ㅈ[j]+ ㅗ[o] + ㅇ[-ng] = 종 [jong]

Let's carry on.

This one is also composed of one consonant, one vowel and one consonant. But its vowel is combined vowel. As I told you before, you write it from left to right. So write ㅜ first then ㅓ later.
Its first sound is ㅇ which does not have any sound. And the middle sound is [wo] like when you say won just ignore the last n sound. And the ending sound is ㄴ. This is the rare case when the consonant has the same sound for first sound and ending sound. When ㄴ comes as the first sound, it sounds like [n]. When it comes to the end, it sound like [-n]. 
So, when you read this.. 

ㅇ[X]+ ㅝ[wo] + ㄴ[-n] =  원 [won]

Ok, now we have the last one!

This one looks quite complicated right? But it has the same structure. consonant + vowel + consonant. 
The first sound is ㅅ which sounds like [s]. The middle sound is ㅏ like [a:]. Then the tricky one, ending sound is ㄻ which you may have never seen it. When you write ㄻ you should write the left one first, ㄹ, then the right one, ㅁ. It is combined consonant and sound like [-m]. But this kind of combined consonants can only come to the ending sound.
Let's read this then.

ㅅ[s] + ㅏ[a:] + ㄻ[-m] = 삶 [sa:m]

Ok, That's it for today. 
Now you know how to write Korean character from where to where, right?
Always keep in mind. From left to right. From top to bottom.
Write/Read the first sound first, then the middle sound, and then the ending sound.
I will upload some quiz a bit later so please have a look again.

Thanks for involving this tutorial and I will see you later! 
Before you go.. would you mind doing something for me? 

Scroll down a bit and do this for me please!! JE BAL!!