Syllables

Let's have a look at a few Korean words.

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가             고            약                목                  핥 

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Now, let's try to understand the 5 ways syllables can be made in Korean and how the letters can be arranged in these.

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1. Two letter syllable

가  has only two letters. ㄱ and ㅏ -   and the letters are arranged in order 1+2.

고 has only two letters as well ㄱ and ㅗ , however this time the letters are on top

 

For two letter syllables, these two are the only orders you can find letters in.                                                                                        *Remember when I said that no syllable can start with a vowel? Let me explain how it works if a word/syllable HAS to start with a vowel. 

There was a special consonant we have learned in the alphabet and that was ㅇ (NG/mute). Remember the rules? If the syllable starts with ㅇ, you do not pronounce it.

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This is the trick. Let's take the English word Anna for example and try to write it in Korean. It would have two syllables, same as in English : A-nna.  We know that the vowel A in Korean is ㅏ  but we can not start a word/syllable with a vowel. Koreans would write this syllable as 아 (where ㅇ is mute). The whole word would be 아나. Don't worry, you will get used to it. 

*Recap: if you have to start a syllable with a Korean vowel, you have to put the consonant ㅇ in front. 

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2. Three letter syllable

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약 is a three letter word. The letters are ㅇ , ㅑ and ㄱ . You will notice that the letters this time follow this pattern -->

And guess what, the syllable starts with ㅇ which is mute just because the next letter is a vowel. How would you pronounce this? YAK . I know, you will ask why is it YAK and not YAG? Koreans like to end their words/syllables in a more thick tone so they tend to pronounce their last letters of the word a little rougher.​

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목 is again a three letter syllable but this time the letters ㅁ , ㅗ , ㄱ are on top of each other. The order followed is: -->

And how would you pronounce this? MOG? No, you are right. You will exagerate the G and pronounce it MOK.

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3. Four letters syllable

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핥 has the letters ㅎ , ㅏ , ㄹ and ㅌ arranged in a very specific order. Four letter syllables can only be found in this order and no syllable can be composed by more than 4 letters in Korean.

How would you pronounce this? HALT

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! Easy to remember, if you can recognize the letters and the order they follow, it will come naturally to you to distinguish syllables and how you read the letters in the correct order.

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