Maria's Korean Lesson #1; H-A-M-A-N-A!

Let's take four letters of Korean and see how far we can get with them. I suggest writing down each letter in a notebook as you go along to remember everything :3 Consonants rarely have a change in pronunciation, but the vowels are typically pronounced differently. Below are four basic letters and their pronunciation.

ㅎ- /h/
ㅁ - /m/
ㄴ- /n/
ㅏ- /a/ as in 'father'

Remember, korean is read top to bottom, left to right. For example:

하 is 'ha' - ㅎ/h + ㅏ/a = 하/ha.

한 is 'han' - ㅎ/h + ㅏ/a + ㄴ/n = 한/han.

See?

Here are a few practice letters. Don't be afraid to look back at the previous letters to figure out what they say :3

마
남
함
안

Ready for the answers?

마 is 'ma' - ㅁ/m + ㅏ/a = 마/ma
남 is 'na' - ㄴ/n + ㅏ/a = 나/na
함 is 'ham' - ㅎ/ha + ㅏ/a + ㅁ/m = 함/ham
안 is 'an' - ㅏ/a + ㄴ/n = 안

Did you get tripped up on 안? That beginning letter is not an ㅁ/m, it is indeed a circle. However, it's an interesting character. Read the next lesson to find out what ㅇ is.