I’m so excited that I’ve finally moved past learning the alphabet and actually know how to form words now! Once you know the Korean consonants and vowels and how to pronounce them, it’s so easy to understand the structure of the block shapes and how to use those to construct words! A “block shape” (I’m not exactly sure if this is the formal phrase to describe this) is the combination of 2 or 3 letters, but always at least 2, to form a syllable that will be used as part of a word. The syllables always start with a consonant, so the format will either be consonant-vowel or consonant-vowel-consonant. When the syllable is just a vowel sound, the consonant will have the placeholder of the letter ㅇ (ieung) as it is a silent consonant when combined with a vowel such as ㅏ(a). So to correctly write it, you would combine ㅇ+ ㅏto make 아, which would sound like “a” as a syllable when pronouncing a Korean word. It is also important to understand the other use for ㅇ (ieung) in the block shape when it is used as the last consonant. The last consonant of any Korean block shape goes at the bottom underneath the other 2 letters and is called 받침 batchim, or “supporting floor.” For example in the block shape 앙 , the letter ㅇ (ieung) at the bottom is not silent anymore and has a “ng” sound since it is used as batchim, so it would be pronounced as “-ang” ( ㅇ(silent) + ㅏ”a” + ㅇ”-ng”).
Here is an example from one of my sessions with my language partner Jannette when I first learned how to form block shapes and put the letters together to know how to pronounce them. For #1, the sound is “gok” (“song” in English) as it combines the letters ㄱ (giyeok - g/k) + ㅗ (o) + ㄱ (giyeok - g/k). Later I’ll explain why the same consonants has different sounds depending on where it is placed. For #2, it’s a little hard to tell but there are actually 2 block shapes combined so 기차 “gicha” (“train” in English) as it combines ㄱ (giyeok - g/k) + ㅣ”i” for the first block and then ㅊ (chieut - ch) + ㅏ(a) for the second block, so it combines “gi” + “cha”. I also learned a different way of writing the letter ㅊ (chieut - ch) as it is shown in the blue writing; apparently ㅊ this is the modern way of writing it and what shows up on keyboards, but the way it is in blue is the more traditional way and it used just as often. And lastly for #3, the sound is “gan” (“liver” in English) as it combines ㄱ (giyeok - g/k) + ㅏ(a) + ㄴ(nieun - n).
However, I’m still learning some of the grammar exceptions that seem to be characteristic of every language. For example, in my weekly lessons with my language partner Jannette, I was mind blown to learn that the reason 2 different sounds are indicated for a consonant such as the letter ㄱ(giyeok) which is often written as making a g/k sound means that when it is used as the first consonant it typically has a “g” sound, and when it’s used as the batchim it has a “k” sound. But as I studied outside our lessons, I quickly realized that there are exceptions to that rule, as well as with other consonants; for example in the word 공 (kong), which means “ball” in English, the first sound of the syllable is actually a “k” sound and not a “g” sound. Interestingly, when I put it in google translate, it writes it as “gong” and it says it means “zero”, but underneath it shows other translations where the word “ball” appears but it is written the same way.
Overall, I’m realizing that although for the most part I can easily pronounce block structures, there will be some exceptions to the sounds the consonants make, especially when they are combined with other syllables to form words. Going forward, I’m excited to start learning some vocabulary words, but I’m realizing memorizing many words may be challenging. I think what will be most effective for learning Korean words is remembering the ways they are pronounced so that I can sound it out to spell the words almost accurately as I expect to come across different cases of exceptions.
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