Writing a Greeting in Korean using Hangeul

Hello class. Last week we discussed how Hangeul was created and the principles behind its character creation. This week we will learn to write a few simple Hangeul phrases. As you have learned about Hangeul, are you more interested in writing Korean with Hangeul? This class we will learn some basic Korean words. First, in Korea ‘Thank you’ is pronounced [감사합니다]. Repeat after me. [kam-sa-hap-ni-da] Yes, good job. Now let’s learn how to write [감사함니다]. First ‘감[감]’. The first sound ‘[k]‘ is written as ‘ㄱ’ and the second ‘[a]’ is ‘ㅏ’. Combine the two sounds and it becomes ‘가＇[ka]. Add the final sound [m] (written as ‘ㅁ＇) and it becomes ‘감＇. Korean pronunciation is divided into first, middle and last sounds.

When you write these, the second sound, which is a vowel, is always written under or to the right of the character of the first sound. The third sound is written on the bottom. Let’s look at the second letter., 사[sa]’. The ‘[s] ‘ pronunciation is written as ‘ㅅ＇and the [ a] as ‘ㅏ’, and the ‘ㅏ＇is written right next to the ‘ㅅ‘. In the next letter ‘합＇the [h] sound is written as ‘ㅎ＇ and next to it the [a] sound is＇ㅏ’. Finally on the bottom the [p] pronunciation is written as ‘ㅂ＇. In the fourth letter ＇니＇ the [n] pronunciation is written as ‘ㄴ＇and next to it the [i] sound is written as ‘ㅣ＇to create ‘니[ni]＇.

In the fifth letter the [t] sound is written as ‘ㄷ＇and next to it the [a] sound is written as ‘ㅏ＇. Then let’s write each of the letters. ‘감사합니다.’ Isn’t it easy? You can write in Hangeul just by writing the letter that corresponds to each sound. Next let’s write ‘hello’ in Korean. The first thing you say when you meet a Korean person is hello. Hello in Korean is [an-nyeong-ha-se-yo] which is written as ‘안녕하세요’. In the first letter ‘안’ the [a] sound is written as ‘아＇and on the bottom the [n] sound is added to create ‘안’. The [a] sound is written as either ‘ㅏ’ or ‘아＇.

It is written as a vowel ‘ㅏ’ with consonants like ‘ㄱ[k], ㄴ[n], ㄷ[t]’ and as ‘아’ by itself when there are no consonants. The second letter ‘녕＇is pronounced as [nyəŋ]. The [n] sound is written as ‘ㄴ’ and the [yə] sound is written as ‘ㅕ’ right next to the consonant ‘ㄴ‘. Then the final consonant sound [ŋ] is written as ‘ㅇ’ underneath the consonant and vowel combination ‘녀＇ to create ‘녕’. The character ‘ㅇ＇was used again like in ‘안’ [an]. In Hangeul ‘ㅇ＇is silent when used as the first sound, and has the [ŋ] pronunciation when used as the final consonant. When ‘ㅇ’ is written in the beginning of a letter, it signifies that that place is silent and has no pronunciation.

In the third letter ‘하＇the [h] sound is written as ‘ㅎ＇and the vowel [a] sound is written next to it as ‘ㅏ＇to create ‘하＇. It is pronounced [ha]. In the fourth letter ‘세＇the [s] is written as ‘ㅅ’ and next to it the [e] sound is written as ‘ㅔ＇to create ‘세＇which is pronounced [se]. Finally in the last letter ‘요＇the [yo] pronunciation is written as ‘요’. Here the ‘ㅇ＇is used to show the place is silent. If we write it all together it is ‘안- 녕- 하- 세- 요＇ This class we learned how to write two Korean greetings, ‘thank you’ and ‘hello,’ in Hangeul. Hangeul letters each represent a sound, and Korean can be written in Hangeul as it is pronounced.

This class we learned how to write two Korean greetings of ‘감사합니다’ and ‘안녕하세요’. This concludes the lesson. Good job today.