Three kinds of consonant: 가 · 카 · 까

One extra stroke, a lot more air

You know 가 and 다. Next to each is the same letter with one more stroke: ㄱ becomes ㅋ, ㄷ becomes ㅌ. Play the pairs.

Hold your palm a few centimetres in front of your mouth. With 가 you feel a little air. With 카 you should feel a strong puff. That puff is the whole difference. The voice also tends to start higher after the strong letter, which gives your ear a second cue.

English k and t at the start of a word have some puff too. Korean ㅋ and ㅌ have more, so overdo it at first.

The same step for ㅂ and ㅈ

Two more letters work the same way. ㅈ becomes ㅊ by gaining a small stroke on top. The partner of ㅂ is ㅍ, the one letter whose shape does not follow the extra-stroke pattern neatly, so learn it as it is: two flat bars joined by two uprights.

Check 바 against 파 and 자 against 차 with your palm. The plain letters give a light breath and a lower start. ㅍ and ㅊ give a strong puff. These four letters, ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ, are called the aspirated consonants, which means they are made with a burst of breath.

Strong-air letters in words

Read each word and say it with your palm up. 커피 has two puffs, one per block. Korean has no f, so the borrowed word for coffee uses ㅍ. 토마토 has a puff on the first and third blocks and none on the middle one.

코 is “nose”, 차 is “tea”, 포도 is “grapes” and 치마 is “skirt”. In 포도 compare the two blocks: a strong ㅍ, then a soft ㄷ between vowels.

The same letter written twice

Now a second new set. ㄲ is ㄱ doubled and ㄸ is ㄷ doubled, squeezed into one seat. Play 가 then 까.

This time your palm should feel no air at all. Tighten your throat for an instant, as if about to lift something heavy, and let the consonant out short and hard. The k in English “sky” and the t in “sty” are a useful landmark, because they also have no puff. The Korean sounds are tighter still, and the voice starts higher.

ㅃ, ㅉ and ㅆ

ㅃ and ㅉ are ㅂ and ㅈ doubled: no air, tight, short. The doubled letters are called tense consonants.

ㅆ is different in one way. ㅅ has no strong-air partner, so there are only two s sounds, plain 사 and tense 싸. The plain one is light and a little breathy. The tense one is a firm, sharp s, and the vowel after it starts crisply. To an English ear 싸 sounds like an ordinary strong s, and 사 sounds like a weak one.

Tense letters in words

아빠 is “dad” and 오빠 is what a girl or woman calls her older brother. In both, there is a tiny hold before the ㅃ, as if the word pauses on closed lips, and then no puff. 토끼, “rabbit”, starts with a puff and ends tight.

아저씨 is a middle-aged man. 비싸요 means “it is expensive”. Learn it as one whole word for now. How such words are built comes much later in the course.

All three side by side

One mouth position, three sounds. 가: a light breath, and the voice starts low. 카: a strong puff, and the voice starts high. 까: no breath, a tight throat, and the voice starts high.

English spelling cannot keep these apart, which is why this course does not ask you to think in English letters here. Use the palm test for air, and listen to whether the vowel begins low or high. Most learners need many passes before this settles. That is normal.

The romanization writes them g, k, kk. That is a crutch for the eye, not a guide to the sound.

How borrowed words are spelled

When Korean borrows an English word, English k, t, p and ch are written with the strong-air letters ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ. So “card” is 카드, “party” is 파티 and “café” is 카페.

티셔츠 is “T-shirt” in three beats: ti-syeo-cheu. As in 버스, a light ㅡ follows a consonant that Korean cannot leave at the end of a syllable. If a word on a sign is full of ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ and ㅡ, try reading it aloud: it is often English.