Pronunciation of consonants is an exercise of air breathing. The secret of correct pronunciation lies in the way one handles the articulation of air. The aspirated consonants are more dragged with puffing of more air, the plain one are with smooth pronunciation and with no noticeable puffing of air. The tensed ones are always difficult for foreigners as they require a more understanding and practice.

Basic Consonants

1. ㄱ( k, g) : This first letter of consonant group has dual usage sound. This word when comes in the beginning of the word, it has the sound of “k” but little aspirated and “g” if it is in the middle of any word.

2. ㄴ(n) : The second letter of consonant group has the sound of “n” as in “new”. It is plain vowel and not aspirated one as it happens to be in “n” in English.

3. ㄷ(d,t) : The basic sound of this consonant is d, but not an aspirated one as in English “d”. A closer sound in English is same the sound “th” makes in “that”. This also implies the “t” sound when it comes as in final position of the syllable, this final position Patch’im (받침),

4. ㄹ(r, l) : The third letter,ㄹ has got two sounds depending on the position of the consonant in the word. When it is in the beginning of the word it has the little similar sound of “r”. The Koreans like Chinese and Japanese have difficulty in pronouncing “r” when it comes in the beginning of the word, so the “r” is little inclined towards “l”. The second sound which is an aspirated one as “ll” in “filling” comes when two ㄹ,one at the end of one syllable of word and other at the beginning of another syllable. This is called as final position or Patch’im (받침).

5. ㅁ(m) : The fourth letter in the sequence,? has the similar sound of m, as in mother.

6. ㅂ (b,p) : The fifth letter has got the dual sound, totally depending on the user. On many occasions the user may prefer to pronounce it as “b” as in bag or as “p” (plain not aspirated) as in “pure”. But the formal one “b” is the most widely used one, and I will suggest learner to learn the “b” sound as the default one for this letter.

7. ㅅ (s) : The sixth letter ㅅ has the sound of “s” as in “sun”.

8. ㅇ (ng) : This letter has two sounds depending upon the position of this consonant with respect to a vowel and consonant. If the ㅇ, comes in the beginning of a vowel then it does not have sound of its own, and it takes the sound of the vowel it is proceeding. Like the vowel “ㅣ” has the sound of “e” as in editor, then if the consonant is in the preceding position with ㅣ, i.e. it is like “이”,then the pronunciation will still be “e”, that is of the vowel. The second sound is “ng” sound like it sounds in tong”. This is pronounced when the syllable ends in “ㅇ”.Example “깅” this is pronounced as King.

9. ㅈ (j, jh) : ㅈ is eight order consonant and it sounds similar to “j” as in “jug”. But this sound is little less aspirated and has the punch of “h” in the end of its pronunciation.

10. ㅊ (ch’) : ㅊ is the ninth letter. This sounds same as “ch” but little more aspirated than that. There is no similar sound in English like this so listening to some native speaker will surely help.

11. ㅋ (kh) : The tenth letter is similar to ㄱ ,but little more aspirated and with a touch of “h” in the end of it. It is somewhat similar to “kh” as in “khan”. Again a difficult sound to reproduce for a foreigner but not a difficult one to learn.

12. ㅌ (th): The tenth letter is similar to ㄷ ,but with a little punch of “h” in it. It is close to “th” sound as in “thwart”.

13. ㅍ (f) : Similar to ㅂ ,but with little dragging of h added in the end. It sounds similar to “f” as in “flower”.

14. ㅎ (h) : Close to “h” sound as in “house”. This consonant becomes neutralized when it is in the beginning of the second syllable of the word and the first syllable has an aspirated sound consonant in the end as an end position called or Patch’im (받침).

Complex Consonants

1.ㄲ (kk) : Similar to its basic sound group of ㄱ, but with more tensed and aspirated sound. This sounds same as “c” sounds in “cruel”.

2.ㅆ (ss) : Similar to its basic sound group ㅅ, but it has more tensed and aspirated sound. It sounds more familiar to “s” as in “suit”.

3.ㅉ (ch’) : Similar to its basic sound group ㅉ, but with more aspiration and force. It is same to “ch” as in “chor”.

4.ㅃ (p) : Similar to basic sound of “p” of ㅂ. But this sound is more aspirated and forceful. It is similar to “p” as in “spy”.

5.ㄸ (tt) : Similar to sound “t” but more tensed and forceful. It is similar to sound “t” is “stop”.