Korean Grammar Lesson 1
I had my first grammar lesson on Friday covering the formation of syllables in Korean. Without covering these rules, a typical English speaker would consider 물 (water) a single letter. However, upon further inspection, if you have covered the Hangul in my previous posts, you will see that particular example is made up of three letters. This block of letters is a single syllable. Let’s take a closer look at an example: 물
The top third of the syllable is ㅁ, the middle is ᅮ and the bottom is ㄹ. When these three are pronounced together, you get mul, or 물.
The above example shows just one of the five rules to consonant formation (Consonant + Vowel + Consonant). These rules are:
1. Vowel = ex: 아 (note: the ㅇ is silent in this case, essentially being a placeholder)
2. Vowel + Consonant = ex: 온 (again, the ㅇ is silent since it comes first)
3. Consonant + Vowel = ex: 고
4. Consonant + Vowel + Consonant = ex: 담
5. Consonant + Vowel + Consonant + Consonant = ex: 찮
(Thanks to my instructor for the notes, by the way!)
