Basic Korean Phrases

neh. Yes.

ah-nee-oh. No.

jwe-song-ha-ji-mahn. Please.

gahm-sah-hahm-ni-da. Thank you.

chon-mahn-eh-yo. You're welcome.

sil-le-hahm-ni-da. Excuse me.

ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo. Good morning.

ahn-nyong-hee ga-se-yo. Good-bye.

Korean Phrases for Meeting and Greeting

yong-o-rul hahl-jool asim-ni-ka? Do you speak English?

jeo-nun han-kook-o-rul jo-gum-bah-ke mo-tahm-ni-da. I only speak a little Korean.

song-ha-mi o-teo-ke dwe-si-ji-yo? What is your name?

je-i-rum-eun Mee-Young im-ni-da. My name is Mee-Young.

ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo? How are you?

neh jal-i-soum-ni-da. I'm fine, thank you..

gahm-se-hahm-ni-da. I'm fine, thank you.

mahn-na-bwep-ge dwe-o-seo bahn-gahp-soum-ni-da. I am very glad to meet you.

jal mo-dara dut-ge-soum-ni-da. I don't understand.

mo-ra-go greo-shut-ji-yo? What did you say?

jom-chon-chon-hee mahl-soum-hae joo-se-yo? Can you speak more slowly?

choong-boon-hee i-hae-hah-go i-soum-ni-da. I understand perfectly.

Korean Dialog
Young-Sook: ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo!
Hello!
yong-o-rul hahl-jool a-se-yo?
Do you speak English?
Store Clerk jwe-song-hahm-nida.
I'm sorry.
yong-o-rul hahl-jool mo-rum-nida.
I do not speak English.
Young-Sook: jo-do han-koo-go-rul jo-gum-ba-ke motam-nida.
Unfortunately, I only speak a little Korean.
Store Clerk: gewn-chan-soum-nida.
That's all right.
i-hae-hahm-nida.
I understand you.
Greetings
English Korean Transliteration

How are you/Hello 안녕하세요 annyeonghaseyo

What’s new? 별일 없지요 ? byeol-il eobsjiyo

Long time no see 오랜만이다 orenmanida

Nice to meet you 만나서 반갑습니다 mannasuh bangapseumnida

I am very happy to meet you 만나서 참 반가워요 mannaseo cham bangawoyo

Basic & Polite Phrases
English Korean Transliteration

Yes 네 ne

No 아니요 aniyo

Excuse me (to request something) 실례지만… shillejiman…

Thank you 감사합니다 kamsahamnida

You’re welcome / don’t mention it 천만 에 요 cheonman e yo

Get the Conversation Rolling

English Korean Transliteration

Please don’t speak English 영어 로 말하지 마세요 yeong-eo lo malhaji maseyo

What? 뭐? mwo

What music do you like? 어떤 음악 을 좋아해요 ? eotteon eum-ag eul joh-ahaeyo

I like … 저는 … 좋아해요 jeoneun … joh-ahaeyo

What do you do when you have free time 시간 있을 때 뭐 하세요 ? sigan iss-eul ttae mwo haseyo

Getting a Bit of Clarification

English Korean Transliteration
What does this mean? 무슨 뜻이에요? museun tteusieyo

Please say that one more time. 다시 한 번 말해 주세요. dasi han beon malhae juseyo

Please speak slowly. 천천히 말해 주세요. cheoncheonhi malhae juseyo

Please write it down. 적어 주세요 jeog-eo juseyo

I don’t understand 모르겠 습니 다 moreugesseumnida

Words About Time

English Korean Transliteration

Sometimes 가끔 gakkeum

Always 항상 hangsang

Today 오늘 oneul

Tomorrow 내일 naeil

Yesterday 어제 eoje

Exclamations & Transition Words to Take Your

Speaking to the Next Level
English Korean Transliteration

Well… 글쎄요… geulsseyo

Um 음 eum

Oh my gosh 헐 heol

For real? 진짜요? jinjjayo

I think so 저도 그렇게 생각 합니다 jeodo geuleohge saeng-gag habnida

Conversation Closers
English Korean Transliteration

See you later 나중에 봬요 najunge bwaeyo

Good bye 안녕히 계세요 annyonghi geseyo

Have a nice day 좋은 하루 되세요 joeun haru dweseyo

See you later. 이따 봐요. itta bwayo

I have to go now 나 지금 가야 돼 na jigeum gaya dwae

In this recording I pronounce the words below which are the common basic
combinations of Korean consonants and vowels.

ㅏ(a): 가(ga) 나(na) 다(da) 라(ra) 마(ma) 바(ba) 사(sa) 아(a) 자(ja) 차(cha)
카(ka) 타(ta) 파(pa) 하(ha)
ㅑ(ya): 갸 냐 댜 랴 먀 뱌 샤 야 쟈 챠 캬 탸 퍄 햐
ㅓ(eo): 거 너 더 러 머 버 서 어 저 처 커 터 퍼 허
ㅕ(yeo): 겨 녀 뎌 려 며 벼 셔 여 져 쳐 켜 텨 펴 혀
ㅗ(o): 고 노 도 로 모 보 소 오 조 초 코 토 포 호
ㅛ(yo): 교 뇨 됴 료 묘 뵤 쇼 요 죠 쵸 쿄 툐 표 효
ㅜ(u): 구 누 두 루 무 부 수 우 주 추 쿠 투 푸 후
ㅠ(yu): 규 뉴 듀 류 뮤 뷰 슈 유 쥬 츄 큐 튜 퓨 휴
ㅡ(eu): 그 느 드 르 므 브 스 으 즈 츠 크 트 프 흐
ㅣ(i): 기 니 디 리 미 비 시 이 지 치 키 티 피 히

ㄲ(kk): 가(ga) 까(kka) 카(ka)

ㄸ(tt): 다(da) 따(tta) 타(ta)
ㅃ(pp): 바(ba) 빠(ppa) 파(pa)
ㅆ(ss): 사(sa) 싸(ssa)
ㅉ(jj): 자(ja) 짜(jja) 차(cha)

ㅐ (ae): 개 내 대
ㅒ (yae): 걔 냬 댸
ㅔ (e): 게 네 데
ㅖ (ye): 계 녜 뎨
ㅘ (wa): 과 놔 돠
ㅙ (wae): 괘 놰 돼
ㅚ (oe): 괴 뇌 되
ㅝ (wo): 궈 눠 둬
ㅞ (we): 궤 눼 뒈
ㅟ (wi): 귀 뉘 뒤
ㅢ (ui): 긔 늬 듸
사자 = a lion

The Korean Alphabet

Learning Korean for the first time!

Hangeul or 한글 (the Korean alphabet) literally means "the Korean writing."

In 한글, the Korean alphabet, consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

 Cosonants: ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎ
 Vowels: ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣ

In addition, there are 5 double consonants and 11 double vowels.

 Double consonants: ㄲㄸㅃㅆㅉ
 Double vowels: ㅐㅒㅔㅖㅘㅙㅚㅝㅞㅟㅢ

Additionally, there are 11 final double consonants.

 Final double consonants: ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅄ

Please also refer to the audio recording of different Korean consonant-vowel

combinations that I produced with my own voice, here, Korean alphabet -
Consonants and Vowels.

You will get to learn these basic consonants and vowels, learning how to read,
write and pronounce.

Click on the alphabet to listen to their corresponding pronunciations.

(Provided by Korean language learning online, Sogang Unversity)

자음[Consonants]
ㄱ=g
ㄴ=n
ㄷ=d
ㄹ = l, r (ㄹ is a sound somewhere between l and r)
ㅁ=m
ㅂ=b
ㅅ=s
ㅇ = "no sound" when used as a first consonant, "ng" when used as a final
consonant.
ㅈ=j
ㅊ = ch
ㅋ=k
ㅌ=t
ㅍ=p
ㅎ=h

모음[Vowels]

ㅏ=a
ㅑ = ya
ㅓ = eo
ㅕ = yeo
ㅗ=o
ㅛ = yo
ㅜ=u
ㅠ = yu
ㅡ = eu
ㅣ=i

쌍자음[Double consonants]

ㄲ = gg Click on the link to hear the difference between the sounds of ㄱ, ㄲ

and ㅋ.
ㄸ = dd Note the difference in sounds; ㄷ, ㄸ and ㅌ.
ㅃ = bb Note the difference in sounds;ㅂ, ㅃ and ㅍ.
ㅆ = ss Note the difference in sounds; ㅅ and ㅆ
ㅉ = jj Note the difference in sounds; ㅈ, ㅉ and ㅊ

More links: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ

쌍모음[Double Vowels]

ㅐ = ae
ㅒ = yae (rarely used)
ㅔ=e
ㅖ = ye
ㅘ = wa
ㅙ = wae
ㅚ = oe
ㅝ = wo
ㅞ = we (rarely used)
ㅟ = wi
ㅢ = ui

● How to form a character

There are two ways of making a character, using the consonants and vowels
as building blocks.

1. Initial consonant + Vowel

2. Initial consonant + Vowel + Final consonant
1. Examples
 가 = ㄱ + ㅏ = ga
 너 = ㄴ + ㅓ = neo
 도 = ㄷ + ㅗ = do
 루 = ㄹ + ㅜ = lu/ru
 므 = ㅁ + ㅡ = meu
 비 = ㅂ + ㅣ = bi
2. Examples
 각 = ㄱ + ㅏ + ㄱ = gag
 넌= ㄴ + ㅓ + ㄴ = neon
 돗 = ㄷ + ㅗ + ㅅ = dod
 를 = ㄹ + ㅡ + ㄹ = leul/reul
 쟁 = ㅈ + ㅐ + ㅇ = jaeng

Characters with final consonants of ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ, all sound the same. Thus
각, 갂 and 갘 will sound exactly the same.

For example,

국, 엌, 밖 Their final consonants all sound the same. Click on the links to hear.

Now, below is a list of the final consonants and their respective sounds.
 ㄱ/ㄲ/ㅋ = ㄱ
 ㅂ/ㅃ/ㅍ = ㅂ
 ㄷ/ㅌ/ㅅ/ㅆ/ㅈ/ㅊ/ㅎ = ㄷ
 ㄴ= ㄴ
 ㄹ= ㄹ
 ㅁ= ㅁ
 ㅇ= ㅇ
For example,
 낚시 [낙시] = fishing
 부엌 [부억] = kitchen
 앞 [압] = front
 씨앗 [씨앋] = seed
 낮 [낟] = day

For a more detailed explanation and audio files, click here.

When the initial consonant of second and/or third characters is ㅇ, for

example, 돌이 and 만악이, the sound of the final consonant of each letter is
pronounced with the next vowel. Because ㅇ has no sound, 돌이 is
pronounced as 도리 and 만악이 as 마나기. These are just made-up words to
show you how these work.
 돌이[도리]
 만악이[마나기]
For more examples on this pronunciation, click on the link.

쌍받침[Final double consonants]

There are also 11 additional final double consonants. Their sounds are as
follows. As you can see, the first consonant of the double consonants is
pronounced. (except ㄺ = ㄱ,ㄻ = ㅁ and ㄿ = ㅂ) I do not recommend that you
learn these exhaustively right away because that is a hard work and I rarely
employed them in my grammar lessons anyway. So it would be better to come
back to these when you come across them from time to time.
 ㄳ=ㄱ
 ㄵ=ㄴ
 ㄶ=ㄴ
 ㄺ=ㄱ
 ㄻ=ㅁ
 ㄼ=ㄹ
 ㄽ=ㄹ
 ㄾ=ㄹ
 ㄿ=ㅂ
 ㅀ=ㄹ
 ㅄ=ㅂ
Eg.
삯 [삭] = amount
앉다 [안따] = sit
많다 [만타] = many
읽다 [익따] = read
삶다 [삼따] = boil
넓다 [널따] = spacious
외곬 [외골] = a single way
핥다 [할따] = lick
읊다 [읍따] = recite (a poem)
잃다 [일타] = lose (a thing)
값 [갑] = price

Excellent pronunciation lessons by Sogang Unversity (Korean language

learning online)

Source: http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/

Also, check out the Korean Wiki Project for additional explanations of the
Korean consonants and vowels and respective pronunciations.

For writing practices,

 Consonants
 Vowels
 Consonants + Vowels

1. 참 = really, truly; very, very much, quite

2. 그래 = yes, ok, all right
3. 아 = Ah, oh
4. 뭐 = what?
5. 자 = Well (let's, there you go, here it is)
6. 아니 = no (casual spoken form)
7. 예 = yes (polite spoken form)
8. 응 = yes (casual spoken form)
9. 글쎄 = Well.. (I don't know)
10. 아아 = Ah~ah (I understand now)

Example sentences

1. 여기 참 좋다 = This place is really good

 여기 = this place
 참 = really, truly; very, very much, quite
 좋다 = good

2. 그래, 가자 = OK, let's go

 그래 = yes, ok, all right

 가자 = let's go

3. 아, 뭐라고? = Oh, what (did you say)?

 아 = Ah, oh
 뭐라고? = what (did you say)?

4. 뭐? = What?

5. 자, 가자 = Well, let's go.

 자 = Well (let's, there you go, here it is)
 가자 = let's go

6. 아니, 안했는데 = No, I didn't do it (haven't done it), you know.

 아니 = No (casual)
 했는데 = I did it (I've done it), you know
 안했는데 = I didn't do it (I haven't done it), you know

7. 예 = Yes (polite)

8. 응 = Yes (casual)

9. 글쎄, 잘 모르겠는데 = Well, I don't know well, you know.

 글쎄 = Well.. (I don't know)

 잘 = Well, properly, fully, thoroughly
 모르다 / 모르겠다= don't know
 모르겠어 = don't know (casual spoken form)
 모르겠는데 = don't know, you know.

10. 아아 = Ah~ah (I understand now)