Korean Cheatsheet
Unique Features
- Writing system called Hangul, created in the 15th century
- Grammatical particles used to indicate subject, object, etc.
- Honorifics used to show respect for the listener or subject of conversation
- Complex verb conjugation system
- Pronouns are rarely used
- Pronunciation differences between North and South Korean
Letters and Sounds
- Hangul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels
- Some consonants have two forms depending on their position in a syllable
- Korean has several sounds that don’t exist in English, such as ㅓ (eo) and ㅉ (jj)
Example
- The word for “hello” is “annyeonghaseyo” (안녕하세요)
- The syllable “nyeo” (녀) is pronounced differently from “neo” (너)
Vocabulary
- Many Korean words are based on Chinese characters (Hanja)
- Korean has many loanwords from English and other languages
- Some Korean words have multiple meanings depending on context
Example
- The word for “person” is “saram” (사람)
- The word for “teacher” is “seonsaengnim” (선생님)
Grammar
- Grammatical particles are used to indicate subject, object, etc.
- Honorifics are used to show respect for the listener or subject of conversation
- Korean verbs are conjugated based on tense, mood, and honorific level
- Adjectives can be used as verbs by adding the verb ending “-다”
- Korean has a subject-object-verb word order
Example
- The sentence “I am a student” is “jeo-neun haksaeng-imnida” (저는 학생입니다)
- The honorific suffix “-imnida” is added to the verb “to be” to show respect
- The word order is subject (I), topic particle (-neun), object (student), and verb (am)
Resources