Foundation

Words in this collection

• 받침 (bat-chim) — Batchim means 'bottom consonant'. Due to liaison rules (the phenomenon of carrying over to the next syllable), reading and actual pronunciation are often different. For example, 'giyeok batchim + a' is pronounced 'ga'.
• 단위 명사 (dan-wi myeong-sa) — Korean has different counters for what you are counting: 'gae (items)', 'myeong (people)', 'mari (animals)', 'gwon (books)', 'jang (paper)', etc. They are often used together with native Korean numbers.
• 어순 (eo-sun) — The Korean word order is 'SOV by default, but flexible depending on context and emphasis'. However, the verb (predicate) must ALWAYS come at the end—this is the one absolute rule.
• 가획 (ga-hoek) — The core design principle of Hangul. If you add a stroke to ㄱ, it becomes ㅋ. Add a stroke to ㄷ, and it becomes ㅌ. Once you know this principle, you don't need to memorize the 14 aspirated consonants.
• 고유어 수사 (go-yu-eo su-sa) — The hana, dul, set... series. The form changes before a counter (hana->han, dul->du). They only exist up to 99.
• 공 (공) (gong) — While 'yeong (零)' is the formal expression, 'gong' is used in phone numbers. '010' = 'gong il gong'. It sounds awkward when foreigners use 'yeong' to read out a phone number.
• 한글 (Hangeul) — 'Hangul' is the name of the writing system. 'Korean' is the language itself. Foreigners often mix them up, but Koreans distinguish them.
• 한자어 수사 (hanja-eo su-sa) — The il, i, sam... series. Used mainly in formal and objective contexts like money, dates, and phone numbers.
• 자음 (ja-eum) — There are 14 Korean consonants. Each has its own name (giyeok, nieun, digeut...). The names themselves contain hints on how to pronounce them.
• 조사 (jo-sa) — Particles are the core of Korean. 은/는 (topic), 이/가 (subject), 을/를 (object), 에/에서 (location), 로/으로 (direction/means). Because of particles, word order becomes flexible.
• 주어 (ju-eo) — In Korean, the subject is often omitted. If it's clear from the context, it's natural not to say it. 'I'm hungry' = '(I) am hungry'. This is why dropping the subject doesn't feel awkward.
• 모음 (mo-eum) — There are 10 basic vowels and 11 complex vowels. Complex vowels are combinations of basic vowels, so there's almost no need for additional memorization.
• 목적어 (mok-jeok-eo) — Because there are object markers (을/를) to indicate the object, the position of the object is not fixed. It can even come before the subject (for emphasis).
• 세종대왕 (Sejong Daewang (King Sejong the Great)) — 'Daewang' means 'Great King'. He is the most respected historical figure by Koreans and is featured on the 10,000 won bill.
• 서술어 (seo-sul-eo) — In Korean, a predicate can be a verb (to eat) or an adjective (to be pretty). Both can end a sentence. In English, an adjective needs a 'be' verb, but in Korean, the adjective itself becomes the predicate.