This lesson's four letters aren't new drawings. Each one is a letter from Lesson 1 with one stroke added on top. That isn't a coincidence — Hangul was designed so that a similar shape means a similar sound.
The pattern is real and it's the whole reason Hangul is easy: added stroke = same mouth position, stronger obstruction. You'll use it again in Lesson 3, where one more stroke turns ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ into ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ. (Wikipedia: Hangul letter design)
A German advantage. Korean ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ are unaspirated — no puff of air after them. English speakers struggle here, because English d, b and g are strongly voiced and English t, p, k come with a big puff. German sits much closer to the middle already. Aim for your German d, b, g and hold back the breath.
Here is the rule that explains almost every "wait, that's not how it's spelled" moment in Korean. ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ each have one letter but three sounds, decided purely by where they sit.
| Position | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Start of a word | flat / voiceless | 다 — closer to "ta" than "da" |
| Between voiced sounds (after a vowel or ㄴ ㅁ ㅇ ㄹ) |
fully voiced | 바다 — "ba-da", a real D (sea) |
| Bottom of a block | stopped dead | 밥 — "bap", lips close and stay shut (rice) |
This is why the same ㅂ is written b at the front of 밥 and p at the back: one letter, two jobs. Linguists call the middle row intervocalic voicing — plain stops become voiced between sonorants. (Wikipedia: Korean phonology)
What this buys you on a sign. Modern Korean romanization always writes the voiced letter — b, d, g, j — no matter how it actually sounds. So when a road sign says Andong or Jeonju, you can run it backwards with confidence: that d is ㄷ, that j is ㅈ. Don't let your ears talk you out of it.
ㅎ is a crisp H at the start of a word — 한국 . But squeezed between voiced sounds it softens to almost nothing, and native speakers often drop it entirely. In 남한 (South Korea) the H is barely there. Expect to see more H than you hear. (source)
For reading, this costs you nothing — the letter is still on the sign. It only matters when you're matching a spoken place name to a written one.
Four letters just completed Korea's entire administrative hierarchy. Every one of these appears as a suffix on signs, building plates and bus stops — and each one narrows down where you are.
| Block | Reads | Level — and what it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 도 | DO | Province — the top level. Widest possible clue. |
| 시 | SI | City — you're in an urban municipality. |
| 군 | GUN | County — the rural counterpart of 시. Countryside. |
| 구 | GU | District — only exists inside big cities. Strong urban signal. |
| 동 | DONG | Neighbourhood — the smallest urban unit with its own office. |
| 리 | RI | Village — the smallest rural unit. Sister of 동. |
The pairs do the work: 시/구/동 means city. 군/리 means countryside. That's a real urban–rural call from a single suffix. (Administrative divisions of South Korea)
And the two street suffixes, which are on every blue-and-white street plate in the country:
| Block | Reads | Size of road |
|---|---|---|
| 로 | RO | A proper street — roughly 2 to 7 lanes. |
| 길 | GIL | A small side street or alley branching off a 로. Usually one lane. |
Spot a 길 and you're on a back street; spot a 로 and you're on a through road worth following. (The third size, 대로 = a big boulevard, needs a vowel from Lesson 4.) (Korean address format)
| Hangul | Reads | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 부산 | BUSAN | The second-largest city — southeast coast, big port. |
| 한강 | HANGANG | The Han River through Seoul. 한 + 강 (river). |
| 안동 | ANDONG | Inland city in the southeast — old hanok villages. |
| 전주 | JEONJU | Southwest. Remember: eo = ㅓ, so "Juhn-ju". |
| 남산 | NAMSAN | "South mountain" — the tower hill in central Seoul. |
| 한국 | HANGUK | Korea itself. On signs, flags and government buildings. |
Sixteen letters in, you can decode two of Korea's biggest cities, its river, its mountain and its own name for itself.
Both are horizontal vowels, so they sit in the same slot — only the tick tells them apart.
Merkhilfe unten & oben: Strich nach unten = U (ㅜ), Strich nach oben = O (ㅗ). Ten rounds, as fast as you can.
16 of 40 Hangul letters — and every plain consonant except the tense pairs.
Next up (Lesson 3): ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ and the doubled ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ — both groups follow the same "add a stroke" logic you just used.
Four new letters, shuffled in with six from Lesson 1. Say the sound aloud, then reveal.
Every word below uses only your 16 letters. Split each block into slots, then say it aloud.
Space to reveal
1/2/3 to score