Hangul letters are grouped into blocks, one block per syllable. Every block starts with a consonant and then a vowel; when a syllable starts with a vowel sound, a silent ㅇ fills the first place. A tall vowel (ㅏ, ㅣ) sits to the right of the consonant and a flat one (ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ) underneath it: 바 is ㅂ + ㅏ (ba), 노 is ㄴ + ㅗ (no), 아 is ㅇ + ㅏ (a).
Examples
- 바나나
- banana - three blocks, ㅂ+ㅏ, ㄴ+ㅏ, ㄴ+ㅏ: ba-na-na
- 피아노
- piano - 아 starts with a silent ㅇ: pi-a-no
- 토마토
- tomato - ㅗ is flat, so it sits under each ㅌ; ㅏ is tall, so it sits beside the ㅁ: to-ma-to
The mistake to avoid
ㅇ at the start of a block is silent: 아 is just a, and 오 is just o.
Where this fits in
한글: the Korean alphabet, Korean A1: Read Hangul block by block and sound out your first Korean words - many of them borrowed from English.