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Korean character structure and stems
How to make one complete Korean character
C stands for a consonant, and V stands for a vowel. These are the structure of one complete Korean character.
C+V, C+V+C, CC+V+C, C+V+CC
'ㅇ' is used as zero-value consonant when it comes before a vowel. For example, 'ㅏ' ('a' in English) should be written as 아. 오이 (cucumber) cannot be written as ㅗㅣ.
ㅏ, ㅣ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅑ, ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ are placed on the right the consonant.
ㅠ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅛ are placed at the bottom of the initial consonant.
ㄳ, ㄺ, ㄵ, ㄶ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㅀ, ㄻ, ㅄ, ㄿ must be placed at the bottom.
| C+V (consonant + vowel) | CC+V+C (final consonant + vowel + consonant) |
|---|---|
| ㄱ + ㅏ = 가 [ga] go ㄴ + ㅏ = 나 [na] me ㄱ + ㅔ = 게 [ge] crab ㅎ + ㅐ = 해 [hae] sun ㄱ + ㅜ = 구 [gu] nine ㅁ + ㅜ = 무 [mu] radish ㅅ + ㅗ = 소 [so] cow |
ㅆ + ㅏ + ㅇ = 쌍 [ssang] pair ㅉ + ㅏ + ㄱ = 짝 [jjak] partner ㄲ + ㅗ + ㅊ = 꽃 [kkot] flower ㅉ + ㅗ + ㄱ = 쪽 [jjok] piece; direction |
| C+V+C (consonant + vowel + consonant) | C+V+CC (consonant + vowel + final consonant) |
| ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄱ = 학 [hak] crane ㄷ + ㅓ + ㄱ = 덕 [deok] virtue ㅊ + ㅐ + ㄱ = 책 [chaek] book ㅅ + ㅣ + ㄴ = 신 [sin] shoes; god ㅇ + ㅓ + ㄱ = 억 [o'k] one hundred million ㅅ + ㅜ + ㅍ = 숲 [sup] forest ㄴ + ㅜ + ㄴ = 눈 [nun] eye; snow ㅂ + ㅗ + ㄱ = 복 [bok] fortune |
ㅅ + ㅏ + ㄻ = 삶 [salm] life ㅊ + ㅣ + ㄺ = 칡 [chi'lk] arrowroot ㅅ + ㅏ + ㄳ = 삯 [salk] wages; fare ㅎ + ㅡ + ㄺ = 흙 [hu'k] soil |
어간 Stems
Stems ONLY exist in verbs and adjectives. They always go with various endings just like '-ing' or '-ed' in English. Remember the ending -다. is added for a dictionary-entry purpose so in order to find the stem, you just need to take -다. out of the word.
To take an example in English, 'park' could be a stem of the verb 'to park'. Park can have such endings like '-s', '-ed', and '-ing', etc., but the word 'park' does not change.
However, stems cannot be used alone, except some words such as '사' buy , '가' go, '세' count (this/that), '자' sleep, to command others in colloquial settings.
| Verbs, adjectives | Stems |
|---|---|
| 사다. (to buy) | 사 |
| 가다. (to go) | 가 |
| 배우다. (to learn) | 배우 |
| 때리다. (to hit) | 때리 |
| 세다. (to count) | 세 |
| 작다. (small) | 작 |
| 맵다. (spicy) | 맵 |
| 예쁘다. (pretty) | 예쁘 |
| 짧다. (short) | 짧 |
| 쉽다. (easy) | 쉽 |
한글 Korean Alphabet
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