Double Consonants - Hangul

Double Consonants

The last few consonants we need to learn to know all consonants of Hangul are the double consonants.

The following double consonants exist in Korean: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ

So these might already seem familiar. They look like their regular forms but doubled, written twice but still within the same space.

• ㄱ: ㄲ
• ㄷ: ㄸ
• ㅂ: ㅃ
• ㅅ: ㅆ
• ㅈ: ㅉ

Double consonants are made with the same sound as regular consonants but by slightly tensing your mouth before pronouncing them. Hence they are also often called the tense consonants.

• ㄲ sounds more like a “g”, compared to “ㄱ” which is more of a mix of between “k/g”.
• ㄸ sounds more like a “d”, compared to “ㄷ” which is more of a mix of between “d/t”.
• ㅃ sounds more like a “b”, compared to “ㅂ” which is more of a mix of between “b/p”.
• ㅆ sounds more like a sharp “s/z” sound, compared to “ㅅ” which is more like a regular “s”.
• ㅉ is harder to describe in romanized sounds. The official romanization for ㅈ is “j” and for ㅉ it is “jj”. Like described earlier, for ㅉ pronounce ㅈ but with more force at the beginning of the pronunciation.

For a Korean learner these letters might be hard to differentiate in the beginning:

• ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ
• ㄷ, ㄸ, ㅌ
• ㅂ, ㅃ, ㅍ
• ㅅ, ㅆ
• ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ

(Audio example of how these sound will be added in the future!)

Try practising these with actual words in which they come up, that should feel easier and more natural than listening to these sounds in isolation. I recommend studying with an Anki deck that has audio included, like this first 500 words one. This pronunciation example by BillyGo also might be helpful to you.

Congratulations 🎉 Now you know all consonants of Hangul: ㄱ, ㄲ,ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄸ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅃ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ