Liason

Korean has rules of liaison, which state that when certain sounds are combined, some of them will change to become new sounds. This happens in other languages as well; think of the difference in English between "rate" and "rated": the "t" sound changes to a "d" sound before "-ed", even though the spelling is unchanged. This is very similar to the Korean rules of liaison, which are as follows:
ㄱ (giyeok), ㄷ (digeut), or ㅂ (bieup) before ㄹ (rieul), ㅁ (mieum), or ㄴ (nieun) are pronounced ㅇ (ieung), ㅁ (mieum), or ㄴ (nieun) respectively. The ㄹ (rieul), if following any of the three above, also changes to an ㄴ (nieun) sound.

Example: seup + ni = seumni, -> Gomapseumnida (Thank you - used when someone does something for you that is unnecessary).

When ㄹ (rieul) follows any consonant apart from ㄹ (rieul) or ㄴ (nieun), it is pronounced (n). When ㄹ (rieul) and ㄴ (nieun) are together, they are pronounced as (ll).

Consonant Endings

Any word ending in a consonant and not followed by a particle will be swallow in the final consonant. This means you will begin to pronounce the sound, but not completely pronounce it.

ㅊ (chieut), ㅈ (jieut), ㅅ (siot), ㅆ (ssangsiot), and ㅎ (hieut).

When any of these consonants appear at the end of the word, you will produce a (d, t) sound at the beginning.

Korean Text

Korean is written and read from left to right. It uses punctuation mark like English.

Questions

Ask a question by raising the tone at the end of the sentence. In writing, use a question mark.

Hanguel Characters

Individual characters are combined to create syllables. The syllables are then combined to create sentences.

Numbers in Korean

Numbers are accompanied by a word called a "counter" (separate word - known as "particle/marker" in some languages). This counter changes depend on the object you are counting, so is similar to the English "a cup of" or "a pair of". Examples: 개 gae (general object), 살 sal (numeric counter for people's age), and 명 myeong (counting people).

2 sets of Korean numbers: Korean and Sino-Korean (Chinese Korean).

There is a tendency to choose a number system depending on the age of the people you are referring to. Young person - children or teenager (Korean -sal). Yourself (Korean -sal). Someone else over 18 or colleagues (Sino-Korean -se). To be safe with adults to avoid rudeness, use (Sino-Korean -se) for adults in general.

Korean Politeness

-mnida or -seumnida endings are known as the deferential endings. Korean has severl formal and respectful speech endings. The deferential ending in Korean is quite commonly used between the people who have formal business relationship: business partners, employees to their boss, or students to their professors.

When we add the deferential endings and use an honorific verb, we have a new word: gyeshimnidam, the honorific of 잇다 issda (to be [existence]) and ishimnida is the honorific of 이다 ida (to be [identification: am, are, is]).

Korean Noun and Adjectives

Example: cheak + i + keo + yo (book + subject particle + verb/adjective + ending) = A book is big.

When you want to connect 2 sentences, use the word -go meaning "and". When you want to connect 2 nouns, use -hago meaning "and". -hago is a particle that you attach to the first noun.

There is no distinction made in Korean between "a" and "the".

When an adjective like "bissada (expensive) is used to modify chaek (book), it becomes bissan chaek (an expensive book). Similarly, jota (good) becomes joeun before chaek, as in "joeun chaek" (a good book).

For adjective stems ending in consonants, add -eun; for adjective stems ending in vowels, add -n. This works for all adjectives, including those that resemble verbs: pyeolihada (convenient) becomes "pyeolihan" when used to modify a noun. Example: pyeolihan apateu (a convenient apartment).

Adjectival forms often take the -n as the final consonant when the adjective is modified for use in front of a noun. In Korean, the sentence -da serve as the infinitive form for all verbs and adjective.

When the last vowel of the stem is either -a or -o, -ayo is used, all other stems take -eoyo. A few adjectives have -eu sound that takes -eo when combine with a polite form -ayo/-eoyo. These are called -eu irregular verbs class.

Korean Sentences

2 subjects can exist in 1 sentence. Hint: i/ga (particle).

Colors

Colors are often used with the word "saek" when used as modifying adjectives. Example: Kkochi noransaekiyeyo (The flower is yellow).

New Endings

-neyo (speaker's reaction). -neundeyo (background information). The ending -eun, -neun, -neundeyo is also used with verbs.

Use -deyo after adjectives that end with a vowel. Use -eundeyo after adjectives that end with a consonant. Use -eundeyo after action verbs.

-neundeyo has an alternative form -eundeyo when is used with adjectives.

Person's Capability (Example: can + verb)

[verb stem or root + ㄹ/을 수 있다]

Example: 한국어를 할 수 있어요.