Endings follow the ear · 받침은 들리는 소리대로
An ending writes the sound you hear: ㄱ = K, ㅂ = P, ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㄷ = T, ㄹ = L. Double endings use the sound you hear, not both letters.
KPL
Guide · Effortless Korean
The guide · 한글과 한글 2.0
The whole system, on one page.
One block, three seats · 한 글자는 세 자리
- 1 First soundThe consonant you hear first. If there is none, the seat holds a silent ∅.
- 2 VowelBeside the consonant, or under it.
- 3 EndingOptional. What you hear last: K, N, L, M, P, T, NG.
Swipe the table sideways to see all ten vowels →
Rules we follow · 지키는 규칙
An ending can be NG · 받침 ㅇ은 NG
At the end of a block, ㅇ is a real sound, NG. At the start it is silent. The two jobs look the same in Hangul, so we mark them differently.
강 · gang앙 · ang
W vowels · W로 시작하는 모음
WA, WO, WAE and WI are written as W sounds, never as a Y plus something. 와 워 왜 위.
WAWOWAEWI
Doubled consonants · 된소리
GG, DD, BB, SS and JJ stand for the tense sounds, so they never collide with G D B S J or the aspirated K T P CH.
GGDDBBSSJJ
The silent start · 소리 없는 첫 칸
Every block has a consonant seat. When a syllable starts with a vowel, the seat holds a silent ㅇ. We never turn it into Y: 아 is A, not YA.
아이우
What we do not claim · 아직 말하지 않는 것
Hangul 2.0 does not cover every sound in the world. TH as in this, ZH as in vision, and the way R differs between languages are kept on a research list, not written as finished letters.
Open research · 연구 과제
From the original text · 원문 대조
What the Hunminjeongeum Eonhae says about this system
- Each block has three parts · 初聲 中聲 終聲. A first sound, a middle sound, a last sound. That is the block our table is built on.
- Vowels sit under or beside the consonant. ㆍ ㅡ ㅗ ㅜ ㅛ ㅠ go under the first consonant; ㅣ ㅏ ㅓ ㅑ ㅕ go to its right. This is why Hangulish keeps Hangul vowels: the Latin consonant takes the seat, the vowel stays where Hangul puts it.
- Three base vowel shapes · 天 地 人. The dot ㆍ stands for sky, the flat line ㅡ for earth, the upright ㅣ for a person. They are the root of the vowels in the table.
- Endings reuse the first letters. The text says the last sound is written with the first-sound letters again. That is the root of our ending rule: an ending shows the sound you hear (K, P, T, L, NG).
- Joined sounds are written side by side. When first sounds are combined they are placed next to each other, and endings work the same way. That is the root of our doubled consonants (GG, DD, BB, SS, JJ).
- ㅇ is a throat sound, and “thin and empty”. The Eonhae describes ㅇ as a throat sound, like the start of 欲 (yok), and lists a separate ng-like letter beside it (like the start of 業). The Haerye adds that the sound of ㅇ is thin and empty (淡而虗), so it is not needed at the end of a block, and the vowel alone can make the sound. Neither text gives a rule for a silent start, so we describe our empty seat as how Hangul is written today.
- Eight ending sounds are enough. In 終聲解 the Haerye lists ㄱ ㆁ ㄷ ㄴ ㅂ ㅁ ㅅ ㄹ as enough for the last sound. Our ending rule keeps the same idea: K, NG, T, N, P, M, L.
- The first sound sits above or to the left of the vowel. 合字解 gives 君 (ㄱ above ㅜ) and 業 (ㆁ left of ㅓ) as examples.
Where the small circle comes from · 작은 원의 뿌리
Sejong's lip-sound rule · 순경음 연서법
The 1446 Hunminjeongeum has a rule for writing ㅇ under a lip letter. The Korean Studies encyclopedia quotes it as ㅇ連書脣音之下 則爲脣輕音: put ㅇ under a lip sound and it becomes a light lip sound.
ㅂ + ㅇ = ㅸ→ Vㅍ + ㅇ = ㆄ→ F
Hangul 2.0 borrows this idea for V and F. Be careful with the claim: the old letters are close to V and F, not identical (they used only the lips). R, SH, TH and Z have no old letter, so those four are our own extension.