Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye (訓民正音解例)

A Complete Paraphrased English Translation for International Readers

I. Preface

The spoken language of our country is fundamentally different from that of China, and as a result, it cannot be properly written using Chinese characters. Because of this, many ordinary, uneducated people have thoughts they wish to express but are ultimately unable to convey their feelings in writing.

Moved by pity for this situation, I have newly created a set of twenty-eight letters. My sole intention is to make these letters easy for everyone to learn and convenient for daily use.

II. The Initial Consonants (자음)

Each initial consonant is classified by where in the mouth it is produced (place of articulation) and compared to a familiar English sound.

Velar Sounds (어금닛소리) — made at the back of the throat with the root of the tongue

• ㄱ — like the ‘g’ in “go” — a hard sound made at the back of the throat.
  • When doubled to ㄲ, it becomes tense and emphatic, like the ‘gg’ in “egg” but more forceful.
• ㅋ — like the ‘k’ in “kite” — pronounced with a strong puff of air.
• ㆁ — like the ‘ng’ in “sing” — the velar nasal sound.

Lingual Sounds (혓소리) — made with the tongue touching the upper gums

• ㄷ — like the ‘d’ in “dog”.
  • When doubled to ㄸ, it becomes tense and emphatic, like the ‘dd’ in “muddy” but more forceful.
• ㅌ — like the ‘t’ in “top” — pronounced with a strong puff of air.
• ㄴ — like the ‘n’ in “now”.

Labial Sounds (입시울소리) — made with the lips

• ㅂ — like the ‘b’ in “boy”.
  • When doubled to ㅃ, it becomes tense and emphatic, like the ‘bb’ in “rubbish” but more forceful.
• ㅍ — like the ‘p’ in “pin” — pronounced with a strong puff of air.
• ㅁ — like the ‘m’ in “mother”.

Dental Sounds (닛소리) — made with the teeth

• ㅈ — like the ‘j’ in “jump”.
  • When doubled to ㅉ, it becomes tense and emphatic, like the ‘jj’ in “edge” but more forceful.
• ㅊ — like the ‘ch’ in “chin” — pronounced with a strong puff of air.
• ㅅ — like the ‘s’ in “sun”.
  • When doubled to ㅆ, it becomes tense and emphatic, like the ‘ss’ in “hiss” but more forceful.

Laryngeal Sounds (목소리) — made in the throat

• ㆆ — a slight catch or break in the throat, like the sound between the syllables in “uh-oh”.
• ㅎ — like the ‘h’ in “hat”.
  • When doubled to ㆅ, it becomes a heavier, more emphatic ‘h’ sound.
• ㅇ — silent when it appears at the beginning of a syllable; at the end of a syllable, it sounds like ‘ng’ in “sing”.

Semi-Lingual and Semi-Dental Sounds

• ㄹ — similar to the ‘l’ in “love”, but with a quick tap of the tongue against the upper gums — like the Spanish ‘r’ in “pero”.
• ㅿ — a soft sound between ‘s’ and ‘z’, like the ‘z’ in “azure” or the French ‘j’ in “je”.

III. The Medial Vowels (모음)

Each vowel is described by how it sounds in English.

• ㆍ — a deep ‘uh’ sound, like the ‘o’ in the British pronunciation of “hot”. (This vowel is no longer used in modern Korean.)
• ㅡ — like the ‘eu’ in French “deux” — a deep, unrounded ‘u’ sound, similar to the ‘u’ in “put” but with lips not rounded.
• ㅣ — like the ‘ee’ in “see”.
• ㅗ — like the ‘o’ in “go”.
• ㅏ — like the ‘a’ in “father”.
• ㅜ — like the ‘oo’ in “moon”.
• ㅓ — like the ‘aw’ in “saw”.
• ㅛ — like the ‘yo’ in “yoga”.
• ㅑ — like the ‘ya’ in “yarn”.
• ㅠ — like the ‘yu’ in “you”.
• ㅕ — like the ‘yeo’ in “yeoman”.

IV. Final Consonants and Writing Rules

• Final consonants are written using the same letters as the initial consonants. For example, the final consonant in a syllable like “막” (mak) is the same ㄱ used as an initial.
• When the letter ㅇ is placed below a labial (lip) consonant, it turns that consonant into a “light labial” sound — a softer, more breathy version of the original lip sound.
• When two or more initial consonants are combined in a cluster (like “ㄳ” or “ㄵ”), they are written side by side. The same rule applies to final consonant clusters.
• Vowel placement rules:
  • The vowels ㆍ, ㅡ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅛ, ㅠ are written below the initial consonant.
  • The vowels ㅣ, ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅑ, ㅕ are written to the right of the initial consonant.
• Every syllable must combine an initial, a medial, and (optionally) a final sound — only through this combination does a complete pronunciation emerge.

V. Tone Marks (성조 표시)

• One dot added to the left of a syllable = the Departing Tone (去聲) — a falling pitch.
• Two dots added to the left of a syllable = the Rising Tone (上聲) — a rising pitch.
• No dots = the Level Tone (平聲) — a level, even pitch.
• For the Entering Tone (入聲), the same dot rules apply, but the syllable is pronounced short and abrupt — with a quick, stopped ending (like a consonant that cuts the sound off).

VI. The Philosophy Behind the Letters (제자해)

A. The Cosmic Foundation of Sound

The fundamental principle governing Heaven and Earth is simply the interaction of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. Between the hexagrams Kun (Earth) and Fu (Return) lies the Great Ultimate; and from the interplay of motion and stillness, Yin and Yang emerge.

Every living being that exists between Heaven and Earth cannot escape this Yin-Yang dynamic. Therefore, all human speech and sounds inherently contain these principles — it is simply that people have not previously recognized this fact.

Now, the creation of this new alphabet did not come about through elaborate human planning or forced intellectual effort. Rather, it was achieved by carefully following the natural sounds of our speech and exhaustively investigating the principles embedded within them. Since these principles are ultimately unified and non-dual, how could this alphabet not share the same cosmic power as Heaven, Earth, and the divine?

B. How the Letters Were Shaped

The 28 letters of the Korean alphabet were each created by imitating the shape of the vocal organs used to produce them. There are seventeen initial consonant letters in total.

What each letter imitates:

• ㄱ — The root of the tongue closing against the throat
• ㄴ — The tongue pressing against the upper gums (palate)
• ㅁ — The shape of the mouth (lips)
• ㅅ — The shape of the teeth
• ㅇ — The shape of the throat

Adding strokes to create new sounds:

The letter ㅋ is derived from ㄱ by adding a stroke, because its sound is more forceful (aspirated).

In the same way:

• ㄴ → ㄷ (add a stroke)
• ㄷ → ㅌ (add another stroke)
• ㅁ → ㅂ (add a stroke)
• ㅂ → ㅍ (add another stroke)
• ㅅ → ㅈ (add a stroke)
• ㅈ → ㅊ (add another stroke)
• ㅇ → ㆆ (add a stroke)
• ㆆ → ㅎ (add another stroke)

In all these cases, the principle is the same: more strokes = a more forceful sound. The only exception is ㆁ (the velar nasal), which follows a different pattern.

The semi-lingual letter ㄹ and the semi-dental letter ㅿ also imitate the shapes of the tongue and teeth, but they have their own distinct forms and do not follow the “added-stroke” principle.

C. The Five Sounds and the Five Elements

Human speech is rooted in the Five Elements. Each category of sound corresponds to a season, an element, a direction, and a musical tone.

Laryngeal (Throat) — 喉音

• Element: Water (水)
• Season: Winter
• Direction: —
• Musical Tone: Yu (羽)

Velar (Gum) — 牙音

• Element: Wood (木)
• Season: Spring
• Direction: East
• Musical Tone: Jue (角)

Lingual (Tongue) — 舌音

• Element: Fire (火)
• Season: Summer
• Direction: South
• Musical Tone: Zhi (徵)

Dental (Teeth) — 齒音

• Element: Metal (金)
• Season: Autumn
• Direction: West
• Musical Tone: Shang (商)

Labial (Lips) — 脣音

• Element: Earth (土)
• Season: Late Summer
• Direction: Center
• Musical Tone: Gong (宮)

Why throat and tongue sounds are most important:

• The throat is the gate from which sound emerges.
• The tongue is the pipe that shapes and distinguishes sounds.
• Therefore, among the five categories, throat sounds and tongue sounds are the most fundamental.

D. Clear and Murky Sounds (淸濁)

Sounds are also classified by whether they are clear, murky, or neutral.

Fully Clear (全淸) — Light, unvoiced, unaspirated sounds

• Letters: ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, ㆆ

Second Clear (次淸) — Strong, aspirated sounds

• Letters: ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅊ, ㅎ

Fully Murky (全濁) — Tense, emphatic sounds

• Letters: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅉ, ㅆ, ㆅ

Neither Clear nor Murky (不淸不濁) — Soft, sonorous sounds

• Letters: ㆁ, ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅇ, ㄹ, ㅿ

How doubling works:

When a “Fully Clear” consonant is doubled (written side by side), it becomes a “Fully Murky” sound. For example:

• ㄱ (clear) → ㄲ (murky)
• ㄷ (clear) → ㄸ (murky)
• ㅂ (clear) → ㅃ (murky)

E. The Medial Vowels and the Three Realms (天地人)

The eleven medial vowels were created by imitating the shapes of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.

The three foundational vowels:

• ㆍ — Round shape (●) — Heaven — deep sound, tongue retracted
• ㅡ — Flat shape (—) — Earth — neutral sound, tongue slightly retracted
• ㅣ — Vertical shape (│) — Humanity — shallow sound, tongue not retracted

From these three, the other eight vowels are formed:

• ㅗ and ㅏ come from ㆍ (Heaven) — the round element is placed above or outside.
• ㅜ and ㅓ come from ㅡ (Earth) — the round element is placed below or inside.
• ㅛ, ㅑ, ㅠ, ㅕ all add the vertical element of ㅣ (Humanity), representing the second generation of sounds.

F. The Interaction of Initials and Finals

Why finals reuse the same letters as initials:

The dynamic, active principle that becomes Yang is Heaven; the static, passive principle that becomes Yin is also Heaven. Heaven truly divides into Yin and Yang and rules over everything without exception.

The primal energy of the universe flows endlessly in cycles; the movement of the four seasons proceeds in an unbroken circle. Therefore, after completion comes renewal, and after winter comes spring. The fact that an initial sound can become a final, and a final sound can become an initial again, is precisely this same principle of cyclical return.

VII. Concluding Exclamation

Ah! Now that the Correct Sounds have been created, all the principles of Heaven, Earth, and the countless things of creation are fully contained within them. How divinely profound and wonderful this is!

Indeed, this must surely be the work of Heaven opening the sage-king’s mind and acting through his hand!

Appendix: Quick Pronunciation Reference

ㄱ — ‘g’ in go

ㄲ — ‘gg’ in egg (tense)

ㅋ — ‘k’ in kite (aspirated)

ㆁ — ‘ng’ in sing

ㄷ — ‘d’ in dog

ㄸ — ‘dd’ in muddy (tense)

ㅌ — ‘t’ in top (aspirated)

ㄴ — ‘n’ in now

ㅂ — ‘b’ in boy

ㅃ — ‘bb’ in rubbish (tense)

ㅍ — ‘p’ in pin (aspirated)

ㅁ — ‘m’ in mother

ㅈ — ‘j’ in jump

ㅉ — ‘jj’ in edge (tense)

ㅊ — ‘ch’ in chin (aspirated)

ㅅ — ‘s’ in sun

ㅆ — ‘ss’ in hiss (tense)

ㆆ — catch in throat like uh-oh

ㅎ — ‘h’ in hat

ㅇ — silent at start; ‘ng’ at end

ㄹ — ‘l’ in love (with a tap)

ㅿ — soft ‘z’ like in azure

ㆍ — ‘o’ in British hot

ㅡ — ‘eu’ in French deux

ㅣ — ‘ee’ in see

ㅗ — ‘o’ in go

ㅏ — ‘a’ in father

ㅜ — ‘oo’ in moon

ㅓ — ‘aw’ in saw

ㅛ — ‘yo’ in yoga

ㅑ — ‘ya’ in yarn

ㅠ — ‘yu’ in you

ㅕ — ‘yeo’ in yeoman