Learning Korean isn’t easy, as it uses a writing system that’s unfamiliar to most people, sentence structures that can feel unexpected, and features countless verb endings, complex grammatical rules, and different levels of formality. It’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed, and that’s what happened to me too. However, this process can become more fun by studying Korean grammar and vocabulary through the lyrics of K-Pop songs. By analyzing song lyrics, soon you’ll see patterns starting to repeat, grammar rules becoming recognizable, and terms that will stick as you tie them to the music.
I’m not at all fluent in Korean, but I found it easier and more enjoyable to study by breaking down the grammar in the lyrics of the songs of my favorite group, Loona. In my learning process, I’m going through all their songs one by one, studying in detail every aspect of the grammar and doing my best to memorize terms and rules, and this helped me a lot. So, I’ll share with you the notes I’ve written in a series of articles, hoping that this can help you too. Again, I’m still learning and I have a long way to go before being fluent, so I might make some mistakes, but I always do my best to double and triple check everything. If you find any mistakes, please contact me.
Another important note: the articles are written assuming you at least know how to read Korean. If you don’t, it’s actually pretty easy to learn, and you can start by reading the explanation below. In any case, I suggest getting used to some very basic Korean grammar before diving into the lyrics breakdown.
Learn Korean with Loona songs
A quick explanation of Hangul, the Korean writing system
Reading Korean is actually much easier than it might seem, as the Korean writing system, or Hangul, is very easy to learn and understand. Down here is a very quick breakdown of how to read Korean and some basic rules to know. The pronounciations provided are the translitterations used in the Revised Romanization of Korean system, and I added some notes comparing the sounds to English for more clarity.
The Hangul system is based on letters which come together to form syllable blocks. Every syllable always contains a consonant and a vowel, and might sometimes also include a third and fourth consonant. To form syllables, the letters come together depending on their shape. Horizontal vowels (e.g. ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ) go under the consonant (e.g. ㄴ + ㅗ = 노), while vertical vowels (e.g. ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅣ) go to the right of the consonant (e.g. ㄴ + ㅏ = 나). Additional consonants go under the block formed by the first two letters (e.g. ㅁ + ㅏ + ㄹ = 말).
Some consonants are pronounced differently depending on whether they’re positioned at the start or the end of the syllable. Five consonants can also become doubled, forming stronger versions of their basic counterparts.
| Basic consonant | Pronounciation/ Translitteration (initial) | Pronounciation/ Translitteration (final) |
| ㄱ | g (like in “give”) | k |
| ㄴ | n | n |
| ㄷ | d | t |
| ㄹ | r | l |
| ㅁ | m | m |
| ㅂ | b | p |
| ㅅ | s | t |
| ㅇ | (silent) | ng |
| ㅈ | j (like in “joke”) | t |
| ㅊ | ch | t |
| ㅋ | k | k |
| ㅌ | t | t |
| ㅍ | p | p |
| ㅎ | h | t |
| Double consonant | Pronounciation/ Translitteration (initial) | Pronounciation/ Translitteration (final) |
| ㄲ | kk | k |
| ㄸ | tt | (never a final consonant) |
| ㅃ | pp | (never a final consonant) |
| ㅆ | ss | t |
| ㅉ | jj | (never a final consonant) |
| Basic vowel | Translitteration | Pronounciation |
| ㅏ | a | “ah” |
| ㅓ | eo | like “uh” but more open |
| ㅗ | o | “oh” |
| ㅜ | u | “oo” |
| ㅡ | eu | like saying “uh” with lips spread |
| ㅣ | i | “ee” |
| Compound vowel | Translitteration | Pronounciation |
| ㅐ | ae | like “e” in “bed” |
| ㅔ | e | similar to ㅐ but more closed, the difference is often unnoticeable in modern Korean |
| ㅚ | oe | similar to “weh/way” |
| ㅟ | wi | “wee” |
| ㅢ | ui | “wee”, but sometimes “ee” or “eh” depending on how it’s used |
| ㅑ | ya | “yah” |
| ㅕ | yeo | “yuh” |
| ㅛ | yo | “yoh” |
| ㅠ | yu | “you” |
| ㅒ | yae | “yeh” |
| ㅖ | ye | “yeh” (same as above, ㅒ and ㅖ are almost identical) |
| ㅘ | wa | “wah” |
| ㅝ | wo | “woh” |
| ㅙ | wae | “weh” |
| ㅞ | we | “weh” (same as above, ㅙ and ㅞ are almost identical) |
Now just combine these sounds to create syllables, for example:
ㄱ (g) + ㅏ (a) = 가 (ga), “go”
ㅁ (m) + ㅜ (u) = 무 (mu), “radish”
ㅈ (j) + ㅣ(i) + ㅂ (p (as final)) = 집 (jip), “house”
ㅇ (silent) + ㅗ (o) = 오 (o), “five”
ㅂ (b) + ㅏ (a) + ㅇ (ng (as final)) = 방 (bang), “room”
These are the basic rules, there are a few more complexities involving consonant clusters, but if you’re a beginner you don’t need to learn these now.