① What double consonants are
Double consonants (쌍자음) stand for tense sounds (된소리) and are written by doubling a plain consonant.
| Plain | Double |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄲ |
| ㄷ | ㄸ |
| ㅂ | ㅃ |
| ㅅ | ㅆ |
| ㅈ | ㅉ |
In Hangul Builder, they’re learned in pairs with their plain counterparts.
② Plain, aspirated and tense: the three-way contrast
| Plain (light breath) | Aspirated (strong puff of air) | Tense (no puff, tight throat) |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㅋ | ㄲ |
| ㄷ | ㅌ | ㄸ |
| ㅂ | ㅍ | ㅃ |
| ㅈ | ㅊ | ㅉ |
| ㅅ | — | ㅆ |
These differences change meaning:
| Plain | Aspirated | Tense |
|---|---|---|
| 불 (fire) | 풀 (grass) | 뿔 (horn) |
| 달 (moon) | 탈 (mask) | 딸 (daughter) |
| 자다 (to sleep) | 차다 (to be cold) | 짜다 (to be salty) |
| 사다 (to buy) | — | 싸다 (to be cheap) |
③ How to pronounce them
- Think of “sp”, “st”, “sk”: the p in “spin”, the t in “stop” and the k in “skin” have no puff of air. Korean ㅃ, ㄸ and ㄲ are close to these sounds, said with a bit more tension
- No puff of air: unlike aspirated ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ, don’t breathe out — tighten your throat and keep the sound short
- A higher pitch: vowels after tense and aspirated consonants often sound a little higher than after plain ones
④ Example words
| Word | Pronounced | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 아빠 | a-ppa | dad |
| 오빠 | o-ppa | older brother (said by a woman) |
| 떡 | tteok | rice cake |
| 싸다 | ssa-da | to be cheap |
| 찌개 | jji-gae | stew |
| 꽃 | kkot | flower |
⑤ How to practice hearing the difference
- The tissue test: hold a tissue in front of your mouth. With aspirated consonants it moves a lot; with tense consonants it barely moves
- Practice in sets of three: listen to and say sets like 불 · 풀 · 뿔 from the table above
- Learn common words: start with words you’ll see often, like 아빠, 오빠 and 떡
On a keyboard, type a double consonant with Shift + the plain consonant’s key (ㄲ = Shift + R). Korean keyboard →
Related: Hangul chart / Korean keyboard / Batchim / Compound vowels / How to learn Hangul / How to read a Korean menu / About Hangul Builder