# Korean Cheatsheet ## Unique Features - Writing system called Hangul, created in the 15th century - Grammatical particles used to indicate subject, object, etc. - Honorifics used to show respect for the listener or subject of conversation - Complex verb conjugation system - Pronouns are rarely used - Pronunciation differences between North and South Korean ## Letters and Sounds - Hangul consists of 14 consonants and 10 vowels - Some consonants have two forms depending on their position in a syllable - Korean has several sounds that don't exist in English, such as ㅓ (eo) and ㅉ (jj) ### Example - The word for "hello" is "annyeonghaseyo" (안녕하세요) - The syllable "nyeo" (녀) is pronounced differently from "neo" (너) ## Vocabulary - Many Korean words are based on Chinese characters (Hanja) - Korean has many loanwords from English and other languages - Some Korean words have multiple meanings depending on context ### Example - The word for "person" is "saram" (사람) - The word for "teacher" is "seonsaengnim" (선생님) ## Grammar - Grammatical particles are used to indicate subject, object, etc. - Honorifics are used to show respect for the listener or subject of conversation - Korean verbs are conjugated based on tense, mood, and honorific level - Adjectives can be used as verbs by adding the verb ending "-다" - Korean has a subject-object-verb word order ### Example - The sentence "I am a student" is "jeo-neun haksaeng-imnida" (저는 학생입니다) - The honorific suffix "-imnida" is added to the verb "to be" to show respect - The word order is subject (I), topic particle (-neun), object (student), and verb (am) ## Resources - [Talk To Me In Korean](https://talktomeinkorean.com/) - [KoreanClass101](https://www.koreanclass101.com/) - [Korean Grammar in Use](https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Grammar-Use-Beginning-Intermediate/dp/8959951986) - [Korean news websites](https://www.koreaherald.com/, https://www.chosun.com/)