Korean Double Consonants Flashcards: 9 Cards with Audio and Notes

Korean Double Consonants Flashcards: Study the 9 Cards

Double consonants are single sounds written with a doubled letter, so each card trains a short, tight sound with no breath. The four word cards at the end give each tense sound a real meaning to attach it to. The lesson behind the deck is Korean double consonants, which also covers why they are called tense.

How Do I Use These Flashcards?

Use the deck above in four steps. It works with tap, click or keyboard, and nothing plays until you press an audio button.

1. Choose a mode. Start with recognition (Hangul to meaning). Switch to recall (meaning to Hangul) or listening (audio to meaning) once recognition feels easy.
2. Show the answer. Think of the answer first, then press Show answer (or Space). Turn on the romanization toggle only if you need it; the 9-card table below always shows it.
3. Grade yourself. Press Got it if you answered correctly without help, or Not yet if you hesitated or guessed.
4. Finish the session. A session holds up to 20 cards (you can set 10, 20 or 40). With 9 cards, a single session reviews the deck once and the second pass finishes the hard cards.

What Do the Three Modes Do?

Recognition shows the Hangul and asks for the meaning, which trains reading. Recall shows the meaning and asks for the Hangul, which trains remembering; you may type the answer with your Hangul keyboard or just recall it in your head. Listening plays a clip and hides the letters, which trains the ear. Listening mode only uses a card once its audio is approved, and cards without approved audio are skipped in that mode with a note.

What Do Got It and Not yet Do?

Got it moves the card up one Leitner box, so it returns later. Not yet sends the card back to box 1, so it returns in the same session or within 10 minutes. The grades are your own judgement; the deck does not score you or claim fluency.

Deck Scope: What Is and Is Not Covered

The deck covers the five tense (double) consonants ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ and four example words: 아빠 (appa, dad), 토끼 (tokki, rabbit), 빵 (ppang, bread) and 싸다 (ssada, to be cheap). The names begin with 쌍 (ssang, "pair"), as in 쌍기역 for ㄲ.

What Is Left out of This Deck?

The aspirated letters ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ are in the Korean aspirated consonants flashcards. Plain letters are in the basic consonants deck. Vowels have their own decks, starting with the Hangul vowels flashcards. The full three-way contrast with real word pairs lives in the minimal pairs deck.

All 9 Cards in One Table

All 9 cards are listed below, with the five letters first and the four words last. The table is plain HTML and works without the deck.

How Do I Read the Table?

Hangul is the letter or word. Revised Romanization (RR) is a learning aid: it doubles the letter (kk, tt, pp, ss, jj) to show tension. The Meaning column names the letter or gives the word meaning, and the Note column gives a sound tip. The last column lists the audio assetId, with a second ID for any slow clip.

Usage Notes for These Cards

A double consonant is written twice but pronounced once. The sound is short, tight and has no puff of air. The jaw and throat feel firmer, and the sound comes out like a quick stop rather than a long one.

The tense letters are exactly ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ. There is no double ㅇ, and ㄴ ㅁ ㄹ ㅎ have no tense partner. The letter ㅆ also closes the past tense marker -았/었-, as in 갔어요 (gasseoyo, went), so you will meet it in almost every past tense sentence.

아빠 (appa, dad) is the first word with a double letter that most learners hear. 토끼 (tokki, rabbit) comes right after it on the deck and puts an aspirated ㅌ next to a tense ㄲ, so you hear the puff and the tight, airless sound in one word. Do not confuse these with 엄마 (eomma, mom): its mm is two plain ㅁ, one closing 엄 and one opening 마, and ㅁ has no tense partner.

Practise each tense letter against its plain partner, such as 달 (dal, moon) and 딸 (ttal, daughter) in the minimal pairs deck.

Which Sounds Do Not Match the Spelling?

Tense consonants use a tight throat and no air. 빵 (ppang, bread) sounds like a clipped p-pang, not "bang" and not "pang" with a puff. The doubled spelling in Revised Romanization shows the tension, but in speech the sound is a single short consonant.

Between vowels a tense consonant can make the sound before it feel held for a moment. 아빠 sounds like "ap-pa" to many English speakers. Treat this as a perceptual cue and not a rule to copy; the main cue is the tight, airless release.

The letter ㅆ is an s sound with tension. 싸다 (ssada, to be cheap) starts with a firm hiss, while 사다 (sada, to buy) starts with a softer one.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Double Consonants?

• Adding a puff of air. If your palm feels breath, you said an aspirated sound, not a tense one.
• Pronouncing a double consonant as two syllables, such as "ap-ap". The doubled letter is one short sound.
• Mixing up 사다 (to buy) and 싸다 (to be cheap). The only difference is the tension of the first consonant.
• Skipping the ㅆ of the past tense marker, so 갔어요 (went) turns into 가요 (go).

Mistakes with tension change meaning, so the listening mode is worth using with the approved audio.

How Does the Review Schedule Work?

The deck uses a simplified Leitner system with five boxes. A new card starts in box 1. Each Got it moves it up one box, and each Not yet returns it to box 1. The box sets how long the card waits before it is due again.

Each session shows due cards first, oldest due first, and then up to 10 new cards a day by default. A deck of 9 cards fits in one short session, and the word cards usually need fewer repetitions than the letter cards. Progress is saved only in this browser, so clearing site data deletes it. Use the export button to save a small JSON file with card IDs, boxes and due dates, and import it on another device. No account is needed.

Cultural and Practical Context

Tense sounds appear in everyday words such as 빵, 아빠 and 싸다, so mistaking them can change a word. Saying 불 (bul, fire) instead of 뿔 (ppul, horn) changes the word, and a pair like 사다 and 싸다 turns buying into being cheap.

Limits of This Deck

The deck teaches the five tense letters and four words, not every word that uses them. The held closure before a tense consonant between vowels is described here as a listening cue, not a rule to copy. The phrase "tight throat" follows common teaching practice, and the site pronunciation hub may phrase it differently. All Korean text is generated, and Min-ji Park reviewed and signed off the text and audio on 15 October 2026.

Next Steps after the Korean Double Consonants Flashcards

After this deck, continue with the Hangul vowels flashcards. Revisit the Korean aspirated consonants flashcards if you confuse tense and aspirated sounds. Print a letter sheet with the double consonants worksheet, test yourself with the Korean double consonants quiz, explore the shapes in the interactive hangul alphabet, and see every deck in the Hangul flashcards list or the Korean flashcards hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Difference between ㄱ and ㄲ?

ㄱ is a plain consonant with a light release. ㄲ is its tense partner, made with a tight throat and no puff of air, so it sounds sharper and more clipped. Revised Romanization writes ㄱ as g or k and ㄲ as kk. The swap changes words, so 개 (gae) is dog and 깨 (kkae) is sesame.

Do Double Consonants Sound Longer?

Only slightly. A double consonant is one tight sound, not two. Between vowels its closure is held a little longer, so English speakers hear a small pause in 아빠, which feels like "ap-pa". That pause comes with the tension; do not add a second consonant. Copying the audio is more reliable than timing it yourself.

Which Words Use Double Consonants?

Common ones include 아빠 (appa, dad), 빵 (ppang, bread), 싸다 (ssada, to be cheap), 쌀 (ssal, rice), 짜다 (jjada, salty) and 까치 (kkachi, magpie). The past tense marker -았/었- also ends in ㅆ, as in 갔어요 (gasseoyo, went). 엄마 (eomma) has mm only because two plain ㅁ meet across syllables.

How Do I Practice Tense Sounds without a Teacher?

Use the paired method. Play a plain word and its tense partner from the audio, such as 사다 and 싸다, and copy the tight, airless release. Hold a palm or a paper strip near your mouth: it should barely move for tense sounds. Repeat in short daily sessions of five minutes.

Is My Progress Saved If I Close the Page?

Yes, in the same browser on the same device. Card boxes and due dates are stored locally and no account is needed. Clearing site data, using a private window or switching browsers removes them, so use the export button if you want a backup file to import later.