Korean Studies

Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library

Korean Romanization System and Word Division

(Basic Guide)

I. How to use the McCune-Reischauer (M-R) Romanization tables

The upper two rows on the Table 1 (Consonants) show how Korean initial consonants are romanized in English.
The two columns on the left show how Korean final consonants are romanized.
For example, when used as an initial, the Korean consonant ㅇ will be romanized by vowels (i.e. 이것→
이것 Igŏt).
when used as a final, it is romanized as ‘ng’. (i.e. 성공 → Sŏnggong).
The romanization of vowels is presented in Table 2 (Vowels).

When different initials and finals are combined, some words are romanized differently. The table shows how such
changes are made. For example, 달님 has final ㄹ and initial ㄴ. As the table indicates, ‘-ln-‘ will be replaced with
‘-ll-‘, and the word will thereby romanized as ‘tallim’ not ‘talnim’.

When a medial final of one syllable is followed by a medial initial of the next syllable, the resulting romanization is
shown at the convergence of the grid in the table below. When a box is blank, this means that one should simply
use the romanization for each individual element noted beside the Han’gŭl element.

In any case, pronunciation always takes precedence over romanization rules. The round brackets ( ) in the Table
1 indicate that there is more than one commonly used way to romanize the letter. Substitute the “+” signs in the
ㅇ vowels” column and the “Vowels” row with an appropriate vowel.
“ㅇ

Table 1 (Consonants)
ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ
Initial
Final n s
k n t m p vowels ch ch’ k’ t’ p’ h kk tt pp ss tch
(r) (sh)
ㄱ k ngn ngn ngm g+ kk
ll nb nj
ㄴ n n’g nd
(nn) (np) (nch)
ㄷ t nn nm d+ ch’ tt
lch
ㄹ l lg ll ll lb r+ rh
(lj)
mg md
ㅁ m mn mb mj
(mk) (mt)
ㅂ p mn mn mm b+ pp
sh+ nn+
ㅅ t nn nn nm s+ d+
ㅇ ng ngg ngd ngn ngb ngj
ㅈ t nn nm j+ ch’
ㅊ t nn nm j+
ㅋ k ngn ngn ngm
ㅌ t nn nn ngm t’+
ㅍ p nn mm p’+ pp
ㅎ t k’ nn t’ ch’
vowels +g +d +b +j

Table 2 (Vowels)
ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ
a ya ŏ yŏ o yo u yu ŭ i ae yae e ye wa wae oe wŏ we wi ŭi

II. Symbol and Character Modifier

• The apostrophe is used to differentiate aspirated consonants: 콤보 / 곰보 k’ombo / kombo
• The apostrophe is also used to mark transcription of ㄴㄱ to contrast it with ㅇㅇ:
ㅇㅇ
반격 / 방역 pan’gyŏk / pangyŏk

Created in March 2012 1 Hana Kim, Korea Studies Librarian

 • The character modifier breve over o (ŏ) is used to represent ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅝ and over u (ŭ) is
used to represent ㅡ, ㅢ.

III. Word Division: Each part of speech is to be separated from other parts of speech.

Specific Rules:

명사),
명사 Pronouns (대명사
Nouns (명사 대명사),
대명사 Imperfect Nouns (불완전 불완전 명사)
명사
• Separate a noun, pronoun, or imperfect noun from other parts of speech.
(Refer to ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Korean Romanization and Word Division: p. 18, Rule a)
o 이것 은 책 이다 Igŏt ŭn ch’aek ida
o 국장 겸 실장 Kukchang kyŏm silchang

형용사)
형용사
Adjectives (형용사
• Separate an adjective from other parts of speech. Separate a noun from a compound
adjective without doing harm to the original meaning. (Refer to ALA-LC Romanization
Tables: Korean Romanization and Word Division: .p. 20, Rule a and b)
o 착하게 사는 사람들 Ch’akhage sanŭn saramdŭl
o 목 마른 사슴 이 Mok marŭn sasŭm i

동사)
동사
Verbs (동사
• Separate a verb from other parts of speech.
(Refer to ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Korean Romanization and Word Division: p. 24, Rule a)
o 아이 의 가슴 에는 부모 가 산다 Ai ŭi kasŭm enŭn pumo ka sanda
o 성공 의 찬스 를 잡아라 Sŏnggong ŭi ch’ansŭ rŭl chabara

• Write an auxiliary verb separately from the main verb (Refer to ALA-LC Romanization
Tables: Korean Romanization and Word Division: p. 25, Rule b)
o 늙다 (main verb) + 가다 (auxiliary verb)
o 늙어 가다 Nŭlgŏ kada
o 늙어 갔다 Nŭlgŏ katta

부사)
부사
Adverbs (부사
• Separate an adverb from other parts of speech. (Refer to ALA-LC Romanization Tables:
Korean Romanization and Word Division: p. 28, Rule a)
o 한글 은 매우 독창적 이고 과학적 이다 Han’gŭl ŭn maeu tokch’angjŏk igo kwahakchŏk ida
o 젊은 사람들 이 자주 찾아 주는 곳 Chŏlmŭn saramdŭl i chaju ch’aja chunŭn kot

조사)
조사
Particles (조사
• Separate a particle from other parts of speech. (Refer to ALA-LC Romanization Tables:
Korean Romanization and Word Division: p. 29, Rule a)
o 나는내길에 Na nŭn nae kil e
o 새 야 새 야 파랑새 야 Sae ya sae ya p’arangsae ya

수사)
수사
Numerals (수사
• Separate a native Korean and Sino-Korean number from its quantifier. (Refer to ALA-LC
Romanization Tables: Korean Romanization and Word Division: p. 30, Rule b)
o 세 번째 Se pŏntchae
o 스물다섯 살 의 방황 Sŭmul-tasŏt sal ŭi panghwang

All page references refer to the ALA

LC Romanization Tables: Korean Romanization and Word Division available online at
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/korean.pdf.