Da in Korean: the Syllable 다

The block 다 puts ㄷ on the left and ㅏ beside it on the right.

The top and bottom lines of ㄷ are short and equal so the open side faces the vowel.

For 다 (da), nothing sits at the bottom of this block yet. With 다 (da), put a consonant there and you get 닥 (dak), 단 (dan), 달 (dal) and the rest of the family.

다 is romanized da. At the start of a word it is light, between da and ta; between vowels it is a soft da, as in 바다 (sea). It is also the dictionary ending of every verb: 가다, 먹다.

First the sound of ㄷ, straight into ㅏ: that is da.

Aim for a d that is softer than English: the tongue tip taps the ridge briefly and lets the vowel follow at once, with no puff.

다 takes four strokes in total: 2 for ㄷ and 2 for ㅏ.

Every Korean verb in the dictionary ends in 다, so writing 다 is daily practice: 가다 (go), 오다 (come), 하다 (do). Try each one twice.

다 begins 다리 (leg, bridge) and 다섯 (five), and as a word it means “all”. Both words are built on the same first block, so reading them side by side trains your eye to see 다 at a glance.

In the case of 다 (da), put a consonant under the block and the reading gains an ending: 닥 (dak), 단 (dan), 달 (dal), 담 (dam), 답 (dap), 당 (dang).

With 다 (da), notice how the final sound is always a short stop or hum: ㄱ is k, ㄴ is n, ㄹ is l, ㅁ is m, ㅂ is p, ㅇ is ng.

Add ㄱ under 다 and you get 닥 (dak), closing on a quiet k. Add ㄴ under 다 and you get 단 (dan), closing on a hummed n. Add ㄹ under 다 and you get 달 (dal), closing on a tongue-tip l.

Add ㅁ under 다 and you get 담 (dam), closing on a lip-closed m. Add ㅂ under 다 and you get 답 (dap), closing on a lip-closed p. Add ㅇ under 다 and you get 당 (dang), closing on the ng of song.

The consonant ㄷ (digeut) stays the same in this row while the vowel changes: 다 (da), 더 (deo), 도 (do), 두 (du), 드 (deu), 디 (di).

다 and 라 share the vowel ㅏ (a), so only the opening consonant tells them apart: ㄷ is made with the tip of the tongue and gives a light breath, while ㄹ is made with the tip of the tongue and gives a quick touch of the tongue tip.

Practice 다 inside 다람쥐 (squirrel), read da-ram-jwi.

Practice 다 inside 다리 (leg), read da-ri.

Practice 다 inside 다섯 (five), read da-seot.

Practice 다 inside 다음 (next), read da-eum.

Practice 다 inside 다시 (again), read da-si.

Next is 라. Compare 다, 타 and 따 on the ㄷ page, and read 다리 (bridge) and 다음 (next).

The worksheet for 다 (da) is a single printable page made from the same data as this page: it has the stroke order, tracing rows and a find-the-letter game.