Na in Korean: the Syllable 나

With 나 (na), two letters share the square in 나: ㄴ to the left, ㅏ to the right.

Next to the tall vowel, the bottom line of ㄴ stays short so it does not run under ㅏ.

For 나 (na), with no final consonant the space under the pair stays empty; add one and the block becomes 낙 (nak), 난 (nan), 날 (nal) and so on.

On its own, 나 is also the casual word for I.

Join ㄴ and ㅏ without a pause and you get na.

Touch the tip of your tongue to the ridge behind your upper teeth and hum softly; the n should ring through the nose before the vowel opens.

나 (na) takes three strokes in total: 1 for ㄴ and 2 for ㅏ.

Write 나 and then 나무 (tree) and 나라 (country). Because 나 means I in casual speech, you can also practice 나는 (I, as a topic).

On its own 나 is the plain word for “I”, and it also opens 나이 (age) and 나라 (country), so three very different meanings share the same first block.

In the case of 나 (na), adding a final gives the family 낙 (nak), 난 (nan), 날 (nal), 남 (nam), 납 (nap), 낭 (nang).

With 나 (na), 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.

Put ㄱ at the bottom of 나 for 낙 (nak), closing on a quiet k. Put ㄴ at the bottom of 나 for 난 (nan), closing on a hummed n. Put ㄹ at the bottom of 나 for 날 (nal), closing on a tongue-tip l.

Close 나 with ㅁ and you read 남 (nam), closing on a lip-closed m. Close 나 with ㅂ and you read 납 (nap), closing on a lip-closed p. Close 나 with ㅇ and you read 낭 (nang), closing on the ng of song.

Keep ㄴ (nieun) and swap the vowel to get 나 (na), 너 (neo), 노 (no), 누 (nu), 느 (neu), 니 (ni).

The pair 나 and 다 (da) differs in the opening consonant alone. ㄴ (nieun) uses the tip of the tongue; ㄷ uses the tip of the tongue.

나비 (butterfly) begins with the block 나 and is read na-bi.

나무 (tree) begins with the block 나 and is read na-mu.

나라 (country) is a word that opens with 나; say it as na-ra.

나이 (age) is a word that opens with 나; say it as na-i.

Practice 나 inside 나팔 (trumpet), read na-pal.

Continue with 다. Then compare 나 and 노 on the ㄴ page and look up 나무 (tree).

The worksheet for 나 (na) 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.