Introduction to Consonants

You only need to memorize the single consonants.
Once you have memorized the single consonants, the double, triple and Quadruple consonants are easy to learn, because they are just the combination of the single consonants.

Similar to the English language, consonants are located at the beginning of a word and only at the beginning of a word.

Consonants by themselves do not make up Hmong words.
Consonants with a tone indicator do not make up Hmong words.

Hmong words are made up of either
 1. a consonants with a vowel
 2. a consonant with a vowel and a tone indicator
 3. a vowel with a tone indicator

Here are some tips to help you better memorize the single consonant sounds.

The letters n, f, h, v, m, l, y makes the exact same sounds as their english conterpart.

The k sounds like the english letter k in the word 'skull'.

The p sounds like the english letter p in the word 'sport'.

The s sounds like the english letter sh in the word 'shoe'.

The t sounds like the english word thaw.

The x sounds like the english word 'saw'.

The double, triple and quadruple consonants are just a combination or mixture of the single consonant letters.

For example n + t = nt

When studing these consonants, blend the single consonant sounds together to achive the proper sound.

Here are some tips to help you better memorize the non single consonant sounds.

Adding the 'h' to a consonant results in the sound pronaunced with an aspirating manor (a puff of air).
Example : ph (Pay attention to the puff of air at the end of the sound)

The letters nt makes a similair sound to the letter 'd' in word 'dog'.

The letters nk makes a similair sound to the letter 'g' in word 'goat'.

The letters np makes a similair sound to the letter 'b' in word 'ball'.

The letters pl makes a similair sound to the letter 'pl' in word 'explain'.

The letters tsh makes a similair sound to the letter 'ch' in word 'cheng'.

The letters nr makes a similair sound to the english word 'jaw'.

Once you have learned some of the consonants, combine some of them with a vowel to make some real words

Here are some examples:
P + w = Pw ( sleep )
S + w = Sw ( Messy )
Q + w = Qw ( Yell )

You have learned to read and write in Hmong already, Congratulations !

 

* Click on the highlighted letters to play the sound.