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When ㅇ is in the "final" position (the last consonant in a syllable) it is pronounced like "ng." 방, 힝, 멍, 중, 송, 등 (bang, hing, meong, jung, song, deung)... in syllables like this, it's an ng sound. But, as you noticed, it doesn't always make that sound.

When ㅇ is in the "initial" position ㅇ is a placeholder. See, there's this rule for writing syllables in Korean that every syllable has to have at least one vowel and at least one consonant. But what if I want to write "oh!" ? I can't just write ㅗ, because that wouldn't follow the rule. Instead, I write 오, but ㅇ is not pronounced at all. Its just an empty sound to fulfill that rule.

There are other letters that change pronunciation. For example, ㅅ and ㅆ make a "s" and "ss" sound when next to any vowel EXCEPT 이, 야, 여, 요, 유. When paired with these vowels, they make a "sh" and "ssh" sound.

사 (sa), 샤 (sha)

소 (so), 쇼 (sho) etc

If ㅅㅆㅈㅉㅊㄷㄸㅌ are in the final position, and the syllable after it starts with another consonant, you pronounce the letters as "t." It's also pronounced as a "t" if there's nothing after it. But if the next syllable starts with a ㅇ and a vowel, they get to keep their normal sounds. Confusing? Heres some examples:

꽃 (flower, pronounced kkot)

꽃집 (flower shop, pronounced kkotjib)

꽃이 (flower+subject marker, pronounced kko-chi)

맛 (taste, pronounced mat)

맛이 (taste+subject particle, pronounced ma-shi)

When ㅂㅃㅍㅁ are in the final position and next to a syllable that starts with a ㄴ, they sound like "m." Next to an ㅇ and a vowel, they keep their sounds.

감사합니다 is pronounced kaMsahaMnida

뽑는 is pronounced bbomneun

Depending on its position in a word (and also what comes after it), ㄹ might be an l or an r sound.

And when ㄴ and ㄹ follow each other, they both turn into "l" ㄹ sounds... but sometimes they both turn into ㄴ sounds (한류 Korean Wave is pronounced "hallyu," 신라 is "shilla," 생산량 is "saengsannyang")

If ㅂㅈㄷㄱ are in the final position and are followed by a consonant starting with ㅎ, they are pronounced as ㅍㅊㅌㅋ.

These aren't all the rules, but it's a fair number of them :)

hope it helps.

good luck with your studies ♥

ㅇ doesn't make a sound, and is more used as a place holder unless it's at the end of a syllable, in which it'll be "ng".

For example; 아니요 (no) is romanized as "aniyo". ㅏ is what makes the "ah" sound, while ㅛ is what makes the "yo" sound. ㅇ has to be used as a place holder, otherwise it would be like ㅏ니ㅛ, which definitely doesn't look right.

For some "ng" examples, there's 방 (bang / room) 사랑 (sarang / love) 안녕 (annyeong / hello). I think you get the idea!

Despite having found learning to read Korean fairly easily, it still takes a while to fully get it down and memorize the exact pronunciation and romanized characters. Good luck!

ㅇ is pronounced like 'ng' at the end of a syllable block, and is silent if it appears at the beginning of one. So it's not 'ㅇ' that makes the a sound, it's 'ㅏ'.

ㅇ only begins at the beginning of a syllable block beginning with a vowel sound, not a consonant. So think of it as a place holder for vowels at the beginning of a block.