Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 1 - My First Steps in Korean (Lessons 1 to 30) ᚛ Lesson 1 - Learn Hangul (part 1) - Simple vowels

Learn Hangul (part 1) - Simple vowels

Learning Hangeul

• Simple vowels
• Simple consonants
• Combined vowels
• Double consonants
• Final consonant combinations

List of Simple Vowels in Korean

Hangeul is made up of 10 simple vowels.

ㅏ

The vowel ㅏ is pronounced [a], like in the word “car”.

ㅑ

The vowel ㅑ is pronounced [ya], like in the word “yard”.

ㅓ

The vowel ㅓ is pronounced as an open [o] sound, like in the word “onion”.

ㅕ

The vowel ㅕ is pronounced as an open [yo] sound, like in “young”.

ㅗ

The vowel ㅗ is pronounced as a closed [o] sound, like in the word "old".

It’s important to distinguish ㅗ from ㅓ, as they are two different sounds that create different words.
ㅓ is an open [o] like in “onion”, while ㅗ is a closed [o] like in “old”.

ㅛ

The vowel ㅛ is pronounced as a closed [yo] sound, like in the word "yoga".

Again, be careful to distinguish ㅛ from ㅕ.
ㅕ is an open [yo] like in "young", while ㅛ is a closed [yo] like in "yoga".

ㅜ

The vowel ㅜ is pronounced [oo], like in the word "good".

ㅠ

The vowel ㅠ is pronounced [yoo], like in the word "youth".

ㅡ

The vowel ㅡ has no exact equivalent in English. It sounds like the [e] in the word "eaten", but the lips are stretched rather than rounded.

ㅣ

The vowel ㅣ is pronounced [i], like in the word "ill".

Summary Table

Jamo	Pronunciation
ㅏ	a
ㅑ	ya
ㅓ	eo / o (open)
ㅕ	yeo / yo (open)
ㅗ	o (closed)
ㅛ	yo (closed)
ㅜ	u / oo
ㅠ	yu / yoo
ㅡ	eu (with stretched lips)
ㅣ	i

 

Writing Vowel Sounds in Korean

We will look at this in more detail later when we learn how to write syllables in Korean, but actually, it is not possible to write a vowel on its own.

Indeed, in Korean, every syllable begins with a consonant and is followed by a vowel.

So, it makes sense to ask the following question: how do you write the syllable [i] (which can mean, among other things, “a tooth”) when there’s no consonant sound in front of the [i]?

There is actually a silent consonant, meaning a consonant that makes no sound when read: this is ㅇ.

So, the word i cannot simply be written as ㅣ. You must place the consonant ㅇ before the vowel ㅣ. That gives us the word for “tooth”: 이, pronounced [i].

Vertical and Horizontal Vowels

There are two types of simple vowels in Korean:

• Vertical vowels: written top to bottom:ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ and ㅣ
• Horizontal vowels: written left to right: ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ and ㅡ

Knowing whether a vowel is vertical or horizontal is essential in Korean, because this determines where the vowel is placed in relation to the consonant that comes before it. Specifically:

• If the vowel is vertical, it is placed to the right of the consonant that precedes it
• If the vowel is horizontal, it is placed below the consonant that precedes it

In the example seen in the previous section, the word 이, the vowel ㅣ is placed to the right of the consonant, because it is a vertical vowel.

Let’s now write the word pronounced [o], the number 5. For this, we need the vowel ㅗ and the silent consonant ㅇ. We’ve seen that ㅗ is a horizontal vowel, so it must be written below the consonant that comes before it. Therefore, the word pronounced [o] is written 오.

In summary:

• With vertical vowels:  아, 야, 어, 여, 이
• With horizontal vowels:  오, 요, 우, 유, 으

Exercises

 

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