Alphabet in Korean : Hangul Vowels (모음)

Hellow! Are you ready to check out Hangul vowels today? Vowels look super easy but demanding to memorize because of their similar looks. However, I believe you will finally get it.

Now, you are close to the very moment that you write your name in Korean ! Here we go !

 

* Previous study => Hangul Consonants

Alphabet in Korean : Hangul Consonants (자음)

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Hangul Vowels

Like you know, Korean alphabet has 21 vowels like below

Consonants (19)	Simple  Double	ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ
Vowels (21)	Simple  Compound	ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ  ㅠ ㅡㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ
Final Consonants (27)	Simple Double	ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄳ ㄵ ㄶ ㄺ ㄻ ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㄿ ㅀ ㅄ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shape and sound of each vowel look like this.

Vowels in Korean alphabet

 

Matching English alphabets and phonetic symbol

There are fixed rules in converting Hangul vowel sound to English like consonants. However, I haven't seen any learners who can make right sound reading English only. Please check out phonetic symbol by googling. I found one website that provides audio per symbol(Link), yet this can be not the best. You could find your own one by search.

 

	Hangul	English	Phonetic symbol
Simple vowel	ㅏ	a	a
	ㅑ	ya	ja
	ㅓ	eo	ʌ
	ㅕ	yeo	jʌ
	ㅗ	o	o
	ㅛ	yo	jo
	ㅜ	u / oo	u
	ㅠ	yu	ju
	ㅡ	eu	ɨ
	ㅣ	i	i
Compound vowel	ㅐ  (ㅏ+ㅣ)	ae	æ
	ㅒ  (ㅑ+ㅣ)	yae	jæ
	ㅔ  (ㅓ+ㅣ)	e	e
	ㅖ  (ㅕ+ㅣ)	ye	je
	ㅟ  (ㅜ+ㅣ)	wi	wi
	ㅢ  (ㅡ+ㅣ)	ui	ɨj
	ㅘ  (ㅗ+ㅏ)	wa	wa
	ㅝ  (ㅜ+ㅓ)	wo	wʌ
	ㅚ (ㅗ+ㅣ)	oe	we
	ㅙ  (ㅗ+ㅐ)	wae	wæ
	ㅞ  (ㅜ+ㅔ)	we	we

※ My American friend always read "a" wrong. "a" in Korean word doesn't sound /æ/. It is /a/ sound. Please read "a" like British if it's Korean word.

 

Similar Hangul Vowel sound in English words

Vowel	Similar sound in English
ㅏ	Part
ㅑ	yard
ㅓ	Urban
ㅕ	Young
ㅗ	Home
ㅛ	Yo
ㅜ	Book
ㅠ	you
ㅡ	Seattle / Able / Blind No maching word for this. Because "ㅡ" represents the omitted sound between two vowels like the last syllable of Seattle ...
ㅣ	See
ㅐ  (ㅏ+ㅣ)	Cat
ㅒ  (ㅑ+ㅣ)	Yellow
ㅔ  (ㅓ+ㅣ)	Hello
ㅖ  (ㅕ+ㅣ)	Yes
ㅟ  (ㅜ+ㅣ)	Weed
ㅢ  (ㅡ+ㅣ)	gooey
ㅘ  (ㅗ+ㅏ)	Wild
ㅝ  (ㅜ+ㅓ)	War
ㅚ (ㅗ+ㅣ)	Weather / Wet These two vowels are very similar in pronounciation
ㅙ  (ㅗ+ㅐ)
ㅞ  (ㅜ+ㅔ)	Whale

 

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Hanguel Reading Practice

Using Consonants & Vowel we have learned so far, do you think you can read word cards below ? :)

 

아기 (baby)

바보 (fool)

캐나다 (Canada)

 

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Now we are on the 2/3 way of Hangul study. The last part of Hangul learning goes with "final consonants". The end point is just at the corner. Cheer up ! If you are ready to learn the last part, check out the next article. No rush. Take enough time for your self-learning. Because these articles are always here waiting for you.

 

* Click the link for "final consonant of Korean alphabet" finally when you are ready : 

Alphabet in Korean : Hangul Final Consonants (받침)