Korean Vowels Made Simple: From ㅏ to ㅢ

Vowels are the heart of every Korean syllable. Every block contains exactly one vowel, so once you can read them quickly, the rest of Hangul falls into place. The good news is that Korean vowels follow a visual system: the direction of a short stroke tells you a lot about the sound.

The ten basic vowels

Korean has ten vowels that learners usually meet first. When you practice them, write them with the silent ㅇ in front, because a Korean syllable cannot begin with a bare vowel letter.

• 아 (a) as in "father"
• 어 (eo) an open "uh," like the vowel in "cup" but with a rounder, deeper sound
• 오 (o) as in "go," but shorter and without the "w" glide at the end
• 우 (u) as in "moon"
• 으 (eu) lips spread flat, tongue pulled back; there is no exact English match
• 이 (i) as in "see"
• 야, 여, 요, 유 (ya, yeo, yo, yu) the same vowels with a "y" sound in front

The pattern is easy to spot: adding a second short stroke adds a "y" sound. ㅏ becomes ㅑ, ㅓ becomes ㅕ, ㅗ becomes ㅛ, and ㅜ becomes ㅠ.

Vertical and horizontal vowels

Vowels built on a tall line (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅣ and their relatives) sit to the right of the consonant. Vowels built on a flat line (ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ and relatives) sit under the consonant. This is why 가 looks wide and 고 looks tall.

• 아이

  [ai]

  child

• 우유

  [uyu]

  milk

• 오이

  [oi]

  cucumber

• 여우

  [yeou]

  fox

Combined vowels

The remaining vowels are combinations. They look complicated, but they are just two basic vowels glued together, and the sound is often what you would guess by saying both quickly.

• 애 (ae) and 에 (e): both sound like the "e" in "bed" for most Seoul speakers today
• 와 (wa) = 오 + 아
• 워 (wo) = 우 + 어
• 위 (wi) = 우 + 이, like "we"
• 외, 왜, 웨 (oe, wae, we): in everyday speech these three sound nearly identical, like "weh"
• 의 (ui) = 으 + 이, the trickiest vowel of all

• 개

  [gae]

  dog

• 게

  [ge]

  crab

• 사과

  [sagwa]

  apple

• 왜요?

  [waeyo]

  Why?

Because 개 and 게 sound almost the same in modern speech, Koreans tell them apart through context and spelling. Do not worry if you cannot hear the difference; many native speakers cannot either.

The special case of 의

The vowel 의 changes depending on where it appears. At the start of a word it is usually said as ui. After a consonant it is simplified to i. When it is used as the possessive particle meaning "of," it is very often pronounced like 에 (e) in casual speech.

• 의사

  [uisa]

  doctor

• 희망

  [himang]

  hope

• 저의 친구

  [jeoe chingu]

  my friend (literally "friend of me")

Practice tips

Say vowels in front of a mirror. For 으, smile slightly with your teeth almost closed. For 어, drop your jaw and relax your lips. For 오, round your lips into a small circle. Exaggerating at first is fine; your mouth will learn the positions over time.

Once the vowels feel comfortable, move on to consonants and final consonants. With vowels as your anchor, every new word becomes much easier to decode.