KoreanPath

Hangul Vowels

Basic vowels
10
Compound vowels
11
Original marks
3ㆍㅡㅣ

Three marks, ten vowels

ㆍ the sky

A dot, now written as a short stroke. Where it sits on the other two marks is what makes each vowel: right of ㅣ gives ㅏ, left gives ㅓ, above ㅡ gives ㅗ, below gives ㅜ.

ㅡ the earth

One horizontal line, and a vowel in its own right. Every vowel drawn on the horizontal — ㅗ ㅜ ㅛ ㅠ — is built on it, and every one of them puts the consonant above rather than beside it.

ㅣ the human

One vertical line, standing. Every vowel drawn on the vertical — ㅏ ㅓ ㅑ ㅕ — is built on it, and every one of them puts the consonant to its left.

Two marks means y. ㅏ → ㅑ, ㅓ → ㅕ, ㅗ → ㅛ, ㅜ → ㅠ. The second stroke is the only difference and it always means the same thing, so the ten basic vowels are really six plus a rule.

Bright vowels

Dark vowels

Neutral

The eleven compound vowels

LetterBuilt fromRomanizedSound
ㅐ ㅏ + ㅣ ae The e of “bed”. Merged with ㅔ in modern speech. Spelling still distinguishes them; pronunciation no longer does.
ㅒ ㅑ + ㅣ yae ㅐ with a y in front. Rare. A handful of words.
ㅔ ㅓ + ㅣ e The e of “bed”. The one to default to when you are unsure which you heard — it is far commoner than ㅐ.
ㅖ ㅕ + ㅣ ye ㅔ with a y in front — “yeah”. 예 (yes) is the word you will meet it in first.
ㅘ ㅗ + ㅏ wa The wa of “wander”.
ㅙ ㅗ + ㅐ wae The we of “wet”. ㅙ, ㅚ and ㅞ are all this sound. Three spellings, one pronunciation.
ㅚ ㅗ + ㅣ oe Also “we”, despite the spelling. 회사 (company) is we-sa, not o-e-sa.
ㅝ ㅜ + ㅓ wo The wo of “wonder”.
ㅞ ㅜ + ㅔ we “we” again. The rarest of the three.
ㅟ ㅜ + ㅣ wi The wee of “week”.
ㅢ ㅡ + ㅣ ui ㅡ then ㅣ, said fast. The one vowel whose pronunciation depends on where it sits: 의사 is ui-sa, but the possessive particle 의 is said 에, and 희 is said 히.

Where the vowels come back

The 아/어 choice

A verb stem whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ takes 아; everything else takes 어. 살다 → 살아요, 먹다 → 먹어요. That one rule, applied to every verb in the language, is why this page comes before the conjugation section.

Every conjugation table ›

Mimetic words

Korean has thousands of sound-and-manner words that come in bright/dark pairs, where the vowel is the meaning: 깜깜하다 is pitch dark, 껌껌하다 is darker and heavier. Same letters, one vowel apart.

Korean adverbs ›

Common questions

What is the difference between ㅐ and ㅔ?

In writing, everything — they are different letters and swapping them misspells the word. In speech, for most Koreans under about forty, nothing at all: the two merged in modern Seoul pronunciation and both are now the e of “bed”. Learn which words take which by spelling, not by ear, because the ear will not help.

How do I pronounce ㅡ?

Say “oo” as in “moon”, then spread your lips flat into a smile without changing anything else in your mouth. That is ㅡ. English has no such vowel, which is why it comes out as “uh” from beginners — and why 그 (that) and 거 (thing) get mixed up.

What is the difference between ㅓ and ㅗ?

ㅓ is the u of “but” with the lips relaxed. ㅗ is the o of “go” with the lips rounded. Both get romanized into o-ish spellings (eo and o), which is exactly why romanization is a poor way to learn them: in Hangul they are two obviously different shapes, one pointing left and one pointing up.

What are bright and dark vowels?

The 양성/음성 split, and it is not decoration: it decides how verbs conjugate. A stem whose last vowel is ㅏ or ㅗ (bright) takes 아 endings; everything else takes 어. 살다 → 살아요, 먹다 → 먹어요. You can see the split in the letters — a bright vowel is the one whose mark points up or right.

Why do ㅙ, ㅚ and ㅞ sound the same?

Because they have merged. All three are now “we” for most speakers, despite being built from different pairs. Again, spelling keeps them apart and pronunciation does not — 회사, 왜, 웬 all start with the same sound.