Basic Vowels
Vowels are letters that can be pronounced without consonants. In Korean, there are 10 basic vowels. Their names are their sounds.
On this page, you will learn the sounds and writing orders of the basic vowels. You can learn with a quick chart or you can learn details with a "walk-through" section.
Quick Chart
You can listen to each sound by clicking the letter in the chart. IPA means the International Phonetic Alphabet, and I put it here to help you understand sounds better!
Walk Through
Just like writing English alphabets, you will write each stroke from top to bottom, left to right. When you write letters, please make sure to lines don't cross each other.
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ㅏ (O)
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┼(X)
ㅏ a
ㅏ sounds /a/ like "father." It also can be romanized as /ah/. Draw a top-down long line and add a left-right short line on the right.
ㅑ ya
ㅑ sounds /ya/ like "yacht."
By adding one more line to ㅏ(a), we add "y" to the sound(ya). Compare ㅏ(a) and ㅑ(ya). Can you hear the difference? This rule will be applied to the other vowels.
ㅓ eo
ㅓsounds /eo/ like "onion." This time write a short left-right line and add a long top-down stroke.
ㅕ yeo
ㅕ sounds /yeo/ like "yum." By just adding one more line, ㅓ(eo) becomes ㅕ(yeo.)
ㅗ o
ㅗ sounds /o/ like "orange." It can be romanized /oh/ as well. This time, write a short vertical line and then add a long horizontal line.
ㅛ yo
ㅛ sounds /yo/ like "yo-yo." Compare the positions of short lines between ㅗ and ㅛ. The position of the vertical line for "ㅗ" is in the middle but the two lines for "ㅛ" are equally apart and make the balance. This rule is applied to all the basic vowels.
ㅜ u
ㅜ sounds /u/ or /oo/ like "zoo." Write a long horizontal line first and add a short top-down stick.
ㅠ yu
ㅠ sounds /yu/ like "you." Start with a left-right long horizontal line and add two short vertical lines with balanced space.
ㅡ eu
ㅡ romanized as /eu/ and the IPA for this vowel is /ɯ/. It is usually a hidden sound in English. For example, if you say "smile" the "s" has "ㅡ". "Cheese" also has a "ㅡ" at the end. You can also try it this way. Say ㅜ /u/ and keep your tongue and lips in position. Now pull your lips towards both ends and keep the tongue in the same position.
ㅣ ee
ㅣ sounds /ee/ or /i/ like "fill or feel". Simply write the top-down stick for this letter. Easy-peasy.
Korean Basic Vowel Video
Here is the basic vowel video. You can listen and repeat after it! You can see the writing orders as well. Follow the video and try to say the vowels.
Quiz
Worksheet
Here is the free printable PDF worksheet for you! Please download and print the file and practice your writing. Don't forget to read each letter aloud as you write!