Did you know that there are 10 simple Korean vowels? I’ll try and give you an idea of what these vowels sound like; with examples of words that contain these sounds in English. However, the best way to learn these vowels is to hear them over and over. The Korean Byki has a list where you can hear these vowels. Check that out for more practice.
아 - “a” like in father
야 - “ya” like in yard
어 - “u” like in cut
여 - “yu” like in yup
오 - “o” like in oil
요 - “yo” like in yoke
우 - “u” like in sue
유 - “you” like in you
으 - “o” like in hood
이 - “e” like in easy
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5 Comments
Ginny,
Can you tell me about that little circle that appears before the vowel? Thanks!
Hi Ginny,
I guess we’re going to have to agree to disagree. I live in Korea and have a degree in Applied Linguistics. I’ve talked about this to Koreans and I still prefer to use the “aw” sound for 어. Consider 영어. Maybe if you speak fast you could sound like “uh”.
Alex,
yeah, but still, with your own example it doesn’t work out.
Tisha,
I’ll do a separate post on the “little circle things” before the vowel. It’s actually a long answer. I’ll do it after the post on consonants.
can you tell o me what meaning of these vowels bec. i am learning korean hehhe