안녕하세요! 토미입니다.
I am so excited to teach you this incredible language, Korean.
I made this video for students who have never learned Korean before.
By learning my lessons, I will guide you to pass the official world-known Korean language test, TOPIK I Level 2.
So, from now on, don’t worry about your Korean learning!
Tammy will lead your way!
Today, we will learn how to read Korean vowels.
The explanation will be easy to follow, even if you are new to Hangul.
So please watch it until the end.
그럼 시작할게요. Let’s get started!
Before we learn about the vowels, I will briefly explain the whole picture of Korean letters.
First, Korean pronunciation is divided into five steps: the basic sounds, aspirated sounds, tense sounds, combined vowels, and final consonants.
Here is the Hangul table that shows all of the Korean letters.
You can download the PDF version of this chart for free from my website.
Also, the pronunciation is written in English alphabets, so you can use it to check your Korean pronunciation.
However, the way the letters are written in English differs slightly from Korean pronunciation.
I recommend that you use it for reference only.
The Basic Sounds
The basic sounds are made up of basic vowels and consonants.
But what are vowels and consonants?
In English, vowels are A, E, I, O, and U, and consonants are the other sounds, such as K, T, S, M, etcetera.
Please see the first page of my Hangul table.
This is like an alphabet table in English. There are 140 kinds of sound here.
Korean has many vowels and consonants.
Also, you can make thousands of letters by combining the aspirated sounds, combined vowels, and final consonants.
It sounds complicated, but no worries! You need to remember 24 characters.
Please see the Hangul table again.
The vowels are in the blue row from left to right, and the consonants are in the orange column from top to bottom.
Combining these vowels and consonants can make all letters in this table.
For example, look at /ㅁ/, which is pronounced [m].
Now, take a look at the vowel /ㅏ/, which is pronounced [a].
Combining these two to make ‘마,’ the pronunciation becomes [ma].
Therefore, all 140 letters in the Hangul table are made up by combining 10 vowels and 14 consonants.
Also, the aspirated and tense sounds, combined vowels, and final consonants are based on these 24 characters.
Even though Korean has thousands of letters, you only need to remember 10 vowels and 14 consonants, for a total of 24 characters, to read all of them!
The number 24 is even less than the number of English alphabets.
Reading Korean is actually very easy!
Also, can you see the little circle in the middle?
It is written ‘ng/null,’ which means vowels. We will learn these today.
At the bottom, there are four rows in green, with the word ‘aspirated sound.’
These four are the intense sounds that we will learn later.
Korean Vowels
Now, then, let’s start learning from the vowels.
Vowels are the base of all sounds. In Korean, there are 10 vowels, 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이.
Let’s take a look at how to pronounce and write the vowels.
Generally, you write in Korean from left to right and from top to bottom.
Try to memorize with a melody like a song: from left to right, from top to bottom, from left to right, from top to bottom.
Now, let’s look at the 10 vowels. They are 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이.
Let’s try writing ‘아’ first.
Writing Korean Vowels
The circle is written counterclockwise from the top.
When writing ‘아,’ you draw the vertical line first from top to bottom and then the short horizontal line from left to right. 아 = ㅇ + ㅏ
Similarly, when you write ‘야,’ you start with the circle, then /ㅑ/ with the vertical line drawn from top to bottom, and then the short horizontal line from left to right. 야 = ㅇ + ㅑ
For 어, you write the circle, a short horizontal line from left to right, and a long vertical line from top to bottom. 어 = ㅇ + ㅓ
‘여’ is similar to ‘어.’
You write the circle, then the two short horizontal lines from left to right, and then the long vertical line from top to bottom. 여 = ㅇ + ㅕ
For ‘오,’ write the circle first.
Then, you write the short line from top to bottom and the long line from left to right. 오 = ㅇ + ㅗ
‘요’ is very similar to ‘오.’
Circle first, then the two short lines from top to bottom, and finally, the long line from left to right. 요 = ㅇ + ㅛ
In the case of ‘우,’ again, you write the circle first.
Next, write the horizontal line from left to right.
Then, write the vertical line from top to bottom. 우 = ㅇ + ㅜ
Similarly, when writing ‘유,’ write a circle, then one horizontal line from left to right, and finally two vertical lines from top to bottom. 유 = ㅇ + ㅠ
For ‘으,’ first, write the circle, then just one horizontal line from left to right. 으 = ㅇ + ㅡ
Lastly, for ‘이,’ again, the circle first, and then one vertical line from top to bottom. 이 = ㅇ + ㅣ
Like this, you can write the vowels 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이.
The Pronunciation of Vowels
Now, let’s look at the pronunciation of vowels.
When you pronounce ‘아,’ open your mouth wide as if you are to show your mouth to the dentist.
‘아,’ like this. I will tell you the pronunciation. 아
When you pronounce ‘야,’ you also make a big mouth like 야.
For 어 sound, you drop your jaw. 어
The ‘여’ sound is similar to 어sound.
You have to drop your jaw. 여
For the ‘오’ sound, you push your lips forward and make a small circle with your lips. 오
The ‘요’ sound is similar to the ‘오’ sound.
So, you push your mouth forward and make a small circle with your lips. 요
For the ‘우’ sound, you also push your mouth forward and make a small circle with your lips. 우
For the ‘유’ sound, you also push your mouth forward and make a small circle with your lips. 유
For the ‘으’ sound, you pull your mouth horizontally. 으
You pull your mouth horizontally for the ‘이’ sound, too. 이
So, to summarize, you open your mouth wide when you pronounce 아, 야, 어, 여
You push your lips forward and make a small circle to pronounce 오, 요, 우, 유
Lastly, you pull your mouth horizontally to say 으,이
Let’s say everything together 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이
Let’s say one more time! 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이
Let’s say a little bit faster! 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이
Let me sing for the last part. 아, 야, 어, 여, 오, 요, 우, 유, 으, 이
Great job!! Fantastic.
Now you can read and write Korean vowels!!
Ok. That’s it for today.
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그럼 오늘도 행복 가득, 웃음 가득한 하루 되세요!
한국어 화이팅, 화이팅, 화이팅!
