Basic Vowels ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅔ

What You Will Learn in This Unit

In this unit, you will learn the sounds and mouth shapes of the eight basic Korean vowels. You will distinguish ㅓ from ㅗ, ㅜ, and ㅡ, which sound similar, and write vowel letters correctly together with the consonant position. You will also be able to read words made up only of vowel letters. Because ㅐ and ㅔ have almost no difference in sound, they are explained separately.

The Sounds and Mouth Shapes of the Eight Vowels

The sound of a vowel is determined by whether the tongue is at the front or the back, the height of the tongue, and whether the lips are rounded. The table below shows the differences among the eight vowels. Each vowel is illustrated with a syllable combined with ㅇ.

As the table shows, ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, and ㅣ are divided into back vowels and front vowels. Of these, ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, and ㅡ are vowels produced with the tongue at the back, while ㅣ, ㅐ, and ㅔ are vowels produced with the tongue at the front.

Distinguishing ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, and ㅡ

ㅓ and ㅗ differ more in lip shape than in tongue height. ㅗ is a vowel produced by rounding the lips, while ㅓ is a vowel produced by opening the mouth moderately without rounding the lips. Therefore, 어(eo) and 오(o) are distinguished by whether the lips are rounded.

ㅜ and ㅡ are both produced with the tongue in a high position. The difference is lip shape. ㅜ is produced with the lips small and rounded, while ㅡ is produced with the lips not rounded but spread slightly sideways. Therefore, 우(u) and 으(eu) are distinguished by whether the lips are rounded.

ㅐ and ㅔ

ㅐ and ㅔ are different letters, so they must be distinguished when writing. ㅐ is the vowel made by adding a vertical stroke to ㅏ, and ㅔ is the vowel made by adding a vertical stroke to ㅓ. Dictionaries treat the two as separate vowels, but most present-day Korean speakers pronounce them with the same sound. Therefore, 애(ae) and 에(e) are hard to distinguish by sound alone, and when learning words you must distinguish them by letter shape.