Basic Vowels

The six basic Korean vowels are the foundation of Hangul. Once you can identify ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, and ㅣ on sight and pronounce each one consistently, every other Korean syllable becomes possible — every Hangul block contains at least one vowel, and learning these six first means you can already decode hundreds of common words before you even learn the consonants.

The trickiest of the six for English speakers is ㅓ, sometimes romanised 'eo'. It is not a diphthong — it is a single vowel that sits between English 'uh' and 'aw'. Japanese speakers usually have less trouble because Korean ㅗ and Japanese 'o' are close, but should still practice ㅓ carefully because Japanese has no direct equivalent. Pay particular attention to the mouth shape demonstrated in the audio examples; getting these vowels right at the start saves having to correct your accent later.