Welcome back! This is the 4th lesson of "Learn to read, write and pronounce Korean". This lesson covers the rest of the basic Korean letters.
The vowel ㅜ (u)
_stroke_order.png.webp) |
| ㅜ (u) stroke order |
| Sound sample of ㅜ (u) (help·info) |
The first new letter is the vowel ㅜ (u):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅜ |
| Pronunciation: | [u] |
The vowel ㅜ is pronounced like the oo in boot. Similar in appearance to ㅗ (o) and 一 (eu), the vowel ㅜ (u) is wider than it is tall, so it is written below the consonant rather than next to it.
| Letter (jamo): | ㄷ | => | 두 |
| ㅜ | |||
| Romanization: | d u |
du |
Exercise
The following Korean words contain ㅜ (u). Guess what the words mean. Click "Show" to check your answers, as usual.
English: (Sa-u-di-a-ra-bi-a) Saudi Arabia
You can check your answers by clicking at "Show" above, as usual.
Exercise: writing practice
Try to write the following words:
Burundi -> Bu-run-di -> 부룬디
Uganda -> U-gan-da -> 우간다
Brunei -> Beu-ru-na-i -> 브루나이
Sudan -> Su-dan -> 수단
Ulsan -> Ul-san -> 울산
The vowel ㅓ (eo)
_stroke_order.png.webp) |
| ㅓ (eo) stroke order |
| Sound sample of ㅓ (eo) (help·info) |
The next of the vowels to learn is ㅓ (eo):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅓ |
| Romanization: | eo |
| Pronunciation: | [ʌ] |
The vowel ㅓ is pronounced like the u in plus (IPA: [ ʌ ]) and transcribed as eo (think "surgeon"). Similar in appearance to ㅏ (a), the vowel ㅓ (eo) is taller than it is wide, so it is written next to the consonant.
Exercise
Try to translate these Korean words:
Try translating the following words into Korean:
The vowel ㅔ (e)
_stroke_order.png.webp) |
| ㅔ (e) stroke order |
| Sound sample of ㅔ (e) (help·info) |
The next vowel to learn is the digraph ㅔ (e):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅔ |
| Pronunciation: | [e] |
The appearance the vowel ㅔ shows that it was originally a diphthong of ㅓ (eo) and ㅣ (i). Today, it is pronounced like the e in the Australian pronunciation of word bed and transcribed as e.
Exercise
Try to translate these Korean words:
English: ge-im -> game
English: Bang-geul-la-de-si -> Bangladesh
English: El-sal-ba-do-reu -> El Salvador
The vowel ㅐ (ae)
_stroke_order.png.webp) |
| ㅐ (ae) stroke order |
| Sound sample of ㅐ (ae) (help·info) |
The last vowel for this lesson is the digraph ㅐ (ae):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅐ |
| Pronunciation: | [ɛ] |
The appearance the vowel ㅐ shows that it was originally a diphthong of ㅏ (a) and ㅣ (i). Today, it is pronounced like the e in the American pronunciation of the English word bed and transcribed as ae.
Exercise
Try to translate these Korean words:
English: Ro-deu-a-il-laen-deu = Rhode Island
The consonant ㅎ (hieut)
_stroke_order.png.webp) |
| ㅎ (hieut) stroke order |
| Sound sample of ㅎ (hieut) (help·info) |
The next consonant for this lesson is ㅎ (hieut):
| Letter (jamo): | ㅎ |
| Pronunciation: | [h] |
Exercise
Try to translate these Korean words:
English: (Do-ha) Doha
English: (Ha-no-i) Hanoi
English: (Ha-ra-re) Harare
English: (Ho-nol-lul-lu) Honolulu
English: (Sang-ha-i) Shanghai
English: (O-ha-i-o) Ohio
The consonant ㅈ (jieut)
_stroke_order.png.webp) |
| ㅈ (jieut) stroke order |
| Sound sample of ㅈ (jieut) (help·info) |
The last consonant for this lesson is ㅈ (jieut), it is pronounced as a j or a ch:
| Letter (jamo): | ㅈ |
| Pronunciation: | [ʥ] |
Exercise
Try to translate these Korean words:
English: (Na-i-ji-ri-a) Nigeria
English: (A-bu-ja) Abuja
English: (Jam-bi-a) Zambia
English: (Nan-jing) Nanjing
English: (i-mi-ji) = image
English: (Mi-ju-ri) = Missouri
English: (Al-je-ri) = Algeria
English: (Bel-li-jeu) = Belize
English: (Beu-ra-jil) = Brazil
English: (Ni-je-reu) = Niger
English: (ba-jel) = Badger
English: (Be-i-jing) = Beijing
English: (Beu-ra-jil-li-a) = Brasilia
English: (Je-ne-ba) = Geneva
English: (Ro-seu-aen-jel-le-seu) = Los Angeles
English: (Dae-jeon) = Taejon
English: (Ja-geu-re-beu) = Zagreb
English: (o-raen-ji-ju-seu) = Orange Juice
English: (Jo-ji-a) = Georgia
English: (Ru-i-ji-ae-na) = Louisiana
English: (Beo-ji-ni-a) = Virginia
End of lesson 4
If you learned the letters in this lesson, you are ready to go on to lesson 5, where you will learn some simple variations of the letters you already learned.
| Basic 예사소리 |
Letter (jamo) | ㄱ | ㄴ | ㄷ | ㄹ | ㅁ | ㅂ | ㅅ | ㅇ | ㅈ | ㅎ |
| Romanization Pronunciation |
g or k [g] or [k] |
n [n] |
d or t [d] or [t] |
r or l [ɾ] or [l] |
m [m] |
b or p [b] or [p] |
s [s] |
- or ng silent or [ŋ] |
j or ch [ʥ] or [ʨ] |
h [h] | |
| Letter (jamo) | ㅏ | ㅓ | ㅗ | ㅜ | ㅡ | ㅣ | ||||
| Romanization Pronunciation |
a [a] |
eo [ʌ] |
o [o] |
u [u] |
eu [ɯ] |
i [i] | ||||
| Letter (jamo) | ㅐ | ㅔ | ||||||||
| Romanization Pronunciation |
ae [ɛ] |
e [e] |
||||||||