Lesson 3. Basic Vowels + Early ㅐ/ㅔ

Chapter 1. Hangul Mastery · Week 1 · Prerequisites: Lesson 2 · Est. time: ~30 min (review included)

Learning Objectives

• Pronounce the 10 basic vowels in order
• Read ㅐ and ㅔ (12 vowels total)
• Read vowel-only words (아이, 오이, 우유)
• Take dictation of all 12 vowels

Warm-up Review

• What are the three vowel building blocks? (→ ㆍ sky · ㅡ earth · ㅣ human)
• ㄱ + ㅏ = ? (→ 가)

Main Lesson

1. The 10 Basic Vowels

Memorize them in this order — it's the standard dictionary order: 아 야 어 여 오 요 우 유 으 이

Vowel	Sound (IPA)	Romanization	Mouth hint	Similar English sound
ㅏ	[a]	a	open wide, jaw down	father
ㅑ	[ja]	ya	ㅏ + y	yard
ㅓ	[ʌ]	eo	open but relaxed, tongue back	uh, son
ㅕ	[jʌ]	yeo	ㅓ + y	young
ㅗ	[o]	o	round your lips	go (short)
ㅛ	[jo]	yo	ㅗ + y	yo-yo
ㅜ	[u]	u	pucker your lips forward	moon
ㅠ	[ju]	yu	ㅜ + y	you
ㅡ	[ɯ]	eu	lips flat and unrounded, sound between the teeth	(no English equivalent — the sound you make in "brr")
ㅣ	[i]	i	spread your lips wide — smile	see

See the pattern: one short stroke = plain vowel; two strokes = add "y". (ㅏ→ㅑ, ㅓ→ㅕ, ㅗ→ㅛ, ㅜ→ㅠ)

Biggest trap: ㅓ vs ㅗ

• ㅓ [eo]: open your mouth wide and relax — "uh" (open, unrounded)
• ㅗ [o]: round and purse your lips — "oh" (rounded)
• Use a mirror: if your lips are round, it's ㅗ; if not, it's ㅓ.

2. Early introduction of ㅐ and ㅔ

These are technically compound vowels usually taught later, but they appear so often in essential words that we learn them now.

Vowel	Sound	Romanization	Essential words
ㅐ	[ɛ]→[e]	ae	개 (dog), 배 (belly/pear/ship)
ㅔ	[e]	e	네 (yes), 게 (crab), ~예요 (to be)

Practical tip: In modern Korean, ㅐ and ㅔ sound virtually identical. Don't strain to hear the difference — even native speakers can't! Just memorize the spelling word by word.

Why now? So you can immediately read basic words like 네 (yes), 개 (dog), 세 (three), ~예요 (is).

3. Words from vowels alone

When a vowel stands alone, a silent ㅇ is written in front of it (the full rule comes in Lesson 5).

Key Expressions & Vocabulary

Korean	Pronunciation	English
아이	a-i	child
오이	o-i	cucumber
우유	u-yu	milk
이	i	tooth / two
네	ne	yes
개	gae	dog
게	ge	crab

Listen & Repeat

1. 아 — 야 — 어 — 여 (a, ya, eo, yeo)
2. 오 — 요 — 우 — 유 (o, yo, u, yu)
3. 으 — 이 (eu, i)
4. 애 — 에 (ae, e — if they sound the same, that's normal!)
5. Words: 아이 / 오이 / 우유 / 네 / 개 / 게

Practice

A. Which letter makes this sound?

1. Which vowel makes the "ya" sound?
2. Which vowel makes the "u" sound (the "oo" in moon)?
3. Which vowel has no English equivalent and is made with lips spread flat?

B. Read aloud 4. 아이 5. 우유 6. 오이 7. 네 8. 개

C. Distinguish ㅓ vs ㅗ 9. When you say 어, are your lips rounded? (Yes/No)

Mission

1. Dictation of all 12 vowels — Listen to audio (or a tutor/app) and write ㅏㅑㅓㅕㅗㅛㅜㅠㅡㅣㅐㅔ in random order. 10+ correct = pass!
2. Read 5 ㅐ/ㅔ words aloud — Read and record yourself saying 네, 개, 게, 세, 배.

Coming Up Next

Lesson 4: The 14 basic consonants, memorized in mouth-position groups. Combined with today's vowels, you'll finally read real syllables!

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Show Answer Key

A. 1. ㅑ 2. ㅜ 3. ㅡ B. 4. a-i (child) 5. u-yu (milk) 6. o-i (cucumber) 7. ne (yes) 8. gae (dog) C. 9. No — the rounded-lips vowel is ㅗ. ㅓ is made with an open, relaxed mouth.