Y-Vowels 1

Korean Alphabet 1

Course 1 · Chapter 6 · Y-Vowels 1

ㅓ ㅑ ㅕ — Three More Vowels

You have all ten plain consonants. Now three more vowels: ㅓ ㅑ ㅕ. They look like ㅏ, so the only thing to learn is where the short stroke sits and how many there are. All three are vertical-stroke vowels, so they sit to the right of the consonant, exactly like ㅏ.

Your Next Three Letters — ㅓ ㅑ ㅕ

ㅓ
eo
like the "u" in up ("uh"), with the mouth fairly open
Memory hook: the short stroke is on the left, like a hand held out behind you: "uh?"
ㅑ
ya
like the "ya" in yacht
Memory hook: ㅏ with a second stroke: two strokes for the extra "y" sound.
ㅕ
yeo
like the "yu" in young ("yuh")
Memory hook: ㅓ with a second stroke: the "y" version of ㅓ.
The Pattern: A Second Stroke Adds "y" ㅑ is the "y" version of ㅏ (ya), and ㅕ is the "y" version of ㅓ (yeo). Wikipedia's table gives ㅏ as /a/, ㅓ as /ʌ/, ㅑ as /ja/ and ㅕ as /jʌ/ (romanised a, eo, ya, yeo), so the pairs differ by exactly a "y" glide. The next chapter gives the same trick for ㅗ and ㅜ.
The Romanisation "eo" Is One Sound The romanisation eo for ㅓ looks like two vowels but is one short sound. Likewise yeo is "y" plus that one sound. A guide in the web search describes ㅓ as the "u" of up and ㅕ as the "yu" of young; the exact sound varies between speakers and between guides, so listen to a Korean speaker when you can.

Which Side Is the Stroke?

  • ㅏ and ㅓ. The short stroke is on the right for ㅏ and on the left for ㅓ. 아 is "a", 어 is "eo".
  • ㅓ and ㅕ. One stroke or two. 어 is "eo", 여 is "yeo".
  • ㅓ and ㅗ. ㅓ is a vertical vowel with its stroke at the side; ㅗ is a horizontal vowel with its stroke on top. 거 is "geo", 고 is "go".

The Block Table

Every plain consonant combines with every vowel. Here are the three new vowels with all ten consonants.

ㅓ eoㅑ yaㅕ yeo
ㅇ어야여
ㄱ g거 geo갸 gya겨 gyeo
ㄴ n너 neo냐 nya녀 nyeo
ㄷ d더 deo댜 dya뎌 dyeo
ㄹ r러 reo랴 rya려 ryeo
ㅁ m머 meo먀 mya며 myeo
ㅂ b버 beo뱌 bya벼 byeo
ㅅ s서 seo샤 sya셔 syeo
ㅈ j저 jeo쟈 jya져 jyeo
ㅎ h허 heo햐 hya혀 hyeo

This table follows the standard block rules: consonant, then a vertical vowel to its right. The romanisation is the regular letter-by-letter spelling; some of these blocks may be rare or pronounced differently from their spelling in real words (I have not checked which), so this course does not rely on the less common ones.

Read It — New Words

Eighteen letters, and you can already read quite long words. Say each block, then the whole word.

#WordRomanisationEnglishNote
1eo-meo-nimothersee the Not Yet Verified box
2yeo-jawomansee the box
3ya-gubaseballsee the box
4geo-ristreetsee the box
5neoyou (informal)see the box
6beo-seubusa word borrowed from English
Not Yet Verified The values and romanisations of ㅏ ㅓ ㅑ ㅕ (/a/, /ʌ/, /ja/, /jʌ/; a, eo, ya, yeo) are from Wikipedia's Hangul page (the first 100,000 of 212,572 characters), through a summary; the page notes that the values are the traditional ones and that actual speech has diverged. The page does not describe the "second stroke adds y" pattern in those words, so that explanation is my own reading of the table. It also says nothing about telling ㅓ from ㅗ. The English comparisons ("up", "young", "yacht") come partly from a vowel guide found in a web search, and the memory hooks are mine. That search found none of the words in the table, so all six meanings are from my own knowledge and are unchecked. The caution that some blocks in the table may be rare or sound different from their spelling is from my own general knowledge, and I have not checked which blocks it applies to. I have not checked stroke order.
Sources for This Chapter Wikipedia, "Hangul"; a web search on Korean vowels (LingoDeer and other beginner guides).

Try It Yourself — 연습

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. Read these blocks aloud: · · · · ·

Show answer

seo · myeo · ya · heo · ryeo · beo

2. How do you tell 아 from 어, and 어 from 여?

Show answer

In 아 the short stroke is on the right; in 어 it is on the left. 여 has two strokes where 어 has one.

3. Read these words: · · ·

Show answer

eo-meo-ni (mother) · yeo-ja (woman) · ya-gu (baseball) · beo-seu (bus)

4. Write in Hangul: geo-ri · neo · yeo-ja

Show answer

· ·

5. The vowel ㅑ is the "y" version of which vowel? And ㅕ?

Show answer

ㅑ of ㅏ (a becomes ya) and ㅕ of ㅓ (eo becomes yeo).

6. Where does the vowel go in 거, and where in 고? Why?

Show answer

To the right in 거 (ㅓ has a long vertical stroke) and below in 고 (ㅗ has a long horizontal stroke).

Coming Up in Chapter 7 The remaining "y" vowels, ㅛ and ㅠ (the "y" versions of ㅗ and ㅜ), plus the first aspirated consonant, ㅊ.