Thank you for taking some time out of your day to learn some more Korean (Hangul). If you haven’t already checked out the 1st part of this 3 part series on Korean Alphabet basics please click here “Part 1 – How to read Hangul“. In this second part of the series we will look at the 11 different vowel combinations which make up the different complete Korean characters. Vowel combination as you might expect take 2 of the 10 basic vowels (which were discussed in part 1) and turn them into new combined vowels, bringing the total to 21 possible Korean vowels.
“A” Korean Vowel Combinations
Firstly we will look at the 4 “A” sound vowels which are all quiet similar.
The first 2 symbols both have an “A” type sound, as in “at” or “end”. The second two symbols have a “Y+A” sound, such as in “yak” or “yes”. When listening to them spoken quickly it can be quiet difficult to tell which one or which, basically ᅢand ᅤ are spoken a little stronger.
“W” Korean Vowel Combinations
Next will be look at the 7 “W” sounding vowels, again a number of them are quiet similar.
The first two vowels (ᅪ & ᅯ) are pretty unique and don’t sound like any of the others. The next three (ᅫ, ᅰ & ᅬ) however are all similar and require the use of different tones. ᅫ sounds like the start of “Wag”, ᅰ sounds like the start of “Wedding” and ᅬ sounds like the start of “Weight”. There are also ᅱ which is the same as Wii as in the Nintendo Wii and also the ᅴ which has a double sound like in the word “Gooey”.
For a full combined vowels to Korean Consonants alphabet chart and more: CLICK HERE
I hope that this start sense and that you’ve learn something new today and please check out the final part, part 3 where we look at the tensed consonants final consonants and double consonants. Korean Alphabet Basics – Tensed Consonants, Final Consonants, Double Consonants (Part 3).
For some FREE Learn Korean Resources, we would suggest that you check out: http://www.freshkorean.com/free-resources/
Modern Seoul
Modern Seoul 
thank you so much for such post!! It’s really helpful especially the chart in part 1. I’m teaching myself korean because of The Great Queen Seondeok drama! It is quite difficult especially the grammar part but I will start with the basic for now. Thanks again!
Your welcome, please check back soon for part 3. I’m sure in the future we will also explain a little about Korean grammar. 🙂
Er! I was was learning vowels from another site but it seems they were teaching wrong. When I used the knowledge I had learned I was way off, Am I missing something? are these the most recent and valid. thanks for your help
The translation of Korean into English is tricky due to the different phonitical patterns, and so everyone interprets it slightly differently. Just like English, Korean is an imperfect language which doesn’t always follow the rules. However this guide is valid and recent and so is a good place to start.
There are also a number of good videos on Youtube which to can use to parrot the basic Korean alphabet and more.
Good luck studying Korean.
ummm……..I’m just starting to learn the language.Question;How many years does it take to learn the korean languge?And Can I write Korean if I learn all of this?
It you were studying full time you could great to a pretty high standard in about a year, but it differs from person to person. But it would take years to master.
If you study all 3 of the parts you could basically read and write Korean. However this is only a rough basic guide.
ummm……what are the the korean alphabets???
They can be found here in Part 1: https://modernseoul.org/2012/04/16/korean-alphabet-basics-how-to-read-hangul-part-1/
what is the jesus in korean word
예수 = Jesus
good day,i realy like to learn korean coz,i want to work in south korea as factory worker,but its not easy to learn with,its not month count to learn,i agree that learning korean language it takes years long,but i worried about letter ‘z’ coz,i couldnt get of what is the korean meaning of that letter z,
There is no Letter Z in the Korean alphabet. You just use ㅈ or ㅉ instead. For example Zoo becomes 주 (jew).
Good Luck.
HELLO THANKS ALOT FOR POSTING D CHART BUT I WANT D FULL CHART OF D ALPHABETICAL ORDER FROM D BEGININ TO D END. THANKS VERY MUCH FOR UR HELP
This is the full Korean Alphabet from the beginning to the end. Please look at parts 2 or 3 for more information.
Hi i love to learn how to read and write hangeul but im a bit confused with the letter Y like example how do i write my name in korean its mary joy
I cant find the letter . Thanks for the reply it will be a very big help to me thank you
There isn’t a Y sound in Korean, so Ee or 이 is used instead.
Mary Joy = 메리 조이