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)
editㅜ (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
editThe 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
editTry 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)
editㅓ (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
editTry to translate these Korean words:
Try translating the following words into Korean:
The vowel ㅔ (e)
editㅔ (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
editTry 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)
editㅐ (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
editTry to translate these Korean words:
English: Ro-deu-a-il-laen-deu = Rhode Island
The consonant ㅎ (hieut)
editㅎ (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
editTry 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)
editㅈ (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
editTry 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: (Lo-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
editIf 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] |
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