The 10 Basic Vowels Are Built From Three Marks
Every Hangul vowel is assembled from a dot, a horizontal line, and a vertical line. Learn the three building blocks and the ten basic vowels stop being ten separate things to memorise.
Hangul consonants are drawn from the mouth. The vowels work on a completely different principle, and mixing the two systems up is one of the more common reasons the alphabet feels harder than it is.
Vowels are built from three marks, combined in a small number of predictable ways. Once you can see the marks, γ γ γ γ γ γ γ γ γ ‘ γ £ stop looking like ten unrelated symbols.
Three marks, one system
The vowel system starts from three characters, each standing for one element in the cosmology that the designers were working within.
You will not see the dot in modern text as its own letter β it survives only as the short stroke attached to other vowels β but recognising it is what makes the rest of the system readable.
- β’Β· (the dot) β sky. In modern Hangul it appears as the short stroke on γ , γ , γ , γ .
- β’γ ‘ β earth. A flat horizontal line, and a vowel in its own right.
- β’γ £ β the human being standing upright. A vertical line, also a vowel on its own.
Where the stroke sits tells you the sound
Attach the short stroke to γ £ or γ ‘ and you get the four most common vowels. The position of the stroke is not decorative; it is the whole distinction.
There is a pattern worth noticing here. A stroke placed on the right of γ £ or above γ ‘ produces what Korean grammar calls a bright vowel; on the left or below gives a dark vowel. That split governs vowel harmony, which shows up later in verb endings and in the many sound-symbolic words Korean is full of.
- β’γ (a) β stroke on the right of γ £. Bright.
- β’γ (eo) β stroke on the left of γ £. Dark.
- β’γ (o) β stroke above γ ‘. Bright.
- β’γ (u) β stroke below γ ‘. Dark.
Doubling the stroke adds a y
Add a second short stroke and the vowel gains a y sound in front. This is completely regular across all four, which means four more vowels cost you almost no memorisation.
- β’γ β γ (ya)
- β’γ β γ (yeo)
- β’γ β γ (yo)
- β’γ β γ (yu)
The two that stand alone
γ £ and γ ‘ are used unchanged as vowels themselves. γ £ is close to the vowel in "see", and gives most learners no trouble at all.
γ ‘ is the one that does. It has no real equivalent in English. The nearest starting point is the vowel in "good" with your lips pulled flat and wide rather than rounded β the sound sits far back with the tongue high. Say γ , then keep the tongue where it is and unround your lips completely; what comes out is close to γ ‘.
Why γ and γ are worth extra attention
Learners coming from English tend to collapse γ and γ into the same sound, because both get romanized in ways that suggest an English o. They are clearly different to a Korean ear, and mixing them changes words.
γ is rounded, with the lips pushed forward, close to the vowel in "go" without the glide at the end. γ is unrounded and more open, closer to the vowel in "up". Watching your lips in a mirror while alternating between them is unglamorous and unusually effective.
How vowels sit in a syllable block
Hangul is written in square blocks, and the vowel decides the shape of the block. Vertical vowels β γ γ γ γ γ £ β stand to the right of the initial consonant. Horizontal vowels β γ γ γ γ γ ‘ β sit underneath it.
So κ° places γ beside γ±, while ꡬ places γ below it. This is why an initial consonant looks squashed in some blocks and wide in others: it is making room for whichever vowel follows.
A syllable that starts with a vowel sound still needs something in the initial slot, and that is where γ comes in. In μ, the γ is silent and holds the position so the block keeps its shape.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is γ romanized as "eo" when there is no e sound in it?
- Revised Romanization, the official system in South Korea, needed a spelling that a keyboard could type and that would not collide with γ . The pairing of letters is a label, not a pronunciation guide, which is one more reason to read the Hangul directly rather than the romanization.
How many vowels are there in total?
- Ten basic vowels and eleven compound ones, for twenty-one. The compounds are built from the basics by the same combining logic, so they are much less work than the number suggests once the ten are solid.
Do I need to know vowel harmony as a beginner?
- Not as a rule to apply consciously. It is worth knowing the bright and dark split exists, because it explains patterns you will start noticing in verb endings and in words like λ°μ§λ°μ§. Learners usually absorb it from exposure long before they could state the rule.