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Unit 1: History of Hangul & Basic Vowels

Welcome to Level 0 of Easy Korean! Before we can start speaking and reading Korean sentences, we must learn the Korean alphabet, known as Hangul (ํ•œ๊ธ€).

Unlike English or Chinese, Hangul is incredibly easy to learn. In fact, it was designed specifically to be learned in a single day!

1. The History of Hangul

Before the 1400s, Koreans used traditional Chinese characters (Hanja) to write. Because Chinese characters were so complex, only wealthy nobles and scholars had the time and resources to learn how to read and write. The common people were largely illiterate.

In 1443, King Sejong the Great decided this was unfair. He wanted his people to be able to communicate, read the laws, and write letters. He and his scholars invented a brand new, scientific alphabet: Hangul.

Hangul is unique because the shapes of the consonant letters actually mimic the shape your tongue, palate, and teeth make when pronouncing them! The vowels are based on three philosophical elements: Heaven (a dot/short stroke), Earth (a flat horizontal line), and Human (a standing vertical line).

2. The Basic Vowels

Korean syllables are built by combining consonants and vowels. Today, we will learn the 10 basic vowels.

Note: A vowel cannot stand alone in a written Korean block. When a vowel is spoken by itself, we add a silent placeholder consonant 'ใ…‡' in front of it or on top of it. We will use it here to show you how they look in writing.

The Vertical Vowels (Stand tall like a human)

  1. ์•„ (a) - Sounds like "ah" in father. (Vertical line with a short stroke pointing right).
  2. ์•ผ (ya) - Sounds like "yah" in yarn. (Vertical line with TWO short strokes pointing right. Adding a second stroke always adds a 'Y' sound!)
  3. ์–ด (eo) - Sounds like "uh" in run, or "o" in song. (Vertical line with a short stroke pointing left).
  4. ์—ฌ (yeo) - Sounds like "yuh" in yuck. (Vertical line with TWO short strokes pointing left).
  5. ์ด (i) - Sounds like "ee" in tree. (Just a straight vertical line).

The Horizontal Vowels (Flat like the earth)

  1. ์˜ค (o) - Sounds like "oh" in boat. (Horizontal line with a short stroke pointing up).
  2. ์š” (yo) - Sounds like "yo" in yo-yo. (Horizontal line with TWO short strokes pointing up).
  3. ์šฐ (u) - Sounds like "oo" in moon. (Horizontal line with a short stroke pointing down).
  4. ์œ  (yu) - Sounds like "you". (Horizontal line with TWO short strokes pointing down).
  5. ์œผ (eu) - Sounds like the "oo" in book, but with your lips pulled back tight. (Just a straight horizontal line).

Summary of the 10 Basic Vowels

  • ์•„, ์•ผ, ์–ด, ์—ฌ, ์ด
  • ์˜ค, ์š”, ์šฐ, ์œ , ์œผ

Practice writing these and saying them out loud!