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In Hangeul 2, we looked at the eight basic vowels of Korean:
ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ ㅐ ㅔ
Each of these letters represents a single, constant vowel sound.
But there are a number of more complicated vowels in Korean. These are gliding vowels. While all of the vowels above represent a constant sound, a gliding vowel is where one vowel sound blends into another. Gliding vowels are also called diphthongs (which means ‘two sounds’).
Some gliding vowels in Korean can be formed by adding a second dash to the vowel:
| ㅏ | ㅑ |
| ㅓ | ㅕ |
| ㅗ | ㅛ |
| ㅜ | ㅠ |
| ㅐ | ㅒ |
| ㅔ | ㅖ |
Each of these new vowel letters represents the sound of the original vowel but with ‘y’ added to the beginning. Thus:
| ㅏ ‘a’ | ㅑ ‘ya’ |
| ㅓ ‘o’ | ㅕ ‘yo’ |
| ㅗ ‘or’ | ㅛ ‘yor’ |
| ㅜ ‘oo’ | ㅠ ‘yoo’ |
| ㅐ ‘eh’ | ㅒ ‘yeh’ |
| ㅔ ‘ei’ | ㅖ ‘yei’ |
As before, in order to write these vowels as syllables, they need to be written with the letter ㅇ.
야 여 요 유 얘 예
Exercises
1. Match the sound to the syllable
| ‘yoo’ | a.) 요 | b.) 여 | c.) 유 |
| ‘ya’ | a.) 야 | b.) 얘 | c.) 아 |
| ‘yeh’ | a.) 예 | b.) 얘 | c.) 애 |
| ‘yei’ | a.) 에 | b.) 예 | c.) 여 |
2. Match the syllable to the sound
| 예 | a.) ‘yei’ | b.) ‘yi’ | c.) ‘ya’ |
| 여 | a.) ‘yei’ | b.) ‘yo’ | c.) ‘yoo’ |
| 얘 | a.) ‘yeh’ | b.) ‘ya’ | c.) ‘yo’ |
| 요 | a.) ‘yoo’ | b.) ‘yor’ | c.) ‘yo’ |
Answers
Exercise 1: c, a, b, b
Exercise 2: a, b, a, b
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