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아
- [ah] Like the ‘a’ in father
- ex. 아가 – ah-ga – "baby"
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어
- [uh, eo] This best explained as a rounded low back vowel. It is sometimes pronounced like the ‘u’ in sun.
- ex. 더 – tŏ – "more"
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오
- [o] Like the ‘o’ in ‘oh’ but more rounded.
- ex. 오 – o – "five"
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우
- [u, oo] Like the ‘oo’ in boot, but more rounded.
- ex. 구 – ku – "nine"
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으
- [eu] Like the ‘u’ in put. We sometimes called this the "gutslash" because it seems to come from the gut.
- ex. 그 – kŭ – "that"
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이
- [i:] Like the ‘ee’ in tee.
- ex. 피 – p’i – "blood"
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애
- [ae] Like the apple "a"
- ex. 배 – pae – "boat"
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와
- [wa, u + ah] A combination of 오 and 아, this sounds like the ‘wa’ in wand.
- ex. 봐! – pwa – "look!"
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워
- [wuh, u + uh] This is a combination of 우 and어, and sounds like the first part of0 "whoa."
- ex. 뭐? – mwŏ – "what?"
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위
- [wi, u + i] Like the English "we."
- ex. 위 – wi – above
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웨
- [weh, u + eh] Like English "way."
- ex. 궤도 – kwe-do – "orbit"
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왜
- [wae, u + ae]
- ex. 왜? – wae – "why?"
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외
- [wae]
- ex. 죄 – choe – "sin"
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의
- [eu + i] A combination of 으 and 이, this is pronounced like the ‘u’ in put followed by the ‘ee’ in tee.This syllable is also used as the possessive marker like the "’s" in English. When such is the case, it is pronounced the same as 에.
- ex. 의 – ŭi – "righteousness"
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야
- [ya] Like the ‘ya’ sound in ‘yacht.’
- ex. 야! – ya – "hey"
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여
- [yuh, yeo] Somewhat similar to the ‘you’ in ‘young.’
- ex. 엿 – yŏt – "taffy"
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요
- [yo] Like the ‘yo’ in ‘yo wassup.’
- ex. 요 – yo – "bedspread"
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유
- [yu] Like the English ‘you.’
- ex. 우유 – u-yu – "milk"
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얘
- [yae]
- ex. 얘기 – yae-gi – "story"
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예
- [yeh] Like the ‘ye’ in ‘yet.’
- ex. 예 – ye – "yes"
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에
- like the egg 'e'
- This and the one before it are almost indistinguishable – even Koreans can’t tell the difference most of the time.
- ex. 제 – che – "my
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