Learning The First Four Hangul Vowels ㅜ ㅗ ㅓ andㅏ

If you're ready to take your first step learning Korean Hangul, then you'll probably start your journey with the first four Hangul vowels ㅜ, ㅗ, ㅓ andㅏ.

One of the interesting things is that most teachers will start by teaching in the opposite order to the vowel order above, because that is what everyone else does.

But in reality, it's probably better to go in the order ㅜ, ㅗ, ㅓ andㅏ.

Why?

Because this way, you start with the mouth at the smallest and it increases in size with every letter. Try it by saying clue, coat, cot and cat with an emphasis on the vowel in each letter to see what we mean:

ㅜ is ue as in clue

ㅗ is o as in coat

ㅓis o as in cot

ㅏis a as in cat

The mouth gets bigger with each sound.

❤️Obviously the Korean sounds will be slightly different than the English equivalent, but this exercise does show that the mouth gets bigger with each sound.

😍We suggest practicing these sounds a few times especially with coat and cot because a lot of beginners will confuse these two sounds.

Try it a few times and once you have done it, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

To help out, we've created some flash cards which are available below to practice.

Flash Cards

There are multiple options to choose from. We recommend starting with the flash card option. If you have technical difficulties with it, you can also visit the flash card page here.

Make sure to choose the flash cards or match modes or view the flash cards here.

Note: The Romanized sounds are just approximates and the sounds from Quizlet are for reference. It's always best to check your pronunciation with a professional Korean teacher.

To turn on the sound, just click the configuration button in the top right hand corner and then choose audio on. Then click advanced settings to turn off the English.