Learn Basic Korean Language

PART III

Basic Vowels

Hangul is a very logical alphabet. But to understand it you need to keep in mind Vowels, Consonants and Syllables.

First of all, what are vowels in English? Well they are the sounds represented by: a, e, i, o, u and y. That's 6 letters.

Now, what are consonants in English? Well they are the other 20 letters.

So, what is a syllable in English? Well a syllable in English is a unit of sound that has EXACTLY ONE vowel. In English a syllable can have between 0 to 3 consonants before AND after the vowel. Take a look at these words and try to break them up into syllables:

- bullet
- strong
- banks

The first word is two syllables: bul-let. The last two are each only one syllable. But the 2nd word has 3 consonants before the vowel and the last word has 3 consonants after the vowel.

Korean syllables are very different, you can only have a single consonant before each vowel and there is a maximum of two after the vowel.