Vowels

Vowels are an interesting aspect of Hangeul. They are composed of long lines and short lines, verical and horizotal. The long horizontal lines represent Earth's horizon, yin, and the long vertical lines represent man. The short lines represent the sun, yang. They used to be dots, but were translated to short strokes when writing with a brush, and they eventually replaced the traditional dots.

The vowels are divided into bright, dark, and neutral categories, depending on where the short stroke (sun) is located, if present. If the short stroke is to the right of (in the east) or above (above the horizon) the long stroke, the vowel is bright. If it is to the left of (in the west) or below (below the horizon) the long stroke, it is dark. The two vowels with only a long stroke are considered neutral, even though the one that is only a horizontal stroke (the horizon) is technically dark. This all matters when conjugating verbs and otherwise inflecting words. Dark vowel words are only followed by dark vowel suffixes, etc.

Here's a breakdown of the vowels:

ㅏ
"A" sound, as in "father"
Long vertical line, short horizontal line to the right (a man standing before the rising sun)
Romanized as "a"

ㅓ
Short "o" sound, as in "hot"
Long vertical line, short horizontal line to the left (a man standing before the setting sun)
Romanized as "eo"

ㅗ
Long "o" around, as "boat"
Long horizontal line, short vertical line above it (the sun over the horizon)
Romanized as "o"

ㅜ
Long "u" sound, as in "mute"
Long horizontal line, short vertical line below it (the sun below the horizon)
Romanized as "u"

ㅣ
Long "e" sound, as in "feet"
Long vertical line (a man)
Romanized as "i"

ㅡ
Sort of short "u" sound, kind of like in "put"
Long horizontal line (the horizon)
Romanized as "eu"

Hangeul doesn't have a letter "y" like we do, but they do have a sound for it. This is accomplished by adding a short stroke to the first four vowels above, adding the "y" sound to the beginning:

ㅑ
"ya"

ㅕ
"yeo"

ㅛ
"yo"

ㅠ
"yu"


Hangeul also has numerous diphthongs (the combinations above are technically iotized vowels). These two were originally diphthongs, but have become pure vowels over time. They also originally had distinct sounds, but over the last couple generations have come to both sound like short "e." Mostly only the older generations can tell the difference now.

ㅐ
"ae" = ㅏ a + ㅣ i

ㅔ
"e" = ㅓ eo + ㅣ i

These two vowels can also be given an extra stroke to add the "y" sound:


ㅒ
"yae"

ㅖ
"ye"

The same goes for the "w" sound as it does for "y" as evidenced with these diphthongs:

ㅘ
"wa" = ㅗ o + ㅏ a

ㅝ
"wo" = ㅜ u + ㅓ eo

ㅙ
"wae" = ㅗ o + ㅐ ae

ㅞ
"we" = ㅜ u + ㅔ e

ㅟ
"wi" = ㅜ u + ㅣ i

ㅢ
"ui" = ㅡ eu + ㅣ i

ㅚ
"oe" = ㅗ o + ㅣ i (This one doesn't get Romanized with a "w," but it sounds like there is one.)

The cool thing about Korean (and other not-English languages) is that the vowels make the same sound, one sound, every time. You don't have to memorize fifteen different combinations of vowels that all make the same sound. Some of the diphthongs make similar sounds, but in order to read and pronounce them, all you have to do is break them down into the vowels that built them and you've got it.