Learn Korean – Lesson 1.03: The Vowel 어

In Lesson 1.02, we have learned about the vowel 아 which sounds as "a" as in smart.
In this lesson, we will learn another vowel that looks quite similar to the vowel 아 - the vowel 어, which sounds as soft "uh" as in bought.

Hangeul	어
Phonetic Symbol	[ Ɔ/Ә ]	*from the International Phonetic Alphabet)
Romanization	eo	*from the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2000)

As you can see, this vowel looks very similar to the vowel 아. The only difference is that the small horizontal dash attached to its vertical line is on the left side instead of having it on the right side.
Do your best to be familiar with this vowel, memorize its appearance, so that you will be able to combine it with the other vowels that we will be studying next time.
Now, for you to get familiar with the vowel 어, we will use it the way we used the previous vowels that we have learned. We will start by using it as a substitute for the sound /Ɔ/ or /Ә/ in English words.

br어ght
p어per
s어ft
m어ck
c어gh

Are you now familiar with the vowel어? Let’s take it to the next level by using it in Korean words this time.

Algess어yo?	Do you understand?
Ne, algess어yo.	Yes, I understand.
아niyo, moreugess어yo.	No, I don't understand.
Jilmun iss어yo?	Are there any questions?
Ne, iss어yo.	Yes, there is.
아niyo, eops어yo.	No, there aren't. / No, there isn't.
Urin seoro cheonnune banhaess어yo.	It was love at first sight.
Uri heeojye어sse어.	We split up.
Nae yeojachinguga doe어jullae?	Will you be my girlfriend?
PAL 112 Pyeon에 yeyakago sip어yo.	I'd like to reserve a seat on PAL Flight 112.
Yeong어rul malsum halsu iss어yo?	Do you speak English?

Korean Lesson 1.02 << | >> Korean Lesson 1.04 More Korean Lessons