Learning Korean (한국어배우기)

Unit 1.2 vowel 모음

ㅏ 아 [aa] a
ㅑ 야 [ya] ya
ㅓ 어 [eo] eo
ㅕ 여 [yeo] yeo
ㅗ 오 [o] o
ㅛ 요 [yo] yo
ㅜ 우 [oo] woo
ㅠ 유 [yoo] yoo
ㅡ 으 [eu] eu
ㅣ이 [i] ee

"Examples"
ㅏ 가방 [ga-bang] bag
ㅑ 약 [yak] medicine
ㅓ 거미 [geo-mi] spider
ㅕ여자 [yeo-ja] woman
ㅗ 노래 [no-rae] song
ㅛ 효과 [hyo-gwa] effect
ㅜ 우유 [woo-yoo] milk
ㅠ 휴지 [hyoo-ji] tissue
ㅡ 스키 [seu-ki] ski
ㅣ비누 [bi-noo] soap

Combined vowel

":" after a letter means pronounce short. eg) ah: short ah

ㅐ 애 [a] ae:
ㅔ 에 [e] ae
ㅒ 얘 [ye] yae:
ㅖ예 [ye] yae
ㅘ 와 [oa] wa
ㅚ 외 [oi] wae
ㅙ 왜 [oe] wae
ㅟ 위 [ui] wee
ㅞ 웨 [ue] wae
ㅝ 워 [ueo] wo
ㅢ 의 [eu-ee] eui

"Examples"
ㅐ 새 [sae] bird
ㅔ 레몬 [lae-mon] lemon
ㅒ 얘기 [ye-gi]{ short form of 이야기 [i-ya-gi]} story
ㅖ 계란 [gyae-ran] egg
ㅘ 과일 [gwa-il] fruit
ㅚ 괴물 [gwae-mool] monster
ㅙ 돼지 [dwae-ji] pig
ㅟ 귀신 [gwee-sin] ghost
ㅞ 궤짝 [gwae-jjak] wooden canbinet
ㅝ 권유 [gwon-yoo] suggest
ㅢ 의사 [eui-sa] doctor

웨, 외, 왜 are all pronounced as wae. So you can ask, "then what's the difference?" Actually, there is no much difference there. It is told that long time ago, like King's dynasty, used to have differences between them but in the modern times, we don't really see any differences.