Hangul Vowels Flashcards: 21 Cards with Audio and Notes

Hangul Vowels Flashcards: Study the 21 Cards

This is the full-set vowel deck. Use it for one mixed session, or as a review after the two smaller vowel decks. The order is the teaching order, with the basic vowels first. The Korean dictionary order is different, and the lesson behind the deck is Korean vowels.

How Do I Use These Flashcards?

Use the deck above in four steps. It works with tap, click or keyboard, and nothing plays until you press an audio button.

1. Choose a mode. Start with recognition (Hangul to meaning). Switch to recall (meaning to Hangul) or listening (audio to meaning) once recognition feels easy.
2. Show the answer. Think of the answer first, then press Show answer (or Space). Turn on the romanization toggle only if you need it; the 21-card table below always shows it.
3. Grade yourself. Press Got it if you answered correctly without help, or Not yet if you hesitated or guessed.
4. Finish the session. A session holds up to 20 cards (you can set 10, 20 or 40). With 21 cards, a first-time learner should split the deck over two days, using the default limit of 10 new cards a day.

What Do the Three Modes Do?

Recognition shows the Hangul and asks for the meaning, which trains reading. Recall shows the meaning and asks for the Hangul, which trains remembering; you may type the answer with your Hangul keyboard or just recall it in your head. Listening plays a clip and hides the letters, which trains the ear. Listening mode only uses a card once its audio is approved, and cards without approved audio are skipped in that mode with a note.

What Do Got It and Not yet Do?

Got it moves the card up one Leitner box, so it returns later. Not yet sends the card back to box 1, so it returns in the same session or within 10 minutes. The grades are your own judgement; the deck does not score you or claim fluency.

Deck Scope: What Is and Is Not Covered

The deck covers all 21 vowels: 10 basic (ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ) and 11 compound (ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ), each with a sound hint and one example word. Compound means built by combining basic vowels.

What Is Left out of This Deck?

Consonants are in the consonant decks, starting with the Korean double consonants flashcards. The way vowels sit in a syllable block is in the syllable deck. For smaller sessions, use the basic Korean vowels flashcards first.

All 21 Cards in One Table

All 21 cards appear below in deck order. The table is plain HTML and works without the deck.

How Do I Read the Table?

Hangul is the vowel. Revised Romanization (RR) is a learning aid and is closer to spelling than to sound for several vowels. The Meaning column gives a sound hint, and for compound vowels it shows how the vowel is built. The Note column gives an example word. The last column lists the audio assetId, with a second ID for any slow clip.

Usage Notes for These Cards

Hangul has 21 vowels: 10 basic and 11 compound. The basic ones are written with three kinds of stroke: a vertical line, a horizontal line and short strokes. According to the Hunminjeongeum Haerye, the shapes derive from a dot for heaven, a horizontal line for earth and a vertical line for a person.

Stroke direction shows the vowel. ㅏ has its short stroke pointing right, ㅓ pointing left, ㅗ pointing up and ㅜ pointing down. This is also why ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ sit to the right of a consonant and ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ sit below it.

Adding a second short stroke makes the y-version: ㅏ becomes ㅑ, ㅓ becomes ㅕ, ㅗ becomes ㅛ and ㅜ becomes ㅠ.

The compound vowels glide. ㅘ is ㅗ plus ㅏ (wa) and ㅝ is ㅜ plus ㅓ (wo). Read them as one sound, not two syllables.

Which Sounds Do Not Match the Spelling?

ㅐ and ㅔ now sound the same for most Seoul speakers, so tell them apart through spelling. ㅚ ㅙ ㅞ are often all pronounced "we" in modern speech, although textbooks teach them as separate letters. Treat both statements as general observations.

ㅡ has no English equivalent: spread your lips as if smiling and say a short flat vowel with the tongue back. ㅓ is written eo but is a wide-open "uh", not "eh-oh".

Revised Romanization writes ㅚ as oe and ㅢ as ui, which are spellings for the learner, not guides to sound.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make with Hangul Vowels?

• Swapping ㅓ and ㅗ. ㅓ opens the mouth, while ㅗ rounds the lips.
• Swapping ㅜ and ㅡ. ㅜ has rounded lips, while ㅡ is flat.
• Reading ㅘ as two syllables, "o-a".
• Expecting different sounds for ㅐ and ㅔ, and then being confused when native speakers do not make the difference.

A mixed set is a good test of these mistakes, so shuffle the deck once each group feels familiar.

How Does the Review Schedule Work?

The deck uses a simplified Leitner system with five boxes. A new card starts in box 1. Each Got it moves it up one box, and each Not yet returns it to box 1. The box sets how long the card waits before it is due again.

Each session shows due cards first, oldest due first, and then up to 10 new cards a day by default. A deck of 21 cards is introduced over three days at the default of 10 new cards a day, and the later boxes bring each card back at longer gaps. Progress is saved only in this browser, so clearing site data deletes it. Use the export button to save a small JSON file with card IDs, boxes and due dates, and import it on another device. No account is needed.

Cultural and Practical Context

According to the Hunminjeongeum Haerye, Hangul vowels were built from three symbols: a dot for heaven, a horizontal line for earth and a vertical line for a person. In modern Hangul the dot has become a short stroke. The 21 vowels you study here come from that design.

Limits of This Deck

The deck gives approximate English sound hints, and the real vowels do not match any English vowel exactly. The claims about ㅐ and ㅔ and about ㅚ ㅙ ㅞ describe the speech of many present-day speakers, not every speaker. All Korean text is generated, and Min-ji Park reviewed and signed off the text and audio on 15 October 2026.

Next Steps after the Hangul Vowels Flashcards

After this deck, continue with the basic Korean vowels flashcards if you want a smaller set, or move to the Korean double consonants flashcards to finish the consonants. Test yourself with the Hangul vowels quiz, explore shapes in the interactive hangul alphabet, and see every deck in the Hangul flashcards list or the Korean flashcards hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Many Vowels Are in Korean?

Korean has 21 vowel letters: 10 basic vowels (ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ) and 11 compound vowels (ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅢ). With the 19 consonants they make the 40 letters of Hangul. This deck teaches all 21 vowels with one example word each.

What Is the Difference between ㅐ and ㅔ?

In spelling, ㅐ is ㅏ plus ㅣ and ㅔ is ㅓ plus ㅣ. In speech, most present-day speakers in Seoul pronounce them alike, as a short "e" as in "bed". Because the sounds have merged, you must remember which word uses which letter, such as 개 (dog) and 게 (crab).

How Do I Pronounce ㅡ?

Spread your lips as if smiling, keep the tongue back and say a short flat "uh" without rounding. It is not the "oo" of moon, which is ㅜ. Revised Romanization writes ㅡ as eu, so 음악 (music) is eumak. Copy the audio and keep your lips spread.

Are Compound Vowels One Sound or Two?

They are read as one glide, not two separate syllables. ㅘ is a quick "wa", ㅝ a quick "wuh" and ㅢ a quick "ui". The Meaning column shows the two parts, but say them smoothly: 사과 (sagwa, apple) is two syllables, not three.

Is My Progress Saved If I Close the Page?

Yes, in the same browser on the same device. Card boxes and due dates are stored locally and nothing is sent to a server. Clearing site data, using a private window or switching browsers removes them, so use the export button to keep a backup file that you can import later. No account is needed.