This is the last lesson that introduces new characters. Fifteen vowels sounds like a wall, but there is nothing to memorise: every one of them is built from the six vowels you already have, by one of three operations.
After this lesson the alphabet is closed. 40 of 40 letters. Every Hangul block that exists is one you can split into slots and sound out — no gaps, no "I haven't met that one yet." What is left after today is not letters but sound changes (Lesson 5) and vocabulary (Lesson 6).
Exactly the derivation logic you used for the consonants, but easier: the added stroke does not change the vowel at all, it just glues a y in front of it. This is the single cheapest rule in Hangul.
The old ㅗ/ㅜ problem, doubled. ㅛ and ㅠ both sit below the consonant and differ only in which way the ticks point — exactly the trap you already had with ㅗ and ㅜ. Same fix, same Merkhilfe: unten & oben — Striche nach unten = U (ㅠ), Striche nach oben = O (ㅛ), the Y just rides along. Compare 교 and 규 .
Historically these were true diphthongs: ㅏ gliding into ㅣ. They collapsed centuries ago into a single flat e, but the spelling kept the two pieces.
Count the ticks on the left of the vertical bar: ㅐ and ㅔ have one, ㅒ and ㅖ have two — and two ticks always meant Y. The rules stack.
Here is the thing nobody tells you up front, and it removes most of the work: several of these vowels are no longer distinguished in modern Seoul speech. They are spelling differences, not sound differences.
Why this is good news for you. You are reading, not listening. You will never have to decide by ear which one is written — you can see it. And when you sound a sign out, being "wrong" between ㅐ and ㅔ costs you nothing, because a Korean says them the same way too.
The ㅐ/ㅔ merger is complete for speakers under about 50; older and some regional speakers still keep them apart. ㅚ is prescriptively a single rounded front vowel [ø] — the German ö — but almost nobody outside dialect speech says it that way any more. (Wikipedia: Korean vowels)
The last seven are arithmetic. Put a horizontal vowel first and a vertical vowel second, and the first one turns into a glide. No new shapes to learn at all — you already know every piece.
The German trap, and it is a big one. The w in this romanization is the English w — the sound in water, or the ou in French oui. It is not the German W of Wasser, which is a V. Say 화 as "hwa" with rounded lips, never "hva". Easiest fix: don't think of it as a W at all — just say ㅗ and ㅏ quickly, one after the other, and the glide appears on its own. 화
You cannot guess wrong on which base to use. ㅗ only ever pairs with ㅏ ㅐ ㅣ, and ㅜ only ever pairs with ㅓ ㅔ ㅣ. ㅗ+ㅓ is not a letter and never appears. So the bottom-left piece and the right-hand piece always agree — if you can read one, you have the other.
ㅢ is the one vowel that changes depending on where it sits. At the very start of a word it really is "eui" — 의사 (doctor). Anywhere else it flattens to a plain "i": 편의점 is written pyeon-ui-jeom but said "pyeo-ni-jeom". As the possessive particle it becomes "e". For sign-reading, "flatten it to i" is right almost every time.
Lesson 1 gave you two block layouts. The W-vowels add the third and last one: the vowel is now in two places, wrapping around the consonant. Nothing about the reading order changes — you still go top-left, then around, then bottom.
Spotting a W-vowel at a glance: if there is something in the bottom-left and something down the whole right side, the vowel is one of the seven. That silhouette is unmistakable once you have seen it a few times — and it means "sound a W in here".
Same trick as last lesson, now for vowels. Revised Romanization gives every one of the 21 a distinct spelling — even the ones that sound identical. So the romanization under a Korean sign tells you the exact jamo, and you can run it backwards.
| Base | + tick = Y | + ㅣ = "eh" | + both |
|---|---|---|---|
| ㅏ a | ㅑ ya | ㅐ ae | ㅒ yae |
| ㅓ eo | ㅕ yeo | ㅔ e | ㅖ ye |
| ㅗ o | ㅛ yo | ㅚ oe | — |
| ㅜ u | ㅠ yu | ㅟ wi | — |
| ㅡ eu | — | ㅢ ui | — |
| W-combos | ㅘ wa | ㅙ wae | ㅝ wo ㅞ we |
Three reading rules that cover all 21. A leading y → the vowel has the second tick. A leading w → the vowel starts with ㅗ or ㅜ. A trailing e (ae, e, oe, wae, we) → there is a ㅣ tacked on the end. Everything else is one of the six you learned on day one. (Revised Romanization)
Two different kinds of hazard now. The first is genuine — one tick apart, and you have to see it. The second only looks like a hazard: the pairs that sound identical, where there is nothing to hear and you simply read what is drawn.
Bottom-left first. Every W-vowel mistake comes from reading the right-hand piece and guessing the rest. Train the opposite order: find the little horizontal in the bottom-left, decide ㅗ or ㅜ with unten & oben (Strich nach unten = U, nach oben = O), then look right. ㅗ gives you wa/wae/oe; ㅜ gives you wo/we/wi.
Twelve rounds over the pairs above. Some pairs sound identical —
those are pure spelling calls, and the drill will say so.
Answer fast; on a sign you get about half a second.
Y-vowels and W-vowels are everywhere in Korean place names — these were all unreadable before today.
| Hangul | Reads | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 대구 | DAEGU | Fourth city, inland southeast. ㅐ in the first block. |
| 대전 | DAEJEON | Dead centre, the national rail hub. ㅐ then the eo trap. |
| 광주 | GWANGJU | Big southwestern city. Your first W-vowel in a place name. |
| 경주 | GYEONGJU | Southeast, the old Silla capital — temples and burial mounds. |
| 수원 | SUWON | Just south of Seoul, walled fortress city. |
| 원주 | WONJU | Inland east, in 강원도 Gangwon province. |
| 여수 | YEOSU | South coast, islands and bridges. ㅕ = yeo, an "yuh". |
| 제주 | JEJU | The volcanic island south of the mainland — palm trees and black basalt walls give it away instantly. |
| 경기도 | GYEONGGI-DO | The province wrapped around Seoul. On more road signs than any other province name. |
| 대한민국 | DAEHANMINGUK | The country's own name for itself. On passports, government buildings and football shirts. |
| 평양 | PYEONGYANG | North Korea's capital — two Y-vowels. Not a GeoGuessr location, but you can read it now. |
The -주 cities are a set worth learning together, because they are one jamo apart and GeoGuessr will hand you a blurry sign: 광주 Gwangju (southwest), 경주 Gyeongju (southeast), 전주 Jeonju (southwest, food city), 청주 Cheongju (centre), 공주 Gongju (centre), 제주 Jeju (island), 원주 Wonju (east). Read the first block carefully — the second is always the same.
This is where the vowels pay for themselves. Almost every everyday Korean building word contains a Y- or W-vowel, which is why they were out of reach until now.
| Hangul | Reads | Meaning & where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| 편의점 | PYEONUIJEOM | Convenience store. CU, GS25, 7-Eleven — the most common storefront in Korea. |
| 병원 | BYEONGWON | Hospital / clinic. Also inside 동물병원 (vet) and 치과병원 (dental). |
| 약국 | YAKGUK | Pharmacy. Usually a green cross sign. ㅑ right at the front. |
| 은행 | EUNHAENG | Bank. Follows the bank's name: 국민은행, 신한은행. |
| 학교 | HAKGYO | School. 초등학교 primary, 중학교 middle, 고등학교 high. |
| 대학교 | DAEHAKGYO | University. Big campus gates, and it names a lot of subway stations. |
| 교회 | GYOHOE | Church. The red neon crosses on the skyline — a strong Korea signal at night. |
| 화장실 | HWAJANGSIL | Toilet. Parks, stations, petrol stations. |
| 경찰서 | GYEONGCHALSEO | Police station. The big one; 파출소 from Lesson 3 is the small local box. |
| 우체국 | UCHEGUK | Post office. Red and white livery, a swallow logo. |
| 미용실 | MIYONGSIL | Hair salon. On roughly every block. |
| 세탁소 | SETAKSO | Dry cleaner. Small shopfront, often with a shirt icon. |
| 노래방 | NORAEBANG | Karaoke room. The third 방 business, after 피시방 and 찜질방. |
| 역 | YEOK | Station. One block, enormous value — every rail and metro station name ends in it: 서울역, 부산역. |
| 횡단보도 | HOENGDANBODO | Pedestrian crossing. On warning signs before crossings. |
| 어린이 보호구역 | EORINI BOHOGUYEOK | School zone ("child protection zone"). Painted huge in yellow on the road surface, with red tarmac. One of the most Korea-specific things you can see from a car. |
역 (station) is the highest-value single block in this whole lesson: on GeoGuessr it turns any station sign into a place name. (Korean address & signage format)
40 of 40. The Hangul alphabet is complete — 19 consonants, 21 vowels, nothing left to meet.
Next up (Lesson 5): why 꽃집 is said "kkot-jip" and 한국말 comes out as "han-gung-mal". Nineteen consonants can sit at the bottom of a block, but they only make seven sounds down there — and they bleed into the next block. That is the last gap between reading a sign correctly and hearing it correctly.
The fifteen new vowels, shuffled in with four from Lesson 1. Say the sound aloud, then reveal.
No restrictions any more — these use the full alphabet. Split each block into slots, then say it aloud.
Space to reveal
1/2/3 to score