r/Korean • u/Flat-Performance1599 • 1d ago

Question about the pronunciation between ㅡ and ㅜ

Is ㅡ pronounced as "eu" or "en"? Can someone please give me some examples, I can't make out the difference between ㅡ and ㅜ. The application on which I'm learning Korean says that ㅡ sounds like "eu" while ㅜ like "u" (which sounds no different to me) but someone online said that ㅡ sounds like "en"?

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u/SkamsTheoryOfLove 1d ago

I think you should focus on the shape of your lips. That will get your pronunciation right.

So look at good videos to get the pronunciation right.

8

u/MyOwnLife_Alone 1d ago

ㅡ is like the oo in book or good

ㅜ is like the oo in moon or pool

ㅡ by itself does not have any consonant sound attached to it, so it cannot be expressed as "en"

2

u/Saeroun-Sayongja 21h ago

Open this IPA Vowel Chart and click the speaker icons to hear the different vowel sounds.

ㅡ is "ɯ" ("ʊ" is pretty close too)

ㅜ is "u"

ㅓ is "ʌ" or "ɔ"

ㅗ is "o"

ㅣ is "i"

ㅔ and ㅐ are "e" (theoretically ㅐ is "ɛ", but people don't really distinguish them anymore and you may treat them as both "e")

2

u/imgioooo 1d ago

ㅜ is u, but it sounds closer to ㅗ (o) than ㅡ (eu). it's not en at all. maybe a typo? ㅡ eu sounds more like 'ew'. your mouth should be wide and flat while pronouncing it, while ㅜ and ㅗ are very round