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Diphthongs
Diphthongs may look scary, but theyre actually just two vowels glued together two vowels weve already learned in previous lessons. In addition, you can figure out the sounds that most of these make by simply pronouncing the vowels inside of them together. As many of these sounds cannot be written in English, I highly recommend listening to the audio file for this lesson in order to hear what each of them sounds like. There are a total of 7 diphthongs in .

This diphthong is composed of and , so the sound it makes when used in is similar to uh-ee its as if youre saying the English word eye but pronouncing it like uh-ee. However, when used with any other consonant besides , in order to make it easier to say it is pronounced the same as (ee). For example, is pronounced . In addition, there is one more situation where this diphthong is pronounced as (when used as a possessive particle) which well learn later on. How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

This diphthong is composed of and , so the sound it makes is similar to oh-a, or just wa. How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

This diphthong is composed of and , so the sound it makes is similar to u-oh, or just woh. How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

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This diphthong is composed of and , so the sound it makes is similar to u-ee, like the English word we, or like the French word oui. How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

This diphthong is composed of and , so the sound it makes is similar to oh-eh, or just weh, almost like the English word way. How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

This diphthong is composed of and , but the sound it makes is not what it seems. It actually makes the sound of a plus a , but there is no diphthong that draws those two together (). For all purposes, you can pronounce this one the same as . How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

This diphthong is composed of and , so the sound it makes is similar to u-eh, or just u-weh. Since it uses a instead of a , the sound it makes is slightly different than or How to write it: Draw a , followed by a .

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Practice
Try reading these words yourself before listening to the audio file.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
New vocabulary
Here are some new words that you can learn after finishing this lesson. As usual, dont worry about memorizing these words yet. Well go over them anyway in future lessons. For now, just consider them as reading practice.

(hope)

(fruit)

(Won the Korean currency [\])

(ear)

(why)

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(a key)

(healthy literally well being)

Conclusion
Weve now finished learning every basic consonant and vowel, every double and strong consonant, and now every diphthong in . There are no more letters left to learn. All thats left is to learn some rules about sound changes when combining syllables together. By sound changes, I mean changing the sound of characters to make it easier to pronounce. There are several rules youll have to learn, but you will appreciate their existence. Their purpose is to make much easier to read, which will allow you to pronounce full sentences much more easily. The remaining lessons will focus on sound changes. I highly recommend that you practice everything that youve learned so far, including this lesson, before going onto the next lesson. Also check out the sound files as well. If you have any questions or feedback, or just want to say hello, feel free to contact me through my web site at http://www.gobillykorean.com

GO! Billy Korean