Korean Consonants: 19 Letters, Three Series and Northern Names

November 7, 2026 · KoryoTalk · 6 min read

Short answer: Korean has 19 consonants (닿소리) in the North Korean count — 14 plain letters plus 5 tense ones. The plain letters split into two series: 순한소리 (ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ) and the aspirated 거센소리 (ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ ㅎ); the tense series 된소리 is ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ. Consonants carry names, and the names differ: the northern norm calls ㄱ 기윽, ㄷ 디읃, ㅅ 시읏; the southern norm uses 기역, 디귿, 시옷. Below is the full table of 19 letters with examples from a North Korean dictionary.

Why 19 consonants, not 14

The count depends on the norm. The northern norm (문화어) counts all 19 signs as independent letters: 14 plain consonants and 5 tense ones — ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ, each with its own name (된기윽, 된디읃, 된비읍, 된시읏, 된지읒) and its own slot in dictionary order. The southern school traditionally says 14: it treats the tense consonants as "doubled" variants of plain ones rather than separate letters. The signs themselves are identical — the difference is accounting, not writing; the two letter counts, 40 vs 24, are compared in a separate article.

The three series: 순한소리, 거센소리, 된소리

The northern phonetic tradition divides consonants (자음) into three series — a division more practical than a flat letter list, because the series defines pronunciation:

• 순한소리 — the plain series: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ㅇ ㅈ. No extra aspiration or tension: 입술 "lips", 혀 "tongue", 목청 "throat" work as in English.
• 거센소리 — the aspirated series: ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ ㅎ. Strong friction — pronounced with a visible puff of air.
• 된소리 — the tense series: ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ. The closure is held longer; the sound is tense and voiceless — the dictionary of the DPRK describes the series as geminates.

The series is not decoration — it distinguishes meaning. The pair 불 "fire" and 뿔 "horn" differs only by the consonant series: plain ㅂ vs tense ㅃ. Same with 곳 "place" and 꽃 "flower", 또 "again" vs 도. A listener identifies the word by its series — which is why consonants are best learned by the three series at once.

All 19 consonants: table with examples

Letter names follow the northern norm; southern variants are marked where the norms diverge. Examples are words from a North Korean dictionary.

Example meanings are given by the common meaning of the words.

North and South: same letters, different names

Vowels need no names — they are read by their sound (모음). Consonants do: the letter ㄱ cannot be pronounced alone, so naming it requires a syllable. This is where the norms diverge most visibly: the northern system builds names on a single model — 기윽, 디읃, 시읏 — while the southern one uses other forms — 기역, 디귿, 시옷. Tense-series names in the North add the prefix 된-: 된기윽, 된디읃, 된시읏. A textbook's letter names betray its norm at a glance — the letters and sounds themselves are the same in both. How the northern and southern alphabet counts relate is covered in the one-alphabet-two-names overview.

Minimal pairs: how the series changes meaning

Short pairs that differ by a single letter train the ear fastest:

• 불 — 뿔: "fire" — "horn". Plain ㅂ vs tense ㅃ.
• 곳 — 꽃: "place" — "flower". Plain ㅅ vs tense ㅆ.
• 또 "again" — with tense ㄸ: the word starts with a 된소리 series sound, audible from the first syllable.

The full set of minimal pairs for all 40 letters with pronunciation is covered in the alphabet pronunciation article.

How to learn the consonants efficiently

The working order is the one northern textbooks for beginners use: first the 9 plain 순한소리, then the 5 aspirated 거센소리, then the 5 tense 된소리 — five letters per session. At every step the letter is anchored by an example word: 기윽 — 가구, 디읃 — 다리. Once all 19 consonants are recognized by name, the vowels join in — and a syllable assembles by the formula "consonant + vowel + final". Flashcards for all 40 letters by the northern norm are collected in the letter-table article; the overall starting order is in the beginner's guide.

To check how a specific word is spelled and translated by the northern norm, use the KoryoTalk bot: a dictionary base of 2.2 million Korean-Russian entries plus a separately collected layer of verified northern correspondences.