Korean Vowels: 21 Letters, Two Series and the Three Elements

November 8, 2026 · KoryoTalk · 6 min read

Short answer: Korean has 21 vowels (모음) in the North Korean count — 11 simple 홑모음 and 10 compound 겹모음. Unlike consonants, vowels need no names: each letter is read by its own sound. The system rests on three element strokes — the dot ㆍ (heaven, bright sound), the flat line ㅡ (earth, neutral sound) and the upright stroke ㅣ (human, dark sound); doubling and pairing them produces the whole series. Below is the full table of 21 vowels with examples from a North Korean dictionary and the reading rule for the trickiest letter, ㅢ.

Why 21 vowels, not 10

The count depends on the norm, and with vowels the picture mirrors the consonants. The southern school traditionally names 10 “basic” vowels and treats the compounds (ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ, ㅒ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅚ, ㅟ, ㅢ) as combinations. The northern norm (문화어) counts each of the 21 letters as an independent letter with its own place in dictionary order. The written signs are identical — the difference is in the counting, not the script; the full comparison of the two counts — 40 vs 24 — is in the neighbouring article.

How the series is built: heaven, earth, human

The vowel system is not a list but a diagram. Three source strokes stand for three elements: the dot ㆍ is heaven and the bright sound, the horizontal line ㅡ is earth and the neutral sound, the vertical stroke ㅣ is the human and the dark sound. Stroke plus dot yields four basic vowels: ㅏ (ㅣ+ㆍ on the right), ㅓ (ㆍ+ㅣ on the left), ㅗ (ㅡ+ㆍ above), ㅜ (ㆍ+ㅡ below). The dot then doubles (ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ) and the signs pair up (ㅘ = ㅗ+ㅏ, ㅝ = ㅜ+ㅓ, ㅢ = ㅡ+ㅣ). Vertical vowels are written to the right of the consonant, horizontal ones below it: 누구 “who” versus 어머니 “mother”. The source dot ㆍ has long fallen out of use — modern letters carry its trace as a short stroke.

All 21 vowels: table with examples

Examples are words from a North Korean dictionary. Meanings are given by the common meaning of the words.

Meanings are given by the common meaning of the words.

North and south: where vowels agree and differ

The letters and their sounds are the same in both norms — the divergence starts with the counting (21 vs 10) and the pronunciation of particular positions. The most audible difference is ㅢ: in 의사 “doctor” the northern norm pronounces both elements clearly (“eu-i”), while fast southern speech often reduces it to “i”. This is the same class of differences as the consonant names: northern 기윽, 디읃, 시읏 versus southern 기역, 디귿, 시옷. The dialect base of the northern norm is the Pyongyang variety, which also leaves its trace in vowels — more in the overview of one alphabet with two names.

The reading rule for ㅢ: three positions

The most capricious letter of the series is ㅢ. Three positions determine its reading:

• Word-initial — read in full: 의사 “doctor”, 의자 “chair”.
• Not initial and unstressed — usually reduced to “i”: 회의 “meeting” reads “hoe-i”.
• In the possessive particle 의 — sounds like “e” in speech: 나의 “my” is “na-e”.

In writing the letter is always the same — only the pronunciation changes. The transcriptions of all 40 letters with reading examples are covered in the alphabet pronunciation article.

How to learn the vowels efficiently

The working order is the one used in northern textbooks for beginners: first the four basic vowels ㅏ ㅓ ㅗ ㅜ, then ㅡ ㅣ and the doubled ㅑ ㅕ ㅛ ㅠ, then ㅐ ㅔ and the pairs ㅘ ㅝ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ. Each step fixes the letter with an example word: ㅏ — 나무, ㅜ — 우물. Once all 21 vowels are recognised by sound, the consonants join in — and the syllable assembles by the formula “consonant + vowel + final”. Cards for all 40 letters in the northern norm are collected in the letter-table article; the overall starting order — in the beginner's guide.

To check how a particular word is spelled and translated in 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.