Korean Vowels Stroke Order: One Rule, 21 Vowels

What you'll learn (about 25 minutes)

• Write the 10 basic vowels with the correct first stroke.
• Build the 11 compound vowels from their parts, without memorising new rules.
• Count the strokes of any vowel and fix the three most common vowel errors.

Before you start: you should recognise the vowels by sight and know the general rules on the Hangul stroke order rules page. Use squared paper or a grid with 10 mm squares.

How Are Korean Vowels Built?

Every Korean vowel is made from one long line and zero, one or two short strokes called ticks. The long line is either vertical (as in ㅣ) or horizontal (as in ㅡ). A tick is a short stroke attached to the long line, pointing out to one side. Korean teachers call the writing order 획순 (hoeksun, "stroke order").

Two vowels have no ticks at all: ㅡ is a horizontal line and ㅣ is a vertical line. They are the two parts that all other vowels grow from. Add one tick to a vertical line and you get ㅏ or ㅓ. Add one tick to a horizontal line and you get ㅗ or ㅜ. Add two ticks and you get the y-vowels ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ and ㅠ.

The sounds of these vowels are taught in Korean vowels. Here we only look at how the hand moves. The next section gives the single rule that fixes the order.

Korean Vowels Stroke Order: the Position Rule

The position rule says: write the stroke that is higher or further to the left first. You do not need a separate order for each vowel. You only need to look at where the tick sits compared with the long line.

Two small habits go with the rule. Draw vertical lines from top to bottom, and draw horizontal lines from left to right. A tick that sticks out to the right is drawn from the long line outwards, left to right. A tick that sticks out to the left is drawn from the outside towards the long line, so it still travels left to right.

Here is the rule applied to the four one-tick vowels:

If you remember only one thing, remember this table. The sections below apply it to every group.

How Do You Write Vertical Vowels?

Vertical vowels are ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅑ, ㅕ and ㅣ, and they use a long line that runs from top to bottom. For ㅏ, draw the long line down, then add a short tick to the right at about the middle. For ㅓ, draw the tick to the left of where the line will be, then draw the long line down.

• ㅏ (2 strokes): line down, tick right.
• ㅓ (2 strokes): tick, then line down.
• ㅑ (3 strokes): line down, then two ticks to the right, upper tick first.
• ㅕ (3 strokes): two ticks to the left, upper tick first, then the line down.
• ㅣ (1 stroke): line down.

Keep the ticks short. A good rule of thumb is that a tick is about one third as long as the long line. The upper and lower ticks of ㅑ and ㅕ sit at roughly one third and two thirds of the height, and they should be the same length. The sounds of these vowels are in the lesson on the vowel ㅏ, which pairs the written shape with audio.

How Do You Write Horizontal Vowels?

Horizontal vowels are ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅛ, ㅠ and ㅡ, and they use a long line that runs from left to right. For ㅗ, draw the tick at the top first, then the long line under it. For ㅜ, draw the long line first, then the tick below. The y-vowels ㅛ and ㅠ add a second tick.

• ㅗ (2 strokes): tick up, then line across.
• ㅜ (2 strokes): line across, then tick down.
• ㅛ (3 strokes): two ticks, left tick first, then the line across.
• ㅠ (3 strokes): line across, then two ticks down, left tick first.
• ㅡ (1 stroke): line across, left to right.

Notice the mirror pattern. ㅗ and ㅜ are the same shape turned upside down, but they are not written in mirror order, because both follow "higher stroke first". In ㅗ the higher stroke is the tick. In ㅜ the higher stroke is the long line.

Compound Vowels Written Part by Part

A compound vowel is written as its parts, in the same order you would say them. There are 11 compound vowels, and none has a new rule. Each is one basic vowel followed by another, or by ㅣ. The compound vowels are explained in compound vowels.

Two things are worth knowing. First, in ㅐ and ㅔ the final ㅣ is the right-hand line, so you write the first part (ㅏ or ㅓ) and then add a second vertical line to its right. The two letters differ only in where the tick sits: in ㅐ the tick sits between the two lines, and in ㅔ it sits to the left of both. Their pronunciation is covered in the lesson on ㅐ and ㅔ, where you will find that most speakers say them the same way.

Second, in ㅘ, ㅝ, ㅙ and ㅞ the first part (ㅗ or ㅜ) goes at the lower left of the block, under the initial consonant, and the second part stands to its right. The first part is written first, as in "higher or further left first".

Stroke Count Table for All 21 Vowels

The 21 Korean vowels use between 1 and 5 strokes each, and the table below sorts them by count. The counts are computed from the parts shown above and follow common school practice.

The total is 2 + 5 + 8 + 4 + 2 = 21 vowels. A quick check: the basic vowels use 1, 2 or 3 strokes (ten vowels: 2 + 4 + 4), and the compound vowels use 2 to 5 strokes.

Limit: some Korean school materials count the strokes slightly differently, especially when a tick and a line are joined in one movement. Counts are a teaching aid. What matters for neat writing is the order, so follow one book consistently.

Worked Example: Writing 와 and 위

Writing 와 (wa, "wow") takes five strokes and 위 (wi, "above") takes four. Both start with the silent ㅇ, which is written first even though it makes no sound. Each syllable block follows the order initial consonant, vowel, final consonant, which is explained fully in writing whole syllable blocks.

와, step by step:

1. Stroke 1: draw the small circle ㅇ in the upper left, starting at the top and turning counter-clockwise.
2. Stroke 2: draw the short tick of ㅗ, top to bottom, in the middle of the block under the circle.
3. Stroke 3: draw the horizontal line of ㅗ under the tick, left to right.
4. Stroke 4: draw the long vertical line of ㅏ on the right side, top to bottom.
5. Stroke 5: draw the tick of ㅏ to the right of its line, at the middle.

위, step by step:

1. Stroke 1: draw ㅇ in the upper left.
2. Stroke 2: draw the horizontal line of ㅜ under the circle, left to right.
3. Stroke 3: draw the tick of ㅜ downwards from the line.
4. Stroke 4: draw the vertical line of ㅣ on the right side, top to bottom.

Check the result. In both syllables the vowel's long vertical line on the right should be as tall as the whole block, and the circle should be small and sit in the upper left. If the ㅣ is much shorter than the block, the syllable will look cramped.

Why Are the Short Strokes Short?

The short strokes are short because they descend from a dot. In the original Hangul design of 1443 to 1446, described in the Hunminjeongeum Haerye (the 1446 explanation of the alphabet), the vowels were built from three symbols: a round dot for the sky, a flat line for the earth and an upright line for a person. A vowel such as ㅏ was a vertical line with a dot beside it.

Over time the dot came to be written as a short stroke, most likely because a short line is faster to write with a brush than a round dot. That is why the tick on ㅏ is a tiny line and not a dot. The dot itself, written ㆍ (called arae-a), is no longer used in modern Korean. Its history is in the lost letter ㆍ.

There is also a link to sound. In traditional descriptions, vowels where the tick points up or to the right (ㅏ, ㅗ) are "bright" and those where it points down or to the left (ㅓ, ㅜ) are "dark". The idea of bright and dark vowels is still used when verbs are conjugated. The practical lesson for writing is simple: direction of the tick is part of the letter's identity, so always check which side it is on.

Common Mistakes with Vowel Strokes

Three mistakes account for most vowel errors. Each has a clear fix.

A fourth, less obvious error is turning the tick the wrong way. If you write the tick of ㅏ on the left, you have written ㅓ, which is a different vowel and a different sound. Since 아 and 어 are different words in Korean, the side matters as much as the order.

Common misconception: learners often think the long line of ㅗ and ㅜ must be drawn from right to left to match the mirror image of the letters. It is not. All horizontal lines in Hangul move left to right, and all vertical lines move top to bottom.

Limit of this page: it covers the conventional hand order for printed-style letters. Quick everyday handwriting sometimes joins ticks and lines, and printed fonts add decorative ends to strokes. Both look different from the letters taught here and are covered in the handwritten letter shapes guide.

Practice: Pairs and Dictation

Practise in two steps: copy matching pairs side by side, then write ten syllables from audio or from the list. Use a grid and say the stroke number aloud as you write.

Part 1. Copy pairs. Write each pair three times, alternating: ㅏ / ㅓ, ㅗ / ㅜ, ㅐ / ㅔ, ㅑ / ㅕ, ㅛ / ㅠ. Check that the ticks point the right way in every pair.

Part 2. Count the strokes. Say the number for each vowel without looking at the table: ㅘ, ㅢ, ㅖ, ㅙ, ㅟ.

Part 3. Dictation. Write these ten syllables. Each starts with the silent ㅇ, so the only part that changes is the vowel you hear: 아, 어, 오, 우, 으, 이, 애, 에, 와, 위. For each, say the order out loud before you write it.

Answers to the Practice

• Part 2: ㅘ 4, ㅢ 2, ㅖ 4, ㅙ 5, ㅟ 3.
• Part 3: the first stroke of each syllable is the circle ㅇ. After it, 아 takes the long line then the tick, and 어 takes the tick then the line. 오 takes the tick then the line, and 우 takes the line then the tick. 으 and 이 take one line each. 애 and 에 take the vowel parts in order, then the second vertical line, and 와 and 위 follow the worked example above.

For a full set of printable grids, use the Hangul tracing worksheets and trace each vowel ten times.

What to Learn Next

After the vowels, learn how the doubled and compound letters are written together. Continue with stroke order for double letters, which covers ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ and ㅉ and the proportions of paired shapes. If you have not yet learned the consonants, work through consonant stroke order first, then return here.

The rule to keep is short: in Korean vowels stroke order, the higher or further-left stroke is written first, so ㅏ starts with its long line and ㅓ starts with its tick.

Frequently Asked Questions