If you are not already familiar with all of the consonants and vowels in Hangul, please first refer to my previous articles about the Korean alphabet, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
There are some pronunciation rules, or rather phonetic patterns, when pronouncing Korean syllables together in a word or sentence. English has its own patterns as well, but we’re just so used to the language that the flow is automatic to us and we don’t even stop to think about it.
If you have ever spoken to someone new to the English language, you would have noticed that they face similar challenges with their English pronunciation. When beginning learners of any language try to pronounce each letter according to the alphabet, they can end up sounding awkward or unintelligible.
Once you are familiar with the Hangul consonants, vowels, and syllable blocks, you should start to apply some general pronunciation rules when reading two or more syllables together. Several of those rules are described in this article.
As you approach each section, please try not to focus on the rule itself. Think of them as patterns rather than rules. Read each set of examples out loud repeatedly and try to see that the change in pronunciation makes sense.
If you practice saying the words out loud, you will notice that the described phonetic changes sound much more natural than trying to vocalize each syllable separately.
1. Final consonant sounds
At the end of a word or before a consonant, Korean syllables use seven basic final consonant sounds. The stops ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅂ are unreleased: close the airflow without adding a burst or an extra vowel. Nasals and ㄹ are not stops. The examples below use simple sound guides.
| Consonants | Final sound | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| ㄴ | n | 간 [gan] |
| ㄹ | l | 갈 [gal] |
| ㅁ | m | 감 [gam] |
| ㅇ | ng | 강 [gang] |
| ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ | k | 박, 밖 [bak, bak]; a final ㅋ also has the sound [k] |
| ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ | t | 갇, 같, 갓, 갔, 갖, 갗 [gat, gat, gat, gat, gat, gat] |
| ㅂ, ㅍ | p | 갑, 갚 [gap, gap] |
2. Linking (resyllabification): a final consonant before a vowel
When a final consonant is followed by a vowel-initial particle or ending, it normally links to that vowel. The spelling stays unchanged. This is linking, or resyllabification, rather than lenition. Word boundaries, consonant clusters, ㅎ, and palatalization can affect the result.
Here are some examples:
| As written | Correct pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 옷을 입어요. | [오슬 이버요] | I wear clothes. |
| 책이 재밌어요. | [채기 재미써요] | The book is fun to read. |
| 질문이 있어요. | [질무니 이써요] | I have a question. |
| 알았어요. | [아라써요] | I understand. |
3. Nasal assimilation: a final stop before ㄴ or ㅁ
ㄴ and ㅁ are nasal consonants. Final ㅇ represents the nasal sound ng; initial ㅇ has no sound. Before ㄴ or ㅁ, final stop sounds change to the corresponding nasals, as shown below. Consonant clusters first reduce to the relevant final sound.
ㅂ, ㅍ → [ㅁ]
ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ→ [ㄴ]
ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ → [ㅇ]
Let’s look at some examples:
| As written | Correct pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 입만 | [임만] |
| 앞문 | [암문] |
| 없나요 | [엄나요] |
| 받는다 | [반는다] |
| 일학년 | [일항년] |
| 한국말 | [한궁말] |
In 한국말, the ㄱ before ㅁ becomes [ㅇ], producing [한궁말]. The ㄴ in 한 stays [ㄴ]. In 일학년, the ㄱ before ㄴ becomes [ㅇ], producing [일항년]; retain the ㅎ in careful standard pronunciation.
4. Liquid assimilation: ㄴ and ㄹ together
Adjacent ㄴ and ㄹ often become [ㄹㄹ], as in 한라산, 진리, and 달님. This is not universal: some words and morpheme boundaries produce [ㄴㄴ], so check unfamiliar words in a pronunciation dictionary. 서울역 also involves an inserted ㄴ before assimilation.
Here are some examples:
| As written | Correct pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 한라산 | [할라산] [hallasan] |
| 진리 | [질리] [jilli] |
| 달님 | [달림] [dallim] |
| 서울역 | [서울력] [seoullyeok] |
5. Tensification: a final stop before ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, or ㅈ
After a final stop pronounced [ㄱ], [ㄷ], or [ㅂ], a following ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, or ㅈ becomes tense: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, or ㅉ. Other tensification patterns also exist.
Tense sounds are basically made up of the double consonants. Below are the tense and aspirated sounds in Hangul as a reference:
| Plain | Tense | Aspirated |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄲ | ㅋ |
| ㄷ | ㄸ | ㅌ |
| ㅂ | ㅃ | ㅍ |
| ㅅ | ㅆ | |
| ㅈ | ㅉ | ㅊ |
Now let’s take a look at some examples of the tensification rule in practice:
| As written | Correct pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 학교 | [학꾜] |
| 식당 | [식땅] |
| 숙제 | [숙쩨] |
| 책상 | [책쌍] |
| 꽃집 | [꼳찝] |
| 있습니다 | [읻씀니다] |
| 없습니다 | [업씀니다] |
*You should have noticed that in the last two rows, Rule #3 (nasal consonants) was also applied when “~ㅂ니다” is pronounced [~ㅁ니다].
6. Aspiration: ㅎ with ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, or ㅈ
ㅎ is not an aspirated counterpart of ㅇ. When ㅎ combines with a neighboring ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, or ㅈ in the patterns shown below, the result is the corresponding aspirated consonant ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, or ㅊ.
An easier way to think of this rule is that the ㅎ turns the other consonants into their aspirated forms.
- If ㅎ is the final consonant of the preceding syllable, then the ㅎ drops off and the beginning consonant of the next syllable becomes aspirated.
- If ㅎ is the beginning consonant of the following syllable, then the preceding consonant drops off and the ㅎ takes on the aspirated form of that consonant.
Let’s look at some examples:
| As written | Correct pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 좋고 | [조코] |
| 좋지 않다 | [조치 안타] |
| 많다 | [만타] |
| 어떻게 | [어떠케] |
| 책하고 | [채카고] |
| 입학 | [이팍] |
| 시작합시다 | [시자캅씨다] |
*Notice that Rule #5 (tensification) is also applied to the last example by pronouncing “~ㅂ시다” as [~ㅂ씨다].
7. When ㅎ disappears—and when to keep it
Stem-final ㅎ disappears before a vowel-initial ending: 좋아요 is [조아요], 많아요 is [마나요], and 괜찮아요 is [괜차나요]. This does not mean that every ㅎ near ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅇ, or ㄹ disappears. Before ㄴ, for example, 놓는 is [논는].
A syllable-initial ㅎ can sound weak in conversation, but retain it in careful standard pronunciation of words such as 전화 and 감사합니다. The table gives careful pronunciation; vowel length is omitted.
| As written | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 전화 | [전화] |
| 사랑해요 | [사랑해요] |
| 많아요 | [마나요] |
| 잘했어요 | [잘해써요] |
| 감사합니다 | [감사함니다] |
| 좋아요 | [조아요] |
| 괜찮아요 | [괜차나요] |
8. Palatalization: ㄷ or ㅌ before grammatical 이 or 히
When final ㄷ or ㅌ is followed by the vowel ㅣ in a particle or suffix, it becomes [ㅈ] or [ㅊ]. A ㄷ followed by the suffix 히 also produces [치], as in 닫히다. Forms such as 붙여요 and 닫혀요 come from these 이/히 forms plus an ending; this is not a general rule for every following y-vowel.
This will make more sense to you once you see the below examples:
| Pronounced normally as [ㄷ] and [ㅌ] | Pronunciation change to [ㅈ] and [ㅊ] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 붙어요 | [부터요] | 붙여요 | [부쳐요] |
| 같아요 | [가타요] | 같이 가요 | [가치 가요] |
| 밑에 | [미테] | 밑이 | [미치] |
| 닫아요 | [다다요] | 닫혀요 | [다쳐요] |
Conclusion:
As I stated in the introduction, these rules are not laid out for memorization. They are merely explanations of naturally occurring changes that happen phonetically.
While you continue to learn the Korean language, you will encounter occasions when the pronunciation of certain words doesn’t seem logical to you. You can refer back to these rules when that happens.
It would be helpful for you to go over each set of examples given above and repeat them several times. Then try to apply the rules when you’re reading and speaking Hangul. In time, the phonetic changes will become second nature to you!
REVIEW AND REPEAT DAILY, AND YOU WILL SEE PROGRESS… 파이팅!!