Korean Pronunciation

Learning the sounds of Korean pronunciation is almost always the first step when you learn Korean. If your first language is very similar to Korean, taking this first step is a little easier. However, if your first language is English, then the sounds of Korean may be somewhat unfamiliar to you.

In this article, we’ll go over key Korean pronunciation rules so that you have a much better idea of how to produce the sounds of Korean. We’ll also go through some unique aspects of Korean pronunciation which are important in making your Korean understandable to native Koreans.

The consonants

The Korean writing system is called Hangeul. It is a writing system made up of consonants and vowels, so to understand the basic sounds of Korean, you need to know how each consonant and vowel symbol is pronounced. Let’s start with consonants in Hangeul.

Overall, apart from ㅎ, which sounds like ‘h,’ Korean consonants sound a little different from English consonants. Here’s an overview of the consonant sounds:

There are a total of 14 basic consonants in Hangeul. We also have five double consonants, but we’ll look at them later in this article. Of the 14, ‘ㅇ’ is a silent consonant, so when it’s used with a vowel, we just pronounce the vowel sound.

There are five ‘aspirated’ consonants, and they are ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ. We pronounce aspirated consonants by expelling a burst of air as we produce the sound. These consonants are very similar to their English counterparts.

The rest of the consonants in Hangeul are a little different from English sounds, so let’s look at them in more detail.

Voiceless or voiced ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ

When we write ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ as English letters, they are written as the sounds [g], [d], [b] and [j]. However, ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ do not sound exactly like these letters. The sounds [g], [d], [b] and [j] are voiced sounds, which means that they are produced with vocal cord vibration, and there is little to no air expelled as we produce these sounds.

In contrast, ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ are voiceless sounds, which means they are produced without vocal cord vibration, and we expel a moderate amount of air as we pronounce them. This means that each letter sounds a bit like the sounds [k], [t], [p] and [ch].

The letters ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ are voiceless sounds when they’re used at the beginning of a word. Below are some examples:

• 가수 [ga-su] – singer
• 다리 [da-ri] – leg
• 바지 [ba-ji] – pants
• 주스 [ju-seu] – juice

So although we write the consonants ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ as ‘g,’ ‘d,’ ‘b’ and ‘j,’ they are actually pronounced a little like ‘k,’ ‘t,’ ‘p’ and ‘ch.’

The voiced sounds ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ

The consonants ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ can become fully voiced sounds in certain situations, sounding like ‘g,’ ‘d,’ ‘b’ and ‘j.’ This happens when ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ follow other voiced consonants (ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅇ, or ㄹ) or any vowel. You can see examples of this below.

Pattern 1 – Voiced consonant + ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ

• 감자 [gam-ja] – potato
• 인도 [in-do] – India
• 통보 [tong-bo] – notification
• 팔기 [pal-gi] – selling

So in these words, the second syllable uses the consonants ㅈ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㄱ, but because the previous syllable ends in a voiced consonant (ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅇ and ㄹ), ㅈ, ㄷ, ㅂ and ㄱ are pronounced as voiced consonant sounds [j], [d], [b] and [g].

Pattern 2 – Vowel + ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ

• 고기 [go-gi] – meat
• 바다 [ba-da] – sea
• 아버지 [a-beo-ji] – father
• 사진 [sa-jin] – photo

In the first word above, the first syllable 가 ends in the vowel ㅏ, so ㄱ in 기 is pronounced like a ‘g’ sound. Similarly, in the other words, ㄷ in 바다 is pronounced like a ‘d’ sound, ㅂ and ㅈ in 아버지 are pronounced like ‘b’ and ‘j’ sounds, and ㅈ in 사진 is pronounced like a ‘j’ sound – all because they come after a vowel sound.

Understanding ‘ㄹ’

The symbol ㄹ can be written using the English letters ‘r’ or ‘l’ depending on how it’s used. ㄹ as ‘l’ ㄹ is pronounced like the English ‘l’ when it’s used at the start of a word or as the final consonant of a word, as in the following examples:

• 라면 [la-myeon] – ramen
• 레몬 [le-mon] – lemon
• 팔 [pal] – eight
• 가발 [ga-bal] – wig

In the first two words, ㄹ is used at the beginning of the word, so it’s pronounced like the English ‘l.’ In the last two examples, ㄹ is the final consonant (called 받침 batchim in Korean), so it is also pronounced like the English ‘l’ sound here.

ㄹ as ‘r’

ㄹ is pronounced like English ‘r’ when it’s used between two vowels. An example is the word 다리 [da-ri], which means ‘leg.’ In this word, ㄹ is positioned between the vowels ㅏ and ㅣ, so it’s pronounced like the English ‘r’ sound.

However, it should be noted that this ‘r’ sound is more similar to the ‘r’ sound in Spanish and Japanese. Below are some more examples:

• 파리 [pa-ri] – fly
• 가루 [ga-ru] – powder
• 나라 [na-ra] – country

The sound of ㅅ

In general, ㅅ is pronounced like the English ‘s’ sound, but it’s a softer sounding ‘s’ sound. Here are some examples:

• 사람 [sa-ram] – person
• 서랍 [seo-rap] – drawer
• 수영 [su-yeong] – swimming

In these examples, ㅅ makes a soft ‘s’ sound in each word.

ㅅ can also sound like the English ‘sh’ sound. There are three patterns where ㅅ sounds like ‘sh’:

1. When ㅅ is used with the vowel ‘ㅣ’
   Example: 시작 [shi-jak] – start
   

2. When ㅅ is used with y-glide vowels, such as ㅑ and ㅕ
   Example: 샤워 [shya-wo] – shower
   

3, When ㅅ is used with the vowel ‘ㅟ’
Example: 쉬자 [shwi-ja] – let’s rest

Double consonants

There are five double consonants: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ and ㅉ. When we pronounce these consonants, we basically have to pronounce the single consonants (ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ) but push the sounds out with greater force.

To do this, we first tense the muscles around our mouth and jaw, build up some tension, and then release that tension and push the sounds out. Below are some examples of words that use double consonants:

• 깨 [kkae] – sesame
• 이따가 [i-tta-ga] – later
• 예쁘다 [ye-ppeu-da] – to be pretty
• 싸우다 [ssa-u-da] – to fight
• 짜다 [jja-da] – to be salty

Korean vowel sounds

Korean vowel sounds are less complicated than the consonant sounds. However, there are a lot of vowel sounds in Korean. In terms of vowel letters, there are 21 vowel letters, but the pronunciation of some of these vowels is the same, so there are altogether 18 vowel sounds.

Hangeul is made up of 10 basic vowels and 11 complex vowels. To form complex vowels, we put two basic vowels together. The pronunciation of most complex vowels is related to the basic vowels they are made up of.

Basic vowel sounds

There are a total of 10 basic vowels in Korean.

In Korean, many vowel sounds begin with a ‘y’ sound, and these vowel letters always have an extra dash. So for example, ㅏ is pronounced [a], while ㅑ is pronounced [ya].

The vowels that have a central vertical bar (ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅓ, ㅕ, ㅣ) are often referred to as vertical vowels, while vowels with a horizontal bar (ㅗ, ㅛ, ㅜ, ㅠ, ㅡ) are often referred to as horizontal vowels.

Complex vowels: ㅔ, ㅐ, ㅖ, ㅒ

These four complex vowels are formed by combining two vertical vowels. For example, ㅔ is made up of ㅓ and ㅣ, while ㅐ is made up of ㅏ and ㅣ. The pronunciation of ㅔ and ㅐ is the same – they sound like ‘e’ in words like ‘bed’ and ‘jet.’

The pronunciation of ㅖ and ㅒ is also the same, like ‘ye’ in the words ‘yes’ and ‘yet.’ However, while the pronunciation is the same, the spelling of these vowels using the English alphabet is different. It’s also important to use the correct spelling when writing Korean.

The complex vowel ㅢ

There are seven complex vowels made up of a vertical vowel and a horizontal vowel, but we’ll first focus on ㅢ as this vowel is a little unique. In general, to pronounce this vowel, we just pronounce the vowels ㅡ and ㅣ very quickly, so ㅢ combines the sounds of ‘u’ and ‘i’ together to become [ui].

However, we can pronounce this vowel in three different ways depending on how it is used:

1. ㅢ as [ui] ㅢ is pronounced as [ui] when it’s used with the consonant ‘ㅇ‘ and is in the first syllable of a word. So in words like 의자 (chair) and 의사 (doctor), 의 is pronounced [ui].

2. ㅢ as [e] The particle 의 indicates possession, so 민수의 가방 means ‘Minsu’s bag.’ When 의 is used in this way, it’s pronounced [e].

3. ㅢ as [i] When ㅢ is used with consonants other than ㅇ, or when 의 is used in the second or third syllable of a word, ㅢ is pronounced [i]:

• 희망 [hi-mang] – hope
• 띄다 [tti-da] – to be seen
• 회의 [hoe-i] – meeting

Complex vowels: ㅘ, ㅝ, ㅟ, ㅙ, ㅞ, ㅚ

The last six complex vowels are made up of a vertical vowel and a horizontal vowel. In the case of ㅙ and ㅞ, they are made up of a horizontal vowel with the complex vowels ㅐ and ㅔ.

The vowels ㅙ, ㅞ and ㅚ are all pronounced in the same way – they sound like ‘we’ in words like ‘wet’ and ‘went.’ However, to distinguish between these vowels, they are romanized using different alphabet letters.

With the exception of the vowel ㅚ, to pronounce these vowels we basically say the horizontal vowel and vertical vowel together quickly. So to say ㅘ, we say ㅗ [o] and ㅏ[a] quickly to become ㅘ [wa].

The table below shows the pronunciation and romanized spelling of these six complex vowels.

Understanding 받침 (batchim)

Korean syllables can end in a consonant, and this final consonant is known as 받침 (batchim). In 김, the final consonant is ㅁ. Of the 19 consonants (including double consonants), only ㄸ, ㅃ and ㅉ are not used as a final consonant.

Some consonants are pronounced in the same way when they’re used as final consonants, but many are pronounced in different ways, so let’s now learn about the pronunciation rules for 받침 (batchim).

Batchim groups

There are three groups of consonants which are pronounced in the same way. In Korean, we refer to them as ‘unreleased’ ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ sounds. This is because the final consonants are pronounced like ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ, but their sounds are never released at the end. Quite often, ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ batchim sounds are referred to as [k], [t] and [p] sounds.

ㅁ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅇ as 받침 (batchim)

The pronunciation of ㅁ, ㄴ, ㄹ and ㅇ are more straightforward. ㅁ, ㄴ and ㄹ are pronounced as [m], [n] and [l], but ㅇ is pronounced like the [ng] sound.

Changing sounds of 받침

The sounds of 받침 can change depending on other sounds nearby, and there are some important pronunciation rules you need to be aware of.

Linking sounds

When the syllable after a final consonant begins with ㅇ, the sound of the final consonant links with the following syllable. This happens with all the final consonants except ㅎ and ㅇ.

An example is 집에 [ji-be], which means ‘at home.’ In this word, 집 [jip] means ‘home’ and 에 [e] is a location particle and has a similar meaning to ‘at,’ so together 집에 means ‘at home.’ When we say 집에, the sound of ㅂ links with the syllable 에 since 에 begins with ㅇ, so 집에 is pronounced 지베.

The table below has some more examples of linking sounds.

Forming aspirated sounds

When certain consonants are followed by the consonant ㅎ, or when their positions are reversed, they form the aspirated sounds ㅋ [k], ㅌ [t], ㅍ [p] and ㅊ [ch]. The table below shows these consonant combinations.

Next, look at the table below for some example words where aspirated sounds are formed.

Nasalization

Sometimes a final consonant sound changes to ㅇ [ng], ㄴ [n] or ㅁ [m]. These sounds are known as ‘nasal’ sounds since they are produced by air moving through one’s nasal passage. The process of changing a consonant to one of these sounds is called ‘nasalization.’

The pronunciation of the unreleased ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ final consonants changes when the following syllable begins with the nasal consonants ㅁ or ㄴ. In such sequences, the unreleased sounds change to either ㅇ [ng], ㄴ [n] or ㅁ [m].

For the word 악마 (devil) in the table above, ㄱ in the first syllable is followed by ㅁ, which causes ㄱ to be pronounced as ㅇ [ng], so 악마 is pronounced 앙마 [ang-ma].

For the word 빗물 (raindrop), ㅅ in the first syllable is followed by ㅁ, which causes ㅅ to be pronounced as ㄴ [n], so 빗물 is pronounced 빈물 [bin-mul].

For 입니다 (to be), ㅂ in the first syllable is followed by ㄴ, causing ㅂ to be pronounced as ㅁ [m], so 입니다 is pronounced 임니다 [im-ni-da].

Similarly, all of the unreleased ㄱ consonants (ㄱ, ㅋ, ㄲ) are pronounced as ㅇ if they are followed by either ㄴ or ㅁ, unreleased ㄷ consonants (ㄷ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅎ) are pronounced as ㄴ if they are followed by either ㄴ or ㅁ, and unreleased ㅂ consonants (ㅂ, ㅍ) are pronounced as ㅁ if they are followed by either ㄴ or ㅁ.

The table below shows more examples of these sound changes.

The ㄹ + ㄴ (ㄴ + ㄹ) combination

Whenever there is a ㄴ + ㄹ or ㄹ + ㄴ combination, ㄴ is pronounced like ㄹ. For example, in the phrase 팔년 (‘eight years’), the final consonant ㄹ is followed by ㄴ in 년. In such a combination, ㄴ in 년 is pronounced as ㄹ. So 팔년 is pronounced as 팔련. The table below has some more examples.

Korean pronunciation recap

Korean pronunciation can be more or less difficult depending on how different your native language is from Korean. In this article, we’ve gone over some of the more fundamental features of Korean pronunciation as well as some of its more unique aspects.

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of how Korean is pronounced, don’t forget to practice speaking and listening to Korean regularly, as this will help you to improve your Korean pronunciation over time. Good luck!