This chapter will teach you some Korean pronunciation rules. I am not going to ask you to memorise all of these rules. What's more important is listening to Korean real life conversation (e.g. K drama) often and listen to the actual pronunciation.
You might ask, then what is this chapter for?
This chapter is written just to make you know why the words are pronounced that way. Many people have asked me why is 나의 sounds like na-aeh, not na-eui. This can be understood if you know the pronunciation rules. (In fact, even Koreans doesn't really know pronunciation rules. They just pronounce that way.)
So, I just want you to come back to this chapter when you don't understand why the spelling and pronunciation doesn't match.
JUST TO MENTION AGAIN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO MEMORISE ALL OF THESE RULES.
1. When there is 'ㅇ' after the 받침, we move the 받침 sound to the 'ㅇ' position.
ex. 지민이와 정국이 [ji-mi-ni-wa-jeong-gu-gi]
2-1. When 'ㅢ' [eui] comes at first and it is not '의' you pronounce it as 'ㅣ' [i]
ex. 희망 = 히망 [hi-mang]2-2. When '의' [eui] is not the first letter of the word, you can pronounce as 'ㅣ' [i]
ex. 협의 = 혀비 [hyeo-bi]2-3. jo-sa '의' [eui] which means 'of' can be pronounced as 'ㅔ'[aeh]
ex. 나의 = 나에 [na-aeh]2-4. Every '의' which comes the first of the word should be pronounced as '의' [eui]
ex. 의사 [eui-sa]
3-1. When ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ meets ㄴ and ㅁ -> ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ turn into ㅇ, ㄴ, ㅁ
So, ㄱ into ㅇ, ㄷ into ㄴ, ㅂ into ㅁ!
ex. 국물 = 궁물 [gung-mul]
ex. 닫는 = 단는 [dan-neun]
ex. 밥맛 = 밤맛 [bam-mat]
3-2. When 'ㄹ' meets 'ㅁ, ㄴ' -> ㄹ turns into ㄴ.
ex. 침략 = 침냑 [chim-nyak]
ex. 대통령 = 대통녕 [dae-tong-nyeong]
3-3. 'ㄹ' coming after the baat-chim 'ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ' changes into 'ㄴ' and then follows rule 3-1.
ex. 백로 -> 백노 -> 뱅노 [baeng-no]
ex. 급류 -> 급뉴 -> 금뉴 [geum-nyu]
3-4. Sometimes, ㄴ after ㄹ baat-chim or ㄴ baat-chim followed by ㄹ is pronounced as ㄹ.
ex. 권력 = 궐력 [gwol-lyeok]
ex. 설날 = 설랄 [seol-lal]
4. After any baat-chim pronounced as 'ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ' [check unit 1.1 for more detail], all 'ㄱ,ㄷ,ㅂ,ㅅ,ㅈ' are pronounced as double consonant.
ex. 국밥 = 국빱 [guk-bbap]
ex. 덮개 = 덥깨 [deop-ggae]
ex. 밭갈이 = 받까리 [bat-gga-ri]
5. ㄷ, ㅌ with 이 are pronounced as ㅈ,ㅊ
ex. 굳이 -> 구디 -> 구지 [gu-ji]
ex. 밭이 -> 바티 -> 바치 [ba-chi]
6. ㄱ + ㅎ = ㅋ, ㄷ + ㅎ = ㅌ, ㅂ + ㅎ = ㅍ
ex. 축하 = 추카 [chu-ka]
ex. 굳히다 = 구치다 [gu-chi-da]
ex. 입학 = 이팍 [i-pak]
There are lots more rules to explain but those are even hard for native Koreans to understand and also have too many exceptions so I won't explain it. When I really need to do explain, then I will in the later chapter. I hope this helped you understand why sometimes spelling doesn't go with pronunciation. Any question is welcomed :)
Let's practise!
1. 항로
2. 급행
3. 미닫이
4. 부엌
5. 압력
6. 잡도록
7. 능력
8. 옷이 찢어졌습니다
9. 나의 이름을 불러줘
10. 꽃은 희망과 같았다
Practise yourself and check out the answer.
1. hang-no
2. geu-paeng
3. mi-da-ji
4. bu-eok
5. am-nyeok
6. jap-ddo-rok
7. neung-nyeok
8. o-si-jji-jeo-jyeot-sseum-ni-da
옷이 -> 오시, 찢어 -> 찌저 (rule 1)
졌습니다 -> 젿씁니다 (rule 4, baat-chim changes) -> 젿씀니다 (rule 3-1)
9. na-aeh-i-reu-meul-bul-leo-jwo
나의 -> 나에 (rule 2-3 )
이름을 -> 이르믈 (rule 1)
10. ggo-cheun-hi-mang-gwa-ga-tat-dda
꽃은 -> 꼬츤 (rule 1)
희망과 -> 히망과 (rule 2-1)
같았다 -> 가탇다 (rule 1, baat-chim changes) -> 가탇따 (rule 4)
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Learning Korean (한국어배우기)
De TodoGoing To Learn ~Hangeul ~vocabulary ~grammar ~slang ~reading Thanks to everyone and hope it can help you :) 감사합니다♡ (Thanks to Maxene for beautiful cover!!😘😍❤️)