LinguaSounds that copy their neighbour
A stop batchim (ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ) followed by a nasal (ㄴ ㅁ) turns into the nasal made in the same place: ㄱ becomes ㅇ, ㄷ becomes ㄴ, ㅂ becomes ㅁ. So 입니다 is heard as 임니다, 한국말 as 한궁말, 감사합니다 as 감사함니다, 십만 as 심만. This is 비음화, nasalisation. A ㄹ next to ㄴ wins in the other direction and turns the ㄴ into ㄹ: 신라 is 실라, 연락 is 열락. None of this is optional or slow speech; a Korean cannot say 입니다 with a real p.
ㅎ that merges, and stops that tense
When ㅎ meets ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ on either side, the two fuse into the aspirated ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ: 좋다 is 조타, 축하 is 추카, 입학 is 이팍, 놓지 is 노치. And after a stop batchim, a plain ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ at the start of the next syllable becomes tense: 학교 is 학꾜, 식당 is 식땅, 숙제 is 숙쩨, 있습니다 is 읻씀니다. You do not need to produce these rules consciously for long; once the batchim is truly unreleased, the tensing happens by itself.
| Rule | Written | Heard |
|---|---|---|
| nasalisation | 입니다 | 임니다 |
| nasalisation | 한국말 | 한궁말 |
| ㄴ becomes ㄹ | 신라 | 실라 |
| ㅎ merges | 좋다 | 조타 |
| ㅎ merges | 축하 | 추카 |
| tensing | 학교 | 학꾜 |
한국말이 어려워요Korean is difficult.
네, 감사합니다Yes, thank you.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 입니다 | is, am, are (formal) | 의사입니다 I am a doctor. |
| 한국말 | Korean (spoken language) | 한국말을 잘해요 You speak Korean well. |
| 좋다 | to be good | 날씨가 좋아요 The weather is good. |
| 축하 | congratulation | 축하해요 Congratulations. |
| 학교 | school | 학교가 멀어요 The school is far. |
| 식당 | restaurant, canteen | 식당에서 밥을 먹어요 I eat at the restaurant. |
| 신라 | Silla (an ancient kingdom) | 신라는 옛날 나라예요 Silla is an ancient country. |
| 십만 | one hundred thousand | 십만 원이에요 It is one hundred thousand won. |
| 감사합니다 | thank you (formal) | 도와주셔서 감사합니다 Thank you for helping me. |
| 있습니다 | there is, I have (formal) | 질문이 있습니다 I have a question. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 4
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
How is 입니다 pronounced?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.