Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "아버지" in Korean?

a-beo-ji. Both middle consonants voice because vowels surround them, so the b and the j are genuinely soft.

아버지 /a.bʌ.dʑi/

abeoji

Three beats of the same length, and every consonant in the word is voiced, which is why it flows so easily. That easiness is the trap -- English rhythm will happily reduce the middle vowel if you let it.

Listen: 아버지

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Sound it out

a An open ㅏ standing alone, begun on the voice with nothing in front of it.

beo ㅂ between vowels, so a real b, over the unrounded ㅓ with the lips relaxed.

ji Plain ㅈ, also between vowels and therefore voiced, running onto a tight 'ee'.

Hear it in a sentence

아버지는 일을 많이 하세요.

Abeojineun ireul mani haseyo.

My father works a lot.

Listen: 아버지는 일을 많이 하세요.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

아버지는 일을 많이 하세요 uses the honorific 하세요 and lets 많이 lose its ㅎ altogether, so it comes out ma-ni. The 일을 in front taps its ㄹ forward, giving i-reul.

Where English speakers slip

Hardening either middle consonant into an English b or j overshoots badly, because both sit between vowels and Korean makes them as soft as it can there. The other issue is the ㅓ in the middle: rounding it gives 'a-bo-ji', which sounds like a different family term altogether.