LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "아침" in Korean?
a-chim. The ㅊ in the middle is aspirated and needs a real puff of air, and the word closes on a lip-shut m.
achim
Equal weight on the pair. The aspirated consonant in the middle is the only strong sound, and it gives the word a shape that has nothing to do with loudness -- an open vowel, a burst of breath, then resonance.
Listen: 아침
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
저는 아침을 안 먹어요.
Jeoneun achimeul an meogeoyo.
I don't eat breakfast.
Listen: 저는 아침을 안 먹어요.
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저는 아침을 안 먹어요 attaches 을 to 아침, so the ㅁ resyllabifies forward and gives a-chi-meul. The negator 안 then sits directly in front of the verb, and since both are nasals meeting, the join comes out continuous.
Where English speakers slip
Let the ㅊ go soft and you get 아짐, which is not the word, so the breath is doing identifying work here -- push it. Learners also add a glottal stop before the initial vowel, an English habit that gives the word a hard, clipped start it should not have.