Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "밥" in Korean?

bap. One clipped syllable: a plain ㅂ at the front with almost no voicing, and an unreleased ㅂ at the end.

밥 /pap̚/

bap

One clipped beat. The word contains the same letter twice doing opposite things -- a quiet onset and a silent closure -- which makes it a compact demonstration of how position governs realization.

Listen: 밥

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Sound it out

ba Word-initial ㅂ, quieter than an English b, over a wide open ㅏ.

p That same letter in final position, where it becomes an unreleased [p̚]. The lips close and stay shut.

Hear it in a sentence

우리 같이 밥을 먹어요.

Uri gachi babeul meogeoyo.

Let's eat together.

Listen: 우리 같이 밥을 먹어요.

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

우리 같이 밥을 먹어요 attaches 을, so the final ㅂ moves forward and voices into a real b, giving ba-beul. And 같이 shows its palatalization, coming out ga-chi rather than 'gat-i'.

Where English speakers slip

Releasing the final p is the standing error with stop batchims, and here it is fully exposed because the syllable is short -- the lips simply close. The other issue is over-voicing the initial consonant, which makes the word heavier than any Korean speaker would say it.