Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "비싸다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 비싸다 in Korean?

비싸다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /pi.s͈a.da/. It means “to be expensive.” bi-ssa-da. The middle consonant is a tensed ㅆ: more friction than an ordinary s, with the throat squeezed shut behind it.

bi-ssa-da. The middle consonant is a tensed ㅆ: more friction than an ordinary s, with the throat squeezed shut behind it.

비싸다 /pi.s͈a.da/

bissada

Flat delivery throughout, with one caveat: a tensed sibilant takes longer to produce than a plain one, so the middle syllable naturally runs a little longer without being any louder.

Listen: 비싸다

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Sound it out

bi Plain ㅂ at the front, quiet and barely voiced, over a tight 'ee'.

ssa Tensed ㅆ. It stays hard even between vowels, where a plain ㅅ would soften, and that refusal to weaken is the tell.

da Soft and voiced, taking no weight at all after the tension before it.

Hear it in a sentence

이 식당은 좀 비싸요.

I sikdangeun jom bissayo.

This restaurant is a bit expensive.

Listen: 이 식당은 좀 비싸요.

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이 식당은 좀 비싸요 puts 식당 in front, where the unreleased k of 식 tenses the ㄷ of 당 into ㄸ -- sik-ttang. The sentence therefore contains a tensed stop and a tensed sibilant, and neither is visible in the spelling.

Where English speakers slip

Softening the ㅆ gives 비사다, which is not a word, and it is exactly what happens when learners treat the doubled letter as decoration. Squeeze the throat and push more air. Note too that dropping the first syllable gives 싸다, meaning the opposite -- cheap -- so this is a corner of the vocabulary where sloppiness has consequences.