Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "착하다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 착하다 in Korean?

착하다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕʰa.kʰa.da/. It means “to be nice / kind-hearted.” cha-ka-da. Two aspirated consonants back to back: a breathy ㅊ, then a ㅋ formed by the ㄱ of 착 fusing with the ㅎ of 하.

cha-ka-da. Two aspirated consonants back to back: a breathy ㅊ, then a ㅋ formed by the ㄱ of 착 fusing with the ㅎ of 하.

착하다 /tɕʰa.kʰa.da/

chakada

No peak anywhere in the word, but the breath pattern gives it shape: two aspirated consonants in a row and then a relaxed one. That is a texture rather than a stress, and it is what makes the word feel front-loaded.

Listen: 착하다

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Sound it out

cha ㅊ carrying a real puff of air, over a wide open ㅏ.

ka The ㄱ batchim and the following ㅎ merge into one aspirated ㅋ, so this syllable is as breathy as the one before it.

da Soft, voiced and short after two strongly aspirated syllables.

Hear it in a sentence

제 친구는 아주 착해요.

Je chinguneun aju chakaeyo.

My friend is very nice.

Listen: 제 친구는 아주 착해요.

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제 친구는 아주 착해요 conjugates to 착해요 and keeps the merge. The word 친구 in front also opens with an aspirated ㅊ, so the sentence carries three genuine puffs of air in seven syllables -- unusually breathy for Korean.

Where English speakers slip

Reading the letters separately gives 'chak-ha-da' with a hard k, a gap and an h, when there is only one consonant there. Softening the opening ㅊ is the other error and it produces 작하다, which does not exist, so both aspirations have to be genuinely audible.