Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "치마" in Korean?

chi-ma. An aspirated ㅊ with a real puff at the front, and then a completely soft nasal syllable.

치마 /tɕʰi.ma/

chima

A pair of equally long syllables. The word runs from maximum effort to minimum -- a breathy affricate, then a nasal and an open vowel -- which gives it a shape without any change in loudness.

Listen: 치마

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Sound it out

chi ㅊ with genuine breath, over a tight 'ee'. The aspiration is the only strong articulation in the word.

ma An m made with both lips onto a wide open ㅏ, with nothing to complicate it.

Hear it in a sentence

저는 치마를 자주 입어요.

Jeoneun chimareul jaju ibeoyo.

I often wear skirts.

Listen: 저는 치마를 자주 입어요.

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저는 치마를 자주 입어요 attaches the object particle to a vowel-final noun, and 입어요 releases its trapped ㅂ, which resyllabifies forward and voices, giving i-beo-yo.

Where English speakers slip

A weak ㅊ gives 지마, a verb ending rather than a noun, so the breath is carrying real information -- push it. The other slip is reducing the second vowel, since English rhythm shortens whatever it does not stress and Korean keeps both syllables equal.