Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "친절하다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 친절하다 in Korean?

친절하다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕʰin.dʑʌl.ɦa.da/. It means “to be kind.” chin-jeol-ha-da. An aspirated ㅊ at the front, a plain voiced ㅈ in the middle, and a ㅎ that weakens after the ㄹ.

chin-jeol-ha-da. An aspirated ㅊ at the front, a plain voiced ㅈ in the middle, and a ㅎ that weakens after the ㄹ.

친절하다 /tɕʰin.dʑʌl.ɦa.da/

chinjeolhada

Give the four blocks equal weight. The instructive feature is the pair of affricates: ㅊ opens the word with strong breath and ㅈ follows a syllable later with none, so the word contains the aspirated-against-plain contrast in miniature.

Listen: 친절하다

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Sound it out

chin Aspirated ㅊ over a tight 'ee', closed with a forward n.

jeol Plain ㅈ voiced after the nasal, the unrounded ㅓ, and a bright l. Note the contrast: aspirated first block, plain second.

ha ㅎ between a ㄹ and a vowel, so it lenites exactly the way it does in 잘하다.

da Voiced, quick and unaccented, closing the citation form.

Hear it in a sentence

그분은 정말 친절하세요.

Geubuneun jeongmal chinjeolhaseyo.

He is really kind.

Listen: 그분은 정말 친절하세요.

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그분은 정말 친절하세요 uses the honorific ending, and 그분은 resyllabifies its ㄴ into the particle, giving geu-bu-neun. The verb then runs chin-jeol-ha-se-yo with the ㅎ softened by the ㄹ in front of it.

Where English speakers slip

Learners level the two affricates, either aspirating both or neither, when Korean keeps them apart -- and doing so is what makes the word recognizable at speed. The other slip is a heavy English h, when this one should be light enough that the ㄹ almost taps straight into the vowel.