LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "칫솔" in Korean?
chit-ssol. An aspirated ㅊ at the front, a ㅅ batchim neutralized to a silent t, and that stop tenses the next ㅅ into ㅆ.
chitsol
Two syllables with a silent closure between them. The word contains the letter ㅅ twice with completely different fates -- silenced as a batchim, tensed as an onset -- which is a compact lesson in positional realization.
Listen: 칫솔
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
제 칫솔은 파란색이에요.
Je chitsoreun paransaegieyo.
My toothbrush is blue.
Listen: 제 칫솔은 파란색이에요.
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제 칫솔은 파란색이에요 attaches 은, so the ㄹ taps forward and the noun becomes chit-sso-reun. Then 파란색이에요 sends the ㄱ of 색 into the copula, where it voices.
Where English speakers slip
Saying 'chit-sol' with a plain s misses the tensing, and pronouncing the first ㅅ as a hiss misses the neutralization, and both errors come from reading letters rather than positions. Stop the tongue for the first one and squeeze the throat for the second.