Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "없다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 없다 in Korean?

없다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ʌp̚.t͈a/. It means “to not have / there is not.” eop-tta. The first block carries the double batchim ㅄ, of which only the ㅂ is pronounced, and that stop then tenses the following ㄷ into ㄸ.

eop-tta. The first block carries the double batchim ㅄ, of which only the ㅂ is pronounced, and that stop then tenses the following ㄷ into ㄸ.

없다 /ʌp̚.t͈a/

eopda

Two beats with a silent closure between them. Two rules stack here -- cluster simplification, which deletes the ㅅ of ㅄ, and post-obstruent tensing, which hardens the ㄷ -- so a word written with four consonant letters comes out with two consonant sounds.

Listen: 없다

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Sound it out

eo Bare unrounded ㅓ opening the word, with no consonant in front of it.

p Of the cluster ㅄ only the ㅂ surfaces, and it surfaces unreleased: the lips close and simply stay closed.

da Tensed ㄸ, because a stop batchim precedes it. Throat tight, no aspiration, sharp release.

Hear it in a sentence

시간이 없어요.

Sigani eopseoyo.

I don't have time.

Listen: 시간이 없어요.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

시간이 없어요 shows the deleted ㅅ coming back to life. With a vowel following, the cluster splits across the boundary and the ㅅ resyllabifies as a tensed ㅆ, giving eop-sseo-yo. The letter that was silent in 없다 is the loudest thing in 없어요.

Where English speakers slip

Learners either try to pronounce both letters of ㅄ, producing 'eops-da', or drop the wrong one and say 'eos-da'. Only the ㅂ survives, and it does not release. The second half then needs a properly tensed ㄸ rather than a soft English d -- and since this verb is the negative counterpart of 있다, which behaves identically, the two are worth drilling as a pair.