Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "가져오다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 가져오다 in Korean?

가져오다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ka.dʑʌ.o.da/. It means “to bring.” ga-jeo-o-da. Despite the spelling, 져 is simply pronounced 'jeo' -- the y-glide is absorbed by the ㅈ and never surfaces.

ga-jeo-o-da. Despite the spelling, 져 is simply pronounced 'jeo' -- the y-glide is absorbed by the ㅈ and never surfaces.

가져오다 /ka.dʑʌ.o.da/

gajyeooda

Equal weight across four syllables, and the tricky part is the third: two vowels meet with nothing between them, and Korean does not insert a glottal stop there, so 져 and 오 flow directly into one another.

Listen: 가져오다

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

Sound it out

ga Plain ㄱ, light and barely voiced, over a wide open 'ah'.

jyeo Written 져 but said 'jeo'. Korean does not allow a y-glide after ㅈ, ㅊ or ㅉ, so the glide is deleted and only the ㅓ remains.

o A standalone rounded ㅗ arriving directly after another vowel, with no consonant to separate the two.

da Where the verb stops and the dictionary begins -- soft, brief, and dropped in every real sentence.

Hear it in a sentence

우산을 가져오세요.

Usaneul gajyeooseyo.

Please bring an umbrella.

Listen: 우산을 가져오세요.

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

우산을 가져오세요 uses the polite command form and keeps the same glide deletion, coming out ga-jeo-o-se-yo. Ahead of it, the ㄴ of 우산 crosses into the particle, giving u-sa-neul -- three vowel-heavy syllables leading into a verb with two more.

Where English speakers slip

Learners pronounce the written glide and produce 'ga-jyuh-o-da', which no Korean says: after ㅈ the y is silent, without exception. The other difficulty is the vowel-to-vowel join, where English instinctively inserts a glottal stop. Keep the airflow going and let 'jeo' slide straight into 'o'.