How to Pronounce '감사합니다': Korean Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce 감사합니다 in Korean?

감사합니다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kam.sa.ham.ni.da/. It means “thank you.” gam-sa-ham-ni-da. Note that the third block is written 합 with a ㅂ but comes out as 'ham', because ㅂ turns into ㅁ in front of the ㄴ that follows.

How do you pronounce "감사합니다" in Korean?

gam-sa-ham-ni-da. Note that the third block is written 합 with a ㅂ but comes out as 'ham', because ㅂ turns into ㅁ in front of the ㄴ that follows.

감사합니다 /kam.sa.ham.ni.da/

gamsahamnida

Five syllables delivered flat and quick -- this is a set phrase, so it behaves almost as a single word. The event worth marking is not stress but the ㅂ-to-ㅁ nasalization at the 합+니 boundary, which is exactly why the romanization writes 'hamnida' and never 'hapnida'.

Listen: 감사합니다

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

Sound it out

gam Light ㄱ with barely any aspiration, then a lip-closed m that is not released into a vowel -- the lips simply come together and stay.

sa Plain s and a wide 'ah'. Korean ㅅ is weaker and breathier than an English s, so aim a little softer than instinct suggests.

ham Written 합, said 'ham'. The final ㅂ assimilates completely to the nasal that follows: the lips close for a b and an m comes out instead.

ni Clean tongue-tip n plus a tight 'ee', both kept short.

da Softly voiced ㄷ closing the formal -ㅂ니다 ending on a relaxed 'da' rather than an emphatic 'DAH'.

Hear it in a sentence

도와주셔서 감사합니다.

Dowajusyeoseo gamsahamnida.

Thank you for your help.

Listen: 도와주셔서 감사합니다.

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

도와주셔서 감사합니다 stacks a reason clause in front, and 주셔서 hands you three y-glide vowels in a row -- ju-syeo-seo -- which must not collapse into 'joo-suh-suh'. Keep the ㅅ+ㅕ combination genuinely sh-flavoured before the phrase settles onto 감사합니다.

Where English speakers slip

Nearly every beginner says 'gam-sa-hap-ni-da', reading the ㅂ literally off the page. Korean does not permit a stop directly before a nasal there; the ㅂ becomes ㅁ, without exception. The other habitual error is a full English G at the front, when ㄱ here is unaspirated and only lightly voiced, closer to a very gentle k than to the g of 'gum'.