LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "일" in Korean?
il. One syllable: a tight 'ee' with no consonant in front, closed by a bright forward l.
il
One short beat. The word doubles as the Sino-Korean numeral for one and as the noun for work or day, so context rather than pronunciation disambiguates it -- there is nothing in the sound to separate the senses.
Listen: 일
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
저는 새 일을 시작했어요.
Jeoneun sae ireul sijakaesseoyo.
I started a new job.
Listen: 저는 새 일을 시작했어요.
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저는 새 일을 시작했어요 attaches 을, so the ㄹ taps forward and the phrase runs i-reul. Then 시작했어요 palatalizes its first ㅅ and fuses a ㄱ with a ㅎ into an aspirated ㅋ.
Where English speakers slip
The dark l is the whole difficulty in a syllable this short: English 'ill' bunches the tongue at the back and colours the vowel, while Korean keeps the tip up and the vowel clean. Learners also add a glottal stop at the front, which turns a soft syllable into a clipped one.