Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "저" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 저 in Korean?

저 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕʌ/. It means “I (polite).” One syllable, 'juh' -- a light j with no puff of air, riding a flat, unrounded vowel like the u in 'cut'.

One syllable, 'juh' -- a light j with no puff of air, riding a flat, unrounded vowel like the u in 'cut'.

저 /tɕʌ/

jeo

A single syllable, so there is nothing to weigh against anything -- but keep it genuinely short. 저 usually opens a sentence and gets carried by the phrase contour, drifting slightly low, rather than being punched as an English pronoun would be.

Listen: 저

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Sound it out

j ㅈ is the plain affricate: touch the tongue to the roof of the mouth and release gently with almost no breath. Word-initially it lands somewhere between English j and ch, not squarely on either.

eo ㅓ is a back, unrounded vowel. Aim for the vowel of 'sun' but pulled further back in the mouth, and keep the lips completely un-pursed throughout.

Hear it in a sentence

저는 민수예요.

Jeoneun Minsuyeyo.

I am Minsu.

Listen: 저는 민수예요.

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

저는 민수예요 shows 저 with the topic particle 는 glued straight on, giving jeo-neun as one smooth two-beat unit. Do not insert a pause between them; whatever pause exists comes after 는, right before the name.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers almost always round this into 'jaw' or 'joe', importing the ㅗ vowel by accident. That matters, because a rounded vowel here pushes the word toward entirely different syllables. Unround the lips, drop the jaw slightly, and think of the toneless 'uh' at the end of 'sofa' -- but longer and further back in the throat.