Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "저것" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 저것 in Korean?

저것 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕʌ.gʌt̚/. It means “that (over there).” jeo-geot. Both vowels are the unrounded ㅓ, the middle ㄱ voices into a g, and the final ㅅ closes as a silent t.

jeo-geot. Both vowels are the unrounded ㅓ, the middle ㄱ voices into a g, and the final ㅅ closes as a silent t.

저것 /tɕʌ.gʌt̚/

jeogeot

A pair of blocks and a clipped ending. Since both syllables share the same vowel, this is a convenient self-check for ㅓ -- if the two halves do not rhyme, one of them has picked up rounding somewhere along the way.

Listen: 저것

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

Sound it out

jeo Plain ㅈ with no puff, then the flat ㅓ. Do not let the lips round at any point.

geo ㄱ voiced between vowels, carrying the identical ㅓ vowel as the block before it.

t The ㅅ batchim neutralized to an unreleased [t̚], with the tongue held in place and nothing released.

Hear it in a sentence

저것은 뭐예요?

Jeogeoseun mwoyeyo?

What is that over there?

Listen: 저것은 뭐예요?

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

저것은 뭐예요? unlocks the hidden ㅅ with the topic particle, giving jeo-geo-seun, and finishes on 뭐예요 with its single-beat w-glide. The whole question is four flowing syllables with exactly one stop closure in it, right at the end of 저것.

Where English speakers slip

The set 이것, 그것 and 저것 differs only in the first syllable, so sloppy vowels genuinely cause confusion -- and the usual sloppiness is rounding ㅓ toward 'oh'. Keep the lips flat through both syllables. Releasing that final t with an audible burst is the other habit worth unlearning.