Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "짧다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 짧다 in Korean?

짧다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /t͈ɕal.t͈a/. It means “to be short.” jjal-tta. A tensed ㅉ at the front, only the ㄹ of the cluster ㄼ pronounced, and a tensed ㄸ at the end.

jjal-tta. A tensed ㅉ at the front, only the ㄹ of the cluster ㄼ pronounced, and a tensed ㄸ at the end.

짧다 /t͈ɕal.t͈a/

jjalda

Two blocks, both tense. This word is an exception worth memorizing: ordinary ㄹ batchims leave the next consonant alone, but the cluster ㄼ tenses it, so 짧다 behaves differently from 길다 despite sounding as though it should not.

Listen: 짧다

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Sound it out

jja Tensed ㅉ: throat locked, no breath, a sharp affricate release. Then a wide open ㅏ.

l Of the double batchim ㄼ, only the ㄹ surfaces in front of a consonant. The ㅂ is completely silent here.

da Tensed ㄸ. Unusually, a ㄼ batchim does trigger tensing, which is why this is jjal-tta and not 'jjal-da'.

Hear it in a sentence

이 영화는 좀 짧아요.

I yeonghwaneun jom jjalbayo.

This movie is a bit short.

Listen: 이 영화는 좀 짧아요.

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이 영화는 좀 짧아요 frees the hidden ㅂ. With a vowel following, the cluster splits and the ㅂ resyllabifies forward, giving jjal-ba-yo -- and that b is completely absent from the dictionary form.

Where English speakers slip

The tensed ㅉ collapses into an ordinary j for most learners, giving 잘다, so lock the throat and release without air. Then remember the ending is tensed too, which contradicts the pattern learned from 알다 and 길다 -- this cluster is the exception, and it is the most forgivable error in the word.