Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "좋다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 좋다 in Korean?

좋다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɕo.tʰa/. It means “to be good.” jo-ta. The ㅎ batchim never surfaces as an h -- it merges with the following ㄷ and emerges as a strongly aspirated ㅌ.

jo-ta. The ㅎ batchim never surfaces as an h -- it merges with the following ㄷ and emerges as a strongly aspirated ㅌ.

좋다 /tɕo.tʰa/

jota

Two even syllables, the second slightly longer because aspiration takes time. The rule on display is ㅎ-coalescence, the same process behind 부탁하다 and 괜찮다: a ㅎ adjacent to a plain stop hands over its breath and then vanishes from the surface.

Listen: 좋다

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Sound it out

jo Plain ㅈ, gentle and unaspirated, onto a rounded 'oh'. Push the lips forward properly here, because this is ㅗ and not the flat ㅓ.

ta A single aspirated consonant standing in for the written ㅎ plus ㄷ. The difference between 좋다 and a limp 'joda' lives entirely in that puff of breath.

Hear it in a sentence

이 커피는 정말 좋아요.

I keopineun jeongmal joayo.

This coffee is really good.

Listen: 이 커피는 정말 좋아요.

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

이 커피는 정말 좋아요 shows the ㅎ in its other role. With a vowel following it aspirates nothing and simply weakens between voiced sounds, so 좋아요 comes out jo-a-yo. Say the two forms back to back and you can hear one letter producing two completely different outcomes.

Where English speakers slip

Almost every beginner produces 'jo-ha-da' or 'jot-da', treating the ㅎ as a syllable of its own or as a stop. Neither is right: there are exactly two syllables, and the ㅎ shows up only as breath on the t. Rounding is the second issue -- ㅗ needs the lips pushed forward, and English speakers routinely flatten it into the 'uh' of 'cut', which is simply the wrong vowel.