Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "크다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 크다 in Korean?

크다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kʰɯ.da/. It means “to be big.” keu-da. An aspirated ㅋ with a real burst of breath, over the lip-flat ㅡ -- two features English speakers habitually trade for each other.

keu-da. An aspirated ㅋ with a real burst of breath, over the lip-flat ㅡ -- two features English speakers habitually trade for each other.

크다 /kʰɯ.da/

keuda

Equal weight, equal length, no peak. This is the aspirated member of a trio that also includes 그, with its plain ㄱ, and 끄다, with a tensed ㄲ -- three words sharing a vowel and differing only in how much breath and throat tension the first consonant carries.

Listen: 크다

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Sound it out

keu ㅋ is the aspirated velar, the breathiest of the three k-sounds. Then ㅡ, which needs the lips flat and the tongue high and back.

da Softly voiced, and the point where all the aspiration and lip-spreading finally lets go.

Hear it in a sentence

그 집은 아주 커요.

Geu jibeun aju keoyo.

That house is very big.

Listen: 그 집은 아주 커요.

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그 집은 아주 커요 contracts the verb to 커요, changing the vowel outright, and puts 그 at the front with the same ㅡ vowel but a plain consonant. Saying 그 and 크 back to back inside one sentence is the clearest available drill for the plain-against-aspirated contrast.

Where English speakers slip

The two hard parts pull against each other: pushing the aspiration usually makes learners round the vowel, and getting the vowel flat usually makes them drop the breath. Do both at once. If the word comes out as 'koo-da' you have lost the vowel, and if it comes out as 'geu-da' you have lost the consonant.