Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "깨끗하다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 깨끗하다 in Korean?

깨끗하다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /k͈ɛ.k͈ɯ.tʰa.da/. It means “to be clean.” kkae-kkeu-ta-da. Two tensed ㄲ sounds in a row, and then the ㅅ batchim of 끗 fuses with the ㅎ into an aspirated ㅌ.

kkae-kkeu-ta-da. Two tensed ㄲ sounds in a row, and then the ㅅ batchim of 끗 fuses with the ㅎ into an aspirated ㅌ.

깨끗하다 /k͈ɛ.k͈ɯ.tʰa.da/

kkaekkeutada

Four blocks, level, but the effort is anything but even: two tensed onsets, then an aspirate, then nothing. Word stress plays no part, and the shape you perceive comes entirely from where the throat tightens.

Listen: 깨끗하다

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

Sound it out

kkae Tensed ㄲ over the flat ㅐ. Throat locked, no aspiration, and a short vowel.

kkeu The same tensed consonant again, now over ㅡ. Two consecutive syllables demanding a compressed larynx.

ta The ㅅ batchim neutralizes to a t and then merges with the following ㅎ into an aspirated ㅌ, which is why the romanization writes -ta.

da Soft and voiced, finally releasing all that accumulated tension.

Hear it in a sentence

부엌이 아주 깨끗해요.

Bueoki aju kkaekkeutaeyo.

The kitchen is very clean.

Listen: 부엌이 아주 깨끗해요.

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

부엌이 아주 깨끗해요 conjugates to 깨끗해요 and puts a nice recovery in front: 부엌 ends in ㅋ, whose aspiration is stripped in final position, but with the particle 이 attached it resyllabifies and returns in full, giving bu-eo-ki.

Where English speakers slip

Producing two ordinary k sounds turns the word into something a Korean listener will not recognize, because both need genuine tension. The third syllable then trips people again, since they try to say 'kkeut-ha-da' with a stop, a gap and an h -- the ㅅ and the ㅎ combine into one aspirated consonant with no break in it.