LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "까지" in Korean?
kka-ji, opening with the tensed ㄲ -- a hard, compressed k with no breath -- and closing on a softly voiced j.
kkaji
Two unstressed beats clipped onto the noun before them. Since 까지 already begins with a tensed consonant, it does not change after a stop batchim -- there is nothing left to tense -- which makes it one of the more phonologically stable particles in the language.
Listen: 까지
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
다섯 시까지 일해요.
Daseot sikkaji ilhaeyo.
I work until five o'clock.
Listen: 다섯 시까지 일해요.
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다섯 시까지 일해요 shows a small cascade: the unreleased t of 다섯 tenses the ㅅ of 시 to ㅆ, giving da-seot-ssi, and only then does 까지 attach. Two tensed consonants land back to back, so the middle of the phrase comes out noticeably tight and clipped.
Where English speakers slip
Aspirating the opening gives 카지, and softening it gives 가지, which is a real word meaning eggplant or kind. The tensed consonant sits between those two, made with a squeezed larynx and no escaping air. A useful test: say 'sky' and hold the k, which is already unaspirated, then add throat tension on top of it.