Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "마지막" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 마지막 in Korean?

마지막 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ma.dʑi.mak̚/. It means “last / final.” ma-ji-mak. The ㅈ voices between vowels, and the final ㄱ closes the word without releasing.

ma-ji-mak. The ㅈ voices between vowels, and the final ㄱ closes the word without releasing.

마지막 /ma.dʑi.mak̚/

majimak

Pitch belongs to the phrase, not the word, so nothing inside these three blocks stands out. The only timing feature is the ending, cut short by its stop closure and therefore briefer than the two syllables before it.

Listen: 마지막

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Sound it out

ma An m made with the lips fully shut, over an open ㅏ, kept short.

ji ㅈ with vowels on both sides, so it voices fully, onto a tight 'ee'.

mak m, another open ㅏ, and an unreleased ㄱ. The tongue reaches the velum and the word simply ends there.

Hear it in a sentence

오늘이 마지막 날이에요.

Oneuri majimak narieyo.

Today is the last day.

Listen: 오늘이 마지막 날이에요.

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오늘이 마지막 날이에요 resyllabifies twice around the target word: 오늘이 becomes o-neu-ri and 날이에요 becomes na-ri-e-yo, both turning a ㄹ batchim into a tap. Meanwhile the ㄱ of 마지막 stays silent right up against 날.

Where English speakers slip

Releasing the final k with an English burst is the standard slip, and adding a vowel after it -- 'ma-ji-ma-ku' -- is the worse version. The word ends in silence. Learners also aspirate the middle ㅈ into 'ma-chi-mak', when between vowels it should be soft and fully voiced.