Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "만나다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 만나다 in Korean?

만나다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /man.na.da/. It means “to meet.” man-na-da. The two ㄴ sounds across the 만+나 seam are held as one long n, so the middle of the word takes an extra beat of nasal.

man-na-da. The two ㄴ sounds across the 만+나 seam are held as one long n, so the middle of the word takes an extra beat of nasal.

만나다 /man.na.da/

mannada

Three beats, though the first two are welded together by that long n, giving the word a slightly heavier middle than its syllable count suggests. The length is phonological rather than emphatic -- the consonant is long, the syllable is not loud.

Listen: 만나다

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

Sound it out

man m, an open 'ah', and a ㄴ that does not release before the next one arrives.

na The second ㄴ simply continues the first. Together they make a genuine geminate: one long nasal, not two separate contacts.

da Surrounded by vowels, so this d is about as soft as Korean gets, with a wide 'ah' behind it.

Hear it in a sentence

내일 친구를 만나요.

Naeil chingureul mannayo.

I'm meeting a friend tomorrow.

Listen: 내일 친구를 만나요.

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

내일 친구를 만나요 ends on the conjugated 만나요, which keeps the same geminate n. Ahead of it, 친구를 attaches the object particle after a vowel and runs as chin-gu-reul, so the sentence contains a long nasal in the middle and a quick tap in the object phrase -- two very different behaviours in one line.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers pronounce doubled letters as single sounds, so 'ma-na-da' is the usual output and it is audibly too short. Hold the n: make contact and keep it for roughly twice the duration of a single one. Aspirating the final ㄷ is the other slip, since it sits between vowels and should stay soft.