LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "만약" in Korean?
ma-nyak. The ㄴ ending 만 slides forward into the vowel-initial 약, so the two written blocks get re-cut when you speak them.
manyak
Two beats once the resyllabification is done, though the writing cuts them differently. As a conditional adverb it usually opens a clause and takes a slight pitch rise, since the sentence stays unresolved until the -(으)면 clause arrives to close it.
Listen: 만약
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
만약 비가 오면 집에 있을 거예요.
Manyak biga omyeon jibe isseul geoyeyo.
If it rains, I'll stay home.
Listen: 만약 비가 오면 집에 있을 거예요.
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만약 비가 오면 집에 있을 거예요 pairs 만약 with the -면 ending it always expects, and the second half offers a chain reaction: 있을 거예요 comes out i-sseul kkeo-ye-yo, with the ㅆ moving forward into 을 and the ㄹ then tensing the ㄱ of 거.
Where English speakers slip
Pronouncing the two blocks separately -- 'man-yak', with a clear break and a fresh vowel onset -- sounds stilted, because Korean links the ㄴ across. The other correction is the final consonant, which English speakers release into a hard k; here the tongue reaches the velum and stops, leaving the word ending in silence.