LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "물" in Korean?
mool, one syllable. The final ㄹ is a light, clear l made with the tongue tip, not the heavy dark l English uses at the ends of words.
mul
One short beat. What deserves attention instead of stress is the quality of that final ㄹ, because Korean has a single liquid phoneme that surfaces as a tap between vowels and as a clear l at the end of a syllable -- and this word shows you the l side of it.
Listen: 물
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
물 한 잔 주세요.
Mul han jan juseyo.
A glass of water, please.
Listen: 물 한 잔 주세요.
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물 한 잔 주세요 puts 물 directly before 한, and in ordinary speech the two run together so the l flows straight into the h with no pause. Notice also that 잔 keeps a plain ㅈ rather than tensing, because the batchim in front of it is ㄴ and not a stop.
Where English speakers slip
English speakers make word-final l with the tongue body bunched at the back -- the dark l of 'full' -- which makes 물 sound muffled and closer to 'mool-uh'. Korean's ㄹ is bright and forward, nearer to the l of 'leaf' even in final position. Keep the tongue tip high and the tongue back flat.