Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "물고기" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 물고기 in Korean?

물고기 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /mul.k͈o.gi/. It means “fish.” mul-kko-gi. The romanization writes a plain g, but the compound boundary tenses it -- 물 plus 고기 gives a hard ㄲ in the middle.

mul-kko-gi. The romanization writes a plain g, but the compound boundary tenses it -- 물 plus 고기 gives a hard ㄲ in the middle.

물고기 /mul.k͈o.gi/

mulgogi

Three unaccented syllables. The word contains the same letter twice with opposite realizations -- tensed at the compound seam and voiced between vowels -- which makes it one of the clearest demonstrations of compound tensing in the course.

Listen: 물고기

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Sound it out

mul m with the lips fully together over a rounded ㅜ, closed by a clear forward ㄹ.

go Written with a plain ㄱ but pronounced as tensed ㄲ, because Korean compounds regularly harden the consonant at the seam. Throat locked, no breath.

gi The second ㄱ is genuinely plain and voices between vowels into a soft g.

Hear it in a sentence

물고기가 바다에서 헤엄쳐요.

Mulgogiga badaeseo heeomchyeoyo.

The fish swims in the sea.

Listen: 물고기가 바다에서 헤엄쳐요.

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물고기가 바다에서 헤엄쳐요 attaches the subject particle to a vowel-final noun, and 헤엄쳐요 supplies two vowels meeting head-on plus an aspirated ㅊ, so the sentence moves from a tensed consonant to a breathy one.

Where English speakers slip

Saying 'mul-go-gi' with two identical soft g sounds misses the tensing entirely, and it is exactly what the romanization invites. The middle consonant is hard. Compound tensing like this is unwritten and irregular enough that it has to be learned word by word, which is why it is worth flagging here.