Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "물어보다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 물어보다 in Korean?

물어보다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /mu.ɾʌ.bo.da/. It means “to ask (a question).” mu-reo-bo-da, four beats. The ㄹ of 물 hops into the next syllable and becomes a tap, so the written 물-어 comes out as mu-reo.

mu-reo-bo-da, four beats. The ㄹ of 물 hops into the next syllable and becomes a tap, so the written 물-어 comes out as mu-reo.

물어보다 /mu.ɾʌ.bo.da/

mureoboda

Four even beats. Note the compound structure: this is the irregular stem 묻- surfacing as 물- plus the auxiliary 보다, so what looks like one long verb is really two glued together, with the seam falling between 어 and 보.

Listen: 물어보다

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Sound it out

mu m plus a rounded, high ㅜ with the lips pushed forward.

reo The l from the previous block, now between vowels and therefore a tap, carrying the unrounded ㅓ.

bo Plain ㅂ voiced between vowels into a real b, onto a rounded ㅗ.

da Dictionary punctuation more than a sound: soft, unaccented, and stripped off in every conjugated form.

Hear it in a sentence

뭐 좀 물어봐도 돼요?

Mwo jom mureobwado dwaeyo?

May I ask you something?

Listen: 뭐 좀 물어봐도 돼요?

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뭐 좀 물어봐도 돼요? contracts the auxiliary to 봐 and adds a permission ending, and 좀 tenses nothing here because 뭐 ends in a vowel. The 돼요 at the end is a single w-glide syllable, so the question closes on one compact beat after a long run.

Where English speakers slip

Reading 물어 as 'mul-eo', with a held l and then a fresh vowel start, is the beginner's version and it stops the word dead in the middle. Let the ㄹ tap across. English speakers also tend to stress the third syllable on the model of English compound verbs, when all four beats here are level.