LingoDrop
Korean · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "남편" in Korean?
nam-pyeon. The ㅍ is aspirated and needs a real puff, even though it sits between two nasals where English would soften it.
nampyeon
Two beats. The interest is that an aspirated consonant survives intact between two nasal syllables, because Korean does not soften aspirates in that environment, whereas English would reduce a p there almost automatically.
Listen: 남편
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
제 남편은 의사예요.
Je nampyeoneun uisayeyo.
My husband is a doctor.
Listen: 제 남편은 의사예요.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
제 남편은 의사예요 attaches 은, so the closing ㄴ moves into the particle to give nam-pyeo-neun. Then 의사 shows the full ㅢ diphthong, because it sits in a word-initial syllable where that vowel is pronounced in full.
Where English speakers slip
Too little breath on the ㅍ gives the word a soft b-like middle and pulls it toward 남변, so push the air. Splitting 편 into 'pee-eon' is the second slip, and it turns a two-beat word into three.