Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "느리다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 느리다 in Korean?

느리다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /nɯ.ɾi.da/. It means “to be slow.” neu-ri-da. The first vowel is the lip-flat ㅡ and the second a tight 'ee', with a single quick tap between them.

neu-ri-da. The first vowel is the lip-flat ㅡ and the second a tight 'ee', with a single quick tap between them.

느리다 /nɯ.ɾi.da/

neurida

The rhythm is level. What the word really trains is the ㅡ-to-ㅣ transition: two unrounded vowels one tap apart, and if either picks up lip rounding the whole word tilts toward a different shape.

Listen: 느리다

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Sound it out

neu n articulated near the teeth, onto ㅡ. Lips spread, tongue high and back, and no rounding whatsoever.

ri Tapped ㄹ onto 'ee'. One flick of the tongue tip and it is over.

da Soft, voiced, unaccented -- the least demanding sound in the whole word.

Hear it in a sentence

오늘은 기차가 느려요.

Oneureun gichaga neuryeoyo.

The train is slow today.

Listen: 오늘은 기차가 느려요.

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오늘은 기차가 느려요 conjugates to 느려요, folding the 'ee' into a y-glide, so a three-beat dictionary form becomes three beats built differently. The subject 기차가 has no clusters at all, so the sentence flows without a single stop.

Where English speakers slip

'noo-ri-da' is the standard output, because English has no ㅡ and the lips round by default -- watch them in a mirror. The second slip is an English r in the middle, which slows the word down, when a Korean tap is finished almost before it starts.