Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "시작" in Korean?

shi-jak. The ㅅ palatalizes before ㅣ, the ㅈ voices between vowels, and the final ㄱ closes in silence.

시작 /ɕi.dʑak̚/

sijak

Two syllables, the second clipped by its stop. The noun is the bare root of 시작하다, and comparing the two is instructive, since the verb form fuses that final ㄱ with a ㅎ into an aspirated ㅋ.

Listen: 시작

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Sound it out

si ㅅ pulled back toward the palate by the ㅣ, so it comes out as 'sh' rather than a plain s.

jak The plain affricate, voiced by its vowel neighbours, an open ㅏ, and an unreleased ㄱ that ends the word without a burst.

Hear it in a sentence

영화 시작 시간이 언제예요?

Yeonghwa sijak sigani eonjeyeyo?

When does the movie start?

Listen: 영화 시작 시간이 언제예요?

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

영화 시작 시간이 언제예요? puts two nouns together, and the unreleased ㄱ of 시작 tenses the ㅅ of 시간 into ㅆ, giving shi-jak-ssi-gan. The palatalization then applies to that tensed s as well.

Where English speakers slip

'si-jak' with a plain s is the recurring miss, and hardening the middle ㅈ is the second, since between vowels it should be soft. Then there is the ending, where releasing the k adds a burst that Korean replaces with silence.