Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "식탁" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 식탁 in Korean?

식탁 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕik̚.tʰak̚/. It means “table (dining).” shik-tak. A palatalized s at the front, an unreleased ㄱ, and an aspirated ㅌ that keeps its breath despite the stop before it.

shik-tak. A palatalized s at the front, an unreleased ㄱ, and an aspirated ㅌ that keeps its breath despite the stop before it.

식탁 /ɕik̚.tʰak̚/

siktak

Two beats, both ending in silent closures. The useful contrast is with 식당, where the same 식 tenses a plain ㄷ; here the following consonant is already aspirated, so nothing changes and the breath comes through intact.

Listen: 식탁

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

Sound it out

sik ㅅ palatalized to 'sh' by the ㅣ, a tight 'ee', and an unreleased ㄱ.

tak ㅌ with genuine aspiration -- a stop batchim tenses a plain consonant but leaves an aspirated one alone -- then an open ㅏ and a second unreleased ㄱ.

Hear it in a sentence

식탁 위에 접시를 놓으세요.

Siktak wie jeopsireul noeuseyo.

Put the plates on the table.

Listen: 식탁 위에 접시를 놓으세요.

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

식탁 위에 접시를 놓으세요 follows with 위에, two vowels in a row joined by a glide, and then 놓으세요, where the ㅎ of 놓 disappears between vowels and the word runs no-eu-se-yo.

Where English speakers slip

Learners tense the ㅌ by analogy with 식당, producing something like 'shik-ttak', when an aspirated consonant is never a candidate for tensing -- keep the breath. The plain-s error is the other one, since because of the ㅣ that first consonant is 'sh' and not 's'.