Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "싶다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 싶다 in Korean?

싶다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕip̚.t͈a/. It means “to want to (only as -고 싶다).” ship-tta. Two things to catch: the ㅅ becomes 'sh' in front of ㅣ, and the ㅂ batchim tenses the following ㄷ into ㄸ.

ship-tta. Two things to catch: the ㅅ becomes 'sh' in front of ㅣ, and the ㅂ batchim tenses the following ㄷ into ㄸ.

싶다 /ɕip̚.t͈a/

sipda

Two beats separated by a held lip closure. The word never appears alone -- it is bound to the -고 form of another verb, as in 먹고 싶다 -- so what you actually rehearse is the rhythm of the whole construction, where 고 and 싶 run together without a pause.

Listen: 싶다

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Sound it out

si ㅅ in front of ㅣ palatalizes into a genuine 'sh'. This is a real, regular rule of the language, not a loose approximation.

p Unreleased ㅂ. The lips close and hold, with no puff escaping before the next syllable.

da Tensed ㄸ, forced by the stop batchim in front of it: compressed throat, sharp release, no aspiration.

Hear it in a sentence

아이스크림을 먹고 싶어요.

Aiseukeurimeul meokgo sipeoyo.

I want to eat an ice cream.

Listen: 아이스크림을 먹고 싶어요.

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아이스크림을 먹고 싶어요 puts the construction in its natural habitat: the ㄱ of 먹 tenses the ㄱ of 고 to give meok-kko, and then 싶어요 resyllabifies its ㅂ forward into the vowel, so the trapped stop reappears as an audible p in si-peo-yo.

Where English speakers slip

Saying 'sip' with a plain s is the commonest error, and it ignores a rule that applies right across the language: ㅅ before ㅣ or a y-glide is 'sh'. The second error is a soft English d at the end instead of the tensed ㄸ -- and because the trigger is a consonant you cannot actually hear, learners often do not realize anything is supposed to happen there at all.