Korean · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "싸다" in Korean?

Q: How do you pronounce 싸다 in Korean?

싸다 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /s͈a.da/. It means “to be cheap.” ssa-da. Two syllables, and everything hangs on that opening tensed ㅆ -- hard, hissing, and made with a locked throat.

ssa-da. Two syllables, and everything hangs on that opening tensed ㅆ -- hard, hissing, and made with a locked throat.

싸다 /s͈a.da/

ssada

Nothing rises or falls inside the word itself, and the only length difference comes from the tensed onset. Worth saying aloud beside 사다, 'to buy', which differs from it in exactly one feature and nothing else.

Listen: 싸다

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

Sound it out

ssa Tensed ㅆ at the start of a word: longer and sharper than a plain ㅅ, with the larynx compressed and no breathiness.

da Plain ㄷ voiced between vowels, a wide open vowel, and no emphasis of any kind.

Hear it in a sentence

이 가게가 더 싸요.

I gagega deo ssayo.

This shop is cheaper.

Listen: 이 가게가 더 싸요.

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

이 가게가 더 싸요 makes a natural contrast with the sentence for 비싸다, since the two adjectives are near-opposites built on the same tensed consonant. The subject 가게가 is all open syllables, so that ㅆ is the only hard sound in the line.

Where English speakers slip

The minimal pair with 사다 is the whole problem: 사요 means 'I buy' and 싸요 means 'it is cheap', and the only difference is throat tension on the first consonant. If a Korean listener cannot tell which you said, the tension is missing -- close the glottis before you start and push the airflow harder.