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The next consonant tightens — Korean pronunciation (35 entries)

· 5 min read

This is part 3 of 3, covering the next consonant tightens, ㄷ and ㅌ become ㅈ and ㅊ before 이 — 35 entries.

The format and the FAQ are on part 1; this page is the entries themselves.

The next consonant tightens

After certain finals, the following consonant tenses — it comes out harder and shorter than the spelling suggests, as though it were doubled.

맛있겠다 is written with plain consonants throughout and lands as 마싣껟따.

This is the change learners most often hear correctly and still cannot spell, because the tense sound genuinely is not written anywhere. Your ear is right and the page looks wrong.

English has no clean way to write these sounds either, which is why the romanizations in this section are the least trustworthy on the page. Compare the two Hangul forms instead.

  • 맛있겠다 (masitgetda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (17 clips). Literally: written 맛있겠다 · said 마싣껟따.
  • 재밌겠다 (jaemitgetda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2, and this is one of the words we met most often (15 clips). Literally: written 재밌겠다 · said 재믿껟따.
  • 있겠지 (itgetji) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 있겠지 · said 읻껟찌.
  • 없겠다 (eopgetda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 없겠다 · said 업껟따.
  • 낫겠다 (natgetda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 낫겠다 · said 낟껟따.
  • 미쳤다 (micheotda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2, and this is one of the words we met most often (17 clips). Literally: written 미쳤다 · said 미첟따.
  • 먹었잖아 (meogeotjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 먹었잖아 · said 머걷짜나.
  • 졌다 (jeotda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 졌다 · said 젇따.
  • 있었잖아 (isseotjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 있었잖아 · said 이썯짜나.
  • 있잖아 (itjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (24 clips). Literally: written 있잖아 · said 읻짜나.
  • 했잖아 (haetjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (15 clips). Literally: written 했잖아 · said 핻짜나.
  • 있거든요 (itgeodeunyo) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (11 clips). Literally: written 있거든요 · said 읻꺼드뇨.
  • 맞잖아 (matjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (10 clips). Literally: written 맞잖아 · said 맏짜나.
  • 멋있다 (meositda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (10 clips). Literally: written 멋있다 · said 머싣따.
  • 없잖아 (eopjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (8 clips). Literally: written 없잖아 · said 업짜나.
  • 찾았다 (chajatda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 찾았다 · said 차잗따.
  • 그랬잖아 (geuraetjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2. Literally: written 그랬잖아 · said 그랟짜나.
  • 들어갔다 (deureogatda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 들어갔다 · said 드러갇따.
  • 했거든요 (haetgeodeunyo) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 했거든요 · said 핻꺼드뇨.
  • 말했잖아 (malhaetjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2. Literally: written 말했잖아 · said 말핻짜나.
  • 맞았다 (majatda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 맞았다 · said 마잗따.
  • 해봤잖아 (haebwatjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2. Literally: written 해봤잖아 · said 해봗짜나.
  • 나왔잖아 (nawatjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2. Literally: written 나왔잖아 · said 나왇짜나.
  • 받았지 (badatji) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 받았지 · said 바닫찌.
  • 잡았다 (jabatda) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 잡았다 · said 자받따.
  • 봤잖아 (bwatjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 봤잖아 · said 봗짜나.
  • 갔잖아 (gatjana) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 갔잖아 · said 갇짜나.
  • 찍었던 (jjigeotdeon) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 찍었던 · said 찌걷떤.
  • 것들을 (geotdeureul) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 것들을 · said 걷뜨를.

ㄷ and ㅌ become ㅈ and ㅊ before 이

The smallest section here and the strangest-looking change: a ㄷ or ㅌ sitting before 이 does not stay a ㄷ or ㅌ. It moves forward in the mouth and turns into ㅈ or ㅊ.

같이 is 가치. 굳이 is 구지.

There are not many words where this happens, but the ones that do are extremely common, which is a bad combination — high frequency and a change large enough that the word becomes unrecognisable.

These are worth memorising individually rather than as a rule, simply because the list is short.

  • 똑같이 (ttokgachi) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 2, and this is one of the words we met most often (9 clips). Literally: written 똑같이 · said 똑까치.
  • 같이 (gachi) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (42 clips). Literally: written 같이 · said 가치.
  • 끝이야 (kkeuchiya) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (10 clips). Literally: written 끝이야 · said 끄치야.
  • 굳이 (guji) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1, and this is one of the words we met most often (9 clips). Literally: written 굳이 · said 구지.
  • 붙이는 (buchineun) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 붙이는 · said 부치는.
  • 끝인 (kkeuchin) — the sound splits from the spelling at syllable 1. Literally: written 끝인 · said 끄친.

The rest of this set

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