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Pronunciation Rules

The Korean letter ㅈ has 6 different pronunciation variants.

ch

/ each /

ㅈ is the first letter in a word

Korean

자주

저는

지금

Transcription

[ cha ju ]

[ chŏ nŭn ]

[ chi gŭm ]

English

often

I am

now

jj

consonant (except ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅇ, ㅎ) → ㅈ

Korean

잡지

숙제

낮잠

숫자

Transcription

[ 잡찌 ]

[ 숙쩨 ]

[ 낟짬 ]

[ 숟짜 ]

English

magazine

homework

nap *

number *

* See also Batchim ㅈ, ㅅ

j

/ re fu gee /

consonant ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅇ → ㅈ

vowel → ㅈ → vowel or ㅇ

Korean

반지

물질

감자

공장

자주

낮에

Transcription

[ pan ji ]

[ mul jil ]

[ kam ja ]

[ kong jang ]

[ cha ju ]

[ na je ]

English

ring

matter, substance

potato

factory

often

in the daytime

chʰ

/ chip /

consonant ㅎ → ㅈ

ㅈ → consonant ㅎ

Korean

그렇지

놓지 않다

앉히다

Transcription

[ 그러치 ]

[ 노치 안타 ]

[ 안치다 ]

English

exactly, yes, etc.

not to put *

set smb., place in *

* See also Batchim ㄶ, ㄵ, How to read

t

/ tall /

ㅈ is the last letter in a word

ㅈ → consonant (except ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅎ)

Korean

낮잠

빚받이

Transcription

[ 낟 ]

[ 낟잠 ]

[ 빋빠지 ]

English

daytime

nap

debts collection *

* See also How to read ㄷ (ㄷ + 이), How to read

n

/ no /

ㅈ → consonant ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ

Korean

빚내다

Transcription

[ 빈내다 ]

English

get a loan

Quick reference (click to open)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j

Syllable: Bra-zil (2 syllables), Ar-gen-ti-na (4), In-di-a (3), Viet-nam (2), thin-king (2), beau-ti-ful (3), good (1)

Batchim: is a final consonant in a syllable. → Bra-zil (batchim: 'l'), Ar-gen-ti-na (batchims: 'r' and 'n'), In-di-a ('n'), Viet-nam ('t', 'm')

Romanization: is a conversion of text (not pronunciation ! ) from different writing system (Korean, Arabic, Russian, etc.) to the Roman (Latin) alphabet.

IPA: is an alphabetic system of phonetic (pronunciation) notation.

Noun: road, user, sister, table, sky

Pronoun: I, my, we, you, they, her

Verb: to go, to study, to think, to feel

Adjective: cold, kind, hungry, curious, expensive

Adverb: quickly, nicely, never, exactly, urgently

Preposition: from, to, on, in, with, till

Conjuction: and, because, if, but, while

Declarative sentence: I learn Korean.

Interrogative sentence: Do you learn Korean?

Imperative sentence: You must learn Korean!

Exclamative sentence: Wow, you learn Korean!

Verb / Adj. stem in Korean: part of a verb or adj. which is left after removing the last syllable -다 ( e.g. 가다 → 가, 예쁘다 → 예쁘, 듣다 → 듣 ).