TeacherJoy

What do they sound like? Can you pronounce them?

The standard pronunciation of this is [마딛따], and this one should be [마덥따]. But wait, most of you probably learned to say [마싣따], right? You’re not wrong.

Here’s why.

You already know that Hangul was created to represent sounds. In Korean, when two separate words combine into one compound word, the boundary between them is marked by stop sound. And that stop sound naturally makes the next consonant a tense sounds.

If you say [물고기], it sounds unnatural. It should be [물꼬기]. That’s the correct pronunciation.

And this one isn’t [아침밥], it’s [아침빱].

Now, back to our main word: 맛있다. This(맛있다) originally comes from the noun “맛 (taste)” and the verb “있다 (to exist).” When you pronounce this(맛) alone, it ends with a stop sound, [맏].

Same rule for this(맛없다). 맛 plus 없다 should be [마덥따].

But, these days, people tend to pronounce this(맛있다) as [마싣따]. No one knows for sure, but maybe because it came from the phrase “맛이 있다 [마시이따],” and there are two /이/ sounds, people just simplified it to [마싣따]. Or maybe they just started reading it as it’s written.

Anyway, this(맛있다) should be [마싣따] or [마딛따]. As for this(맛없다), it must be always [마덥따].

Quick tip! Because of the same vowel overlap, “어디 있어요? [어디이써요]” often becomes “어딨어요? [어디써요]” in casual speech. And “재미있어요 [재미이써요]” You can shorten it to “재밌어요 [재미써요].” And “여기 있어요 [여기이써요]”? “여깄어요 [여기써요].”

Honestly, it’s tricky, even for native speakers. But as you’ve probably noticed, my English isn’t perfect either. As long as you can be understood, that’s what matters. So, don’t stress about sounding perfect.

Reference

• 유현경 외(2018), 한국어 표준 문법, 집문당, 131쪽 (‘맛있다’의 표준 발음).