🌟 Day 13: Korean Sound Change – Palatalization (구개음화)

Hi everyone!
You’ve already mastered nasalization and liquidization, so today we’re diving into another fascinating sound change in Korean: Palatalization — in Korean, 구개음화 (gu-gae-eum-hwa).

Let’s make it simple and fun, as always!

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🔍 What is Palatalization?

Palatalization is a sound change where a consonant sound shifts toward the palate (the roof of the mouth) to make pronunciation smoother and more natural.

In Korean, this happens when a consonant like ㄷ (d) or ㅌ (t) comes before the vowel ㅣ (i) or the glide 히 (hi). These sounds then turn into ㅈ (j) or ㅊ (ch).

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🧠 Basic Rules of Palatalization

1️⃣ ㄷ + 이 → ㅈ
• Example:
• 굳이 (gud-i) → 구지 (gu-ji) = if really / unnecessarily
• 해돋이 (hae-dod-i) → 해도지 (hae-do-ji) = sunrise

2️⃣ ㅌ + 이 → ㅊ
• Example:
• 같이 (gat-i) → 가치 (ga-chi) = together
• 맏이 (mat-i) → 마지 (ma-ji) = eldest child (this is a unique case!)

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📚 More Examples:

Original Changed Meaning
같이 (gat-i) 가치 (ga-chi) Together
굳이 (gud-i) 구지 (gu-ji) Really, unnecessarily
해돋이 (hae-dod-i) 해도지 (hae-do-ji) Sunrise
붙이다 (but-i-da) 부치다 (bu-chi-da) To attach



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🗣️ Pronunciation Practice

Try saying these aloud and notice how smooth it feels with the sound change:
• 같이 → 가치
• 붙이다 → 부치다
• 해돋이 → 해도지
• 굳이 → 구지

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🎯 Why Should You Learn This?
• It helps you sound more natural when speaking Korean.
• It improves your listening comprehension — especially in K-Dramas or real-life conversations!
• It makes reading and writing easier because you’ll understand why things are pronounced differently from how they’re written!

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Great work today!
Tomorrow, we’ll explore aspiration (격음화) — another fun and important sound change!
Keep going, and Korean will keep getting easier!