Studying Korean/beginner
🌟 Day 23: Korean Pronunciation Rule – When ㄴ meets ㅁ, it becomes ㅁ!
thanks2korea
2025. 4. 7. 08:33
Hi everyone!
Great job keeping up with your Korean learning every day!
Today, let’s look at a really interesting and useful pronunciation rule that will help you sound more like a native speaker.
🔍 What’s the Rule?
When a syllable ends in ㄴ (n) and the next syllable starts with ㅁ (m),
ㄴ changes to ㅁ, and the sound becomes a double [mm] sound.
This process is called nasal assimilation (비음화 / bieumhwa) in Korean.
📘 Examples
Korean Pronunciation Meaning
| 신문 (sin + mun) | 심문 [shim-moon] | newspaper |
| 국물 (guk + mul) | 궁물 [gung-mool] | soup/broth |
| 젊는 (jeolm + neun) | 점는 [jeom-neun] | being young (grammar structure) |
| 반말 (ban + mal) | 밤말 [bam-mal] | informal speech |
🧠 Why It Matters
- Helps you understand native speakers more easily
- Makes your pronunciation sound more natural
- Avoids confusion when reading or writing
🗣 Practice Time!
Say these out loud with the [mm] sound:
- 신문 → [심문]
- 국물 → [궁물]
- 반말 → [밤말]
- 젊는 → [점는]
You did great today!
These pronunciation rules may seem small, but they make a big difference in sounding fluent.
Keep going—you’re doing amazing!
See you tomorrow for more Korean fun!