Korean Double Consonants: The Terrible Twos

Having trouble with figuring how how to pronounce Korean double consonants?

You’re not alone!

No doubt that Korean consonants are a challenge to pronounce.

This is especially true when you’re first learning Korean!

The key here is to be patient and understand that this pronunciation isn’t easy for anyone learning Korean.

However, there is a sliver lining to this problem! If you’ve studied the Korean double consonants, that means that you’ve already learned the Korean alphabet. Pat yourself on the back, because by learning Hangul (Korean alphabet), you’ve taken the first step towards making massive Korean language progress.

If you are reading this and haven’t learned Hangul, then you can download our free Hangul guide here. It will only take you about 60 minutes to learn.

Or if you’ve learned Hangul but don’t feel too confident with the Korean alphabet yet, then you may want to check out the free Hangul guide to help reinforce what you have learned.

There are two different versions of the Korean double consonants:

• Identical Twin Consonants: Two of the same letters next to each other
• Fraternal Twin Consonants: Two different letters next to each other

We’ll go over both versions below!

1. Identical Twin Consonants

Five of the Korean consonants have twin counterparts, known at “쌍”s. For example:

• ㄱ = 기역
• ㄲ = 쌍기역

So you can simply put a “쌍” before the name of the single consonant to describe the twin consonants.  The five twin consonants are ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅉ, ㅃ, and ㅆ.

The tough part is making the pronunciation distinction. The twin consonant is basically the same as the single consonant, except it’s said with emphasis. Here is a list of the single consonant sounds, their twin counterparts, and the pronunciation:

If you were going to say the word “상” in Korean, then it would sound like “saang”.

If you were going to say the word “쌍” in Korean, then it would sound like “ssaang”.

The difference is in the emphasis and the strength of the “s” sound. The twin consonants sound almost aggressive because they are so sharp. 

This will take a while to get used to, so don’t stress about them too much. You can practice by typing in the words in the Naver Korean dictionary http://krdic.naver.com/ and pressing the pronunciation button and repeating correctly.

You can use the Naver Dictionary to practice Korean double consonants!

For example:

• Pronunciation for “상”
• Pronunciation for “쌍”

Also you can ask Koreans to correct you if you’re pronunciation is wrong and make a note to focus on that point.

2a. Fraternal Twins (single-syllable)

The other kinds of “double consonants” that you’ll run into appear in the bottom two positions of syllables.

For clarity, let’s define the positions of the letters in the syllable. We’ll use the syllable “앉”.

• First position: “ㅇ”
• Second position: “ㅏ”
• Third position: “ㄴ”
• Fourth Position: “ㅈ”

These double syllables are quite challenging because they produce different sounds than what you’d expect based on the standard pronunciation rules. Also, they’ll make different sounds based on whether they have syllables trailing behind or not.

Let’s start with the ones without trailing syllables, which we will refer to as “single syllables”.

i. Fourth Position ㅈ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㅈ” becomes silent.

ii. Fourth Position ㅎ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㅎ” becomes silent.

iii. Fourth Position ㅅ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㅅ” becomes silent.

iv. Third Position ㄹ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㄹ” becomes silent.

2b. Fraternal Twins (multi-syllable)

Do you remember the four letter positions from above? If not, make sure you do! They’ll be important here as well.

If you have a double consonant in the third and fourth positions and the next syllable contains an “ㅇ” in the first position, then the pronunciation may change.

In most cases, the fourth position letter in first syllable jumps over and takes the position of the “ㅇ” position in the second syllable.

For example, if you have the word “읽어”, it’s pronounced “일거”. That’s because the “ㄱ” jumps over and replaces the “ㅇ”.

Let’s cover four situations above, and see how they act when there is a “ㅇ” in the trailing syllable first position.

i. Fourth Position ㅈ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㅈ” moves to replace the “ㅇ”.

ii. Fourth Position ㅎ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㅎ” stays silent. The third position letter replaces the “ㅇ”.

iii. Fourth Position ㅅ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㅅ” moves to replace the “ㅇ”.

iv. Third Position ㄹ

If you have this combo in the third and fourth positions, the “ㄹ” is pronounced and the fourth position letters moves to replace the “ㅇ”.

If you’re uncertain about the pronunciation, you can always check the Naver Korean Dictionary to check!

What words do you find most challenging to pronounce?

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