As you can see on the pronunciation page, while you read the examples, some of the letter combinations don't sound the way you think they would. Namely, the ㅂ and ㄴ that are next to each other in 입니다 don't sound like "ipneeda". The combination makes it sound like "imneeda".

Below are more examples of how the sound of Korean changes with some consonant combinations. First is the English, then in Korean followed by a pronunciation guide.



Henry 헨리 Helli

Homerun! 홈런! Homenun!

Can you speak Korean? 한국말 할 줄 알아요? Hangoongmal hal chool alayo?



The two main culprits of this are the ㄹ and ㅎ. The ㄹ (riul) tends to soften the previous character and usually changes to an "L" sound. That's why the name "Henry" is pronounced "Helli" in Korean. It's just something you have remember. Many is a time when you'l kick yourself for not understanding a Korean word, only to find out later that it was an actually an English word with a Korean spelling that caused the sounds to change when spoken.

The other character that alters pronunciation is the ㅎ (hiut). It causes the accompanying consonant to be aspirated. That just means that it makes it a harder letter. You have to expel air when you voice it. Moreso than a regular consonant.

Below is a table that should help you if you read some Korean out loud from a Korean web site. Whenever you come across a ㄹ or a ㅎ, check the table and see if a pronunciation change is in order.

This letter : Followed by this letter : Make this sound : ㄱ: ㄹ :ㅇㄴ : ㄱ: ㅁ :ㅇㅁ : ㄱ :ㅎ :ㅋ : ㄴ :ㄹ: English "L" : ㄷ: ㄹ :ㄷㄴ : ㄷ :ㅎ :ㅌ : ㄹ :ㄹ :English "L" : ㅁ :ㄹ :ㅁㄴ : ㅂ: ㄴ :ㅁㄴ: ㅂ :ㄹ :ㅂㄴ : ㅂ: ㅎ: ㅍ : ㅅ :ㄹ: ㅌㄴ : ㅇ :ㄹ :ㅇㄴ: ㅈ :ㄹ :ㅈㄴ : ㅋ :ㅎ :ㅋ : ㅌ: ㄹ :ㅌㄴ: ㅌ :ㅎ :ㅌ : ㅍ :ㄹ: ㅍㄴ: ㅍ :ㅎ :ㅍ : ㅎ :ㄱ: ㅋ : ㅎ: ㄷ :ㅌ : ㅎ :ㅂ :ㅍ : ㅎ :ㅈ: ㅊ

If this list seems somewhat daunting, don't worry. You'll get used to these combinations quickly with a little practice. Pretty soon you won't even think about it.

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