Korean consonants are a lot more abruptly sounded than you would think. For example, if you say /ne/, you put your tongue behind your upper teeth. However, Korean people put their tongue between their lower and upper teeth when they say /네/ and that is why it is sounded like /데/. Again, it is because Korean consonants are abruptly sounded. Hope it helps and please follow me at koreanclass.canada on Instagram!

It’s “denasalization”. The relevant Wikipedia article explains it. A denasalized N sounds like D - like when your nose is stuffed-up and you try to talk ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_phonology Quote: 2.^ /m, n/ tend to be denasalized word-initially. /ŋ/ and /l/ cannot occur word-initially in native words.[5]

When Koreans say “네 = [ Ne ]” slowly, it is pronounced more nasally. It means that it is totally from “데 = [ De ] (But 데 does not exist, not have the meaning and/or 데 is wrong spelling.)”. However, when Koreans say it very fast, they emphasize the “N / ㄴ or Ne” a lot harder, making it sound like “D / ㄷ or De”. They do not even recognize the difference but it can sound like “D” to speakers of other languages and it is especially true for English speakers. Check your tongue positions while you pronounce 네 and 데. They are similar. Try pronouncing “네” while holding the air in your nasal passages. For “데”, push the air out of your mouth instead. Or, you may watch this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhf9NWKHjqE&t=1s From 1 : 08 to 2 : 54

You're not the only one. 네/ 데 and 뭐/붜 is one of the most common questions I receive from my students. 😊

I've always thought this! I thought I was hearing wrong or going crazy! I am soooooo glad I'm not the only one....