Tense Consonants: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, and ㅉ

Welcome back! In previous lessons, we learned about the basic Korean consonants and vowels, and how they combine to form syllable blocks. In Lesson 4, we learned the 7 final consonant (batchim) sounds in Korean.

In this lesson, we’re going to learn the remaining Hangul consonants that you haven’t seen yet. This group of consonants are known as tense consonants. They are: ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, and ㅉ. You might notice that they look like “doubled” versions of other.consonants (ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ).

These new consonants are in fact simply variations on consonants we already know:

• The tense version of 가 is 까
• The tense version of 다 is 따
• The tense version of 바 is 빠
• The tense version of 사 is 싸
• The tense version of 자 is 짜

ㄸ (Tense ‘d’ sound)

Let’s start by explaining the tense consonant [ㄸ]. It may be one of the easiest to pronounce because English speakers sometimes use this sound for emphasis.

For example, I might say Don’t do that . If I want to put a lot of emphasis, I might say it as Don’t do that! . In the emphasized version, before allowing the [d] sound to be released, I allow more pressure to build up inside my mouth. This is exactly the difference between [ㄷ] and [ㄸ].

If you are doing this properly, you will feel the muscles in your stomach flex as you build up pressure in your mouth before releasing the sound.

Here are a few example words using ㄸ. ㄸ is romanized as “tt”.

ㄲ (Tense ‘k’ or ‘g’ sound)

English speakers also use this sound for emphasis. Consider these two audio clips: Go , versus Go! . In the second (emphasized) clip, I allow the pressure to build up in my mouth before letting out a strengthened g sound.

This is the ㄲ suond. To explain more precisely, try making a ‘k’ sound but with more tension in your throat, almost as if you’re holding your breath momentarily before releasing the sound.

Here are some example words to practice. ㄲ is romanized as “kk”.

ㅃ (Tense ‘p’ or ‘b’ sound)

This is the tense version of ㅂ. In exactly the same way as ㄲ and ㄸ, make this sound by letting pressure build up in your mouth and flex your stomach muscles, before releasing the sound.

Here are some example words that use ㅃ to practice. ㅃ is romanized as “pp”.

ㅉ (Tense ‘ch’ or ‘j’ sound)

This is the tense version of ㅈ. The tongue position is quite similar to ㄸ, so if you can pronounce that sound well, making the ㅉ sound feels very similar.

Here are some example words that use ㅉ to practice. ㅉ is romanized as “jj”.

ㅆ (Tense ‘s’ sound)

This will likely be the hardest of the tense sounds for you to distinguish between. You are likely already pronouncing ㅅ with too much tension, making it sound like ㅆ. So rather than focus on saying ㅆ with more tension, try to focus on making ㅅ less tense.

Here are some words that use ㅆ to practice. ㅆ is romanized as “ss”.

Tense Consonants as Final Consonants (받침)

The rules pronounciation of tense consonants is very simple. They simply use the pronounciation of their equivalent non-tense consonant. So:

• ㄲ is pronounced as ㄱ.
• ㅆ is pronounced as ㅅ (which as we learned in Lesson 4 makes a t sound)

ㄸ, ㅃ, and ㅉ never appear as final consonants.

Comparing Tense Consonants vs. Basic Consonants

Listen to these pairs of words which have identical pronunciation except for the difference between a tense and basic consonant. Practice contrasting these pairs to really get a feel for the difference:

• ㄱ (g) vs. ㄲ (kk)
  • 가다 (ga-da) - to go
  • 까다 (gga-da) - to peel
• ㄷ (d) vs. ㄸ (tt)
  • 도 (do) - also
  • 또 (tto) - again
• ㅂ (b) vs. ㅃ (pp)
  • 불 (bul) - fire
  • 뿔 (ppul) - horn
• ㅅ (s) vs. ㅆ (ss)
  • 살 (sal) - flesh
  • 쌀 (ssal) - rice (uncooked)
• ㅈ (j) vs. ㅉ (jj)
  • 자다 (ja-da) - to sleep
  • 짜다 (jja-da) - to be salty

Final Quiz

Let’s put your knowledge of tense consonants to the test! Try to get a good score before moving on. Good luck!

All words

Here is a chart of all the words in this lesson. I suggest spending some time trying to memorize these words. These are all very common words and studying them will help you remember the tense consonant sounds.

Continue to Lesson 6 to learn how final consonant sounds change when followed by a vowel.