Tense consonants 된소리 / 경음

doenssori / gyeongeum · from Korean

What are Korean tense consonants?

Tense (fortis) consonants are the Korean doubled letters ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ, pronounced with a tight throat and no puff of air.

Korean has a three-way contrast between plain (ㄱ), aspirated (ㅋ) and tense (ㄲ) stops, which English does not. Tense sounds are not simply longer; they are stiff, unaspirated and slightly higher in pitch. Getting them wrong can turn moon into daughter.

Examples

달 dal (moon), 탈 tal (mask), 딸 ttal (daughter); 불 bul (fire), 풀 pul (grass), 뿔 ppul (horn); 사다 sada (buy) vs 싸다 ssada (cheap)

Kungfucius says: Korean has three kinds of k. English has one and calls it a day.