4. Aspiration and ㅎ weakening
The [h] sound in Korean becomes very weak when it appears in the middle of
a word or a sentence. This is similar to English, where for example, you
pronounce the phrase, ‘tell him’ as ‘telim’ with the [h] sound almost silent. In
particular, the ㅎ tends to become silent in casual speech between vowels,
after the nasal consonants ㄴ and ㅁ, or after the consonant ㄹ.
Examples
Spelling Pronunciation
전화 저놔
은행 으냉
감히 가미
말해 봐 마래 봐
When ㅎ immediately precedes or follows ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ or ㅈ, it becomes silent
and makes these soft consonants harder (i.e. aspirated):
aspirated
ㄱ ㅋ
ㄷ ㅌ
ㅂ ㅍ
ㅈ ㅊ
Examples
Spelling Pronunciation
축하 추카
좋다 조타
입학 이팍
그렇지 그러치�