Question about the consonantㄹ

[jordy5253]

So, I'm an absolute beginner and the consonant ㄹ is confusing to me. As I found out by trying to read Korean words it's both pronounced as R and L.

In the Hangul videos it is referred to as 라 (ra) and in the MyWords app from Innovative Language Learning it is (mainly) used as an L.

How would you know when to use R and when to use L? Has the pronunciation changed, or am i just missing something?

Thanks in advance!

[trutherous]

Hi Jordy,

Just as a very very very basic rule of thumb I will give you this

ㄹ is pronounced like R when used as the first consonant of a syllable and pronounced like L when in the final position of a syllable

Love - 사랑 (sa-rang) in the word 'sa Rang' ㄹ is the first consonant of the syllable 랑, therefore it is pronounced R

Water - 물 (mool) in the word 'mooL' ㄹ is in the final consonant position and is therefore pronounced L

exceptions:

Now with every rule certain exceptions are to be expected, and there are exceptions with ㄹ: when a syllable begins with ㄹ but the syllable (or word) that comes before it also ends in ㄹ (and/or certain other consonants) it is also pronounced L

examples:

to stop, or prevent (also means to dry something) - 말리다 (mal-Li-da) in the word 'mallida' the second syllable 리 begins with ㄹ but it is influenced by the preceding ㄹ and takes the L sound

contact, in touch, communication -연락 (yul-Lak/ yeol-Lock-) - here a most strange sound change occurs both the final consonant ㄴ (N) and the consonant ㄹ take on the L sound

there are also other sound changes that occur in conjunction with ㄹ but I suggest learning then as you go along

BY THE WAY - welcome to KC101 and please make use of these forums

Your fellow student -- George

[jordy5253]

Sorry for the late reply, but i'd just like to thank you for the great explanation.

감사함니다