Double Consonants (Tense)

The five double consonants (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ) are called 'tense' or 된소리 in Korean. They are pronounced with a tightened throat and no aspiration — the result is a sharp, almost staccato version of the plain consonants. ㄲ is to ㄱ as a hard, percussive 'kk' would be to a soft 'g'. The challenge for learners is that the distinction between plain (ㄱ), aspirated (ㅋ), and tense (ㄲ) is three-way — and the difference between plain and tense is the subtlest of the three.

Minimal pairs make this concrete: 자다 (to sleep, plain ㅈ), 차다 (to kick, aspirated ㅊ), 짜다 (to be salty, tense ㅉ) are three different verbs that an untrained ear might hear as the same word. Listening practice is essential — play the audio for each word in this lesson multiple times and try to match the throat tension. Japanese speakers should know that tense consonants sound similar to the 促音 (small つ) followed by a consonant, but not identical.