The Korean Letter ㅌ (Tieut): Sound, Strokes and Example Words

What you'll learn (about 20 minutes, level A0, you only need the plain letter ㄷ first)

• Pronounce ㅌ with a clear puff of air and tell it apart from ㄷ and ㄸ.
• Write ㅌ in 3 strokes and place it inside a syllable block.
• Read 밭 and 끝 with a final [t], and say them correctly when a vowel follows.
• Predict that 같이 is said [가치], not [가티].

What Does the Korean Letter ㅌ Sound Like?

The Korean letter ㅌ sounds like the t in English "top", "tea" or "tall" when you say the word on its own: a t followed by a noticeable burst of breath. This burst is called aspiration, and the IPA symbol for the sound is [tʰ]. Revised Romanization, the official Latin spelling system, writes it as "t".

Start with these words. Each one has ㅌ at the start or in the middle.

• 타다 (tada), to ride Play
• 토끼 (tokki), rabbit Play
• 탈 (tal), mask Play
• 토마토 (tomato), tomato Play
• 밭 (bat), field, said [받] Play
• 끝 (kkeut), end, said [끋] Play
• 같이 (gachi), together, said [가치] Play

The name 티읕 follows the pattern explained on the page about Korean consonant names: the letter's sound at the start, then 으 and the letter again at the end. Because ㅌ at the end of a syllable is read [t], the name is said [티읃].

How Is ㅌ Different from the English T?

English t is aspirated at the start of a stressed syllable ("top") but not after s ("stop"). Korean has three separate t-type letters, and ㅌ is the one that is always aspirated. Put your hand in front of your mouth and say English "top" and then "stop". You feel a puff for "top" and almost none for "stop". ㅌ matches the "top" puff.

Here is a home test. Hold a thin strip of paper close to your lips and say 타. The paper should flutter. Now say 다 (da, with the plain letter ㄷ). The paper should barely move. In Seoul speech, a syllable that starts with ㅌ also typically starts on a slightly higher pitch than one that starts with ㄷ, which gives you a second listening cue.

The English comparison has a limit. English speakers often add "th" or a long "t-huh" to ㅌ. Keep the puff short, with the tongue tip touching the ridge just behind your upper front teeth, then move straight into the vowel. ㅌ is never the "th" of English "think".

The three t-type letters at a glance:

The next section explains why ㅌ and ㄷ look so alike.

Why Does ㅌ Look Like ㄷ with an Extra Stroke?

ㅌ is built from ㄷ by adding one stroke, and ㄷ is built from ㄴ by adding one stroke. The Hunminjeongeum Haerye (1446), the text that explained the design of Hangul, calls this the stroke-addition principle (가획, gahoek). The base letter ㄴ shows the tongue tip touching the ridge behind the teeth. Each extra stroke marks a stronger sound.

Use it as a memory aid:

1. ㄴ (nieun) is the base tongue letter.
2. ㄷ (digeut) adds a top bar and is a plain stop.
3. ㅌ (tieut) adds a middle bar and is the aspirated stop.

The same idea links ㄱ to ㅋ, ㅂ to ㅍ and ㅈ to ㅊ. If you know the plain letter ㄷ, you know where ㅌ sits: the same tongue position, with more air.

Now that you know how ㅌ is built, here is how to write it.

How to Write ㅌ in 3 Strokes

ㅌ is written with 3 strokes in standard print.

1. Draw a horizontal bar at the top, left to right.
2. Draw a second, parallel horizontal bar a little lower, left to right.
3. Draw the ㄴ-shape: a vertical line down on the left, then a horizontal line to the right along the bottom.

Success check: your ㅌ has three horizontal lines joined on the left by one vertical line, with the middle bar halfway between the top and bottom lines.

Stroke order varies between textbooks. Some teach the vertical line before the middle bar. The order above is the common teaching order. You can compare ㅌ with its neighbours in stroke order for consonants.

Inside a block, ㅌ becomes narrower. In 타, ㅌ sits on the left and ㅏ on the right. In 밭, ㅌ sits at the bottom as a final consonant and is drawn flatter.

Next, a look at what ㅌ does in different places inside a word.

ㅌ at the Start, Middle and End of a Word

ㅌ is aspirated at the start and in the middle of a word, and reduced to an unreleased [t] at the end of a syllable. The table shows each position.

A letter at the bottom of a syllable block is called a batchim (받침, final consonant), and the glossary entry on batchim explains the term. At the bottom of a block, ㅌ is always read [t].

ㅌ as a Final Consonant: [t]

ㅌ as a final consonant is pronounced [t]: the tongue touches the ridge behind the upper teeth, the sound stops, and no air is released. This follows the final-sound rules of the 국립국어원 표준 발음법 (Standard Pronunciation Rules), which reduce every final consonant to one of 7 sounds. ㅌ falls into the [t] group together with ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅎ. See the 7 final sounds for the full list.

• 밭 (bat), field, said [받] Play
• 끝 (kkeut), end, said [끋] Play

The spelling keeps ㅌ, but the ear hears [t]. In romanization, ㅌ is written "t" both at the start and at the end (타다 tada, 밭 bat), so romanization hides the contrast between ㅌ and ㄷ at the end of words.

Linking ㅌ into the Next Syllable

When a vowel follows, the final ㅌ moves onto that vowel and is pronounced in full. This is called liaison (연음, yeoneum), and the lesson on liaison covers every case.

• 밭에 (bate), in the field [바테]
• 끝에 (kkeute), at the end [끄테]
• 밭을 (bateul), the field (as an object) [바틀]

This gives a spelling check. If you are unsure whether a word ends in ㄷ or ㅌ, add a vowel ending and listen. 밭에 is [바테], with a puff, so the word ends in ㅌ.

There is one special case you will meet very early. When ㅌ is followed by 이 as a particle or suffix, it changes into ㅊ.

• 같이 (gachi), together [가치]
• 밭이 (bachi), the field (as a subject) [바치]
• 끝이 (kkeuchi), the end (as a subject) [끄치]

Play Play

This change is called palatalization (구개음화, gugaeeumhwa), described in Article 17 of the Standard Pronunciation Rules. It is covered in its own lesson on palatalization. For now, remember one rule: ㅌ + 이 sounds like 치.

The next section combines these pieces in a worked example.

Worked Example: Reading 토끼, 밭 and 같이

Reading a Korean syllable means splitting the block into its parts and joining the sounds. Here are three examples.

Example 1: 토끼 (rabbit).

1. Split the first block: ㅌ + ㅗ.
2. Say ㅌ with a puff and add ㅗ (o): [to].
3. Split the second block: ㄲ + ㅣ, giving the tense [kki].
4. Join them: [토끼], romanized tokki. Play

Example 2: 밭 (field).

1. Split the block: ㅂ + ㅏ + ㅌ.
2. ㅂ + ㅏ gives [ba].
3. The bottom letter ㅌ is a final consonant, so it is read [t] with no puff.
4. Join them: [받], romanized bat. Play

Example 3: 같이 (together).

1. Split the first block: ㄱ + ㅏ + ㅌ.
2. Notice that the next block starts with the vowel 이, and ㅌ sits directly before it.
3. Apply the rule: ㅌ + 이 is said as 치. The ㅌ moves to the next block and becomes ㅊ: [가치].
4. Romanized, it is gachi. Play

Check yourself: if you can say all three words without looking at the romanization, you have the core skill. Romanization appears in parentheses throughout this page as a learning aid, and the Hangul is always the main form.

You now read ㅌ, so the next job is to hear it.

달 / 탈 / 딸: Hearing the Difference

달, 탈 and 딸 are a minimal set: three words that differ only in their first consonant. 달 (dal) means "moon" (and also "month") and has plain ㄷ. 탈 (tal) means "mask" and has aspirated ㅌ. 딸 (ttal) means "daughter" and has tense ㄸ. If you can hear all three, you control one of the hardest consonant contrasts in Korean.

Most English speakers hear ㅌ quickly, because it matches the English "top" puff. The harder step is separating ㄷ from ㄸ, since neither has a puff. ㄸ is the tight one. The page on the tense letter ㄸ trains that contrast. For longer listening sets, see plain, tense and aspirated sounds.

ㅌ also shows up in words that never write it. When ㅎ meets ㄷ, the two merge into [ㅌ]. For example, 좋다 (jota, to be good) is said [조타], and 많다 (manta, to be many) is said [만타].

Play Play

This is the aspiration rule, and the aspiration rule lesson lists every case.

The next section collects the errors that cost learners the most.

Which Mistakes Do Learners Make with ㅌ?

Most learners make one of three errors with ㅌ, and each has a quick fix.

1. Reading 같이 letter by letter as [가티]. The ending 이 after ㅌ triggers palatalization, so the word is [가치]. Fix: memorize 같이 as 가치 and apply the same rule to 밭이 and 끝이.
2. Releasing a puff on the final ㅌ in 끝. Learners say "kkeut-huh". Fix: stop the tongue on the ridge and keep the air in. Think of the unreleased t in English "hot dog".
3. Writing ㅌ as ㄷ with a line floating on top. The standard shape has three horizontal lines joined by one vertical line on the left. Fix: draw the two top bars first, then the ㄴ-shaped body.

A fourth, quieter mistake is treating ㅌ as English "th". Korean has no "th" sound: loanwords write the "th" of "thriller" with ㅅ (스릴러) and the "th" of "the" with ㄷ (더), and ㅌ is reserved for the English t.

Learners often assume that Korean letters keep one sound everywhere. In fact, ㅌ is [tʰ] before a vowel and [t] at the end of a syllable, and it becomes [ch] before the particle or suffix 이. This is a rule system, not an exception list, and it is the same one native speakers follow without noticing.

You are now ready to test what you have learned.

Practice: Read and Hear ㅌ

Complete these four exercises before you check the answers. You can also test yourself with the interactive quiz.

1. Read aloud. Say each word and write its pronunciation in brackets: 타다, 토끼, 탈, 밭, 끝, 같이.
2. Listen and choose. Play three clips. For each one, decide whether it starts with ㄷ, ㅌ or ㄸ: Play Play Play
3. Write. Write ㅌ three times in 3 strokes, then write the blocks 타 and 토.
4. Predict. How is 밭이 pronounced? How would you spell "tomato", "taxi" and "tennis" in Hangul?

Answers to the Practice

1. 타다 [타다], 토끼 [토끼], 탈 [탈], 밭 [받], 끝 [끋], 같이 [가치]. The last three are the ones where the sound differs from the spelling.
2. The order of the clips is 딸 (ㄸ), 달 (ㄷ), 탈 (ㅌ). If you got two of three, repeat the paper test and listen again.
3. Your ㅌ should have three horizontal lines joined by a left vertical line, with no gap in the bottom corner.
4. 밭이 is [바치]. tomato = 토마토, taxi = 택시, tennis = 테니스.

Review the letter with the other consonants in the Hangul flashcard decks, which play audio only when you tap. Test whether you can hear 달 / 탈 / 딸 in the Hangul listening quizzes, or print the aspirated consonants worksheet. For hands-on building, try the Hangul Syllable Builder and the interactive Hangul alphabet.

What Should You Learn after ㅌ?

After ㅌ, continue to the next letter lesson on ㅍ. To see the whole group, read about the Korean aspirated consonants and print the Korean consonants chart to see ㅌ beside all 19 consonants. To compare ㅌ with ㅋ, open the lesson on the aspirated letter ㅋ when you reach it.

This lesson covers the sound, name, shape, final behavior and early sound changes of ㅌ. It does not cover every sound-change rule, which are in the pronunciation section, or the vowels that combine with ㅌ. Audio on this page is machine-generated and its review status is shown beside each clip; the Korean text and audio are drafts until a Korean specialist signs them off.

Questions about the Korean Letter ㅌ

Why is 같이 pronounced 가치? When ㅌ is followed by the particle or suffix 이, it is pronounced as ㅊ. This is called palatalization (구개음화). So 같이 is [가치], 밭이 is [바치] and 끝이 is [끄치]. The spelling stays the same, which helps you recognize the word. The rule applies when 이 is a particle or suffix, not inside every word.

What is the name of ㅌ in Korean? The name of ㅌ is 티읕 (tieut). It is said [티읃] because the final ㅌ in the name is reduced to [t]. The name follows the regular pattern for most consonants, in which the letter's sound opens and closes the name. Koreans use it when they spell a word aloud or talk about the alphabet.

Is ㅌ pronounced t or th? ㅌ is pronounced t, specifically a t with a strong puff of air, like the t in English "top". It is never the "th" of "think". Korean has no "th" sound, and in loanwords the English "th" is usually written with ㅅ or ㄷ rather than ㅌ. Keep the tongue on the ridge behind the upper teeth.

How many strokes does ㅌ have? ㅌ has 3 strokes in standard print: a top bar, a second bar below it, and a ㄴ-shaped stroke that makes the left side and the bottom. Draw them from top to bottom and left to right. The related plain letter ㄷ has 2 strokes, and the tense letter ㄸ has 4. Handwriting may vary between teachers.

What sound does ㅌ make at the end of a word? At the end of a syllable ㅌ is pronounced [t]: the tongue stops on the ridge and the air is not released. So 밭 sounds like [받] and 끝 sounds like [끋]. When a vowel follows, ㅌ moves to the next syllable and is pronounced in full, so 밭에 is [바테]. Before the particle or suffix 이, it becomes [ch].