How to Pronounce ㄹㄹ in Korean: Sounds, Rules and Examples

How to pronounce ㄹㄹ in Korean comes down to one skill: hold a single l sound for longer than usual, so that it closes one syllable and opens the next. The word 빨리 (quickly) is spoken with one long l, never as two separate taps. This lesson drills 빨리, 달라요, 알려요 and 걸려요 with audio.

What you'll learn

• Pronounce 빨리, 달라요, 알려요 and 걸려요 with a long l and no tap.
• Hear the difference between a single ㄹ and a held ㄹㄹ in 다리 and 달리.
• Explain why 몰라요 and 달라요 contain a double ㄹ.
• Recognise ㄹㄹ in 신라 [실라] and 설날 [설랄].

Prerequisite: Korean R vs L, which explains how the single ㄹ works. Estimated time: 25 minutes.

How to Pronounce ㄹㄹ in Korean: the Short Answer

The short answer is to put the tongue tip on the ridge behind the upper teeth, keep it there for one long l, and then release into the next vowel. The two ㄹ are not two sounds. They are one sound that spans a syllable boundary.

Here is 빨리 split into blocks. The first block, 빨, ends in ㄹ. The second block, 리, begins with ㄹ. In speech, the end of the first block and the start of the second block are the same l, held across the boundary.

The pattern is the same in all four words. To feel it in your mouth, it helps to see why English speakers find it hard.

Why Do English Speakers Struggle with ㄹㄹ?

English speakers struggle with ㄹㄹ because English has no habit of holding an l across a syllable break. In English, the l in "fully" is short, and "pull lightly" is the rare case where two l's merge. The Korean sound is the second case made required: the l simply lasts longer.

Korean ㄹ also has two faces. Between vowels, a single ㄹ is a quick tap of the tongue tip, close to the t in American "water" or the d in "ladder". At the end of a syllable, or when doubled, it is a held l. The doubled ㄹㄹ always takes the held form. Three mistakes follow from mixing the two faces:

• tapping twice, which makes 빨리 sound like a final l followed by a separate tap
• lifting the tongue after the first ㄹ and starting again, which cuts the word in two
• using the English r, which has no tongue-tip contact at all

Each of these changes the sound enough that a Korean listener may hear a different word. The sentence-level cost is real, since 달라요 (is different) and 몰라요 (I don't know) are everyday words that beginners say from the first weeks. The next step is a drill that builds the held l.

How Is ㄹㄹ Pronounced?

ㄹㄹ is pronounced as a held l: the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the upper teeth, stays there while the voice continues, and releases into the vowel. A three-step drill builds the movement.

1. Touch. Put the tongue tip on the ridge, in the place where you say the l of "light". The air flows around the sides of the tongue.
2. Hold. Keep the tip in place while the voice keeps going. Say "l-l" in one breath, without letting go, as if you were saying "all lights" and holding the join.
3. Release. Drop the tongue tip into the next vowel, such as 이 in 빨리. Do not tap or flick.

The checkpoint is the join. If you can hear two clear l's with a gap, you lifted the tongue. If you can hear one steady l that lasts a little longer than a normal l, the drill worked.

The held l is the only difference between pairs of words that differ by one block. Listen to the contrast in these pairs.

Say the first pair out loud. In 다리, the tongue tip taps once and moves on. In 달리, the tongue tip stays and the sound is longer. The length lies in the consonant, not in the vowel: the vowel before ㄹㄹ is not stretched. Once you can hear the held l, the next question is where ㄹㄹ comes from in real words.

Why Do 달라요 and 몰라요 Have ㄹㄹ?

달라요 and 몰라요 have ㄹㄹ because they come from 르 irregular verbs, a group of verbs whose stem ends in 르. When an ending that starts with 아 or 어 is added, the 르 splits: the ㄹ moves to the previous syllable and the ㅡ drops. 다르다 (to be different) plus 아요 becomes 달라요, with a new ㄹ at the end of 달 and the original ㄹ at the start of 라.

The verbs below share the pattern or a close relative.

The first four are 르 irregular verbs. The last two, 알리다 and 걸리다, are verbs with the suffix 리 whose ㅣ joins the ending 어요 to give 려요. Both groups end up with ㄹㄹ in the polite form. The full conjugation of the first group is explained in Korean 르 irregular verbs. Written ㄹㄹ is only half the story, because speech also creates ㄹㄹ from other letters.

How Is ㄹㄹ Connected to Liquidization?

ㄹㄹ is connected to liquidization because that rule also produces a held l. Liquidization (유음화) is the sound change in which ㄴ becomes ㄹ when it touches ㄹ, in either order. The spelling keeps ㄴ, but the mouth says ㄹㄹ.

The sound is identical in all five rows: one held l. That is useful for your mouth, because you need only one movement. The rule itself, including the exceptions in which ㄴ + ㄹ stays [ㄴㄴ], is taught in Korean liquidization and not repeated here. Before the full example, one edge case shows where the held l does not apply.

Edge Cases: When a Final ㄹ Is Not Held

A final ㄹ is held only when another ㄹ follows. When a vowel follows instead, liaison moves the ㄹ onto the vowel, and it becomes a single quick tap again. The comparison shows how much the next sound matters.

Learners who have just mastered the held l sometimes carry it into 알아요 and say [알라요]. The correct form is [아라요], with a light tap and no hold. The rule of thumb is short: hold ㄹ before another ㄹ, and tap ㄹ before a vowel. Three short sentences show the held l in use.

• 빨리 오세요. (Please come quickly.) Spoken: [빨리 오세요]
• 저는 잘 몰라요. (I don't know well.) Spoken: [저는 잘 몰라요]
• 서울까지 한 시간 걸려요. (It takes an hour to Seoul.) Spoken: [서울까지 한 시간 걸려요]

In the second sentence, 잘 ends in ㄹ and 몰라요 begins with ㅁ, so only 몰라요 holds a long l. In each sentence the held l keeps the word rhythm smooth. With the edge cases in hand, the worked example below follows one word step by step.

Worked Example: Saying 빨리

Follow these steps to say 빨리 (quickly).

1. Start with ㅃ. Press the lips together and release with a tight, unaspirated p: no puff of air.
2. Say the vowel ㅏ. Open the mouth, as in "father", and keep it short.
3. Lift the tongue tip. Move it to the ridge behind the upper teeth while the voice continues.
4. Hold the l. Keep the tip in place for the full length of the sound.
5. Release into 이. Drop the tip and let the vowel ring: [빨리].

You will know you have it when the word has two clean syllables and no gap in the middle. A second check is to say 빨리 and 팔리 (be sold) together: both contain a held l, but only 빨리 starts with a tense consonant. Even so, five habits keep coming back.

Common Mistakes with ㄹㄹ

Mistake 1: tapping twice. Learners often assume 빨리 is "ppal-ri" with a second tap; actually the tongue stays in place for one long l. Fix: hold the tip down until the vowel begins.

Mistake 2: saying an English r. Learners sometimes say 달라요 with an r, like "dah-rah-yo"; actually Korean ㄹ always touches the ridge with the tongue tip. Fix: feel the contact before you start the word.

Mistake 3: shortening ㄹㄹ. Learners often reduce it to a single tap, so 달리 sounds like 다리; actually the length is what separates the two. Fix: practise the pairs in the minimal-pair table.

Mistake 4: stretching the vowel. Learners sometimes say 빨리 as "ppaaa-ri" to fill the time; actually the consonant is long, not the vowel. Fix: keep the vowel short and hold the l.

Mistake 5: saying ㄴㄹ as two sounds. Learners often say 신라 as [신라], like "sin-ra"; actually liquidization turns it into [실라]. Fix: whenever ㄴ meets ㄹ, say one held l.

All five are fixed by the same two moves, touch and hold. The practice set below checks them.

Practice: Say 10 Words with ㄹㄹ

Exercise 1. Write the spoken form of each word.

1. 빨리
2. 달라요
3. 알려요
4. 걸려요
5. 신라
6. 설날

Exercise 2. Which word has the held ㄹㄹ?

1. 다리 or 달리
2. 나라 or 날라
3. 파리 or 팔리

Exercise 3. What is the dictionary form of 몰라요, and what is the source of its ㄹㄹ?

Answers.

Exercise 1: 1 [빨리], 2 [달라요], 3 [알려요], 4 [걸려요], 5 [실라], 6 [설랄].

Exercise 2: 1 달리. 2 날라. 3 팔리.

Exercise 3: 모르다. It is a 르 irregular verb: the ㄹ of 르 moves to the end of 몰, and the ㅡ drops, so 모르 + 아요 becomes 몰라요.

If you missed more than two answers in Exercise 1, listen to each clip once more and check whether you hold the l or tap twice. Mixed drills continue in the section on tongue twisters.

Where to Go Next

The next lesson, Korean Ng Sound, turns to another sound that English speakers hear differently: the final ㅇ. Before that, Korean tongue twisters give the long l extra practice, and Difficult Korean Sounds lists the rest of the section.

This lesson does not cover the single ㄹ tap, the other sounds that liquidization produces or full verb conjugation. Those belong to the lessons linked above. In short, how to pronounce ㄹㄹ in Korean is to touch the ridge, hold one l through the syllable boundary, and release into the vowel.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I say 빨리? Say 빨리 (quickly) as one smooth word: a tight ㅃ, the vowel ㅏ, then one long l, and finally the vowel 이. Keep the tongue tip on the ridge behind the upper teeth for the whole l, then release into 이. Do not lift the tongue and tap again, because that splits the word into two parts.

Is ㄹㄹ a long l? Yes. When ㄹ ends one syllable and the next syllable starts with ㄹ, the two are spoken as one l held for longer than a single ㄹ. Linguists call this a geminate, a doubled consonant. It is not a double tap and not an English r. 달리 [달리] is held, while 다리 [다리] is a quick tap.

Why is 신라 pronounced 실라? 신라 (Silla, the old kingdom) is spoken [실라] because of liquidization (유음화). When ㄴ comes before ㄹ, the ㄴ is spoken as ㄹ, so the two letters become one long l. The same rule makes 설날 [설랄] and 난로 [날로]. The spelling keeps ㄴ, and Revised Romanization writes silla.

How is 걸려요 romanized? Revised Romanization writes 걸려요 as geollyeoyo. The double l shows the held ㄹㄹ, and lyeo shows the y-glide of 려. 걸려요 comes from the verb 걸리다, meaning to take time or to get caught, as in 한 시간 걸려요 (it takes an hour). The spoken form is [걸려요], with one long l.