Key Facts
- Hangul: 토마토; Revised Romanization: tomato
- Part of speech: noun
- Origin: loanword
- Register: Neutral; used in all registers.
Tomato in Korean: How Do You Pronounce 토마토?
Three syllables: to-ma-to. The Revised Romanization happens to match English spelling, but Korean gives the three syllables even weight rather than stressing the middle one.
Example Sentences with 토마토
토마토를 좋아해요.
Tomatoreul joahaeyo
I like tomatoes.
A preference sentence: 토마토를 with 좋아해요 states liking, and the particle 를 marks the tomato as the thing liked.
샐러드에 토마토를 넣어요.
Saelleodeue tomatoreul neoeoyo
I put tomato in the salad.
A cooking sentence. 샐러드에 names the place where the tomato goes, and 넣어요 means put in.
토마토 두 개 주세요.
Tomato du gae juseyo
Please give me two tomatoes.
A shopping sentence. 두 개 counts two pieces, so a loanword fruit takes the general counter here.
Across the three examples the word keeps the same shape, 토마토, and only the surrounding words change. The particle 를 appears twice, and the counting phrase drops it entirely. That is a useful pattern for any loanword that ends in a vowel.
Common Phrases and Collocations
| Korean | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 토마토를 썰다 | to slice a tomato |
| 방울토마토 | cherry tomato |
| 토마토 주스 | tomato juice |
| 토마토소스 | tomato sauce |
방울토마토 is the cherry tomato, written as one block. 토마토 주스 and 토마토소스 show that the word attaches to other nouns directly, and 토마토를 썰다 is the kitchen verb.
The Mistake to Avoid
Wrong: to-MAY-to, with English stress on the middle syllable.
Correct: to-ma-to, three even syllables. Each o is a pure vowel, without the "oh-w" glide of English.
토마토 Compared with Similar Words
딸기 is the strawberry, a nearby fruit on a market stall, and 채소 is the vegetable category. 방울토마토 narrows to the small kind.
| Word | Meaning | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|---|
| 토마토 | tomato | The ordinary tomato |
| 방울토마토 | cherry tomato | The small kind; 방울 means "drop" or "bead" |
| 딸기 | strawberry | A fruit, not related to the tomato |
| 채소 | vegetable | The category word for vegetables |
Where Does the Word Come From?
토마토 is a loanword from English "tomato", written with three Hangul syllables, 토-마-토. The Korean spelling follows the sounds of the word.
At the Market: Choosing Tomatoes
A customer wants tomatoes for a salad. The seller checks which kind, then asks about the amount. Both speakers use polite shopping language.
Customer
샐러드에 넣을 토마토 있어요?
Saelleodeue neoeul tomato isseoyo?
Do you have tomatoes to put in a salad?
Seller
네, 방울토마토 있어요.
Ne, bangultomato isseoyo.
Yes, we have cherry tomatoes.
Customer
큰 토마토로 주세요.
Keun tomatoro juseyo.
Please give me the large tomatoes.
Seller
몇 개 드릴까요?
Myeot gae deurilkkayo?
How many would you like?
큰 means “large”, so 큰 토마토 makes the customer’s choice clear after the seller mentions cherry tomatoes. 토마토로 uses 로 to indicate the selected option. 드릴까요? is the seller’s polite offer to give something; the name of the food stays the same. The next reply needs a number with 개.
Where Will You See 토마토?
At a produce stall, 토마토 identifies ordinary tomatoes and 방울토마토 identifies the small kind. A price label may show a weight or a container rather than a price for one tomato. 개 counts individual fruits, but it does not tell you how the seller has priced the display. Check the unit before asking for a quantity.
On a café drinks menu, 토마토 주스 means tomato juice. The noun after 토마토 tells you the product: juice is different from a sauce, even though both begin with the same familiar ingredient. On a pasta menu, 토마토소스 identifies tomato sauce. Read the whole compound before deciding what is being offered.
A sandwich or burger description may list 토마토 among the fillings. To request its removal, the useful phrase is 토마토 빼 주세요, “Please leave out the tomato”. 빼 주세요 asks for an ingredient to be omitted. This is more precise than saying you do not like tomatoes when ordering a particular dish.
Useful Tomato Phrases in the Kitchen
토마토를 썰다 means to slice or cut up a tomato. 토마토를 넣다 means to add tomato to something. The object marker 를 attaches directly to 토마토, while the place it goes can take 에, as in the salad example above. These two patterns describe different stages of preparation.
토마토를 씻다 means to wash tomatoes, and 익은 토마토 means a ripe tomato. In the second phrase, 익은 describes the tomato rather than giving an instruction. You may also meet 덜 익은 토마토, “an unripe tomato” or “a tomato that is not fully ripe”. Here 덜 means “less” or “not fully”.
방울토마토 literally combines the image of a small drop or bead with tomato. Its ordinary meaning is cherry tomato; it is a food name, not an instruction to shape or cut a tomato into balls. A large tomato sliced into small pieces is still 토마토.
Related Words for Shopping and Preparation
| Korean | Meaning | Useful connection |
|---|---|---|
| 오이 | cucumber | Another salad ingredient you can count with 개. |
| 양상추 | lettuce | A leafy salad or sandwich ingredient. |
| 샐러드 | salad | The dish receiving the tomato in the example. |
| 채소 | vegetable | A category word used when shopping for produce. |
The vegetable vocabulary lesson teaches the wider shopping set. These words let you name individual ingredients when a menu groups them together as vegetables. If you want only the tomato omitted, naming 토마토 avoids accidentally asking for all the vegetables to be removed.
Quick Self-Test
- What is the small cherry tomato called?
- Which counter completes 토마토 두 ___?
- What does 토마토 빼 주세요 ask the person preparing your food to do?
Show answers
- 방울토마토, written as one word.
- 개: 토마토 두 개 means two tomatoes.
- Leave out the tomato. It is a request about the ingredient.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say "tomato" in Korean?
Tomato in Korean is 토마토. The romanization is also tomato, but Korean says it as three even syllables, to-ma-to, without stressing the middle one.
How do I say "cherry tomato"?
Say 방울토마토 (bangultomato). 방울 means a drop or bead, which describes the small round shape. Write it as one word, with no space.
How do I ask for two tomatoes?
Say 토마토 두 개 주세요, "Please give me two tomatoes." 개 is the general counter for objects, and 두 is the native Korean number two used with counters.
Does Korean stress the middle syllable?
No. English says to-MAY-to, but Korean gives each syllable the same weight: to-ma-to. Saying it with even rhythm makes the loanword sound Korean.
Related Words and What to Learn Next
- Theme list: Korean vegetable words lists 토마토 with the other vegetables.
- Index: Korean words A to Z.
- Compare with strawberry, 딸기, a fruit sold beside tomatoes at Korean markets.