워드밥 WORDBOB

Korean Word of the Day · TOPIK I

읽다 (to read)

Inside a subway car, a woman sits on a blue seat reading an open book; trees and buildings outside the window.
읽다[익따] ik-ttato read

Sound tip — written 읽다, sounds like [익따]. In the double batchim (bottom consonant) ㄺ before ㄷ, only ㄱ is pronounced, and the ㄷ after it becomes a tense ㄸ.

Build it up — listen and repeat

  1. 읽다to read
    ik-tta
  2. 읽어요read (polite, everyday)
    il-geo-yo
  3. 책을 읽어요read a book
    chae-geul il-geo-yo
  4. 지하철에서 책을 읽어요.I read books on the subway.
    ji-ha-cheo-re-seo chae-geul il-geo-yo.

Your turn

How do you say “I read a book” in Korean?

Show the answer

책을 읽어요. chae-geul il-geo-yo.

Situation talk

A한국어로 읽어요?han-gu-geo-ro il-geo-yo?Are you reading in Korean?

B네, 천천히 읽어요.ne, cheon-cheon-hi il-geo-yo.Yes, I read it slowly.

읽다 sounds like [익따], but in 읽어요 [일거요] the ㄹ comes back.

Word list: National Institute of Korean Language, “Korean Learning Vocabulary List” (2003, KOGL Type 1). Examples and explanations by WordBob. · More words

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