Why Does ㄴ Sound Like ㄷ? | Korean FAQ

Ever been confused by the sounds ㄴ, ㄷ, ㅁ, or ㅂ? Sometimes I remember hearing words that I thought were other words, because of these letters.

For example, a native Korean speaker would tell me 네, but I thought they were saying 데 or 돼 or something else.

Another time someone asked me 뭐, but I thought they had said 붜. I was quickly searching my dictionary for 붜 but wasn’t able to find it, so I just assumed they had said 뭐 incorrectly. Well it turns out they were saying it perfectly, but my ears weren’t used to it. Here’s an explanation of what this is, and why it can happen.