# 뫼예요 (pronunciation)



## packleader

My husband and I are beginners in the Korean language.   We are both confused on how to pronounce the following 뫼예요 (What,/ What is it?)  per Romanization this should be pronounced mwoyeyo, but it seems that when we hear this word on the Korean dramas its boyeyo.  Why would this be?  or are we just hearing it incorecctly?  or are they two different words?  Thanks!


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## loganK

it is "moe(뭐) eh(에) yo(요)" which means "what is it?", so your pronunciation is almost correct.


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## batmanforeve

The correct spelling is 뭐예요.

The difference between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds in Korean isn't same as in English (especially for the first consonants of words).

As the first consonants of words, voiced sounds ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ sound like voiceless sounds k, t, p instead of g, d, b to the English speakers.

You may notice it from a Korean family name 박 is usually spelled as Park instead of Bark (Similarly, 김 is Kim instead of Gim).

On the other side, if you hear a voiced sound b as a first consonant of words, it would be possibly a neighbor voiced sound ㅁ.

You don't need to follow the pronunciations of Korean actors(sometimes theirs are awful), just keep ㅁ-m, ㅂ-b, ㅍ-p, etc. and that sounds more clear to Koreans too.


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## YongshikMoon

There are three candidates which you perhaps want to say..

1) 뭐에요
In this case, this means is similar to "what is this?"
2) 뫼여요, 뫼예요
뫼 means a mountain in old korean language.
both of them mean "This is a mountain"
but, 뫼여요 sounds girlish... and literary rather than 뫼예요


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## Rance

batmanforeve said:


> The correct spelling is 뭐*예*요.



He is right.



packleader said:


> per Romanization this should be pronounced mwoyeyo, but it seems that when we hear this word on the Korean dramas its boyeyo.  Why would this be?  or are we just hearing it incorecctly?  or are they two different words?  Thanks!



It should be pronounced like you know already.
I'm not sure why you are hearing incorrectly.
It's possible they are pronouncing wrong or you actually mistook with something else.
For example, the actor could be actually saying 보여요(I can see it), not 뭐예요.
Unless you can provide the link for the drama, I'm afraid that anyone in the forum will be able to provide correct answer.


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## vientito

YongshikMoon said:


> There are three candidates which you perhaps want to say..
> 
> 2) 뫼여요, 뫼예요
> 뫼 means a mountain in old korean language.
> both of them mean "This is a mountain"
> but, 뫼여요 sounds girlish... and literary rather than 뫼예요



In fact, the word 멧 can act as a prefix to describe "wild" e.g 멧돼지 (a wild boar).  I keep thinking that it must have derived from 뫼 the old korean word for mountain.  I don't think this is a figment of my imagination, right?


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## yonh

packleader said:


> this should be pronounced mwoyeyo, but it seems that when we hear this word on the Korean dramas its boyeyo.


It can happen, because English speakers and native Koreans pronounce nasal consonants (/m/ and /n/) a little differently. When you pronounce /n/ and /d/, your tongue and lips are in the same position. The same goes for /m/ and /b/. The only difference is whether air passes through your nose or not.
That said, when Koreans pronounce ㄴ or ㅁ fast or sloppily, mostly at the beginning of speech, air does not pass through their nose occasionally. That's why when Koreans say "네" or "물" English speakers sometimes hear it as "데" and "불" respectively.


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## yonh

vientito said:


> In fact, the word 멧 can act as a prefix to describe "wild" e.g 멧돼지 (a wild boar).  I keep thinking that it must have derived from 뫼 the old korean word for mountain.  I don't think this is a figment of my imagination, right?


You are right.


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