KOREAN LEVEL UP › Korean phrases › Proverbs & idioms › 낮말은 새가 듣고 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다

How to Say “Walls have ears” in Korean

낮말은 새가 듣고 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다

nanmareun saega deutgo bammareun jwiga deunneunda

Situation: Proverbs & idiomsLevel: Intermediate (TOPIK 3–4)

Meaning

Walls have ears. (Birds hear what you say by day, and mice by night.)

Literally “birds hear daytime talk and mice hear night talk.” Be careful what you say, since you never know who is listening.

Romanization follows the Revised Romanization system and is a guide to pronunciation.

Syllables: 15 · Words: 6

In natural speech, sounds link and shift across words. The table below reads each word separately, as it sounds when said on its own.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
낮말은
낮	ㄴ+ㅏ+ㅈ	[난] nan
말	ㅁ+ㅏ+ㄹ	[마] ma
은	ㅇ+ㅡ+ㄴ	[른] reun
새가
새	ㅅ+ㅐ	sae
가	ㄱ+ㅏ	ga
듣고
듣	ㄷ+ㅡ+ㄷ	deut
고	ㄱ+ㅗ	[꼬] go
밤말은
밤	ㅂ+ㅏ+ㅁ	bam
말	ㅁ+ㅏ+ㄹ	[마] ma
은	ㅇ+ㅡ+ㄴ	[른] reun
쥐가
쥐	ㅈ+ㅟ	jwi
가	ㄱ+ㅏ	ga
듣는다
듣	ㄷ+ㅡ+ㄷ	deut
는	ㄴ+ㅡ+ㄴ	neun
다	ㄷ+ㅏ	da

A ㅇ at the start of a syllable is silent; at the end of a syllable it sounds like “ng”.

Nasalization: a final ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ becomes ㅇ, ㄴ or ㅁ before ㄴ or ㅁ (and a ㄹ after ㅁ or ㅇ becomes ㄴ). 낮말은 → [난마른]
Linking: when a syllable ending in a consonant (patchim) is followed by a syllable that starts with a vowel, the consonant moves over to the next syllable. 말은 → [마른]
Tensing: after a final ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ sound, ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ and ㅈ become tense (ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ, ㅉ). 듣고 → [듣꼬]

Style: Plain form (-다)Sentence type: Statement or set phrase

Ends in -다. Common in proverbs, writing and the news, but not how you normally speak to the person in front of you.

These words from the TOPIK vocabulary lists appear in the phrase (shown in dictionary form).

Korean	Part of speech	Meaning	Level
듣다	verb	to listen, to hear	TOPIK level 1

Test yourself before you move on. Tap an answer.

Question 1 What does “낮말은 새가 듣고 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다” mean?

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Answer: Walls have ears. (Birds hear what you say by day, and mice by night.)

Question 2 How do you say “Walls have ears. (Birds hear what you say by day, and mice by night.)” in Korean?

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Answer: 낮말은 새가 듣고 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다 nanmareun saega deutgo bammareun jwiga deunneunda

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