받침 and 연음: Korean final consonants and sound linking

받침 — the letter at the bottom

A consonant at the bottom of a block is a 받침 (batchim), read last: 눈 = ㄴ + ㅜ + ㄴ, nun. Only seven sounds can end a syllable. The two nasals ㄴ [n] and ㅁ [m] are the easiest to hear: hum the end of 눈 and it keeps going. To tell them apart, watch the lips. ㅁ closes them (곰, bear), ㄴ leaves them open (돈, money).

• 밤

  night

• 사람

  person

ㅇ finds its voice

At the start of a block, ㅇ is silent, a placeholder. At the bottom it finally speaks: [ng], exactly the ending of English 'song'. 강 (river) is gang. It is never a hard g, so not 'gan-guh'. English already ends words this way; trust your 'song'.

ㄹ at the bottom — a true [l]

Between vowels, ㄹ is a quick tongue flap, like the tt in American 'butter' (다리, leg). At the bottom of a block it changes: the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the teeth and holds, a real l. 물 (water) is mul, 말 (horse) is mal. Same letter, two sounds: a flap between vowels, a held [l] at the end.

• 강

  river

• 물

  water

• 서울

  Seoul

The stopped endings — ㄱ and ㅂ

These endings don't hum, they STOP. A final ㄱ is [k] and a final ㅂ is [p]: your mouth moves into the shape and freezes. Say 'book' without letting the k out: that's 국. At the bottom, ㅋ and ㄲ also end as [k] (부엌, 밖) and ㅍ as [p] (앞).

• 집

  house / home

• 밥

  rice / a meal

• 한국

  Korea

받침 — the last ending

Six of the seven ending sounds are spelled with the letter that makes them: [n] 눈, [m] 곰, [ng] 강, [l] 물, [k] 책, [p] 밥. The seventh, [t], is the strange one. It is not one letter: seven different letters all collapse into it at the bottom of a block, the biggest sound merger in Korean.

Seven letters → one [t]

The biggest group all lands on a plain, stopped [t]. These seven 받침 are ALL pronounced [t] at a syllable's end: ㄷ · ㅌ · ㅅ · ㅆ · ㅈ · ㅊ · ㅎ So 옷 (clothes) sounds like [ot], 꽃 (flower) like [kkot], and 밭 (field) like [bat] — even though they're spelled with ㅅ, ㅊ, and ㅌ. Don't release the ending; just stop on [t]. (ㅎ joins them only at the very end of a word — 좋 on its own is [jot].)

Verbs end in [t] a lot

You'll meet this constantly in verbs. A dictionary form is stem + 다, and many stems end in one of these seven letters: 듣다 (to listen) — 듣 is [deut] 웃다 (to laugh) — 웃 is [ut] 있다 (to exist / to have) — 있 is [it] The stem stops on [t] right before the 다.

• 옷

  clothes

• 꽃

  flower

• 있다

  to exist / to have

• 밭

  field

Seven endings — the complete set

Every Korean syllable ends in a vowel or one of exactly seven sounds: ㄱ [k] 책, ㄴ [n] 눈, ㄷ [t] 옷, ㄹ [l] 물, ㅁ [m] 곰, ㅂ [p] 밥, ㅇ [ng] 강. That is the whole system. What is left is how these endings behave in real speech.

연음 — the ending slides over

When a 받침 is followed by a syllable that starts with silent ㅇ, the final consonant SLIDES onto it. 물 + 이 is written 물이 but said [무리] — the ㄹ jumps across and turns back into its flap. Korean does this every single time. It's why real speech sounds smoother than the blocks look — the writing keeps the word's shape, the mouth takes the shortcut.

있어요 — hear it happen

있어요 means 'there is' or 'I have', and it turns up in a huge share of everyday sentences. It is spelled 있 + 어요, and the double ㅆ slides over: [이써요]. Listen for the strong ss starting the middle syllable. That is the 받침, relocated.

ㅎ is too weak to slide

One exception: a final ㅎ before a vowel simply VANISHES. 좋아요 ('it's good') is said [조아요] — no h at all. And a preview so nothing ever ambushes you: a few words stack TWO letters in the 받침 slot — you say one of them. 없어요 ('there isn't') → [업써요], 많이 ('a lot') → [마니], 여덟 ('eight') → [여덜]. Read the survivor; the spelling keeps the history.

• 좋아요

  it's good

Check yourself

Questions from the course. Pick an answer to check it; nothing is saved.

1. 1.물 ends on a held [l]. Which of these ends with the SAME sound?

   말곰눈빵

2. 2.Which of these ends with the stopped [k] sound?

   책밥밤물

3. 3.옷 means 'clothes'. Which block shows how its ending SOUNDS?

   옫옥온옵

4. 4.꽃 means 'flower'. Which block shows how its ending SOUNDS?

   꼳꼭꼰꼽

5. 5.웃다 means 'to laugh'. How does the 웃 stem sound?

   욷욱운웁