Batchim: the seven final sounds

A consonant under the vowel

A syllable can close with a consonant written underneath: that consonant is the 받침. 바 is ba; add ㅂ below and 밥 is bap, the word for cooked rice and for a meal. Any consonant can be written as a batchim, but the mouth makes only seven sounds in that position: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅇ. Whatever the spelling, the final consonant is pronounced as the nearest of these seven, unreleased – the tongue or lips move into place and simply stop there.

Many letters, one sound

So 밖, 부엌 and 국 all end in the same stopped k: ㄲ, ㅋ and ㄱ collapse into ㄱ. 옷, 낮, 꽃, 밑, 있 and 히읗 all end in the same stopped t: ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅌ ㅆ ㅎ collapse into ㄷ. 잎 and 밥 both end in p: ㅍ becomes ㅂ. Only ㄴ ㄹ ㅁ ㅇ keep their own sound. And the circle changes job: at the top of a block ㅇ is silent, but as a batchim it is the ng of sing, so 강 is kang and 아 with ㅇ below is 앙.

Final soundWritten asWords
ㄱㄱ ㅋ ㄲ국, 부엌, 밖
ㄴㄴ산, 눈
ㄷㄷ ㅅ ㅈ ㅊ ㅌ ㅆ ㅎ옷, 낮, 꽃
ㄹㄹ물, 달
ㅁㅁ밤, 몸
ㅂㅂ ㅍ밥, 잎
ㅇㅇ강, 방

밥 주세요Rice, please.

꽃이 예뻐요The flowers are pretty.

Words in this lesson

WordMeaningExample
밥cooked rice, meal밥이 맛있어요
The rice is delicious.
집house, home집이 어디예요?
Where is the house?
물water물이 차요
The water is cold.
꽃flower꽃 주세요
Flowers, please.
옷clothes옷이 비싸요
The clothes are expensive.
책book책 주세요
A book, please.
밖outside밖이 추워요
It is cold outside.
부엌kitchen부엌이에요
It is the kitchen.
낮daytime낮이에요
It is daytime.
강river강이 넓어요
The river is wide.

Exercises

This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:

  • multiple choice: 4
  • match the pairs: 1
  • fill the gap: 2
  • build the sentence: 2
  • translate the sentence: 1
  • listen and type: 1

Try the first one

Which word ends in the ㄷ sound although it is not written with ㄷ?

  1. 옷
  2. 밥
  3. 집
  4. 강

The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.