Batchim Connection Rules: Vowels

Welcome to one of the most important pronunciation lessons in Korean! In Lesson 4, you learned that the word 옷 (clothes) is pronounced like 옫 (ot).

You may have wondered why we bother using ㅅ as a final consonant if it is just pronounced as ㄷ. Why bother writing 옷 when you could just write 옫?

In this lesson we’ll understanding exactly why Hangul was designed this way! In short, the reason is that the ㅅ (s) sound comes back when followed by a vowel!

The General Rule

The rule is very simple. When a syllable ends with a final consonant and the next syllable starts with the silent consonant ㅇ, the final consonant “slides over” and takes the empty spot.

Think of the ㅇ as an empty placeholder waiting to be filled.

Note, the consonant sound that slides over is its original sound, not its representative final sound. The ㄷ final consonant sound of 옷 is ignored, and the original ㅅ sound slides over instead.

Here are some examples of this slide in action:

The Special Case of [ㅎ]

When the final consonant ㅎ slides over to an empty ㅇ spot, it becomes completely silent. This is very common because a lot of common verbs have a ㅎ final consonant.

The Special Case of [ㅌ]

When followed by 이 or any of the y sound vowels (여, 야, 요, 유 , etc.), a final consonant ㅌ becomes ㅊ instead.

Quiz 1: Single Consonant Linking

Let’s practice what you’ve just learned.

Linking Double Final Consonants (겹받침)

What happens when there are two final consonants, like in 앉다 (to sit)? The rule is just as logical:

The first consonant stays, and the second consonant slides over.

Let’s break down the word 앉아 (an-ja), which is the verb to sit conjugated into the present tense:

• The word is 앉아.
• The first final consonant, [ㄴ], stays with the first syllable, becoming: 안.
• The second final consonant, [ㅈ], slides over to the next syllable, forming: 자.
• Together, it’s pronounced 안자 (an-ja).

Here are some more examples:

Mastering this rule is incredibly important when you start to listen to Korean. If you don’t have a good understanding, all the words in spoken Korean will seem to jumble together and be hard to distinguish.

Note: Subject and Object Particles

Some of our examples include Subject and Object particles. These are incredibly important Korean grammar concepts. We will learn all about Subject (이/가) and Object (을/를) particles when we start to make full sentences in Unit 2.

Quiz 2: Double Consonant Linking

Ready to test your knowledge of linking double consonants?

Final Quiz

This final quiz combines both single and double consonant linking rules. Take your time and see if you can apply the “slide” rule correctly!

All Words

Here is a chart of all the words in this lesson. I suggest spending some time trying to memorize these words. These are all very common words and studying them will help you remember the linking rules.