Look below the vowel

받침, often written batchim in English lessons, is the final consonant position at the bottom of a Korean syllable block. In 산, ㄴ sits under ㅅ and ㅏ. In 곰, ㅁ sits under ㄱ and ㅗ. A block without a bottom consonant, such as 나 or 고, has no 받침.

Start here after you can build simple syllable blocks. Your goal is to recognise the final position, avoid adding an extra vowel, and notice why written letters and spoken sounds do not always match one for one. The full set of connected-speech rules comes later.

Some blocks have two final consonant letters, such as ㄺ in 읽. They occupy the same bottom position, but their pronunciation depends on the surrounding sounds. This first lesson concentrates on simpler examples; it does not ask you to pronounce every two-letter combination yet.

The bottom consonant completes the syllable

Read each block in the same order: initial consonant, vowel, final consonant. In 간, the sound sequence is ㄱ, ㅏ, ㄴ. Do not read the bottom letter first just because it looks visually separate.

ㅇ is the important contrast in the last pair. The initial ㅇ in both 아 and 앙 is silent. The bottom ㅇ in 앙 has an ng sound. The same written letter behaves differently in the two positions.

Start with seven final sound categories

Standard Korean groups syllable-final consonant sounds into these seven categories. The chart is about pronunciation, not a rule that only seven consonant letters can be written at the bottom. For example, 옷 is correctly spelled with final ㅅ, even though its final sound when said alone belongs to the ㄷ category.

ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅂ in a final position are usually described to beginners as unreleased stops. Make the closure without a strong released k, t, or p followed by an extra vowel. An English spelling such as ip is only an aid; listen to 입 to hear how the word actually ends.

For ㄴ, ㅁ, and ㅇ, air can continue through the nose. Notice where the mouth closes: the lips meet for ㅁ, while the back of the tongue is involved for ㅇ. Final ㄹ is l-like and should not become a strong English r.

Different spellings can have the same final sound

When said alone, 옷 and 옻 have the same pronunciation, conventionally shown as [옫]. They are different words: 옷 means clothes; 옻 refers to lacquer or the lacquer tree. The brackets mark a pronunciation aid, not a replacement spelling.

This is why sound alone is not enough to guess every Korean spelling. Keep the actual written form with the vocabulary you learn. Do not “correct” 옷 to 옫 because of how it sounds by itself.

The surroundings can change the result. At the end of a word or before a consonant, several final letters share a representative sound; when another sound follows, linking, nasalisation, aspiration, or other changes may apply. Learn these through useful words in stages rather than memorising one oversized rule chart.

Hear what changes when a vowel follows

Compare 밥, “rice” or “a meal,” with 밥이, where the particle 이 follows the noun. In 밥이, the final ㅂ connects into the next syllable’s vowel, giving the pronunciation [바비]. The written form stays 밥이.

Likewise, 옷이 is pronounced [오시]. Here you hear the ㅅ when it links before the vowel of the particle 이. This example shows why the sound of 옷 on its own cannot tell you everything about 옷 in a sentence.

Do not turn this into “every consonant always moves before any ㅇ.” These examples involve a vowel-initial grammatical particle. Other word boundaries and letters, especially ㅎ and two-letter 받침, need additional rules. Today, learn these two whole examples and the difference between spelling and the bracketed pronunciation.

Use a short listen–read–repeat routine

1. Choose one word from the chart, such as 산, 곰, or 입.
2. Find its recording in the learner dictionary linked below and listen before repeating.
3. Point to the bottom consonant as you say the whole syllable.
4. Check that you did not add “uh” after the final sound.
5. Listen again. If it is unclear, slow the practice down without stretching the final stop into another syllable.

A useful first session may contain only three words. Compare the same recording with your own voice if that helps you notice a difference. Text can explain where to look, but it cannot substitute for hearing the sound.

Check the position and the sound

Before leaving the lesson, find the 받침 in 물, 책, and 한. If you can identify the position but cannot pronounce every example yet, you have still learned something useful. Continue listening to whole words and return to one sound contrast at a time.

A small listening check

Pronunciation reference

The examples and practice tasks in this guide were written for Korean With a Local. For reference and further study:

• National Institute of Korean Language: standard pronunciation rules — Articles 8–9 cover final sound categories; Article 13 covers linking before vowel-initial particles and endings. The page is in Korean.
• National Institute of Korean Language learner dictionary — Search the Korean example words and use their pronunciation recordings.
• How to Study Korean: pronunciation — Further examples of sounds changing in context.

Reviewed September 3, 2026. Found a mistake? Send a correction.