Final Consonants (Batchim): The 7 Final Sounds

What is batchim?

받침 means support or base. It is the consonant at the bottom of a syllable block, under the vowel. A syllable can have the shape consonant + vowel (가), or consonant + vowel + consonant (각). In 각, the ㄱ at the bottom is the batchim.

The block shape stays square. If the vowel is on the right, like ㅏ, the batchim goes under both the first consonant and the vowel: 산. If the vowel is at the bottom, like ㅗ, the batchim goes under the vowel: 곰.

Almost any consonant can be written as batchim. But here is the most important fact of this lesson: at the end of a syllable, Korean has only seven final sounds. Many different letters are written, but they are all pronounced as one of these seven.

Unreleased final sounds

The three stop sounds ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ are special at the end of a syllable. Your mouth moves into position, but you do not open it again with a puff of air. Try saying 밥 (rice). Close your lips on the final ㅂ and hold them closed for a moment. You should hear a short, clean stop.

Because there is no release, the differences between ㄱ, ㅋ and ㄲ disappear at the end of a syllable. The same happens with ㅂ and ㅍ. And a large group of letters made with the tongue tip, ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ, all end with the same ㄷ stop.

The four other sounds, ㄴ ㄹ ㅁ ㅇ, can continue for as long as you have breath. They are smooth and easy, so practice those first if stops feel hard.

Why keep the spelling, then?

If 낫, 낮 and 낯 all sound like [낟] alone, why are they written differently? Because the hidden consonant comes back when a vowel follows. For example, 꽃 alone is [꼳], but 꽃이 (the flower, as subject) is said [꼬치]. The ㅊ moves to the next syllable and is heard clearly. Hangul spelling keeps the true form of each word so that the meaning stays clear.

This is why learning batchim well is so useful. When you see a word written, you know both how it sounds alone and how it will sound with endings. We will practice this moving sound in the linking lesson.

A good habit: when you learn a new word, write it down with the real spelling, and say it with the final sound from this lesson's table.

Writing batchim

Write a syllable from top to bottom and left to right. First write the first consonant, then the vowel, and finally the batchim at the bottom. Keep the batchim about as wide as the part above it, so the whole block fits in a square. In handwriting, blocks with batchim look a little shorter on top, because the bottom needs space.

Try writing these slowly: 각, 산, 곧, 갈, 감, 밥, 강. Then read each aloud. You have just written all seven final sounds.