Double Final Consonants

Two consonants, one sound

A double final consonant (겹받침) is a pair of different consonants written side by side at the bottom of a block, like the ㄹㄱ in 닭 (chicken). There are 11 of them. They appear in a fairly small number of words, but those words are very common: 없다 (not have), 앉다 (sit), 많다 (many), 읽다 (read), 값 (price).

In the last lesson you learned that a syllable can only end in seven sounds. A syllable also cannot end in two consonant sounds. So when a double final comes at the end of a word or before a consonant, only one of the two letters is pronounced. Which one? That depends on the pair. The good news is that the pattern is regular, with only a few exceptions.

The important exceptions

밟다 (to step on). ㄼ is usually said [ㄹ], but in 밟다 it is always said [ㅂ] before a consonant: 밟다 [밥따], 밟고 [밥꼬], 밟지 [밥찌]. The same exception covers a few words beginning with 넓, such as 넓죽하다 (to be wide and flat) [넙쭈카다] and 넓둥글다 [넙뚱글다]. But plain 넓다 follows the normal rule: [널따].

ㄺ before ㄱ in verbs. ㄺ is usually said [ㄱ]. But when a verb or adjective stem ending in ㄺ is followed by an ending that starts with ㄱ, you say [ㄹ] instead: 읽고 [일꼬], 맑게 [말께], 늙고 [늘꼬]. Compare 읽다 [익따] and 읽지 [익찌], where the ending starts with ㄷ or ㅈ, and the normal [ㄱ] is used. This exception is only for verbs and adjectives. The noun 닭 keeps [ㄱ]: 닭고기 (chicken meat) is said [닥꼬기].

Before a vowel: both letters are heard

When an ending or particle beginning with a vowel follows, the situation changes. The first consonant stays in its block, and the second consonant moves to the next syllable and replaces the silent ㅇ. Now you can hear both letters.

For example, 닭 alone is [닥], but 닭이 is [달기]. 앉아요 (please sit / I sit) is [안자요]. When the second letter is ㅅ, it becomes tense ㅆ: 값이 [갑씨], 없어요 [업써요].

For ㄶ and ㅀ, the ㅎ simply disappears before a vowel: 많아요 [마나요], 싫어요 [시러요]. You will learn more about this silent ㅎ in a later lesson.