Final Consonants (받침) & Reading Practice
Learn how final consonants (받침) work and practice reading Korean words
받침 (final consonants) are the consonants that sit at the bottom of a syllable block. They are central to Korean phonology because they determine what happens at the boundary between syllables — which is where most of Korean's sound-change rules apply. Although Korean spelling allows many different final consonants, only seven actual sounds are produced in final position: [ㄱ], [ㄴ], [ㄷ], [ㄹ], [ㅁ], [ㅂ], [ㅇ]. Many letters that look different in spelling collapse into one of these seven in actual speech.
For example, 옷 (clothes) and 못 (cannot) both end in [ㄷ] when pronounced alone, even though they are spelled with ㅅ and ㅈ-derivative letters. The 'real' final consonant only becomes audible again when followed by a vowel-initial syllable, where it carries over via liaison (covered in Lesson 1-7). Reading practice with batchim is the bridge between knowing the alphabet and reading Korean at conversational speed — spend time on this lesson before moving on.
What is 받침 (Batchim)?
받침 is the final consonant at the bottom of a syllable block. Not all syllables have one: 나 (na) has no 받침, but 난 (nan) has ㄴ as 받침. There are 7 representative 받침 sounds: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅇ. Other consonants map to one of these 7 sounds when used as 받침.