Batchim — The Seven Final Sounds

What You Will Learn in This Unit

You will check where a batchim (final consonant) is placed in a syllable. Although there are many batchim letters, only seven sounds, ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, and ㅇ, are actually produced at the end of a syllable. You will learn this principle. The goal of this unit is to read batchim correctly when the letter and the sound differ.

Where the Batchim Goes

A syllable consists of an initial consonant, a vowel, and a final consonant, in that order. The initial consonant is the consonant at the very beginning, the vowel is the vowel, and the final consonant is the consonant placed below the vowel. This final consonant is called batchim. A batchim may or may not be present, so there are many syllables without one. The following table divides syllables by position.

As the table shows, the batchim comes at the very bottom of the syllable. A syllable with a batchim has one more consonant attached below the vowel.

Batchim Letters and Actual Final Sounds

Several consonant letters can be used as batchim. However, the places in the mouth where sound stops at the end of a syllable are only seven, so even though the letters differ, the final sounds fall into one of the seven. For this reason, reading batchim exactly as they are written leads to errors in some cases. The table below pairs batchim letters with the final sounds actually produced.