Section 03 · 받침
Batchim
The final consonant, and its seven-sound rule.
The consonant at the bottom of a block is called 받침 (batchim, literally "support"). You can write almost any consonant there. But Korean will only let you pronounce seven.
The seven sounds rule
At the end of a syllable, every consonant collapses to one of seven sounds:
| Written | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| ㄱ · ㄲ · ㅋ | k |
| ㄴ | n |
| ㄷ · ㅅ · ㅆ · ㅈ · ㅊ · ㅌ · ㅎ | t |
| ㄹ | l |
| ㅁ | m |
| ㅂ · ㅍ | p |
| ㅇ | ng |
That's why 밥 (rice) and 앞 (front) both end on the same p sound, even though the letters are different.