Final Consonants (받침)

One lesson stands between you and reading real Korean anywhere you find it. You've actually been using final consonants since Lesson 1 — 한 and 국 both have one. Now let's make them official.

받침 — the supporting floor

A consonant written at the bottom of a block is called 받침 (bat-chim), literally a “supporting floor”. It closes the syllable:

Only seven sounds can end a syllable

Here's the rule that makes 받침 friendly: whatever letter sits in the bottom seat, it can only be pronounced as one of seven sounds — k, n, t, l, m, p, ng. Lots of letters, seven sounds. The system simplifies itself for you.

The biggest group: ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅌ ㅎ (and ㄷ itself) all become a soft [t] at the bottom of a block. So 옷 (clothes) is read “ot”, and 꽃 (flower) is read “kkot”.

ㅇ finally gets a voice

Remember how ㅇ is silent at the start of a block? In the bottom seat it earns its sound: ng, as in “song”.

Graduation: read a Korean café menu

This is everything, together. Sound out each item the way you'd read it off the wall of a café in Seoul — then check yourself.

You can read Korean now

That's the course. Twenty-four letters, a stacking rule, a stroke rule, and seven final sounds — and now a Korean menu, a song title, or a street sign is something you can sound out instead of scroll past. Reading speed comes with practice; the system is yours already.

Where to go next: the reading path explains the culture and logic behind the words you can now read, and the Culture Quiz lets you test the ideas. Ready to speak? Course 2 starts with saying hello.