Audio is active. Tap 🔊 on any card or syllable to hear it spoken in Korean. The syllable drill and word cards all have audio — great for training your ear alongside your eye.
Lesson Objectives
- Understand what 받침 is and where it sits in the syllable block
- Learn the 7 representative sounds — the single most important 받침 fact
- Read 15 syllables with 받침 and check your pronunciation
- Master the linking rule (연음화) — what happens when 받침 meets a vowel
- Recognise 15 real words containing 받침
Quick recall from Lesson 7
You've learned all 21 Korean vowels across Lessons 1–7. From this lesson on, every new syllable will be built from letters you already know — you're reading, not learning an alphabet. Recall the 4 vowels from L7: 와 워 왜 웨. You'll see them again in today's vocabulary.
The Third Position in the Syllable Block
Until now, every syllable you've read had two parts: an initial consonant and a vowel. 받침 is the optional third part — a consonant that closes the syllable from below. The word 받침 itself means "support" or "pedestal".
Initial The consonant at the start — you've known this since Lesson 2. Must always be present (ㅇ is used as a silent placeholder when the syllable starts with a vowel).
Vowel The vowel — all 21 covered across Lessons 1–7.
받침 The final consonant — optional. When present, it "closes" the syllable and changes how it sounds. This is today's entire lesson.
Every 받침 Collapses to One of These Seven
This is the single most important fact in this lesson. Korean has many consonants that can appear as 받침 — but the spoken language reduces all of them to exactly 7 sounds. Click each card to see which letters map to that sound and hear an example.
👆 Click to flip · 🔊 hear an example word
Quick Reference — All 7 Sounds
| Sound | English | Which letters | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ㄱ | [k] | ㄱ ㄲ ㅋ | 국 | Unreleased — lips/tongue stop, don't release air |
| ㄴ | [n] | ㄴ | 눈 | Nasal — tongue at upper ridge, air through nose |
| ㄷ | [t] | ㄷ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅌ ㅎ | 옷 | Largest family — seven letters, all sound like an unreleased t |
| ㄹ | [l] | ㄹ | 말 | Lateral — tongue tip briefly touches upper ridge |
| ㅁ | [m] | ㅁ | 몸 | Nasal — lips close, air through nose |
| ㅂ | [p] | ㅂ ㅍ | 밥 | Unreleased — lips close but don't pop open |
| ㅇ | [ng] | ㅇ | 강 | Nasal — back of tongue raised, like "sing" or "song" |
15 받침 Syllables — Read & Listen
Say each syllable aloud before flipping. Focus on how the consonant closes your mouth. The romanization is there to confirm — the audio is there to tune your ear.
👆 Say it first · flip to confirm · 🔊 hear it
When 받침 Meets a Vowel, It Moves
This is the most important pronunciation rule you'll learn this week. When a syllable ending in 받침 is followed by a syllable that starts with ㅇ (the silent placeholder), the 받침 slides forward and becomes the initial consonant of the next syllable.
Written: 집 + 에 · Spoken: [지베] ji-be — the ㅂ slides to the next syllable
The spelling never changes. Only the pronunciation does. This is why reading and listening can feel different at first.
Four examples — listen carefully
단어 — Words Built with 받침
Every word today contains at least one 받침. The red character is the 받침 consonant. Tap to reveal meaning and details — then use 🔊 to hear the full word.
👆 Tap Korean to reveal · 🔊 hear the word
쓰기 연습 — Write the Full Syllable
The key to 받침 writing is placing the third element correctly. It sits centred below the initial + vowel. The guide character is on the left — the boxes to the right are for practice.
밥 먹었어요? — Why "Did You Eat?" Is a Greeting
Today's first vocabulary word 밥 (rice / meal) is embedded in one of Korean culture's most distinctive social rituals. 밥 먹었어요? — literally "Did you eat?" — is used as a casual greeting the way English speakers might say "How's it going?" It emerged during times when food security was genuinely uncertain, and it persists today as an expression of care rather than a literal question about meals.
If someone asks you 밥 먹었어요? in Korea, the culturally expected response isn't a report on your lunch — it's 네, 먹었어요 ("Yes, I ate") or 아직요 ("Not yet"). The follow-up to 아직요 is often an immediate invitation to eat together. The meal isn't just nourishment — it's the primary context for Korean social bonding.
📚 Lesson 8 Homework
Before Lesson 9…
Write the 7 representative 받침 sounds from memory with their letters: ㄱ(ㄲ ㅋ) · ㄴ · ㄷ(ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅌ ㅎ) · ㄹ · ㅁ · ㅂ(ㅍ) · ㅇ. This list is the foundation for all future pronunciation work.
Practice the linking rule with today's vocabulary. Write each of these with the particle 에 (at/to) and say how they're actually pronounced: 집에 · 방에 · 강에 · 옷에 · 책에.
Add all 15 vocabulary words to your flashcard deck. Focus especially on the three that involve the ㄷ-family 받침: 옷 (ㅅ sounds like t), 낮 (ㅈ sounds like t), 끝 (ㅌ sounds like t). All three are pronounced differently from how they're written.
Go back to any lesson from L1–L7 and look for words with 받침 you didn't know how to read at the time. You can now read every syllable in those pages. Notice the difference — that's real progress.
Lesson 9 preview: Lesson 9 covers pronunciation rules — what happens when consonants run into each other at syllable boundaries. Today's 7 representative sounds are the foundation. You're already halfway there.