CONQUER

BATCHIM AND
MASTER
KOREAN
READING
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WHAT IS BATCHIM?
Batchim is a final consonant. But it doesn't necessarily only appears at
the end. It can appear at the initial, middle or the final part of the word
like 선생님 (seonsaengnim). It is more of a support consonant than a
final consonant as it provides support to the syllable from the base. The
origin of this word is 받치다 , which means to support. Thus, Batchim is
a support consonant rather than a final consonant. It is placed at the
bottom, pronounced at the end of the syllable block. It is pronounced as
‘Bachim’ [ 바침 ] and written as 받침 [Batchim].

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BATCHIM
Romanized Korean cannot help us differentiate words and their meanings
but with batchim, it is easier to distinguish the words along with their
meaning. Eg: 같 이 (together) and 갇 이 (trapped) both are pronounced
with the same ‘gachi’ sound and written similarly when romanized but
each word has a different meaning. With batchim, it is easier to
distinguish the two. The concept of batchim is intriguing as such concept
don’t exist in other languages and that’s what makes it fun to learn.

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HERE ARE SOME SOUND RULES
• There are a lot of rules when it comes to reading words that consist of
batchim. Let’s go through them one after another. The following consonants
can be used as a support consonant ‘ ㄱㄴㄷㄹㅁㅂㅅㅇㅈㅊㅋㅌㅍㅎㄲㅆ’
however the pronunciation is restricted to only seven sounds of the
consonants ‘ ㄱ , ㄴ , ㄷ , ㄹ , ㅁ , ㅂ , ㅇ’ .

• ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ all of these consonants make the [K] sound. ㄷㅌㅅㅆㅈㅊㅎ all

have the [T] sound. ㄴ , ㄹ , ㅁ , ㅇ don’t change the sound. ㅂ / ㅍ are
pronounced with a [P] sound.

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THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS
Exception:
1. ㄷ [d] and ㅌ [t]: ㄷ [d] sound is pronounced ㅈ [j] often with 이 [i]
Example: 굳이 [guji][ 구지 ].
2. ㅌ [t] sound ㅊ [ch] with 이 [i]
Example: 같이 [gachi][ 가치 ].
3. Another example, is when ㅇ [ng] comes after ㅎ [h] in batchim, ㅎ
will not be pronounced eg: 좋아 [joaha][ 조아 ].

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 16 CONSONANTS CAN
BE PLACED AT THE
BOTTOM BUT THERE
ARE ONLY 7 DIFFERENT
SOUNDS. WE CAN
SUMMARIZE THEM
BELOW.

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DOUBLE CONSONANT BATCHIM ( 이중 받침 )
These are syllables that have two consonants at the end. There are a few combinations of double
consonants that can appear as Batchim:

•ㄳ (gs/k) – Pronounced as “k” •ㄼ (rb/p) – Pronounced as “m”

•ㄵ (nj/t) – Pronounced as “n” •ㄽ (rs/t) – Pronounced as “t”
•ㄶ (nh/t) – Pronounced as “n” •ㄾ (rt/t) – Pronounced as “t”
•ㄺ (rg/k) – Pronounced as “k” •ㄿ (rp/p) – Pronounced as “p”
•ㄻ (rm) – Pronounced as “m” •ㅀ (rh/t) – Pronounced as “t”
•ㅄ (bs/p) – Pronounced as “p”

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EXAMPLE #1

꽃 (FLOWER)
the “ ㅊ” batchim will be pronounced as “t” rather than the standard “ch” (ggot).

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EXAMPLE #2

옷 (CLOTHES)
the “ ㅅ” batchim will be pronounced as “t” rather than the standard “s” (ot).

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EXAMPLE #3

약 (MEDICINE)
the “ ㄱ” batchim will be pronounced as “k” rather than the standard “g” (yak).

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EXAMPLE #4

밥 (RICE)
BAP

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EXAMPLE #5

닭 (CHICKEN)
DAK

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EXAMPLE #6

삶 (LIFE)
SALM

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