Chapter Three 

WHAT IS BATCHIM IN KOREAN?

'Batchim' is the final consonant or, is that consonant that is placed at the bottom of a word. It is pronounced in the end, while reading or speaking Korean. The system of Batchim alone makes the entire language different from normal languages. Basically, it means 'support', because it stands as a supporting system for the other letters.

Although every consonant can be written at the end of a word or can be used as batchim, the sounds may vary. The basic sounds of the batchims are mainly concentrated on the seven consonants. They are, 

ㄱ,  ㄴ,  ㄷ,  ㄹ,  ㅁ,  ㅂ,  ㅇ 

Let's see how the consonants pronounce as batchims.

ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ                        - K

ㄴ                                    - n

ㄷ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ, ㅎ- t

ㄹ                                     - l

ㅁ                                     - m

ㅂ, ㅍ                               - P

ㅇ                                     - ng

The letters, ㄷ, ㅅ,ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ, and ㅎ, when used as a batchim, or when they are placed at the bottom of a word, they all make the sound of 't'. So when you see these letters as batchims, make sure you pronounce them as 't'. 

Now let's see some examples.

가방 - gabang - Bag

가족 - gajog - Family

김치 - kimchi - Kimchi

꽃 - ggo't' - Flower

달 - d(h)al - Moon

밥 - pap - Rice

걷다 - geo't'da - walk

쫒다 - jjo't'da - chase

Now I think you all got the idea of batchim. 

But, there are some exceptional cases like, when ㄷ & ㅌ are used with or before the vowel, '이' (I), it sounds different.

For example, 

같이 - ga'chi' - Together

해돋이 - haedoji - Sunrise

Do you remember the twin consonants we studied in the last chapter? Well, among those five twin consonants, only ㅆ and ㄲ are used as batchims. They are pronounced as 't' and 'gg' respectively.  But again one thing to remember, when ㅆ is used as a batchim and the following letter is a consonant, then it sounds like 't'. And, if the following letter is a vowel, then it sounds like 'ts'. 

For example, 었다 - eot-da 

있어 - its-eo

Still, the lesson on batchim isn't complete. There are many more. But I think we should understand the basics first. Once it is perfect, we'll move onto a little hard batchim combinations and letters. 

See you in the next class.