important things to know about reading korean!!1

[7heSw4gCr4ft666]

In the last thread, you learned how to read Korean. In this thread, we will learn the 7 rules to learning Korean that make pronunciation easier to master.

I must preface this entire thread by saying that this is a very difficult topic, so be prepared.

Also, I am going to be using the term 받침 (bat-chim) a lot in this thread, so just know that 'batchim' means that I am referring to the bottom consonant of a letter. For example, the 받침 in 받 is 'ㄷ'.

The first rule is the carry-over rule, also called Lenition.

Lenition occurs when there are two characters. The first character has to have a 받침 (batchim) and the second character has to start with a ㅇ also known as a place-holder, for example, 알아 (a-ra)

When this happens, the 받침 of the first letter replaces the place-holder in the second character. This means:
알아 (ar-a) is pronounced 아라 (a-ra)
금연 (geum-yohn) is pronounced 그면 (geu-myohn)
한국어 (han-gug-o) is pronounced 한구거 (han-gu-goh)

The carry-over rule is the most common rule of Korean.

The second rule is known as the double consonant rule, or 'Fortis'.

Fortis occurs when there are two characters; the first character has to have a 받침 and the second character has to start with the same character as the 받침 from the previous character, for example, 듣다 (deut-daa)

When this happens, the following will happen:

• The character which was in the 받침 of the first letter will be removed
• The initial character of the second letter will be doubled

Also, remember in my last thread, when I said that when ㅈ (j), ㅊ (ch) or ㅅ (s) is in the 받침, it is pronounced like a ㄷ (d) sound? Well, the sound will STILL be doubled here.

This means:
듣다 will be pronounced 드따
축구 will be pronounced 추꾸
있다 will be pronounced 이따
학교 will be pronounced 하꾜

The third rule is called Aspiration.

Before this rule, you need to know the characters ㅋ(k), ㅌ (t) and ㅍ (p). These three letters are known as 'aspirated consonants' because when you pronounce them, a short burst of air comes out of your mouth.

For this rule to happen, the first character has to have a 받침 with either the letters ㄱ (g), ㄷ (d) or ㅂ (b). The character which follows this has to begin with a ㅎ (h).

When this situation occurs, the following will happen:

• If a ㄱ (g) was in the 받침, then the ㄱ will be removed and the ㅎ (h) will be replaced with a ㅋ (k).
• If a ㄷ (d) was in the 받침, then the ㄷ will be removed and the ㅎ (h) will be replaced with a ㅌ (t).
• If a ㅂ (b) was in the 받침, then the ㅂ will be removed and the ㅎ (h) will be replaced with a ㅍ (p).

This means that:
먹히다 will be pronounced 머키다
시작해요 will be pronounced 시자캐요
줄업하다 will be pronounced 주러파다 (remember the carry-over rule?)

The fourth rule is called Nasalisation.

This rule confuses me all the time, so bear with me. This is the most complicated rule of the bunch, I would say.

For this to happen, the first character has to have a 받침 with either the letters ㄱ (g), ㅂ (b) or ㄷ (d). The second character has to start with either an ㅇ (placeholder), ㅁ (m) or ㄴ (n).

If this happens, the following will happen:

• If a ㄱ (g) was in the 받침, then it will turn into an ㅇ (ng) sound.
• If a ㅂ (b) was in the 받침, then it will turn into an ㅁ (m) sound.
• If a ㄷ (d) was in the 받침, then it will turn into an ㄴ (n) sound.

This means that:
한국말 (han-guk-mal) will be pronounced 한궁말 (han-gung-mal)
국물 (guk-mul) will be pronounced 궁물 (goong-mool)
습니다 (seup-nee-da) will be pronounced 슴니다 (seum-nee-da)

The fifth rule is called Flowing.

There are two parts to this rule. The first part is that when a ㄹ (r) and a ㄴ (n) meet, regardless of their position, the ㄴ will turn into an ㄹ (r) sound. This means that:

전라 (john-la) will be pronounced 절라 (jeol-la)
실나 (shil-na) will be pronounced 실라 (shil-la)

The second part of the rule states that when a ㅅ (s) or ㅆ (double s) meet with a ㄴ (n), regardless of their position, the ㅅ (s) will turn into an ㄴ (n) sound. For example:

있네요 (it-ne-yoh) will be pronounced 인네요 (in-ne-yo)
나뭇닙 (na-moot-nip) will be pronounced 나문닙 (na-mun-nip)

The sixth rule is called Palatisation.

This occurs when the first character has a 받침 which ends with either a ㄷ (d) or a ㅌ (t). The second character has to begin with the sound 이 (ee).

Usually, what would happen is that the ㄷ or ㅌ would replace the ㅇ according to LENITION. However, when followed by an 이 (SPECIFICALLY an 이 sound), then the following will happen:

• The ㄷ (d) will be removed and the ㅇ (placeholder) will be replaced with a ㅈ (j) sound.
• The ㅌ (t) will be removed and the ㅇ (placeholder) will be replaced with a ㅊ (ch) sound.

This means that:
같이 (ga-tee) will be pronounced 가치 (ga-chi)
맏이 (ma-dee) will be pronounced 마지 (ma-jee)

The final rule doesn't really have a name, so I'll call them ㅎ rules.

The first ㅎ (h) rule when there are two characters and the 받침 of the first character is a ㅎ, with the character afterwards beginning with either a ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅇ or ㄹ, then the ㅎ (h) is not pronounced. This means:

좋아해요 (jo-ha-hae-yoh) is pronounced 조아해요 (jo-aa-hae-yoh)
놓아서 (no-ha-seoh) is pronounced 노아서 (no-aa-seoh)

The second ㅎ (h) rule occurs when the first character's 받침 is either a ㄴ (n), ㅁ (m), ㅇ (placeholder) or a ㄹ (r) and the character after it begins with a ㅎ (h). When this happens, the following happens:

• The ㅎ (h) sound disappears
• The character that was in the 받침 replaces it

This means that:
암호 (am-ho) is pronounced 아모 (a-mo)
간호사 (gan-ho-sa) is pronounced 가노사 (ga-no-sa)
변호사 (byeon-ho-sa) is pronounced 벼노사 (byeo-no-sa)

That's all there is to the Hangeul Rules.
There's a lot of information in this thread, so please revise this multiple times until you know the rules off by heart.

bAi