Unit 5: Pronunciation Rules and Assimilation

You might have noticed that sometimes Koreans don't pronounce words exactly as they are written. This isn't laziness—it's actually a built-in feature of the language to make it flow smoothly!

There are two major pronunciation rules you need to know: Liaison (Carry-over) and Nasal Assimilation.

1. The Carry-over Rule (Liaison)

Remember that the consonant 'ㅇ' is silent when it starts a syllable. It acts as an empty placeholder.

If a syllable has a Batchim (bottom consonant), and the next syllable starts with the empty placeholder 'ㅇ', the bottom consonant will physically "jump over" and fill the empty spot when you speak!

Examples: * 물 (mul) + 이 (i) -> In writing: 물이 -> In pronunciation: [무-리] (mu-ri). The 'ㄹ' jumped over!

• 밥 (bap) + 을 (eul) -> In writing: 밥을 -> In pronunciation: [바-블] (ba-beul). The 'ㅂ' jumped over!

• 옷 (ot) + 이 (i) -> In writing: 옷이 -> In pronunciation: [오-시] (o-si). The 'ㅅ' jumped over! (Notice it sounds like 's' again, not 't', because it is no longer trapped at the bottom!)

2. Nasal Assimilation

Korean flows from the throat and nose. If a hard stop consonant (like ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ) is immediately followed by a nasal consonant (like ㄴ or ㅁ), it is physically awkward for the mouth to stop and restart.

To fix this, the hard consonant changes into a nasal consonant!

The Rules:

• ㅂ (P/B) + ㄴ/ㅁ -> becomes ㅁ (M)
• 입 (ip) + 맛 (mat) -> 입맛. Pronounced [임맏] (im-mat).

• 합 (hap) + 니 (ni) + 다 (da) -> 합니다. Pronounced [함니다] (ham-ni-da). (This is the very famous formal Korean ending!)

• ㄱ (K/G) + ㄴ/ㅁ -> becomes ㅇ (NG)

• 국 (guk) + 물 (mul) -> 국물. Pronounced [궁물] (gung-mul).

• 한 (han) + 국 (guk) + 말 (mal) -> 한국말. Pronounced [한궁말] (han-gung-mal).

• ㄷ (T/D sounds) + ㄴ/ㅁ -> becomes ㄴ (N)

• 믿 (mit) + 는 (neun) -> 믿는. Pronounced [민는] (min-neun).

3. Why are they spelled this way?

You might ask: "If 합니다 is pronounced 'ham-ni-da', why isn't it just spelled 함니다?" Because King Sejong designed the spelling to keep the root meaning of words intact! '합' comes from the verb root '하다', so keeping the spelling consistent makes it easier to read and understand the meaning, even if the spoken sound softens.

Congratulations!

You now have mastered the mechanics of reading and writing Hangul! You are ready to dive back into Level 1 and start speaking Korean!