Korean ㅎ Batchim: Sounds, Rules and Examples

The Korean ㅎ batchim is a final ㅎ, as in 좋다 (to be good) and 놓다 (to put), and it is almost never heard as an h. Before a vowel it is silent, so 좋아요 is [조아요]. Before ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅈ it aspirates them, so 좋다 is [조타]. Before ㄴ it becomes [ㄴ]; before ㅅ, [ㅆ].

What you'll learn

• Say 좋아요 [조아요], 놓아요 [노아요] and 싫어요 [시러요] with no h.
• Say 좋다 [조타], 좋고 [조코] and 좋지 [조치] with the aspirated consonant.
• Apply the [ㄴ] and [ㅆ] outcomes in 좋네요 [존네요] and 좋습니다 [조씀니다].
• Tell a final ㅎ batchim apart from ㅎ weakening at the start of a syllable, as in 은행.

Prerequisites: the overview in Korean H Weakening, and the idea that a batchim can change before a vowel. Estimated time: 30 minutes.

What Is the Korean ㅎ Batchim?

The Korean ㅎ batchim is the consonant ㅎ (hieut) written in the final position of a syllable, as in 좋, 놓, 낳 and 쌓. It appears almost only in verb and adjective stems, so it is always followed by an ending, and the ending decides what you hear.

A final ㅎ has five possible outcomes, one for each kind of following sound:

All five come from Article 12 of the Standard Pronunciation Rules (표준 발음법), published by the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원). The silent outcome is often called ㅎ 탈락 (h tallak, "h deletion"), and it is the one learners need most.

The rules are regular. What makes them hard is an English habit, explained next.

Why English Speakers Struggle with the ㅎ Batchim

English speakers struggle because English pronounces almost every written h, as in "ahead" and "behave". Reading 좋아요 letter by letter suggests "joh-a-yo" or "jo-ha-yo", with an h that a Korean speaker never says.

Romanization adds to the confusion. Revised Romanization writes 좋아요 as joayo and 좋다 as jota, which is accurate but looks unrelated to the Hangul. Learners who see "jota" and then 좋다 often assume one of them is a typo. In fact, Revised Romanization follows the spoken form: it leaves out the silent ㅎ and writes the aspirated [ㅌ] as t.

The fix is to stop reading ㅎ as a sound and start reading it as an instruction: "change the next sound". The sections below give the instruction for each case.

What Does the ㅎ Batchim Do before a Vowel?

Before a vowel, the ㅎ batchim is silent. The syllable simply ends in its vowel, and the next syllable starts with that vowel too. Article 12 gives 낳은 [나은], 놓아 [노아] and 쌓이다 [싸이다] as examples.

Because the ㅎ disappears, two vowels meet with nothing between them. Say them smoothly, without a glottal catch: [조아요] flows from o to a in one breath. In casual speech some of these forms contract further: 놓아요 becomes 놔요 and 넣어요 is often heard as [너요].

What about 괜찮아요 and 많이?

괜찮아요 [괜차나요] and 많이 [마니] follow the same rule. Their batchim is the double batchim ㄶ, which contains ㅎ; before a vowel, the ㅎ drops and the ㄴ moves forward. The double batchim ㅀ works the same way: 싫어요 is [시러요]. These pairs have their own lesson on ㄶ and ㅀ.

What Does the ㅎ Batchim Do before a Consonant?

Before a consonant, the ㅎ batchim changes the consonant instead of disappearing. The result depends on which consonant follows.

Before ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅈ: Aspiration

Before ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅈ, the ㅎ merges with the consonant into its aspirated partner: ㅋ, ㅌ or ㅊ. This is called aspiration (격음화), and the full rule is covered in aspiration with ㅎ first.

• 좋고 → [조코]
• 좋다 → [조타]
• 좋지 → [조치]
• 놓고 → [노코]
• 좋던 → [조턴]

Before ㄴ: [ㄴ]

Before ㄴ, the ㅎ becomes [ㄴ]. Article 12 gives 놓는 [논는] and 쌓네 [싼네]. One way to understand it: the ㅎ first takes its representative sound, [ㄷ], and then [ㄷ] becomes [ㄴ] before ㄴ, the same nasal change that turns 받는 into [반는].

Before ㅅ: [ㅆ]

Before ㅅ, the ㅎ and ㅅ combine into a tense [ㅆ]. Korean has no aspirated s, so tensing takes the place of aspiration. The most important case is the formal ending -습니다: 좋습니다 is [조씀니다], 놓습니다 is [노씀니다]. Article 12 also gives 닿소 [다쏘].

With Nothing after It: [ㄷ]

With nothing after it, a final ㅎ is said as an unreleased [ㄷ], its representative sound. In real vocabulary this almost never happens, because ㅎ-final stems always take an ending. The clear case is the letter name 히읗, which is [히읃].

The five outcomes cover every ㅎ batchim. The next question is how they differ from a similar-sounding rule.

How Is the ㅎ Batchim Different from ㅎ Weakening?

The ㅎ batchim is a final ㅎ whose outcomes are fixed by the next sound; ㅎ weakening is an initial ㅎ that softens in fast speech. The two are related but follow different rules.

In 은행, 전화 (phone) and 결혼 (marriage), the ㅎ starts a syllable after ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅇ or a vowel. The standard pronunciation keeps it, but in relaxed speech it often weakens or disappears, giving [으냉], [저놔] and [겨론]. In 좋아요, by contrast, the silent ㅎ is the standard form itself; saying [조하요] is not careful speech but an error. The optional cases are covered in ㅎ weakening.

Which Verbs Show the ㅎ Batchim?

The ㅎ batchim appears in a small group of regular verbs and adjectives, and in a larger group of ㅎ-irregular adjectives.

Regular stems keep ㅎ in spelling with every ending:

ㅎ-irregular adjectives such as 그렇다 (to be so), 어떻다 (to be how), 노랗다 (to be yellow) and 하얗다 (to be white) drop the ㅎ from spelling before vowel endings: 그래요, 노래요. With consonant endings they keep it, and the same rules apply: 그렇게 [그러케], 어떻게 [어떠케], 그렇지 [그러치], 그렇네요 [그런네요].

Twelve Forms of 좋다 and 싫다

좋다 (good) and its opposite 싫다 (disliked) are the two adjectives you will say most. The table shows six forms of each; 싫다 uses the double batchim ㅀ, so its ㄹ is always heard.

The -네요 row is the only one where the two differ in kind. Single ㅎ becomes [ㄴ]; in ㅀ the ㅎ drops, and ㄹ turns the ㄴ into [ㄹ].

Why Does Korean Keep ㅎ in the Spelling?

Korean keeps the ㅎ in the spelling because the Hangul Orthography (한글 맞춤법) writes each stem the same way in all its forms. The stem of 좋다 is 좋-, and the ㅎ is needed to explain 좋다 [조타], 좋고 [조코] and 좋네요 [존네요]. Writing 조아요 instead of 좋아요 would hide the fact that it is the same word. So the ㅎ is written in 좋아요 even though nobody says it.

The ㅎ-irregular adjectives show the same principle from the other side. In 그래요 and 노래요 the ㅎ has disappeared from the stem itself, together with part of the vowel, so the orthography stops writing it.

쌓다 and 싸다: a Listening Pair

The silent ㅎ creates near-homophones. 쌓다 (to pile up) is [싸타] and 싸다 (to be cheap) is [싸다], so the dictionary forms differ only in the puff of air on the second syllable. In the polite forms, 쌓아요 is [싸아요], with two vowels, while 싸요 is [싸요], with one. Listening for that extra 아 is the only cue.

Worked Example: 좋아요 and 좋아해요

Follow 좋다 into its two most common polite forms.

1. Find the batchim. 좋 ends in ㅎ.
2. Look at the next sound. In 좋아요, the ending 아요 starts with a vowel.
3. Apply the rule. Before a vowel, ㅎ is silent. Say [조아요].
4. Now 좋아해요 (I like it). The first ㅎ, in 좋, is again before a vowel and silent. The second ㅎ, in 해, starts a syllable, so it is not a batchim: say it as a light h. The result is [조아해요].

You'll know you have it when 좋아요 has no h at all, and 좋아해요 has exactly one, on 해. Compare 좋다 [조타]: the ㅎ is not heard as h there either, but you feel its effect as the puff of air on 타.

Common Mistakes with the ㅎ Batchim

Mistake 1: pronouncing h before a vowel. Learners often assume a written ㅎ is always heard, saying 좋아요 as [조하요]. Actually it is silent: [조아요].

Mistake 2: dropping the ㅎ effect before ㄷ. Learners who learn Mistake 1 sometimes say 좋다 as [조다]. Actually the ㅎ aspirates the ㄷ: [조타].

Mistake 3: [존네요] said as [조네요]. Learners often drop the ㅎ before ㄴ. Actually it becomes [ㄴ], so 좋네요 has a double n: [존네요].

Mistake 4: a plain ㅅ in -습니다. Learners often say 좋습니다 as [조습니다]. Actually ㅎ + ㅅ is [ㅆ]: [조씀니다].

Mistake 5: treating ㅎ weakening as optional here. Learners who hear [으냉] for 은행 sometimes think 좋아요 also has a "careful" form with h. It does not: [조아요] is the only standard form.

Practice: Korean ㅎ Batchim

Exercise 1. Write the spoken form.

1. 넣어요
2. 넣고
3. 넣는
4. 넣습니다

Exercise 2. Write the spoken form.

1. 쌓이다
2. 낳다
3. 닿네
4. 그렇게

Exercise 3. Is the ㅎ a batchim (fixed rule) or initial (may weaken)?

1. 좋아요
2. 전화
3. 놓는

Answers.

Exercise 1: 1 [너어요], 2 [너코], 3 [넌는], 4 [너씀니다].

Exercise 2: 1 [싸이다], 2 [나타], 3 [단네], 4 [그러케].

Exercise 3: 1 batchim, [조아요]. 2 initial, [전화], often [저놔]. 3 batchim, [논는].

If Exercise 1 caused trouble, write the five-outcome table from memory and check each ending against it.

Where to Go Next

The next lesson, on Korean n-insertion, covers a rule that adds a sound instead of removing one, as in 서울역 [서울력]. The full set of ㅎ topics is in H-Weakening.

This lesson does not cover ㅎ after a batchim, as in 축하 [추카] or 입학 [이팍], where the ㅎ comes second; that is the other half of the aspiration rule. It also does not cover dialect forms.

In short, the Korean ㅎ batchim is silent before a vowel, aspirates ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅈ, becomes [ㄴ] before ㄴ, makes [ㅆ] before ㅅ, and is [ㄷ] only when nothing follows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the ㅎ in 좋아요 pronounced? No. 좋아요 is pronounced [조아요], with no h. The ending 아요 starts with a vowel, and Article 12 of the Standard Pronunciation Rules says a final ㅎ is not pronounced before a vowel-initial ending. The spelling keeps ㅎ because the dictionary form 좋다 [조타] needs it for the aspirated [ㅌ].

How do you say 놓아요? Say [노아요], or use the contracted form 놔요, which is common in speech and writing. 놓다 (to put, to place) loses its ㅎ before the vowel ending 아요, exactly like 좋아요. Other forms of 놓다 keep an effect of ㅎ: 놓고 [노코], 놓는 [논는], 놓습니다 [노씀니다].

Why is 많이 [마니]? 많이 is [마니] because the ㅎ inside the double batchim ㄶ follows the same rule as a single ㅎ: it is silent before a vowel. The suffix 이 starts with a vowel, so the ㅎ drops and the ㄴ links forward. The same rule gives 싫어요 [시러요] for the double batchim ㅀ.

Is 히읗 [히은]? No. The letter name 히읗 is pronounced [히읃], with a final [ㄷ], because a ㅎ with nothing after it takes the representative sound of its group, which is [ㄷ]. Before a vowel the name follows a special rule for letter names, so 히읗이 is [히으시], with [ㅅ], and 히읗을 is [히으슬].

Is 낳다 [나타]? Yes. 낳다 (to give birth) is pronounced [나타], because the final ㅎ merges with the ㄷ of the ending into [ㅌ]. Before a vowel the ㅎ disappears: 낳아요 [나아요], 낳은 [나은]. Be careful not to confuse it with 나다 (to come out), which has no ㅎ and is [나다].