Twenty-seven letters can be written at the bottom of a packet. Only seven sounds ever come out. Three of them are consonants you close and then simply do not open.
A packet can carry a third letter underneath the vowel. It is called the bottom slot, and it is where English speakers develop their strongest accent — not because the sounds are exotic, but because of one habit that has to be unlearned.
Almost any consonant letter can be written down there. Very few of them keep their own sound. At the end of a packet, a consonant is not released, and without a release most of the differences between consonants are simply inaudible — so they collapse.
| Sound that comes out | Letters that produce it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [k̚] — back of tongue sealed | ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ ㄳ ㄺ | 책 — book |
| [n] — tip on the ridge, nose open | ㄴ ㄵ ㄶ | 산 — mountain |
| [t̚] — tip sealed on the ridge | ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ | 옷 — clothes |
| [l] — tip on the ridge, air round the sides | ㄹ ㄽ ㄾ ㅀ | 물 — water |
| [m] — lips sealed, nose open | ㅁ ㄻ | 밤 — night |
| [p̚] — lips sealed | ㅂ ㅍ ㄼ ㄿ ㅄ | 밥 — cooked rice, a meal |
| [ŋ] — back of tongue, nose open | ㅇ | 강 — river |
Seal the back of your tongue against the soft palate — and leave it there.
Hold your palm an inch from your mouth. At the end you should feel nothing at all — no puff, not even a small one.
If you hear a faint vowel after the consonant, you released it. Freeze instead.
Tongue tip up onto the ridge, and stay.
Same palm test: nothing.
This is where seven different letters end up — ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ all sound like this at the bottom. 옷 and 낮 and 꽃 all end identically. The spelling still matters, because as soon as a vowel follows, the original letter comes back to life.
Lips shut, and shut is where they stay.
Look in the mirror as you finish the word. Your mouth should be closed in the final frame.
English speakers part the lips to “finish” the word. Resist it.
The opposite of what ㄹ does at the top of a packet: here the tongue arrives and stays.
You should be able to sustain this one. If it comes out as a single quick tap, you used the first-slot version by mistake.
Do not curl the tongue back and do not round the lips — that produces an English R. And keep the tongue body flat and forward, not bunched at the back, which is what makes an English “dark L”.
In the first slot this circle is silent. Down here it is a real sound, made as far back as ㄱ.
Pinch your nose: the sound must stop.
English spells this sound in words like “sing”, where many speakers add a small hard sound at the end. Korean never does — the seal is never released.
Same vowel, and in all three the mouth is shut at the end. Only the place of the seal changes.
Both close the lips. The second one opens the nose.
Both seal at the back. The second one opens the nose.
Both put the tip on the ridge. The first sends air out the nose, the second around the sides.
HanDa corrects every sentence you write or say — in real conversation, not flashcards.