Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 1 - My First Steps in Korean (Lessons 1 to 30) ᚛ Lesson 7 - Liaison in Korean

Liaison in Korean

Classic liaison

In some languages, a liaison happens when a word ends with a consonant and is followed by a word that begins with a vowel. In making the liaison, the consonant is pronounced and becomes part of the following word.

Remember that in Korean, consonants are not always pronounced the same depending on whether they are at the beginning or the end of a syllable, so you have to adapt! A liaison is created when a syllable ends with a consonant and the following syllable begins with a vowel sound, i.e. the silent consonant ㅇ.

한국어 (= Korean language) is composed of:

• 한
• 국
• 어

However, 국 which ends with ㄱ and 어 which begins with ㅇ follow each other, so there is a liaison. Imagine the word as if ㄱ became the initial consonant of the following syllable.

In our mind, we could imagine this: [한구거].

• 한
• 구
• 거

한국어

먹었어 (= I ate) is composed of:

• 먹
• 었
• 어

But beware, there are two liaisons here!

Between 먹 and 었, a liaison occurs and you should imagine that ㄱ becomes the initial consonant of 었.
Equally between 었 and 어, another liaison occurs and you should imagine that ㅆ becomes the initial consonant of 어.

We can then imagine the word 먹었어 as follows: [머거써].

• 머
• 거
• 써

먹었어

Liaison with compound consonants

Liaison with a space

Be careful, if a space is present between two syllables, the liaison may be different.

Exercices

For anyone who wants to learn Korean, mastering Hangeul, the Korean writing system, is an essential step. However, truly understanding how these new characters are used, their real pronunciation, how they function within words, and above all remembering them well enough to read fluently in the long term is often a difficult task for Korean learners.

Master Hangeul in 2 Weeks is a 14-day program in which you learn, day after day, all the secrets of Korean characters so that you can master them and never forget them again. Each day, you discover Hangeul through comprehensive lessons and a wide range of reading and writing exercises. An unlimited online training mode allows you to practice as much as you want until you reach excellence.

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