Liaison: When a Final Consonant Moves to the Next Syllable

The rule in one line

When a syllable ending in a consonant is followed by a syllable that begins with ㅇ, the final consonant moves into that empty initial slot.

Remember that initial ㅇ is silent — it is a placeholder holding the block together. Because the slot is empty, the consonant next door simply fills it.

• •한국어 → [한구거] — the ㄱ of 국 moves into 어
• •음악 → [으막]
• •한국인 → [한구긴]
• •옷을 → [오슬]
• •집에 → [지베]

The original consonant comes back

This is where the batchim neutralisation rules and liaison meet, and where Korean spelling suddenly makes sense.

On its own, 옷 is pronounced [옫] because a final ㅅ cannot surface. Add 이 and the ㅅ moves forward into a position where it can be released, giving [오시].

The same happens across the whole neutralised set. 낮이 is [나지], 꽃이 is [꼬치], 부엌에 is [부어케]. Each word recovers the consonant that its spelling recorded all along.

Double batchim splits

When a pair of consonants occupies the final slot and a vowel follows, they divide: the first stays behind and the second moves forward. Both get pronounced, which is the only situation where a double batchim is fully audible.

• •앉아요 → [안자요] — ㄴ stays, ㅈ moves
• •읽어요 → [일거요] — ㄹ stays, ㄱ moves
• •값이 → [갑씨] — ㅂ stays, ㅅ moves and tightens to ㅆ
• •삶이 → [살미]

ㅎ is the awkward one

A final ㅎ does not move forward the way other consonants do. Between voiced sounds it tends to weaken and drop out.

좋아요 is pronounced [조아요], not [조하요]. 많아요 comes out as [마나요]. The ㅎ leaves, and the remaining consonant links across normally.

That is only ㅎ meeting a vowel. When ㅎ meets a plain consonant it does something quite different — it merges into an aspirated one — which is covered in the article on tensification and aspiration.

When ㄷ or ㅌ meets 이

One extra rule sits on top of liaison. A final ㄷ or ㅌ followed by 이 does not simply move across — it changes into ㅈ or ㅊ.

This is called palatalisation, and it happens because the tongue is already moving toward the position for 이. 굳이 is pronounced [구지], 같이 is [가치], and 해돋이 is [해도지].

It applies at the boundary between a stem and the ending attached to it, rather than to every sequence of ㄷ or ㅌ followed by 이.

Training your ear for the seam

Liaison is a listening problem before it is a speaking problem. You will produce it naturally long before you can reliably hear where one word ends.

• •Read a word with and without a particle back to back: 옷 / 옷이, 집 / 집에, 꽃 / 꽃이.
• •When you hear something you cannot parse, try shifting a consonant back one syllable in your head. [으막] becomes recognisable as soon as you move the ㄱ back to 음.
• •Practise the double batchim splits deliberately — 앉아요 and 읽어요 come up constantly and are easy to get wrong in both directions.
• •Read aloud at natural speed rather than syllable by syllable. Slow reading suppresses liaison, which is exactly the habit you are trying to break.