# ending consonant



## giberian

Hello korean-speakers!

I'm just beginning to get familiar with the Hangeul-alphabet and I can't resolve which ones are the *final letter* of the following words:

셋       /   넷         /    다섯        /   여섯

The transcriptions into the western alphabet suggest that it´s a /t/-consonant - digeut (디귿) or ssang digeut (쌍 디귿) - , but from the chart of the Hangeul letters I would read it rather as an /s/-consonant -  shiot (시옷). What's the problem, am I misreading the letter?

Thank you very much!

고맙습니다

Giberian.


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## soupdragon78

Hi Giberian.
I'm just a beginner myself and was also caught out by this Korean pronunciation rule. The native speakers may want to correct me if I'm not quite right but as I understand it:

The consonants  ㄷ,ㅌ,ㅅ,ㅆ,ㅈ,ㅊ andㅎ all take an unaspirated t sound  [ㄷ]at the end of a word.

There are good explanations and some free lessons here http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/ courtesy of the Sogang university.

Good luck with your studies.

Soup


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## giberian

Hello Soupdragon!
Although the pronounciation is similiar or even the same, wouldn't it be a spelling mistake if I wrote ㄷ instead of ㅅ?
Thanks anyway for your explanation! And of course for recommending the site, maybe I'll find the solution there...
Best wishes,
Giberian


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## soupdragon78

Yes, you're right. It would be a mistake to write ㄷ instead of ㅅ. That's why I try to avoid learning materials with a lot of romanization.  Unfortunately Hanguel isn't quite as easy phonetically as people say it is. With certain words you just have to learn the spellings individually like with English. Oh well, it's good to have a challenge... 
All the best,
Soup


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## giberian

Hi Soupdragon!
I'm still at the most basic beginner level posible, but I won't let these spelling things scare me, there's no language without curiosities. Thanks again for recommending me the Sogang-website, I just took a look at it and I find it a very good complement for my learnings ... judging from my greenhorn perspective 
See you, Giberian.


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## glaspalatset

I think it would be good to know that three and four, when combined, spelled (and pronounced) slightly different. As in:

한시, 두시, 세시, 네시, 다섯시, 여섯시 (one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four o'clock)
한 사람, 두 사람, 세 사람, 네 사람 (one person, two persons ....)


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## giberian

Thanks for the advice, I actually came across these shorter spellings but I still didn't know when to use them, thank you for the examples!
See you!
Giberian.


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## elroy

An important note: If a syllable ending in ㅅ or any of the other consonants that behave the same way is followed by a syllable beginning with ᄋ, the final consonant of the first syllable is pronounced normally.

An example from your signature, Giberian: 있으면 is pronounced /i*s* eu myôn/ and not */it eu myôn/.

(I used /yô/ to transliterate ᅧ.)


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## giberian

Thank you very much, Elroy!


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## nhk9

elroy said:


> An important note: If a syllable ending in ㅅ or any of the other consonants that behave the same way is followed by a syllable beginning with ᄋ, the final consonant of the first syllable is pronounced normally.
> 
> An example from your signature, Giberian: 있으면 is pronounced /i*s* eu myôn/ and not */it eu myôn/.
> 
> (I used /yô/ to transliterate ᅧ.)


 
Just want to add:

Note that in 맛 없어 (tastes bad), one would pronounce it 마덥서 instead of 마섭서


in 일일이 (one day + subject particle), one would pronounce it 일리리 instead of 이리리


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## elroy

nhk9 said:


> Note that in 맛 없어 (tastes bad), one would pronounce it 마덥서 instead of 마섭서


 Could that have to do with the fact that 맛 and 없어 are two separate words?


> in 일일이 (one day + subject particle), one would pronounce it 일리리 instead of 이리리


 Maybe, but we're not discussing ᄅ.


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## nhk9

elroy said:


> Could that have to do with the fact that 맛 and 없어 are two separate words?
> Maybe, but we're not discussing ᄅ.


 
Perhaps, but that's anyone's guess.  We will need a Korean grammar expert here for an explanation I think.


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