Day 1 of 10~12 minAny consonant at the bottom of a block is said as one of seven sounds.
Romanisation help
받침, 옷 [옫], 낮 [낟], 꽃 [꼳], 밖 [박], 앞 [압], 부엌 [부억], 빗 빚 빛 [빋]
Almost any consonant letter can sit at the bottom of a Hangul block as a 받침 (batchim), a final consonant. Said at the end of a word, though, they collapse into just seven sounds: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅇ. Today covers which letter turns into which, and why 옷 'clothes' is said [옫]. Every other day of this course builds on this one.
Letters that change at the end
The Spelled line gives each letter its own value; the Said line is what actually comes out:
clothes
Spelled
옷
os
Said
[옫]
ot
ㅅ at the bottom of a block is never an s. It closes like the t in 'hot', with no puff of air after it.
daytime
Spelled
낮
naj
Said
[낟]
nat
The ㅈ loses its j completely and ends up identical to the final sound of 옷.
flower
Spelled
꽃
kkoch
Said
[꼳]
kkot
The breathy ㅊ goes the same way, so 꽃 ends exactly like 옷 and 낮.
outside
Spelled
밖
bakk
Said
[박]
bak
A double ㄲ at the end is just a closed [ㄱ]. There is no way to hold it longer.
Why it works
A Korean final consonant is unreleased: the tongue or lips close and stay closed, with no burst of air afterwards. What separates ㅅ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅌ and ㄷ is mostly what happens as the closure opens, so once there is no opening they cannot be told apart. All of them are made with the tongue tip just behind the top teeth, and they merge into one sound, written [ㄷ]. The same logic merges ㄱ, ㄲ and ㅋ into [ㄱ] at the back of the mouth, and ㅂ and ㅍ into [ㅂ] at the lips.
The rest of the set
Four more everyday words, each showing one of the mergers:
앞
ap
front
Said [압]. ㅍ loses its puff of air and closes like ㅂ.
부엌
bueok
kitchen
Said [부억]. ㅋ at the end is the same closed [ㄱ] as in 밖.
밭
bat
field (for crops)
Said [받]. ㅌ joins the [ㄷ] group with ㅅ, ㅈ and ㅊ.
몇
myeot
how many
Said [멷]. You will hear it constantly in 몇 시 'what time' and 몇 명 'how many people'.
Why it works
Romanisation already follows these rules, which is why 부엌 is written bueok and 몇 is myeot. That helps when reading aloud and misleads when you try to spell a word you have only heard: the sound [부억] could in principle end in ㄱ, ㄲ or ㅋ. The spelling keeps the original letter because it comes back as soon as a vowel follows, which is day 2. So the seven sounds tell you how a word ends; the spelling tells you what the word is.
Three words, one sound
These three are all said [빋] on their own. Only the spelling, or the context, tells them apart:
comb
Spelled
빗
bis
Said
[빋]
bit
Final ㅅ, so [ㄷ].
debt
Spelled
빚
bij
Said
[빋]
bit
Final ㅈ, so [ㄷ] as well.
light
Spelled
빛
bich
Said
[빋]
bit
Final ㅊ, the same [ㄷ], and the one of the three you will read most often.
Why it works
English keeps 'right' and 'write' apart in spelling even though they sound the same, and Korean does this far more systematically. Said alone, 빗, 빚 and 빛 are identical. Add a vowel and they separate again: 빗이 'the comb' is said [비시], 빚이 'the debt' [비지] and 빛이 'the light' [비치], because each final letter moves into the next block with its real value. That is why nobody simplifies the spelling: the letter is dormant at the end of the word, not gone.