Sound Changes Across Word Boundaries

When a word ends in a final consonant and the next word begins with a consonant, the sounds can interact across the written space.

Two useful cues

Before ㅁ or ㄴ , a final obstruent is often heard as a nasal sound that fits the environment: 밥 먹어요 [밤 머거요] and 몇 명 [면 명].

Before ㅎ , a final obstruent can combine with it and be heard as an aspirated sound: 꽃 한 송이 [꼬탄 송이].

Spelling and spacing stay the same. The bracketed form describes connected pronunciation in a natural phrase.

Keep the spelling and spacing in the left column as the learner-facing form. The sound column is a Hangul listening guide, not an alternate spelling.

Spelling · Sound · Why

밥 먹어요 · [밤 머거요] · Final ㅂ in 밥 becomes ㅁ before ㅁ.

몇 명 · [면 명] · 받침 ㅊ is realized as a stop and then nasalizes to ㄴ before ㅁ.

책만 봐요 · [챙만 봐요] · Final ㄱ in 책 becomes ㅇ before ㅁ.

꽃 한 송이 · [꼬탄 송이] · 받침 ㅊ is realized as a stop and combines with ㅎ as aspirated ㅌ.

옷만 입어요 · [온만 이버요] · Final ㅅ is realized as a stop and becomes ㄴ before ㅁ; 입어요 has ordinary vowel linking.

These are representative standard forms. Predict from the phrase and its local next sound rather than rewriting the spelling.

Read each sentence in normal spelling. Predict the local boundary, listen to the smooth line, and repeat the whole sentence.

Everyday examples

밥 먹어요 [밤 머거요] — I eat rice.

밥 냄새가 좋아요 [밤 냄새가 좋아요] — I like the smell of rice.

오늘은 몇 명 와요 [오늘은 면 명 와요] — How many people are coming today?

저는 책만 봐요 [저는 챙만 봐요] — I only look at books.

책상 위에 꽃 한 송이가 있어요 [책상 위에 꼬탄 송이가 있어요] — There is one flower on the desk.

오늘은 이 옷만 입어요 [오늘은 이 온만 이버요] — I am wearing only this outfit today.