Consonant cluster: a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel.
In Korean, there are eleven legal consonant clusters (double final consonants): ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄶ, ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㄿ, ㅀ, ㅄ.
- If the letter is followed by a silent ㅇ, the last consonant carries over
- 낡은 → /날근/
- 앉은 → /안즌/
- 삶이 → /살미/
- The final ㅎ turns the following ㄱ,ㄷ,ㅂ, ㅈ into their aspirated forms: ㅋ,ㅌ,ㅍ,ㅊ
- 않고 → /안코/
- 싫다 → /실타/
- Other than those two case above, one of the two final consonants become silent
- ㄳ, ㄵ, ㄼ, ㄽ, ㄾ, ㅄ: the second letter is silent (first letter pronounced)
- 몫 → /목/
- 값 → /갑/
- 여덟 → /여덜/
- ㄺ, ㄻ, ㄿ: the first letter is silent (second letter pronounced)
- 닭 → /닥/
- 삶 → /삼/
- If ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅈ follows a consonant cluster, they are pronounced with their double sound
- 앉고 → /안꼬/
- 읽다 → /익따/
- Consonant clusters are also subject to consonant assimilations.
- 읽는 → 익는 (ㄱㄴ becomes ㅇㄴ) → /잉는/
- 밟는 → 밥는 (ㅂㄴ becomes ㅁㄴ) → /밤는/