Day 11 of the 30 day langblr challenge is all about tenses, so here’s the basic future tense in Korean! As always, all info comes from TalkToMeInKorean!
Construction: -ㄹ/-을 거예요
At this point, you probably know the drill when it comes to what ending you should use depending on your verb stem, so here’s the breakdown!
If the verb stem ends in a vowel, you’ll use -ㄹ 거예요
가다 (to go) –> 갈 거예요
하다 (to do) –> 할 거예요
보다 (to see) –> 볼 거예요
If the verb stem ends in a consonant, you’ll use -을 거예요
입다 (to wear) –> 입을 거예요
먹다 (to eat) –> 먹을 거예요
볶다 (to fry) –> 볶을 거예요
Note: If your verb stem already ends with “ㄹ,” simply add “거예요” after the verb stem!
Ex.: 팔다 (to sell) –> 팔 거예요
Sample Sentences
Using this tense is pretty straightforward (aka: use it to talk about things that you will do in the future), so here are some sample sentences to see this tense in action!
내일 도서관에 갈 거예요. (Tomorrow, I will go to the library.)
책을 반납을 거예요. (I will return a book.)
뭐 할 거예요? (What are you going to do?)
And that’s all, folks! If you notice any errors, please let me know. Otherwise, study well, y’all!!
I’m not a native speaker, so of course my Korean pronunciation isn’t perfect, but whenever I speak to Koreans, they usually mention that my pronunciation is good. But I think as long as they can understand what you’re saying, they considered it good haha…
Anyway, when I studied linguistics in college, phonetics and phonology was one of my favorite subjects, so I learned the pronunciation rules of Korean from a linguistic perspective. It’s just a lot easier for me to remember these rules when I know the linguistic reasons why they exist.
When reading 한글 (and speaking Korean in general), if you know the standard pronunciation rules, it’ll get you pretty far. But there are a few sounds that can be pronounced differently, depending on the sounds that come before or after.
ㅎ is one of these sounds. (In Korean, the letter is called 히읗).
THE STANDARD RULE
The standard rule when you learn 한글 can be heard from from the name of the letter itself 히읗. When it is comes before a vowel, it’s pronounced like “h” and when it’s a final consonant, it’s pronounced like “d.”
FINER RULE #1: NOT PRONOUNCED
Sometimes, the more natural way to say ㅎ is to not say it at all. The word where you will hear this the most 안녕하세요 and 안녕하십니까. Although there’s a ㅎ in there, the pronunciation actually sounds closer to 안녕아세요.
Another example is when ㅎ is a 받침 (final consonant) but followed by a vowel, like in 넣어요 (pr: 너어요), 넣으면 (pr: 너으면), 좋아요 (pr: 조아요), 놓아요 (pr: 노아요).
Lastly, before ㄹ, ㅎ isn’t pronounced, as in 말하다 (sounds more like 마라다).
FINER RULE #2: MERGES
In this case, instead of pronouncing ㅎ exactly like an “h” sound, the “h” sound merges with the consonant before or after, which changes the pronunciation of BOTH sounds.
This only applies to 4 consonants: ㅂ, ㅈ, ㄷ, ㄱ. When ㅎ comes before or after one of these consonants, both sounds merge and become the voiceless aspirated version (i.e. ㅂ -> ㅍ, ㅈ -> ㅊ, ㄷ&ㅅ -> ㅌ, ㄱ -> ㅋ). ㅅ is also turned into ㅌ because it sounds like ㄷ as a 받침 (final consonant).
It’s easier to see what I mean with examples, so I’ll just get straight to them.
ㄱ:
익숙하다 –> 익수카다
행복하다 –> 행보카다
식히다 -> 시키다
ㅈ:
젖히다 (bend back) –> 저치다
ㄷ,ㅅ:
좋다 -> 조타
못하다 -> 모타다
ㅂ:
괴롭히다 -> 괴로피다
졸업하다 -> 조러파다
But there’s another special case: 닫히다. Why is it pronounced like 다치다 instead of 다티다? Well, you know how whenever the 이 sound comes after ㅅ, it’s pronounced like “she” instead “see?” For example, 식사 is pronounced like “sheek-sa” not “seek-sa.”
Well, it’s the same sort of thing. There’s something about the 이 sound in Korean that makes them want to pronounce certain sounds further back in the mouth. ㄷ is said like ㅊ after 히; ㅌ is said like ㅊ after 이; ㄷ is said like ㅈ after 이. This is why 같이 is pronounced like 가치 and 굳이 is pronounced like 구지.
So your boss is forcing you to do a job you don’t want to do, or your mom made you eat your vegetables, and you want to complain about it. LET’S LEARN HOW TO TALK ABOUT IT.
억지로 + (동사/Verb) – To do unwillingly / be forced to do sth 선생님이 농담하셨을때 억지로 웃었어요. – When my teacher told a joke I forced a smile. 입맛이 없지만 엄마가 저녁을 만드셔서 억지로 먹었어요. I had no appetite, but I had to eat because my mom cooked dinner.
It can also mean physically forced (clothes, objects, etc.) 억지로문을 열려다가 문고리가 고장났어요. – I forced the door open and the handle broke off.
마지못해 + (동사/Verb) – To reluctantly do sth 안 친한 친구의 부탁을 마지못해 들어줬어요. – I unwillingly did a favor for my friend that I’m not very close with. 좋으면서마지못해 미팅에 나가는 척 하지마. – Stop pretending like you don’t want to go to meeting (group blind date)
울며 겨자 먹기로 + (동사/Verb) – To bite the bullet or grin and bear it (literally translated means to eat mustard and cry) 울며 겨자 먹기로 싼 값에 집을 내놓았어요. – I bit the bullet and put my house up for cheap 표가 다 팔려서 울며 겨자 먹기로 암표를 샀어요. – The tickets sold out so I bit the bullet and bought a scalper’s ticket.
The most commonly used phrase is 억지로~, but these are all important pieces of grammar. They are all very similar, but are used in different situations. 마지못해~ is the least serious of the three, and울며…~ is the most serious.
One common phrase I’ll hear from friends is “마지못하는 척 하지마” when I’m pretending like I don’t want the last slice of pizza, I always want the last slice of pizza.
firstly, what are honorifics? honorifics play an extremely important role in korean - depending on who you’re talking to, sentences are conjugated differently. this is dependent on age and closeness of the person you are talking to. when you’re talking to anyone that is younger than you/close to you, you can talk to them informally, therefore all sentences will be conjugated informally. when talking to people that are older than you (and therefore deserves respect), you must speak to them formally. therefore, all sentences will be conjugated formally. there are two levels to this, but in this lesson, i’ll only be briefly covering informal low respect (for people you’re close to/younger than you) and informal high respect (for people who are older than you/not as close to you). note: despite it being “informal”, the informal high respect conjugation can be used widely with most people, including strangers that are older than you!
before we dive into conjugation, here are some quick notes! when speaking informally, you will refer to “me/i” as 나. when speaking formally, you refer to “me/i” as 저, and 요 is added to the end of your sentence to make it more formal. got it? let’s move onto conjugation!
past tense: 았어/었어(요)
if the last vowel in a word stem is ㅏ or ㅗ, 았 is used to conjugate to the past tense.
if the last vowel in a word stem is anything butㅏ or ㅗ , 었 is used to conjugate to the past tense.
say we’re conjugating the word 먹다 (to eat). the word stem here is 먹 and the last vowel in the word stem is ㅓ, therefore 었어(요) is used to conjugate to the past tense:
> 저는 빵을 먹었어요 (i ate bread) 저 is used, therefore sentence must be conjugated formally. as a result, 요 is used at the end > 나는 빵을 먹었어 (i ate bread) 나 is used, therefore the sentence is informal. as a result, 요 is not added to the end of the sentence
say we want to conjugate the word 자다 (to sleep). the word stem is 자, and the last vowel in the stem is ㅏ. therefore, 았아(요) is used to conjugate to the past tense!
> 저는 잤어요 (i slept) 저 is used, therefore the sentence must be conjugated formally. as a result, 요 is added to the end of the sentence > 나는 잤어 (i slept) 나 is used, therefore the sentence is informal. as a result, 요 is not added to the end of the sentence
present tense: 아/어(요) ✨
if the last vowel in the word stem is ㅏ or ㅗ, 아(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense.
if the last vowel in the word stem is anything other than ㅏ or ㅗ, 어(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense.
imagine we want to conjugate 읽다 (to read). the last vowel in the word stem, 읽, is ㅣ. this is not ㅏ or ㅗ, therefore 어(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense.
> 저는 읽어요 (i read) again, 저 is used, therefore 요 is added to the end of the sentence to make it formal.
> 나는 읽어 (i read)
here’s another example featuring the verb 공부하다 (to study). the last vowel in the word stem, 공부하, is ㅏ, therefore 아(요) is used to conjugate to the present tense. because the last letter in the stem is a vowel, the 아 merges with 하 to form 해. (you can read more about this on howtostudykorean.com, lesson 5!)
> 저는 한국어를 공부해요 (i study korean) > 나는 한국어를 공부해 (i study korean)
future tense
there are two main ways of conjugating to the future tense:
by adding 겠어(요) to the end of the word stem
by adding ㄹ/을 거예(요) to the end of the word stem
they both translate to show that you will do/will be something, but the first method has a slightly different nuance from the second usage. this is because it implies a sense of determination.
here’s an example featuring 가다 (to go) 가다 + 겠어(요) = 가겠어(요) > 저는 중국에 가겠어요 (i will go to china)
here’s another example featuring 만나다 (to meet) 만나다 + 겠어(요) = 만나겠어(요) > 나는 엑소를 만나겠어 (i will meet exo)
the second way of conjugating to the future tense, as previously stated, is by adding ㄹ/을 거예요 to the end of the word stem. unlike the first usage, there is no implication of determination - it’s simply just a way of conjugating to the future tense.
ㄹ is added when the last letter in a word stem is a vowel
을 is added when the last letter in a word stem is a consonant
here’s an example featuring 억다 (to eat). the last letter in the word stem is ㄱ, therefore 을 거예요 is used! > 자는 비빔밥을 먹을 거예요 (i will eat bibimbap)
here’s another example featuring 공부하다 (to study). the last letter in the word stem is ㅏ, therefore ㄹ 거예요( is used! > 저는 한국어를 공부할 거예요 (i will study korean)
easy, right? if you need more help, please don’t hesitate to message me, or look at howtostudykorean.com (which is where these lessons are adapted from) for further explanation!
