Add1Challenge 22 Day 90: Learning Korean in 90 days!
마침내 한국말을하는 제 90일 비디오를 녹화했어요! 1월 16일부터 4월 15일까지, 일주일에 5일동안 1시간씩 공부했어요. 제 목표는 15분동안 원어민 화자와 얘기하는 것이 었어요. 그리고 제 목표를 달성했어요! 지금 조금 쉬고 있지만 다음 달부터 부지런히 다시 공부를 시작할 거에요.
I finally recorded my Day-90 video of me speaking Korean. From January 16 to April 15, I studied for one hour, 5 days a week. My goal was to speak to a native Korean speaker for 15 minutes. And I achieved my goal! I’m taking a little break now, but I will resume studying diligently next month.
오늘은 4월 11일 화요일이고 마침내 봄이 뉴욕에 찾아왔어요! 이번 주는 90 일 한국어 도전의 마지막 주여서 목요일에 제 네번째 진행하는 비디오를 녹화할 예정이에요.하지만 요즘 영어 선생님이되기 위해 공부하고있어서 지난 2주동안 한국어를 공부하지 않았었어요. 많은 것을 읽어야하고 제 TEFL 온라인 수업을 이달 말까지 완료해야해요. 영어 선생님 훈련 수업이 끝난 후에, 한국어를 다시 열심히 공부하겠어요. 5월에 또 봐요~!
Today is Tuesday April 11th and spring has finally arrived in NYC! This is the last week of my 90-day Korean language challenge, so I’ll record my fourth progress video on Thursday. But lately, I’ve been studying to become an English teacher, so for the past 2 weeks, I haven’t been studying Korean. I have to read a lot and I need to complete my online TEFL course by the end of the month. Once my English teacher training course is finished, I’ll resume diligently studying Korean again. See you again in May~!
안녕하세요 여러분 ~! 오늘은 제 주말 계획에 대해 얘기 할 거에요! 내일은 토요일이어서 아침에 일해야해요. 저는 오전 9시부터 오후 12시까지 3명과 개인 수업이 있어요. 그 후에는, 일과가 없어요. 제 남자 친구와 만나서 점심을 먹을 거에요. 일요일에는 6개의 그룹 수업이 있어요. 오전 10시에 시작하고 6시 30분에 일이 끝나요 일요일은 긴 하루가 될 거에요. 일이 끝난 후에 집에 가서 스카이프에서 한국어 교사를 만날 거에요.
Hello everyone! Today, I’m going to talk about my weekend plans! Tomorrow is Saturday. I have to go to work in the morning. I have 3 private clients from 9a to12p. After that, my day is free. I’ll meet my boyfriend for lunch. On Sunday, I have 6 group classes. I’ll start at 10a and finish work at 6:30p. Sunday will be a long day. After work, I’ll go home to meet my Korean tutor on Skype.
최고의 교사는 매우 지식있고 조직적이에요. 그러나 그들은 또한 참을성있고 친절해요. 좋아하는 선생님은 제가 잘할 때 저를 칭찬해 주세요. 그녀는 제가 실수를했을 때 저를 절대로 심판하지 않아요 제가 틀렸을 때 그녀는 단지 저를 바로 잡아요 그리고 그녀는 제가 좌절 할 때 저를 격려해요
The best teachers are very knowledgeable and organized. But they are also patient and kind. My favorite teacher gives me praise when I’m doing well. She never judges me when I make a mistake. She just corrects me when I’m wrong. And she encourages me when I’m frustrated.
1. 괜찮답니다~ 이 좌석에 앉으세요. 다음 역에서 내릵겁니다. 2. 언어 책들이 어디에 있어요? 3. 나는 새로운 수첩이 필요하기 때문에 서점에 갔어요. 4. 여자랑 그녀의 남편이 제 운동 수업에 왔어요. 끝난 후에 그에게 수업이 좋아하는지 물었어요. 그의 아내에게 인상깊은 모습을 보여주고 싶다고 말했는데 그의 몸은 예전 같지 않았다고 하네요. 5. 나는 코코넛 오일에 알레르기가 있어 ㅜㅜ
1. That’s alright. Take this seat. I’m getting off at the next stop. 2. Where are the language books? 3. I went to the bookstore because I needed a new notebook. 4. A woman and her husband came to my fitness class together. Afterwards, I asked him if he liked the class. He said that he wanted to impress his wife, but he’s so out of shape these days. 5. I’m allergic to coconut oil.
1. 연습이 완벽을 만든다. 2. 한국어는 그녀의 제 2 언어예요. 3. 시간이 걸려요 . 4. 한국어 공부하는 것이 프랑스어 공부하는 것 보다 재미 있어~ 5. 나는 한 번도 외국에 산 적이 없어.
1. Practice makes perfect. 2. Korean is her second language. 3. It takes time. 4. Studying Korean is more fun than studying French. 5. I have never lived abroad.
안녕하세요 여러분~! 약 한달 전에 한국어를 공부를 조금 쉬고 진지하게 프랑스어 공부를 시작하는 데 집중했어요. 하지만 지금부터는 한국어 “파트타임” 공부를 다시 시작하고 싶어요. 임의의 5문장을 규칙적으로 쓰려고 노력할 거예요. 제 문장이 틀리면 고쳐주세요.
1. 요즘은 프랑스어를 공부하고 있지만 한국어를 말하고 쓰는 연습도 계속하고 있어요. 2. 그라놀라 밀크쉐이크? 음료는 맛있겠다! 궁금해요~ 그것을 맛보고 싶어요~! 3. 제가 가장 좋아하는 영어를 배우는 학생이 프랑스어로 된 어린이 책들을 줬어요. 4. 매주 토요일 아침에 내 가장 친한 친구랑 요가 수업에 가고 있어요. 5. 어제 밤에 “써니"라는 평생의 우정에 관한 한국 영화를 봤어요. 정말로 감동적이어서 울었어요.
Hello everyone~! About a month ago, I took a break from studying Korean to study French seriously. But going forward, I want to study Korean part time. I am going to try to regularly write 5 random Korean sentences. If my sentences are wrong, please correct them.
1. I’m studying French these days, but I continue practice speaking and writing Korean. 2. Granola milkshake? I’m curious about the flavor. I want to taste it. 3. My favorite English student have me French children’s books. 4. Every Saturday I go to yoga class with my best friend. 5. Last night I saw a Korean movie about a lifelong friendship called "Sunny”. I cried because it was really touching.
Learning Korean Resource: Can I continue to learn without giving up?
When learning Korean by myself, I often stop learning for a while after every little milestone. I simply don’t know what to learn next or I go on a search (mostly on google and youtube) for what to learn next and where do I learn them from?
Eventually, I would stop for a while, then try to get back to learning again but hit history repeats itself over and over again. It has been almost 5 years since I first started to learn Korean but I do not feel that I have progressed much.
Now, I decided to look for courses that cover more topics, preferably with a space where I can post questions to ask for help from instructors or fellow students. That was when I found this ultimate 100-lesson course for beginners.
Perhaps I can watch one or a few lessons each day and build a routine to learn a little Korean each day. Once I’ve gotten used to the routine, it might be easier to continue learning after I finished the course. This is a course I decided to enroll in to help me build the habit to learn Korean so that I will be less likely to give up after finishing the course. Hopefully, I won’t feel exhausted and lost on what to learn next.
Learning Korean: Restart
I intend to restart learning Korean through this course within the month. If you’re like me - wishing to build the routine and habit of learning a little Korean each day and get into the momentum of learning Korean, you can try to find a course to enroll in, watch a lesson or two per day, and learn with fellow students :)
Disclaimer: It’s an affiliate link. When you enroll in the course through this link, I get a commission from the price you paid.
Alternatively, you can search for this course (Learn Korean for Beginners: The Ultimate 100-Lesson Course) on Udemy and purchase it directly. I will not get a commission in this way. The price of the course remains the same, regardless of whether I get a commission or not :)
I made color-coded lyrics for the song “Heart Attack” by 츄 (Chuu) from 이달의 소냐/ Loona!
The Korean lyrics translated into English have matching colors so you can easily study the vocabulary as well as sentence structure and grammar!
Thanks for the request @horrics and make sure to follow my Korean language Instagram @catierosekorean to request your own songs in the future, or to ask me any other questions!
Listen to the song below before you start studying~^^
Thank you, @shanharifanart for the question on an older post. And also, I’m so sorry I just saw this comment recently. Not all notifications get sent to my phone. I saw this super late while browsing on my computer. Anyway, the question as about 한 거야.
ㄴ/는 거야 or the polite ㄴ/는 거예요 is a sentence ending that can be used in the present or past with both verbs and adjectives. It’s basically a more emotional way to talk instead of giving just basic information or straight facts.
And, it’s used mostly in these situations:
–>giving new (or surprising) information
–>responding to something (with emotion)
–>telling a story to someone (this is because you’re typically telling new or surprising information haha)
–>recounting or clarifying information
So, here are the basic conjugations.
Verbs:
No 받침 present tense 는 거야/는 거예요 / No 받침 past tense ㄴ 거야/ㄴ 거예요.
하는 거야 (하다/하고 있다) / 한 거야 (했다)
Yes 받침 present tense 는 거야/는 거예요/ Yes 받침 past tense 은 거야/은 거예요
먹는 거야 (먹다/먹고 있어) / 먹은 거야 (먹었다)
Adjectives:
No 받침 —> ㄴ 거야/ㄴ 거예요
슬픈 거야 (슬프다)
Yes 받침 —> 은 거야/은 거예요
좋은 거야 (좋다)
Adjectives don’t really get treated as having a past tense in many Korean grammatical structures because it’s often seen as an unchanging state.
Here are some examples:
그거 들었어? 소영이가 그 오빠랑 사귀는 거야! Did you hear that? Soyoung is dating that older guy!
This sounds more surprised like “I’m telling you something!” Instead of “그 오빠랑 사귀고 있어” which just conveys the information a little more dryly. So, if you don’t care, you might use 사귀고 있어. But if this is big news, 사귀는 거야 is more likely to be used.
어제 남자친구가 갑자기 헤어지자고 한 거야. Yesterday, my boyfriend suddenly said we should break up! (let’s break up).
이쪽으로 갈까? (Goes off in another direction.) 엥? 어디 가는 거야! 이리 와! Should we go in this direction? *goes off in another direction.* Eh? Where are you going??
*Like “Where on earth are you going” or “where exactly are you going?” or “where the hell are you going?”
It’s actually tough to use naturally. And, it will take a lot of listening to others use it and practice before you really master it! Because it is used all the time.
But, it’s not used for just conveying facts. Here is an example.
A: 뭐 해? What are you doing?
B: 공부하고 있어. I’m studying.
A: 금요일이잖아. 공부가 그렇게 좋아? It’s Friday. Do you like studying that much?
B: 내일 시험이 있어서 공부하는 거야. I’m studying because I have a test tomorrow.
Here you can’t replace 공부하고 있어 with 공부하는 거야. It would be unnatural because you’re only conveying a fact with no emotion or response or wish to tell this person something surprising. But the second instance has some emotion in it.
Or here.
A: 너 계란 있어? Do you have any eggs?
B: 없어요. No. (I don’t have any.)
A: 그럼 빵은 있어? Then, do you have bread?
B: 그것도 없어요. I don’t have any of that either.
A: 그럼 우유는 있어? Then, do you have any milk?
B: 아 그것도— ah that too–
A: 그것도 없는 거야? 너 굶어 죽고 싶은 거야?? You don’t have that either? Do you want to starve to death??
By the end of the conversation, A can easily express annoyance or surprise that B has no food in their house.
Tip: You’ll see this written and pronounced often as 는 거에요 instead of 는 거예요 in formal speech. It’s probably because it’s a little easier to say. There are many Koreans who don’t know the correct spelling of this grammar point. So, spelling and pronouncing it wrong is actually a bit more natural as long as you aren’t submitting it as homework.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
Comparing Chinese character readings in Japanese & Korean pt 1
Fact : Japanese and Korean have a lot of words from Chinese. Because of this there is a lot of words that sound the same or similar. Also this plus the grammar being the same is the reason why Korean is the easiest to learn for Japanese people and vice versa.
This lesson’s grammar point is used when explaining what brought someone to do a particular action or activity. It can also be used as part of a 자기소개 (self introduction).
At this ability level, everyone should already be familiar with -아/어서 and how to use it (if not, you can check it out here). For the usage with this grammar point -아/어서 is used to connect two main clauses with a “because” “therefore” or “so”, while -게 됐다 is attached to the sentence ending verb.
-게 됐다 is used with verbs and attaches directly to the verb stem.
A: 어떻게 한국에 오게 됐어요? B: 한국어를 배우고 싶어서 공부하러 오게 됐어요. A: How did you come to Korea? B: I wanted to learn Korean so I came to Korea to study.
A: B 씨, 저희 등산 동호회에 처음 오셨지요? 자기소게 좀 해 주세요. B: 안녕하세요? B입니다. 등산도 하고 친구도 사귀고 싶어서나오게 됐어요. 열심히 하겠습니다. A: B, it’s your first time at our hiking club, isn’t it? Please introduce yourself. B: Hello. I’m B. Because I wanted to go hiking and meet new friends, I’ve come out (to join the club). I’ll work hard.
Note: In more formal situations, such as when you’re introducing yourself to a group -게 됐습니다 is more likely to be used. In more casual situations, however, it’s fine to use -게 됐어요 or -게 됐어 which are also common depending on the situation at hand.
You can also add -다가 to the beginning of the sentence pattern to further explain how something happened and how you came to the decision to do something. -다가 attaches directly to the verb stem it is explaining.
A: 어떻게 한국에 오게 됐어요? B: 한국 친구랑 얘기하다가 한국어를 배우고 싶어서 공부하러 오게 됐어요. A: How did you come to Korea? B: After I chatted with my Korean friend I began to want to learn Korean so in order to study I came to Korea.
A: 어떻게 결혼하게 됐어요? B: 같은 식당에서 알바하다가친해져서결혼하게 됐어요. A: How did you end up getting married? B: After we worked part-time at the same restaurant we became close, so we got married.
Note:When using the -게 되다 pattern after 듣다, 보다, and 읽다, you should substitute -고 for -아/어서 in the preceding clause of the sentence.
이 동아리가 좋다는 말을 듣고가입하게 됐어요. I heard that this club is good so I joined up.
게시판에 있는 광고를 보고 그 동아리에 대해 알게 됐어요. I learned about that club because I saw an advertisement on the bulletin board.
Using the Korean grammar point -은 지 …. 됐다 you will be able to express the amount of time which has passed since an event occurred. It has the same meaning as the English phrase “It has been (length of time) since….”. A term referring to an amount of time is required between the -은 지 and 됐다 portions of this grammar point. For example: 3시간, 하루, 일주일, 2개월 (두 달), 5년, etc.
-은 지 (시간) 됐다 is used with verbs. -은 지 is added to verb stems ending in consonants. -ㄴ 지 is added to verb stems ending in vowels.
먹다: 먹 + 은 지 → 먹은 지 (시간) 됐다 공부하다: 공부하 + ㄴ 지 → 공부한 지 (시간) 됐다
레오: 언제부터 우리 학교에서 공부했어요? 켄: 이 학교에서 공부한 지 1년 됐어요. Leo: When did you start studying at our school? Ken: It’s been a year since I started studying at this school.
Additional examples:
A: 한국어를 언제부터 배우셨어요? B: 한국어를 배운 지 5개월 됐어요. A: When did you start studying Korean? B: It’s been 5 months since I started studying Korean.
A: B 씨, 여기에는 웬일이세요? B: 이 근처 살아요. 여기로 이사 온 지 2주쯤 됐어요. A: B, what are you doing here? B: I live in the area. I moved here about two weeks ago.
A: 점심 먹으러 같이 갈까요? B: 아침 식사한 지 2시간밖에 안 돼서 배가 안 고파요. A: Shall we go eat lunch together? B: It has only been two hours since I’ve had breakfast so I’m not hungry.
Now let’s talk a little bit about context usage with sentences using this grammar point. Let’s say your friend walks into the room where you’re watching TV and asks you how long you’ve been watching TV for.
You would respond with: 텔레비전을 본 지 10분 됐어요.
The meaning here is “I’ve been watching TV for 10 minutes.” (or “It’s been 10 minutes since I started watching TV.” either translation is correct in this instance). But imagine you aren’t watching the TV. The TV is off and you’re not watching anything at all. Your friend walks in and asks you how long it’s been since you last watched TV.
You would respond with: 텔레비전을 본 지 10분 됐어요.
The meaning here is “I haven’t watched TV for 10 minutes.” (or “It’s been 10 minutes since I watched TV.”). Yes, they are the exact same responses that have different meanings based on situational use. This is because the word “지” is a pseudo-noun that refers to the period of time of when an action took place, until the present moment in time. This means that the action can still be on-going, or that the action has already stopped. And in the instance where you want to talk about a stopped action and how long it’s been since the action has happened, you can use the same construction as if the action is currently on-going in Korean. So the sentences in Korean would be identical, but the meaning/correct translation needs to be inferred from the situation on the whole.
텔레비전을 본 지 10분 됐어요 means “It’s been 10 minutes since I started watching TV” (in the case of you’re currently watching while saying this) or “it’s been 10 minutes since I last watched TV” (in the case you’re not currently watching). This dual meaning is also because “to watch” is a verb that continues to progress forward. The action doesn’t happen all in once instance. But there are verbs that when used with this grammar point can only mean one thing, and cannot be interpreted differently.
For example the verb 결혼하다 (to get married). This verb refers to the act of getting married, not the state of being married. So if I said:
이제 결혼한 지 3년 됐어요
The only way this can be interpreted is “It has been 3 years since I got married.”. Because “getting married” is not a continuous state (I didn’t “start” getting married or “stopped” getting married at any point, I just got married). In this instance the “지” pseudo-noun refers to the period of time from the marriage ceremony to the present day. Other verbs that have similar usage to this would be 졸업하다 (to graduate) or 오다 (to come), for example.
To figure out which verbs can hold dual meaning when using this grammar point and which do not you should keep in mind what I mentioned above. Does the action continue if started (does it “progress”) and have a definite end point? Or is it a one off action (getting married, graduating, starting to date someone, etc)? It sounds pretty confusing when written out like this but when you use this grammar point in every day conversation 99% of the time you won’t have to worry about this.
If you wanted to ask someone questions about how long it’s been since an action was completed you can use words like 얼마나, or 오래. In this case, the word would replace the (시간) in the grammar construction.
한국어를 공부한 지 얼마나 되었어요? How long has it been since you started studying Korean?
텔레비전 을 본 지 오래 됐어? Have you been watching TV for a while?
And in reply, besides using the exact amount of time, it’s also very common to say something like 얼마나 안 되다, or 조금밖에 안 / (시간)밖에 안 되다 as well.
레오: 텔리비전을 본 지 오래 됐어?
켄: 텔레비전을 본 지 얼마나 안 됐어. 텔레비전을 본 지 조금밖에 안 됐어. 텔레비전을 본 지 10분밖에 안 됐어.
Leo: Have you been watching TV for a while?
Ken: I haven’t been watching TV for very long. It’s been just a little bit since I started watching TV. It hasn’t been longer than 10 minutes since I started watching TV.
And as far as irregular verbs go with this grammar point, the standard rules apply.
듣다 → 들은 지 살다 → 산 지 짓다 → 지은 지 낫다 → 나은 지 돕다 → 도운지
For a more in depth look at the seven different types of irregular verbs and adjectives in Korean, please check out my special post regarding their individual rules by clicking here.
That it for this lessons. :) Please send an ask with any questions!
In this lesson we’ll be taking a more in depth look at using one type of honorific language in Korean. We went over it a bit in Getting Started: Lesson 12.
This honorific form is used to express the speaker’s respect for the subject (person they are referring to) of the sentence. This honorific is used when the person you’re addressing/speaking about is older or higher in social status than you. It’s also commonly used when the speaker doesn’t know or isn’t familiar with the person, even if they happen to be younger or lower in social status than you are.
The honorific is made using -으시-. Adding -으시- to the word stem but before the conjugating tense elevates the politeness level of whatever it is you’re trying to say.
-으시- is used with verbs, adjectives, 있다/없다, and 이다.
-으시- is used with the stems of verbs and adjectives ending in a consonant, and 있다/없다.
닫다: 닫 + 으시 + 어요 → 닫으세요
아버지가 문을 닫으세요. Father closes the door.
-시- is used with the stems of verbs and adjectives ending in a vowel.
보다: 보 + 시 + 어요 → 보세요
어머니가 신문을 보세요. Mother looks at the newspaper.
With 이다, -이시- is used with the noun ends in a consonant and -시- is used when it noun ends in a vowel.
선생님 + 이시 + 어요 → 선생님이세요. 의사 + 시 + 어요 → 의사세요.
이분이 말하기 수업 선생님이세요. This person is my speaking teacher. 저분이 서울 병원 의사세요. That person is a Seoul Hospital doctor.
Using the above stated rules, the honorific form can be made into the past tense as follows:
받다: 받 + 으시 + 었어요 → 받으셨어요 가다: 가 + 시 + 었어요 → 가셨어요
아버지가 전화를 받으셨어요. Father received a phone call. 어머니가 시장에 가셨어요. Mother went to the market.
The above shouldn’t be anything new if you’ve already gone over the previous 존댓말 lesson linked at the top of this post. Next we’re going to look at how to construct the future tense using -으시-, and the above mentioned spelling rules.
받다: 받 + 으시 + ㄹ 거예요 → 받으실 거예요 가다: 가 + 시 + ㄹ 거예요 → 가실 거예요
아버지가 전화를 받으실 거예요. Father will receive a phone call. 어머니가 시장에 가실 거예요. Mother will go to the market.
When using -으시- or other polite forms of speaking, some verbs change from their regular forms to special honorific forms. The following are these verbs in their dictionary -다 form, the informal-polite form, and the special honorific form.
먹다 (to eat): 먹어요 → 드세요, 잠수세요 마시다 (to drink): 마셔요 → 드세요 자다 (to sleep): 자요 → 주무세요 말하다 (to speak): 말해요 → 말씀하세요 *있다 (to be at/in a location): 있어요 → 계세요 *없다 (to be not at/in a location): 없어요 → 안 계세요
어머니가 점심을 드세요/잠수세요. Mother eats lunch. 아버지가 물을 드세요. Father drinks water. 안영히 주무셨어요? Did you sleep well? 선생님이 나중에 말씀하실 거예요. The teacher will tell you later.
*The honorific -계세요 is used only when the subject of the sentence is a person.
eg: 우리 할머니가 부엌에 계세요. (My grandmother is in the kitchen.) The subject of this sentence is the grandmother, a person, so 계세요 is used.
When the subject of the sentence is an object, or a thing–anything but a person–and the verb 있다 is being used to indicate possession, 있으세요/없으세요 is used to express the respect the speaker has for the owner of the item/concept being possessed.
eg: 내일 오후에 시간이 있으세요? (Do you have time tomorrow afternoon?) The subject of this sentence is time, not a person, so 있으세요 is used.
A few more examples of this:
아버지가 거실에 계세요. Father is in the living room. 밖에 비가 와요. 우산이 있으세요? It’s raining outside. Do you have an umbrella? 같이 갈 수 있으세요? Are we able to go together?
Bonus: When using the honorific -으시- the subject marker -이/가 can be changed to -께서 and -한테 can be changed to -께. Changing these is not required, but it does make the sentence even more polite.
할아버지께서 영화를 보세요. Grandfather watches the movie. 할아버지께서 아버지께 전화하세요. Grandfather gives father a phone call.
Rules regarding irregular verbs and adjectives:
Irregular ㄷ verbs
Verbs that end in ㄷ and that are considered irregular drop the ㄷ from the stem and is replaced with ㄹ before being conjugated if the conjugation to follow begins with a vowel.
듣다 (to listen): 듣 → 들 + 으시 + 어요 → 들으세요
레오 씨기 음악을 들으세요. Leo is listening to music.
Irregular ㅂ adjectives
With adjectives that end in the consonant ㅂ, the ㅂ is dropped and 우 is added instead. Because 우 is a vowel, -시- is used in this instance.
춥다 (to be cold): 춥 → 추우 + 시 + 어요 → 추우세요
많이 추우세요? Are you cold?
Irregular ㄹ verbs
With verbs that end in the consonant ㄹ, the ㄹ is dropped entirely if the ㄹ is to be followed by a verb or adjective conjugation that begins with ㄴ, ㅂ, or ㅅ. Otherwise they are treated as if they end in vowels instead.
살다 (to live): 살 → 사 + 시 + 어요 → 사세요
우리 할머니가 독일에 사세요. My grandmother lives in Germany.
That’s it for this form of 존댓말. :)
For a more in depth look at the seven different types of irregular verbs and adjectives in Korean, please check out my special post regarding their individual rules by clicking here.
An irregular verb or adjective is a word that doesn’t follow the language’s standard conjugation rules. And just like with any language, Korean has irregular conjugation rules for certain verbs and adjectives that you absolutely need to know.
When we talk about “irregular” verbs or adjectives in Korean, this refers to verbs or adjectives that require spelling changes to the word stem depending on the grammar point being used to conjugate the sentence. For example, the final consonant of the word stem might be changed to a different one, or dropped entirely in other cases.
There are seven different types of irregular verbs/adjectives and we’ll look at them all in this post. They may be confusing at first, but the more you practice the easier it will become. Soon, it’ll be second nature to you! Actually, the most difficult thing about learning Korean irregular verbs/adjectives is that there is no way to tell which verbs/adjectives are irregular simply by looking at them. You will have to memorize which ones are irregular as you learn new words and review vocab. But it’s important to learn these rules early in your language learning journey. It’ll make things easier as you progress.
In this post we’re going to be looking at conjugating the verbs and adjectives with the informal-polite conjugation (-아/어요 + past and future tenses) though a few exceptions will be noted where it matters. Additional irregular verb conjugation rules for specific grammar pointsand other politeness levels of speaking styles can be found in the individual lesson posts on this blog.
This post is also super crazy long, so the body of it is located below the keep reading link!
- ㄷ irregular
Manyverbs whose final consonant is ㄷ are irregular, though there are a number of them that are not irregular. Care must be taken to memorize the difference between them.
As far as ㄷ irregular verbs go the main conjugation rule is: if the ㄷ is going to be followed by a vowel, the ㄷ is dropped and ㄹ is added to the stem instead. Then it is conjugated accordingly.
Let’s use 듣다 (to listen) to practice conjugating in the standard informal-polite style conjugation -아/어요. Since the final vowel in the word stem is not 아 or 오, that means 어요 would be added when conjugating. But since 어 is a vowel this means the final consonant ㄷ is going to change to ㄹ.
듣다: 듣 → 들 + 어요 → 들어요 / 들었어요 / 들을 거예요 / 들으세요 / 들어 주세요 / etc
However, if the final consonant of the word stem is going to be followed by a consonant when conjugated, then the ㄷ is not changed and is simply conjugated as normal. Let’s look at this using -습니다, formal-polite style in the present tense (more on formal-polite style in it’s own lesson later).
듣다: 듣 + 습니다 → 듣습니다
Since in this instance the ㄷ is followed by the ㅅ of -습니다, ㄷ remains unchanged.
Another irregular ㄷ verb is the verb 걷다 (to walk). Using informal polite style once again, let’s conjugate it.
걷다: 걷 → 걸 + 어요 → 걸어요 / 걸었어요 / 걸을 거예요
Now here is where it’s important to know what verbs are irregular and which are not. “걷다” means “to walk” but it can also mean “to tuck”, in which instance it is not an irregular verb. It would be conjugated normally, so 걷다 (to tuck) would simply become 걷어요, and so on.
All verbs and adjectives that end in ㄹ are irregular. Yay! They are simply conjugated as if they do not end in a consonant, unless the following conjugation is adding an ㄴ, ㅂ, or ㅅ directly after the ㄹ, in which case the ㄹ disappears entirely. Still with me so far?
Let’s take the adjective 길다 (to be long) and use informal-polite style conjugation again.
길다: 길 + 어요 → 길어요 / 길었어요
Nothing out of the ordinary here. Let’s look at 길다 using a different grammar point.
Adding -(으)면 to a verb or adjective gives the meaning of “if”. -으면 is added to consonants and -면 is added to vowels. But since we know all ㄹ irregulars are conjugated as if they end in vowels instead, we know that the correct form of the conjugation for 길다 in this instance is -면, not -으면.
길으면X 길면O
This goes for any conjugation that has a vowel/consonant spelling distinction. ㄹ irregular words will always use the vowel form.
Let’s have a look at a sentence: 머리가 길어요. My hair is long.
Now what if you wanted to use the noun modifier ㄴ/은 to say “long hair” instead? This is where the ㄴㅂㅅ rule comes into play.
When using the noun modifier, ㄴ is added to words whose stem ends in a vowel, and 은 is added to those ending in a consonant. Since we know that all ㄹ verbs and adjectives are treated as if they end in vowels, we know we need to add ㄴ to 길다. And since we also know that words ending in ㄹ followed by ㄴ ㅂ or ㅅ have the ㄹ dropped, conjugation is simple.
길다: 길 → 기 + ㄴ → 긴
넌긴 머리가 잘 어울려. Long hair suits you.
A fun little way of remembering the ㄴ ㅂ ㅅ rule is to think of it like this: 나쁜 (ㄴ + ㅂ) 사람 (ㅅ). 나쁜 사람 means “bad person”, and when the “bad person” (ie: ㄴ ㅂ or ㅅ) comes out, ㄹ has to go home. :P
Here are some additional ㄹ irregular verbs and adjectives:
Many words that end in ㅂ are irregular, but again there is no clear way of knowing which are and which are not. Exceptions must be memorized on an individual basis; I cannot stress how important this is.
This rule is mostly used with irregular adjectives, though there are verbs that fall under the same umbrella (such as 깁다, to sew and 눕다 to lie down). When conjugating a ㅂ irregular adjective or verb, the ㅂ is dropped and 우 is added instead.
Some examples, again using the informal-polite style:
A variation of the rule: In the words 돕다 (”to help”) and 곱다 (”to be kind hearted/pretty/nice/etc”) ㅂ changes to 오 instead of 우when being followed by the vowel 아 or 어. If followed by any other vowel, 우 is still used. All other irregular ㅂ words have 우 added instead regardless of what vowel follows.
돕다: 돕 → 도 + 오 + 아요 → 도와요 / 도왔어요 / 도울 거예요*. *the future tense doesn’t use 아 or 어 immediately following the ㅂ so 우 is used.
And remember, because we can use adjectives with the noun modifier ㄴ/은 as well, this rule also applies to that conjugation. Since all the stems will now end in a vowel (우) only ㄴ needs to be added.
귀업다: 귀엽 → 귀여 + 우 → 귀여우 + ㄴ → 귀여운
A 씨가 귀여운 여자를 좋아해요. A likes cute girls.
춥다: 춥 → 추 + 우 → 추우 + ㄴ → 추운
저는 추운 날씨를 좋아해요. I like cold weather.
The exception to this drop ㅂ, add 우 rule is when using any conjugation other than 아/어 or it’s derivatives–in this instance the ㅂ is not dropped. For example if we look at the formal-polite form -습니다 in the present tense:
귀엽습니다 춥습니다
We’ll learn about the specific conjugation rules for -습니다 in a future lesson.
Here’s another reason why memorizing the irregulars and regular verbs is so important. While 곱다 (to be kind hearted/pretty/nice/beautiful/etc) is an irregular ㅂ word, the word 곱다 (to be numb from coldness) is not. There are about a zillion homonyms in Korean and you’d do best to memorize them and their irregular/regular status as soon as possible.
Some additional irregular ㅂ words:
깁다 (to sew) 까다롭다 (to be picky, choosy) 더럽다 (to be dirty) 덥다 (to be hot) 맵다 (to be spicy)
As far as irregulars go, 으 irregulars are pretty easy. Most words ending in 으 are irregular. If the final vowel of an 으 irregular word is 으, then the 으 is simply dropped and 아요 or 어요 is added based on the next vowel over when conjugating using the informal-polite style.
If the vowel before 으 is 아 or 오 then 아요 is added.
바쁘다 (to be busy) → 바쁘 + 아요 = 바빠요
If the vowel before 으 is a vowel other than 아 or 오 then 어요 is added.
예쁘다 (to be pretty) → 예쁘 + 어요 = 예뻐요
If the only vowel in the stem is 으 then 어요 is added.
크다 (to be big) → ㅋ + 어요 = 커요
The main thing to keep in mind with 으 irregulars is that the spelling of the word stem changes (ie dropping the 으)only when grammar points requiring 아/어요 or any derivative thereof are used.
For example, using the noun modifier ㄴ/은 does not change the 으 irregular adjectives because it is not adding an 아요 or 어요 variation to the word stem.
바쁘다: 바쁜 예쁘다: 예쁜 크다: 큰
Another example: using the -겠다 future tense (more on that later) does not change the spelling either, because it is not using a derivative of 아/어요.
예쁘다: 예쁘겠어요. → there is no spelling change.
Some additional 으 irregular words:
쓰다 (to write) 끄다 (to turn off) 잠그다 (to lock) 나쁘다 (to be bad) 아프다 (to be painful) 슬프다 (to be sad) 기쁘다 (to be happy)
- 르 irregular
르 irregular verbs and adjectives are a little more tricky. They are separate from 으 irregular words and have their own rules.
For 르 irregular words when using the informal-polite conjugation style, the syllable is notdropped entirely like 으 irregular adjectives/verbs are. Instead, the next to last vowel before the 르 determines whether 아요 or 어요 is used, but an additional ㄹ is added to the end of the syllable block before the original ㄹ and only the ㅡ itself is dropped. All verbs/adjectives ending in 르 follow this rule except one (따르다, to follow or to fill). It sounds confusing, so have a look at these examples.
If the next to last vowel before 르 is 아 or 오, then ㄹ + 아요 is added.
빠르다 (to be fast) → 빠 + ㄹ → 빨 + ㄹ + 아요 → 빨라요
If the next to last vowel before 르 is anything other than 아 or 오, then ㄹ + 어요 is added.
부르다 (to be full) → 부 + ㄹ → 불 + ㄹ + 어요 → 불러요
Again, like 으 irregular words, the spelling of the word stem changes only when grammar points requiring 아/어요 or any derivative thereof are used.
For example, using the noun modifier ㄴ/은 does not change the 으 irregular adjectives because it is not adding an 아요 or 어요 variation to the word stem.
빠르다: 빠른 부르다: 부른 다르다: 다른
Some examples of 르 irregular words:
다르다 (to be different) 마르다 (to be thirsty or to become thin) 모르다 (to not know) 바르다 (to apply, put on) 이르다 (to arrive at, to get to) 자르다 (to cut) 저지르다 (to commit [a crime], make [a mistake], do [something bad]) 찌르다 (to pierce, to stab)
- ㅅ irregular
We’ve talked about all the above irregularities in various lesson posts on this blog already when it was needed, but ㅅ irregular words are not something we’ve covered yet.
In general, there aren’t very many ㅅ irregular verbs, and what few there are happen to be really easy to use. The bad news is there’s a ton of regular verbs that end in ㅅ and are conjugated normally. Again, the only way to know which ones are irregular is to memorize them.
When ㅅ irregular words are followed by a vowel, the ㅅ is dropped. That’s it. That’s the rule.
So if we take the word 낫다 (to be better) or 짓다 (to build) in the informal-polite style:
낫: 나 + 아요 → 나아요
감기는 나았어요. My cold got better.
짓다: 지 + 어요 → 지어요
집을 지어요. I build a house.
Remember, this occurs when followed by a vowel. For instance if we used the grammar point -고 있다 (to be in the process of doing something) then the ㅅ would not be dropped.
집을 짓고 있어요. I am building a house.
Note: The ㅅ irregularity does not apply to words that have ㅅ as the fourth letter in a syllable block. IE: a word like 없다 does not follow any ㅅ irregularity rules.
Some ㅅ irregular words:
잇다 (to continue) 붓다 (to swell, to puff up or to pour into) 젓다 (to beat, whip, stir vigorously)
Some regular ㅅ words:
웃다 (to laugh) 벗다 (to take off clothes) 씻다 (to wash)
- ㅎ irregular
And last but not least, we have ㅎ irregular words. ㅎ irregulars are actually irregular irregulars. How fun, right? Most of the ㅎ irregular words are actually adjective versions of colors. Let’s take a look.
하얗다: to be white 까맣다: to be black 파랗다: to be blue 노랗다: to be yellow 빨갛다: to be red
Since they are adjectives, they can be used to modify nouns just like any other adjective using ㄴ/은. The rule for these ㅎ irregulars when looking to modify a noun is to drop the ㅎ and add ㄴ. Very easy!
Now when you want to conjugate these adjectives using 아/어요 informal polite style or any of its derivative conjugations, there is a special rule in place for ㅎ irregular words.
When adding 아/어요 (or derivatives) to these words, the ㅎ is dropped and the final vowel changes to either 애 or 얘. If the final vowel is 아 or 어, it changes to 애, and if the final vowel is 야, it changes to 얘. For example:
Here’s an example sentence: 그분의 우산은 노래요. That person’s umbrella is yellow.
But when the ㅎ irregular word is being used with grammar constructions starting with a vowel that do not begin in 아 or 어, then the ㅎ is simply dropped.
For example if we use the grammar point (으)니까 (another way of saying “because”, with it’s own connotations) then the word 파랗다 would simply become “파라니까”. The ㅎ is dropped and because that leaves the final letter in the word stem a vowel, the vowel spelling of (으)니까 is used.
And when the conjugation uses a consonant, the ㅎ isn’t dropped at all.
So for ㅎ irregular verbs you need to remember three main things:
1) ㅎ irregular word + followed by consonant conjugation → no change 2) ㅎ irregular word + followed by a vowel conjugation other than 아/어요 (or derivatives) → drop ㅎ, conjugate as if it were a word stem ending in a vowel 3) ㅎ irregular word + 아/어요 (or derivative) conjugation → drop ㅎ, and change 아 and 어 to 애 and 야 to 얘.
The words 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 are not colors, but they also follow the ㅎ irregular. However, the specifics of the uses for these words and their conjugations + rules will be discussed in their own lesson.
There are a ton of words that end in ㅎ that do not follow the irregular rule such as 좋다 (to be good) or 많다 (to be many), and you need to memorize which ones are, and which ones are not.
That’s about it for irregular verbs in the informal-polite style. :) If you have any questions about how a verb is used with a particular grammar point, please make sure to check the lesson post for that grammar point for specific rules pertaining to irregular verbs and adjectives. All future lessons for grammar points and conjugation styles (formal polite, informal, 존댓말, etc) will also contain specific rules for irregular verbs as well, so don’t fret!
If there are any general questions, please feel free to send me an ask!
If you’ve ever even so much as glanced sideways at one Korean sentence I am sure you have noticed the 조사. There are a ton of different 조사 in Korean, and they each have their uses. Some of them are more subtle than others, but it’s important to know how to use 조사 in order for your sentences to sound natural. In this bonus lesson, we’ll be looking at some foundation 조사.
은/는 and 이/가
은/는 is a topic marker, so basically it’s only used when you’re introducing the topic that you’re talking about, and if the topic changes in the middle of the conversation/writing you’ll use it again. The best way to think of it is “As for…” or “In the case of…”. With that in mind, if you can translate what you’re writing into English and add “as for” without it sounding weird, generally you can get away with using 은/는.
은 follows a word ending in a consonant, and 는 follows words ending in a vowel.
저는수예요. [As for me] I am Soo.
오늘은 비가 올 거라고 들었지만 내일은 비가 안 올 거라고 들었어요. I heard that today it will rain, but [as for] tomorrow I heard that it won’t rain.
은/는 are also used as comparison particles. Today and tomorrow in the above example are both new topics, but are also being compared to one another for the difference in the weather.
이/가 are subject particles. You would not use 이/가 in these cases above because there is no subject that is doing a verb onto an object. As a general rule, if you see a 을/를 attached to the object being acted on by the verb, the subject of the sentence will use 이/가.
이 follows a word ending in a consonant and 가 follows a word ending in a vowel.
켄이 아주 똑똑해요. Ken is quite smart.
학교가 어디에 있어요? Where is the school?
민규 씨가 테니스를 쳤어요. Mingyu played tennis.
A more polite form of 이/가 is 께서. They hold the same meaning, but using 께서 adds an additional level of politeness to the sentence.
을/를
을/를 are object particles. Object particles are attached to nouns to tell us what noun/object is being acting on by the verb. 을/를 are not used with adjectives. You would use 이/가 instead.
을 follows a word ending in a consonant and 를 follows a word ending in a vowel.
저는 어릴 때 일본어를배웠어요. I learned Japanese when I was a child. In this sentence the object being acted on by the verb “to learn” (배우다) is “Japanese” (일본어).
수업 후에 친구를 만나고 찜닭을 먹을 거예요. After class I will meet my friend and eat jjimdak. In this sentence the objects “friend” (친구) and jjimdak (찜닭) are being acted on by the verbs “to meet” (만나다) and “to eat” (먹다) respectively.
과/와 and 하고
과/와 is similar to 하고 in that they both mean “and,” but 하고 is used mostly in speaking and 과/와 is mostly used in writing. Of course there are exceptions (mostly in that if you use 함께 instead of 같이 it almost ALWAYS is paired with 와/과).
They are also opposite of 이/가 and 은/는 in that the consonant is paired with the consonant, and the vowel with the vowel, like so:
재환과O레오와O 재환와X레오과X
재환이O레오가O 재환가X레오이X
A more casual form of 하고 is (이)랑. For a more in depth look at these, check out Lesson 10.
한테 and 한테서 vs. 에게 and 에게서 vs. 에/에서
These all have the same meaning of “to” and “from,” but 한테/한테서 and 에게/에게서 are only used in the case of people and living things. Further, 한테/한테서 are used mainly in speaking, and 에게/에게서 in writing.
그녀가 친구한테 선물을 줬어요. She gave a present to her friend.
그녀가 친구한테서 선물을 받았어요. She received a present from her friend.
우리 엄마에게, Dear Mom (To Mom)
그 남자에게서 심한 체취가 났어요. A strong body odor came from the man.
So those are all cases of where a human or living thing was involved. In pretty much every other case where a “to” or “from” is needed, you’ll use 에 and 에서.
슈퍼주니어가 다음 달에 미국에 갈 거예요. Next month Super Junior will go to the US.
저기요… 통화가 칠레에서왔어요. Excuse me, you have a phone call from Chile.
Notice that even though the subject of the first sentence is a person or living thing, since the destination of the “to” is NOT a person or living thing, you’ll use 에 in that instance. The second sentence does not have a person or living thing involved at all, just a place where where the call isfrom, so you’ll use 에서.
에 is also used for time as well as locations. Let’s look at a few more examples.
학교가 어디에 있어요? Where is the school? In this sentence is used to ask about the general “existence” of the school’s location so 에 is paired with words like 있다/없다/살다 in such sentences.
학교에가요. I am going to school. In this sentence the school is the “destination” so 에 is paired with words like 가다/오다/다니다
4시에만나요. Let’s meet at 4. The sentence is referencing the “time” at which the action is occurring so 에 is used. Note: some time nouns such as 지금, 어제, 오늘, 내일, 매일, 언제, etc don’t add 에.
(으)로 vs. 에
Both have the meaning of “to,” but 에 is specific while (으)로 is more general.
(으)로 can best be translated as “towards” or “heading for.” 으로 is used with words ending in a consonant, and 로 is used for words ending in vowels.
매일 아침에 학교에가요. I go to school every morning. This sentence is very specific in the location the “to” is describing, being the “school”.
저 쪽으로 가면 우체국이 오른쪽에 있어요. If you go that way [towards that direction], the post office is on the right.
Be careful, because (으)로 also has the meaning of “by means of.”
홍대에 쉽게 가고 싶으면 지하철로가세요. If you want to get to Hongdae easily, take the subway [go by means of the subway].
일반석으로 가면 훨씬 싼가요? Is it a lot cheaper if I fly coach [by way of coach]?
에 vs. 에서
In this case, both of these mean “at” but one is a dynamic location and the other is not. It sounds complicated, but the best way to remember this is if you’re DOING something, if some kind of verb is involved, you’ll use 에서, while “at” in regards to time or general existence uses 에, like we covered above.
1시에 시간이 있나요? Do you have time at one o'clock?
도서관에서 책을 읽었어요. I read a book at the library. Because you are doing something at the library, you have to have the dynamic location particle 에서.
콘서트는 올림픽공원에 있을 거예요. The concert will be at Olympic Park.
콘서트는 올림픽공원에서 열릴 거예요. The concert will be held at Olympic Park.
So for these two sentences, the content is exactly the same, but since the second sentence uses the verb “to be held” instead of the general existence “to be” (있다) it becomes a dynamic action and uses 에서.
에서 + 까지 vs 부터 + 까지
The markers 에서 and 까지 are used together to express the idea of -from one place and -to another. These markers are attached directly to locations.
어제 학교에서집까지 걸러서 갔어요 Yesterday I walked from school to my house.
그는 뉴욕에서로마까지 비행기로 갔어요. He went from New York to Rome by plane.
Comparatively 부터 and 까지 is used with time. It expresses the idea of from one point in time to another.
법정은 금요일부터월요일까지휴정했어요. Court was adjourned from Friday until Monday.
영화가 처음부터끝까지 아주 재미있었어요. The movie was quite interesting from start to finish.
까지 can also be used on it’s own, where it holds the meaning of “until”. It is still used with time in this instance.
저는 정오까지기다렸어요. I waited until noon.
그 전통은 현재까지 계속되고 있어요. The tradition is being continued up until the present day.
That’s all for this lesson on basic 조사. :) There are many more we will be looking at going forward but I’m sure I’ve overloaded you enough for one lesson!
This lesson we will look at how to compare two items (nouns) in Korean using -보다 (더).
When making a comparison using -보다 (더), the subject markers 이/가 should be used. The noun followed by 이/가 is the main subject of the sentence, and the noun followed by -보다 (더) is what the subject is being compared to. -보다 (더) is added to the second noun and the 더 can be used to make the comparison stronger; it’s not required.
한국말이 영어보다 (더) 어려워요. Korean is more difficult than English. 캐나다가 한국보다 (더) 커요. Canada is bigger than Korea. 제가 남동생보다 (더) 먹었어요. I ate more than my little brother.
The order of the items being compared does not affect the meaning of the sentence so long as -보다 is attached to the appropriate noun.
한국보다 캐나다가 커요 = 캐나다가 한국보다 커요 Canada is bigger than Korea.
You can also use 더 without -보다. “더” itself means “more” in English.
레오: 혁 씨하고 홍빈 씨 중에 누가 더 커요? 켄: 혁 씨가 더 커요. Leo: Between Hyuk and Hongbin, who is taller? Ken: Hyuk is taller.
The opposite of 더 (more) is 덜 (less). You can use it in the same way as 더 when making comparisons, but it’s almost more natural to use 더 instead of 덜. For example:
제가 남동생보다 덜 커요. I am less tall (shorter) than my younger brother.
This sentence is grammatically correct but it’d be more natural to say something like “남동생이 저보다 더 커요” (My younger brother is taller than me) instead.
Sometimes you’ll hear 덜 pronounced as 들; there’s no meaning difference here, 들 is just a slangy/cutesy way of saying 덜.
Nowif you wanted to say something was better than something else, there are two ways of doing this in Korean. The first way is to use 좋다 (to be good) and 나쁘다 (to be bad).
치킨이 피자보다 좋아요. Chicken is better than pizza.
However, if you say this the meaning is actually a lot closer to “I like chicken more than pizza”. If you want to say and mean that chicken is better than pizza, you need to use the word 낫다. We would translate 낫다 to “better” in English, but if we took it literally it means “more good” which isn’t something we’d say in English. Using 낫다 means you also do not need to use 더 as the “more” is already in the word itself.
치킨이 피자보다 나아요. Chicken is better than pizza. *낫다 is a ㅅ irregular verb, we’ll be looking at all irregular verbs in their own lesson soon.
Note:낫다 is also used when describing getting better after being sick.
병은 나았어요. I’m better. (literally: The sickness is better) 감기는 나았어요. My cold is better.
Above we’ve compared two items. What if you want to say something is “the most” of something else, or out of something else? You need to use a superlative. A superlative compares one part of something in relation to a larger group. The superlative we’ll look at in this lesson is the Korean word 제일 which can be translated as “the first” or “the most”.
제일 is used only with adjectives, and adverbs.
제일 커요. (adjective) O 제일 빨리 (adverb) O 제일 방 (noun)X 제일 먹어요 (verb) X
Unlike -보다 which is always attached to a noun, 제일 is written on its own, ie: not attached to any other word. It is placed in front of the comparing adjective or adverb in the sentence.
이 방이 제일 커요. This room is the biggest. 이 사진이 제일 예뻐요. This picture is the prettiest. 레오 씨가 아침에 제일 일찍 일어나요. Leo gets up earliest in the morning. 켄 씨가 일을 제일 빨리 했어요. Ken did his work the fastest.
Even though 제일 is not used with verbs on the whole, it can be used with a select few, such as 좋아하다, 싫어하다, and 잘하다.
여행을 제일 좋아해요. I like traveling best. 수영을 제일 싫어해요. I hate swimming the most. 유라 씨가 노래를 제일 잘해요. Yura sings best./Yura is the best singer.
The word 가장 is a synonym of 제일, but you will generally hear it used more in speech.
You may have noticed in one of the examples towards the top of the post the term 중에. 중에(서) is sometimes used when expressing superlatives. For example:
우리 반 학생들 중에서 A 씨가 제일 멋있어요. Out of everyone in our class, A is the coolest. 우라 반 학생들 중에서 누가 키가 커요? Out of our classmates, who is the tallest? Kpop 노래 중에서 무슨 노래를 제일 좋아해요? Of all the kpop songs, which do you like best? 고기하고 야채 중에서 고기를 제일 좋아해요. Between meat and vegetables, I like meat best.
중에서, however, is not used when talking about places or locations. Instead, only the subject marker -에서 is used.
한국에서 63빌딩이 제일 높아요? Is the 63 Building the tallest in Korea? 세계에서 제일 노픈 산이 뭐예요? What is the tallest mountain in the world?
Inlesson 12 we learned how to ask someone to do a task politely using -으세요. And touched briefly on using it with the verb 주다 (to give).
In this lesson we’re going to be revisiting that, and going over the different connotations of using -주세요 vs -아/어 주세요.
Now like I said before, “주세요” is probably one of the most common words listeners of kpop and watchers of kdramas tend to hear. Let’s take a look at a couple examples using 주세요 again.
책을 주세요. Please give me the book. 밥을 많이 주세요. Please give me a lot of rice. 돈을 주세요. Please give me money.
These sentences are very straight forward and the meanings are clear. But you’ll notice they’re only used with nouns/objects.
Adding -아/어 주세요 to a word stem changes the meaning to so that it is implied the action is somehow beneficial to you (or whoever the request is for) specifically. Think of it as asking for a polite favor rather than a polite command or request. Now not only are you asking someone to do something, it’s to do something specifically for your sake.
-아/어 주세요 is used with verbs. If the final vowel before the end of the verb stem is 아 or 오 then -아 주세요 is added. If the final vowel before the end of the verb stem is anything other than 아 or 오 then -어 주세요 is added. If the verb ends with -하다, the 하다 becomes -해 주세요 instead.
문을 닫아 주세요. Please close the door (for me). 이 책을 읽어 주세요. Please read this book for me. 해 주세요. Please do this for me.
Let’s take look at another comparison example.
빨리 오세요. 빨리 와 주세요.
They could both be translated as “please come quickly” but the second sentence implies that the action requested will be beneficial to the speaker. So the main difference here is when you do not use 주다, you are simply asking or telling someone to do something, whereas when you use 주다 you are implying the person is doing something for you.
으 irregular verbs
With verbs that end in the vowel 으, the 으 is dropped and -어 주세요 is added.
쓰다 (to write): 쓰 → ㅆ + 어 주세요 → 써 주세요
ㄷ irregular verbs
For irregular verbs ending in ㄷ, the ㄷ is changed to ㄹ and -어 주세요 is added.
듣다 (to listen): 듣 → 들 + 어주세요 → 들어 주세요
르 irregular verbs
Verbs ending in the letter block 르 have the 으 of the 르 dropped and an additional ㄹ is added to the stem before adding -아/어 주세요.
부르다 (to call): 부르 → 부ㄹ → 불ㄹ + 어 주세요 → 불러 주세요
전화번호를 써 주세요. Please write down the phone number. 제 이야기를 좀 들어 주세요. Please listen to me. 수라고 불러 주세요. Please call me Soo.
Bonus: To respond to a -아/어 주세요 request, you can use -아/어 줄게요 or to be extra polite, particularly if you’re interacting with elders, co-workers, etc, you can also use -아/어 드릴게요. 드리다 is the “high” form of 주다.
레오: 이 박스가 아주 무거워요. 도와 주세요. 켄: 네! 도와 줄게요. (도와 드릴게요.) Leo: This box is very heavy. Help me, please. Ken: Yes! I’ll help you.
We’ll be looking at -을게요 as it’s own grammar point in a future lesson. :)
That’s all for today! My ask box is always open if you have questions.
InLesson 19 we looked at how to ask someone politely to try or attempt to do something using -아/어 보다(보세요). In this post we’re going to learn how to say you already have tried/attempted/experienced something. There are different ways of saying this in Korean, but we’ll do the easiest one today.
-아/어 봤어요 is used to express a past experience. It is used with verbs. If the final vowel before the end of the verb stem is 아 or 오 then -아 봤어요 is added. If the final vowel before the end of the verb stem is anything other than 아 or 오 then -어 봤어요 is added. If the verb ends with -하다, the 하다 becomes -해 봤어요 instead.
레오: 제주에 가 봤어요. 아주 아름다웠어요. 켄: 아… 저도 거기에 가고 싶어요. Leo: I’ve been to Jeju before. It was really beautiful. Ken: Ah… I want to go there too.
켄: 저는 산낙지를 먹어 봤어요! 레오: 우웩! Ken: I’ve eaten sannakji* before! Leo: Yuck! *octopus eaten raw that is cut up into pieces while still alive. it wiggles on your plate while you eat
켄: 번지점프가 재미있어요. 레오: 네, 한번 해 봤어요. Ken: Bungee jumping is fun. Leo: Yes, I’ve done it once.
Note: Just like with -아/어 보세요 you cannot use the verb 보다 (to see, to watch) with this grammar construction. Instead, just 봤어요 alone is used. Do not include an additional 보다.
봐 봤어요. X 봤어요O
그 영화가 슬퍼요. 한번 봤어요. That movie is sad. I saw it once.
Hello friends! Here’s my third Korean grammar lesson! Let’s learn the object particle ‘를/을’! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a message or leave a reply down below! Once again, hope you guys enjoy~
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L e s s o n 3 : 를/을
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A l l i s a y s : It’s simple! All you have to add 를 after the object if the last letter of the last syllable is a voweland 을 if the last letter of the last syllable is a consonant.
Here’s some examples:
v o w e l : 저는 파스타를 좋아해요. = I like pasta (formal).
c o n s o n a n t : 저는 당신을 사랑해요 = I love you (formal).
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V o c a b u la r y f o r t h i s l e s s o n :
를 / 을 = Object particle
당신 = You (formal)*
음식 = food
파스타 = pasta
밥 = rice
좋아하다 = to like
좋다 = to be good
싫다 = to dislike
사랑하다 = to love
미워하다 = to hate
*There is no official Korean word for ‘you’ so this isn’t used often. Most Koreans remove subjects for conciseness when it is obvious who they are talking to. 저는 당신을 사랑해요 –> 사랑해요.
Everyone! How was your day? Here’s my second Korean grammar lesson! Let’s learn the subject particle ‘는/은’! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a message or leave a reply down below! Hope you enjoy~
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L e s s o n 2 : 는/은
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A l l i s a y s : Here are the rules. All you have to add 는 after the object if the last letter of the last syllable is a voweland 은 if the last letter of the last syllable is a consonant.
Here’s some examples:
v o w e l : 저 → 저는 (I)
v o w e l : 친구 → 친구는 (friend)
c o n s o n a n t : 이름 → 이름은 (name)
c o n s o n a n t : 학생 → 학생은 (student)
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V o c a b u l a r y f o r t h i s l e s s o n :
는/은 = subject particle
친구 = friend
선생님 = teacher
학생 = student
이름 = name
나 = I (informal)
너 = you (informal)
네 = yes, agreeing with the statement.
아니 = no (informal)
S a m p l e S e n t e n c e s :
이름은 뭐예요? = What is your name?
저는 X 입니다 = I am X.
학생입니까? = Are you a student?*
아니요, 저는 선생님이에요. = No (formal), I am a teacher.
아, 네. = Ah, I see.
*-입니까 basically means “are you”. More on that in the future.
If you’re new, I’m Alli and I make my own infographics to help you learn Korean with ease! If you’re interested in more of these types of lessons, visit my blog here! <3
Hey guys! It’s Alli, again. Hope you guys didn’t miss me too much.
We’re going to take things a step further and learn some complex letters. These are things you’ll just have to memorize but once you learn some vocabulary and get the hang of it, you won’t forget it.
Let’s get started!
C o m p l e x V o w e l s*
ㅐ = ae (a combination of ㅏ and ㅣ)**
ㅔ = e (a combination of ㅓ and ㅣ)
ㅒ=yae (a combination of ㅑ and ㅣ)***
ㅖ= ye (a combination of ㅕandㅣ)
ㅢ = wi ****
ㅚ = wi
ㅘ = wa
ㅟ = wi
ㅝ = wo
ㅙ = wae
ㅞ = we (uncommon)
* Some of these letters are uncommon. You will almost never hear 웨, 븨, 즤, 듸, 긔, 싀, 늬 in the Korean language.
** ㅐ andㅔ both have little to no difference in pronunciation! Both sound like ‘eh’
*** ㅒandㅖboth have little to no difference in pronunciation! Both sound like ‘ye’
**** The pronunciation of ㅢ differs depending on where and how it is used. 의자 (chair) is pronounced as 의자. 나의 (my) is pronounced as 나에.
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K o r e a n D o u b l e C o n s o n a n t s
The Korean double consonants are listed below:
ㄸ = just like ㄷ but more tensed in the beginning*
ㄲ = just like ㄱ but more tensed in the beginning
ㅃ = just like ㅂ but more tensed in the beginning
ㅆ = just like ㅅ but more tensed in the beginning
ㅉ = just like ㅈ but more tensed in the beginning
*’tensed’ means that you have to put more force into saying it. Imagine you were to say “duck!” rather loudly. The hard ‘d’ sound in “duck!” is like the sound made by the Korean ㄸ.
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See part 1 for Hangeul here. (If you can’t find it, It’s my first post)
Hey guys! Welcome to my very first post! I’m Alli and I hope I can assist you while you start learning Korean!
First off, let’s learn the basics: Hangul - The Korean Alphabet
The Korean alphabet is one of the most crucial steps toward your journey of learning Korean. Although romanization may seem like an easy shortcut for now, Koreans read Hangul, not Romanized Korean. This may seem like a difficult feat to accomplish but I promise you, it’s easy.
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K o r e a n C o n s o n a n t s
*The Korean consonants are listed below:
ㄱ= g/k
ㄴ= n
ㄷ= d
ㄹ=r/l**
ㅁ= m
ㅂ= b
ㅅ= s
ㅈ= j
ㅎ= h
*Try not to associate each character with the English letter but rather, to the sound. There is no perfect way to represent Korean characters using English letters.
**ㄹ sounds between a ‘r’ and an ‘l’ depending on what the word is.
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K o r e a n C o n s o n a n t s P t . 2
These sounds often get confused with the ones above so learn those first.
ㅋ = k
ㅍ = p
ㅊ = ch
ㅌ = t
ㅇ = ng / no sound *
*Depending on where the ‘ㅇ’ is placed, it makes either a ‘ng’ sound like singingor no sound at all. 강 (surname) = kang. 이 (this) = ee
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K o r e a n V o w e l s
The Korean vowels are listed below:
ㅣ = ee ㅏ = a ㅓ = eo* ㅡ = eu** ㅜ = u ㅗ = o
*ㅓsounds more like ‘uh’ in English.
** ㅡ is slightly more difficult to pronounce. Try saying it with a smile.
![Learn Korean words : Places1. 공항 [gong - hang]2. 은행 [eun - Haeng]3. 백화점 [baek - hwa - jeom] 4. 주유소](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e353da9caacd08cde4a60d6858fb1741/tumblr_ocaqbgxGE41uaufeko1_1280.png "Learn Korean words : Places1. 공항 [gong - hang]2. 은행 [eun - Haeng]3. 백화점 [baek - hwa - jeom] 4. 주유소")
