Lesson 9: Conjugate 이다 (할 것이다)

 Vocabulary

The vocabulary is separated into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs for the purpose of
simplicity.

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 공장 = factory

PLAY 열 = fever

PLAY 극장 = theater

PLAY 회사 = company

PLAY 장소 = place/location

PLAY 간판 = a sign

PLAY 직업 = job

PLAY 수업 = a class (that you 'take' or 'teach')

PLAY 고기 = meat

PLAY 돼지 = pig

PLAY 돼지고기 = pork

PLAY 소 = cow
PLAY 소고기 = beef

PLAY 꽃 = flowers

PLAY 값 = price

PLAY 땅콩 = peanut

PLAY 축구(하다) = (to play) soccer

PLAY 야구(하다) = (to play) baseball

PLAY 여권 = passport

PLAY 수건 = towel

PLAY 체육 = physical education

PLAY 지하철 = subway

PLAY 미래 = future

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 되다 = to become

CONJUGATE PLAY 시작하다 = to start

CONJUGATE PLAY 행동하다 = to act

CONJUGATE PLAY 소개하다 = to introduce

CONJUGATE PLAY 발견하다 = to discover, to find

CONJUGATE PLAY 방문하다 = to visit

CONJUGATE PLAY 잃다 = to lose

CONJUGATE PLAY 잃어버리다 = to lose

CONJUGATE PLAY 입다 = to put on one's clothes, to wear

CONJUGATE PLAY 벗다 = to take off one's clothes

CONJUGATE PLAY 웃다 = to laugh

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 부끄럽다 = to be shy

CONJUGATE PLAY 건강하다 = to be healthy

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 이제 = now

PLAY 현재 = now/present

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

Conjugating 이다

In earlier lessons, you learned a lot about conjugating verbs and adjectives. Exactly three
things can be conjugated in Korean: verbs, adjectives and 이다. The conjugation of 이다 is
different than verbs and adjectives. Actually, there are many times where 이다 behaves
differently than verbs and adjectives – which you will learn in future lessons. In this lesson,
you will learn how to conjugate 이다, and you will see how the conjugation differs from
verbs and adjectives. The sentence below shows the plain form, present tense conjugation
of 이다, which you have seen in lessons up to this point:

나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher

If the last letter of the noun before 이다 ends in a vowel, you can eliminate 이. For
example:

나는 의사다 = I am a doctor
나는 의사이다 = I am a doctor
Both of the above can be seen as correct. Here, the pronunciation of “이” is merging with
the pronunciation of the vowel in the noun. If you pronounce the two sentences above,
you can see that there is very little difference.

Conversely, if the last letter of the noun before 이다 is a consonant, this merging cannot
happen. For example:

나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher (correct)

나는 선생님다 – incorrect

This merging of 이다 does not happen because it has nothing to merge with. Furthermore,
if you try to pronounce “선생님다”, it just doesn’t flow properly. It is hard to get your
mouth to move from the “ㅁ” sound immediately to the “ㄷ” sound. This same principle
occurs in other conjugations of 이다, but it is a little bit more complex.

In almost every case, you can conjugate 이다 differently depending on if the noun it is
being attached to ends in a vowel or consonant. The reason they are conjugated
differently is similar to the example above with 의사다 vs. 의사이다. Here, the
pronunciation of “이” is being merged with something, and can therefore disappear. You
will learn about each conjugation specifically, but I will give you an example here to
prepare you for all the future explanations. Try not to worry about the meanings of these
sentences, and just focus on what I am presenting.

As you will learn later, when conjugating 이다 into the past tense in the plain form, “었다”
is added to the stem of “이다” (이). This is actually quite simple for you to understand,
because every other verb and adjective follows this same rule. For example:

의사이었다
선생님이었다

However, the pronunciation of 이었다 can merge to “였다” when the noun that it is being
attached to ends in a vowel. For example, both of these are correct:

의사이었다
의사였다

Pronounce both of those, and listen to how little of a difference there is between the two.
Not only that, the pronunciation of both of those is very easy and it flows off the tongue.
Conversely, 이 and 었다 cannot merge when the noun it is added to ends in a consonant.
For example:

선생님이었다 – correct
선생님였다 – incorrect

Pronounce both of those and listen the difference. Not only that,‘선생님였다’ is hard to
pronounce. It is difficult to move your mouth from the ㅁ sound directly to the 여 sound. It
is much easier to pronounce it like this: 나는 선생님-이-었-다.

Although I am only talking about the past tense plain form in this example, this same rule
applies in many situations. If you keep this in mind when learning the conjugations in this
lesson, they will be much easier to grasp.

이다 Present Tense

Conjugating 이다 to the present tense is relatively confusing compared to the past tense
because new syllables are added with no real logic behind them. Whereas past
conjugations are simply done by connecting the stem “이” to the typical past tense
addition of “었다”, present tense conjugations have additions that are not seen with any
other verb or adjective. Let’s talk about these first.

Informal Low Respect

Add ~이야 to a word ending in a consonant, or ~(이)야 to a word ending in a vowel:

PLAY 나는 좋은 학생이야 = I am a good student

PLAY 그것은 책이야 = That thing is a book
PLAY 나는 선생님이야 = I am a teacher
PLAY 이것은 여권이야 = This is a passport
PLAY 그것은 사과야 = That thing is an apple
PLAY 나는 의사야 = I am a doctor
PLAY 야구는 좋은 스포츠야 = Baseball is a good sport

When conjugating “아니다” in this respect, you simply add “~야” to “아니다:”

PLAY 나는 학생이 아니야 = I am not a student

PLAY 그것은 책이 아니야 = That thing is not a book

Informal High Respect

Add ~이에요 to a word ending in a consonant, or ~예요 to a word ending in a vowel:

PLAY 그것은 사진이에요 = That thing is a picture

PLAY 저는 선생님이에요 = I am a teacher
PLAY 저는 좋은 학생이에요 = I am a good student

PLAY 이 사람은 저의 누나예요 = This (person) is my sister

PLAY 저는 의사예요 = I am a doctor
PLAY 저것은 사과예요 = That thing is an apple

When conjugating “아니다” in this respect, you simply add ~에요 to 아니다:

PLAY 저는 학생이 아니에요 = I am not a student

Note that Korean people are often confused if they need to add “~예요” or “~에요” to
아니다. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see somebody use “아니예요.”

Formal High Respect

Add ~입니다 (~이 + ~ㅂ니다) to words ending in a vowel or consonant:

PLAY 저는 의사입니다 = I am a doctor

PLAY 그 사람은 저의 형입니다 = That person is my brother
PLAY 저는 선생님입니다 = I am a teacher
PLAY 저는 좋은 학생입니다 = I am a good student
PLAY 이 고기는 돼지고기입니다 = This meat is pork

With words ending in vowels, you can eliminate ~이 and attach ~ㅂ니다 directly to the
word. This is more commonly done in conversation, and not usually written.

When conjugating “아니다” in this respect, you must add “~ㅂ니다” directly to “아니다.”
For example:

PLAY 저는 의사가 아닙니다 = I am not a doctor

PLAY 저는 학생이 아닙니다 = I am not a student
PLAY 그것은 저의 직업이 아닙니다 = That (thing) is not my job
PLAY 그것은 저의 여권이 아닙니다 = That (thing) is not my passport
PLAY 그 건물은 극장이 아닙니다 = That building is not a theater

이다 Past Tense

Conjugating 이다 to the past tense is simple, and is done by connecting ~이 to ~었~.

When the last syllable in a word ends in a vowel, ~이 + ~었 can combine to make ~였.

Informal Low Respect

Add ~이었어 to all words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었어 can contract to ~였어.

PLAY 나는 바쁜 선생님이었어 = I was a busy teacher

PLAY 나는 학생이었어 = I was a student
PLAY 나는 선생님이었어 = I was a teacher

PLAY 나는 나쁜 애기였어 = I was a bad baby

PLAY 나는 나쁜 의사였어 = I was a bad doctor
 

Informal High Respect

This conjugation is the same as above (Informal Low Respect), except for that “~요” is
added to the end of ~이었 or ~였. That is,  you should add ~이었어요 to all words. If the
word ends in a vowel, ~이었어요 can contract to ~였어요.

PLAY 그것은 큰 비밀이었어요 = That was a big secret

PLAY 저는 선생님이었어요 = I was a teacher

PLAY 저는 의사였어요 = I was a doctor

PLAY 저는 나쁜 애기였어요 = I was a bad baby

Plain Form

Same as above, but you should add the regular “~다” ending instead of “~어요.” That is,
you should add ~이었다 to all words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었다 can contract to
~였다.

PLAY 나는 선생님이었다 = I was a teacher

PLAY 나는 의사였다 = I was a doctor

Formal High Respect

add ~이었습니다 to all words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었습니다 can contract to ~
였습니다.

PLAY 저는 선생님이었습니다 = I was a teacher

PLAY 저는 의사였습니다 = I was a doctor
In all situations in the past tense, 아니다 is conjugated just like any other word. An
example of each respect:

PLAY 나는 학생이 아니었어

PLAY 나는 학생이 아니었다
PLAY 저는 학생이 아니었어요
PLAY 저는 학생이 아니었습니다

The weird thing is that Korean speakers sometimes would use these:

나는 학생이 아니였어
나는 학생이 아니였다
저는 학생이 아니였어요
저는 학생이 아니였습니다

Just going by the rules of the language, I’d have to assume that the first set is correct. I
base this on the fact that in no other word do we add “~였~” to a stem. In other words, “~
였~” is created from “이 + 었,” but it is never added as a stand-alone thing.

How to actually conjugate verbs/adjectives to the Future Tense

In Lesson 6, you learned how to conjugate words to the future tense by adding 겠어/
겠어요/겠다/겠습니다 to the word stem. Though adding ~겠~ to a word stem is one way
to conjugate words to the future, there is a more common way to conjugate to do this!

Before learning how to do to this, you needed to learn more grammar first (namely, how
to conjugate 이다 properly). Either way, ~겠~ is still used in Korean, but not as much as
the method you are about to learn.

For verbs or adjectives, when conjugating into the future tense, you must first add ~ㄹ/을
to the stem of the word.

When you add ~ㄹ/을 to a word stem, ~ㄹ gets attached directly to stems ending in a
vowel, and ~을 gets added onto stems ending in a consonant. For example:
가다 ends in a vowel, so
가다 + ㄹ = 갈

먹다 ends in a consonant, so
먹다 + 을 = 먹을

——————-

This is going to sound extremely complicated (and it is): adding ~ㄹ/을 to the stem of an
adjective changes it to a word that can describe a noun in the future tense. For example:

행복한 사람 = happy person

행복할 사람 = a person that will be happy

Similarly, (this is where it gets complicated) adding ~ㄹ/~을 to a stem of a verb turns it

into a word that can describe a noun in the future.

먹을 음식 = the food that will be eaten

In practice, entire clauses – ending in verbs, which in turn describe the noun – are
commonly used. For example:

제가 먹을 음식 = the food that will be eaten by me (the food that I will eat)

——————-

If you can’t understand the explanation between the lines – don’t worry. That level of
grammar is very difficult to grasp at this stage of learning. That grammar will be discussed
very deeply in Lessons 26 – 29. If you want to jump ahead to those lessons, feel free.
However, the mechanics within the grammar are not important to you yet. For now, these
are the three major points I want you to think about:

1. Adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the stem of an adjective allows that adjective to

describe a noun in the future tense

2. Adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the stem of a verb allows that verb to describe a

noun in the future tense

3. Because these newly formed words can describe nouns, they must be

followed by a noun
What does all this have to do with conjugating into the future?
When Korean people conjugate to the future, they usually do so by adding ~ㄹ/~을 to a
verb/adjective.
This is essentially the same as adding ㄴ/은 to an adjective stem which you already know:
(좋다 -> 좋은).
You should know, however, that you cannot end a sentence like this:

나는 좋은

Because 좋은 is an adjective that modifies a noun, a noun must follow 좋은:

나는 좋은 사람

Now, to end the sentence, you need to add 이다 to the noun:

나는 좋은 사람이다 = I am a good person.

So, again, when Korean people conjugate verbs/adjectives to the future, they usually do so
by adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the word stem:

나는 행복할
나는 먹을
나는 공부할

But this changes verbs/adjectives into an adjectives that describe nouns. Therefore, (just
like 좋은) a noun must follow these words. The noun that is always used in this situation is
것 (thing):

나는 행복할 것
나는 먹을 것
나는 공부할 것

Now, to end those sentences, you need to add 이다 to the noun:

나는 행복할 것이다
나는 먹을 것이다
나는 공부할 것이다

If you try to directly translate these sentences to English, they have the meaning:
I am a thing who will be happy
I am a thing who will eat
I am a thing who will study

But their actual meanings are:

나는 행복할 것이다 = I will be happy

나는 먹을 것이다 = I will eat
나는 공부할 것이다 = I will study

The 이다 can then be conjugated based on the level of politeness or formality. But keep in
mind that even though this sentence is conjugated into the future, the 이다 should stay in
the present tense. Because the ~ㄹ/을 creates a future sentence, 이다 does not need to be
in the future.

것 is also sometimes shortened to 거, for no other reason than it is easier to say and
creates a shorter sentence. For example, these two are exactly the same:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 = I will eat rice

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹을 거예요 = I will eat rice

Notice that  ~이에요 is added when  것 (which ends in a consonant) is used and  ~예요 is
added when  거 (which ends in a vowel) is used. This is the same rule that you
learned  earlier in the lesson  when conjugating  이다 depending on if the final letter of a
noun ends in a consonant or vowel.

Note that Korean people are often confused if they need to add “~이에요,” or “~예요” or “~
에요” to 거 in these cases. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see somebody use “할 거에요.”

Other examples:

PLAY 나는 내일 친구를 만날 것이야 = I will meet my friend tomorrow

PLAY 나는 내일 친구를 만날 거야 = I will meet my friend tomorrow
PLAY 저는 내일 학교에 갈 것입니다 = I will go to school tomorrow
PLAY 저는 영어를 공부할 거예요 = I will study English

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different
additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~ㄹ/을. Let’s look at
how irregulars change as a result of adding this grammatical principle.
  The ㅅ irregular, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules that
were introduced in Lesson 7. The addition of the vowel causes a change (or
elimination) of the last letter of the stem.

 The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition.

 Adding ~ㄹ/을 to a word that follows the ㄹ irregular brings about a

change you are not familiar with. Normally, you would add ~ㄹ to the stem of a
word ending in a vowel, and ~을 to the stem of a word ending in a consonant.

 For example: 잃다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 잃을

예쁘다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 예쁠

 However, when you add ~ㄹ/을 to a stem of a word that ends

in ㄹ, the ㄹ is dropped and ㄹ is attached directly to the stem. In
effect, you removed something and replace it with exactly the same
thing.

 For example:갈다 + ㄹ/을 = 갈

빨다 + ㄹ/을 = 빨
열다 + ㄹ/을 = 열
PLAY 저는 문을 열 거예요 = I will open the door (열 + 을 = 열)
Below is a table showing the changes that result from adding ~ㄹ/을 to a word.

Irregular Word Does + ~ㄹ/을 것이다

this
apply

ㅅ Irregular PLAY 짓다 (to YES 지을 것이다

build)

ㄷ Irregular PLAY 걷다 (to YES 걸을 것이다

walk)

ㅂ Irregular PLAY 쉽다 (to YES 쉬울 것이다

be easy)
 ㅂ Irregular PLAY 돕다 (to YES 도울 것이다
help)

ㅡ Irregular PLAY 잠그다 (to NO 잠글 것이다

lock)

르 Irregular PLAY 다르다 (to NO 다를 것이다

be different)

ㄹ Irregular PLAY 길다 (to YES 길 것이다

be long)

Notice that I also included the word 돕다. As you learned in Lesson 7 – ㅂ changes to 오
when ~아/어 (or any derivative) is added. When any other vowel is added, ㅂ changes to
우 as you can see above.

You will see these same changes to irregulars anytime you add something that begins in ~
ㄹ/을. For example:

~ㄹ/을래(요) – Lesson 44
~ㄹ/을까(요) – Lesson 63
~ㄹ/을게(요) – Lesson 63
~ㄹ/을걸(요) – Lesson 115

Future 이다  – Using 되다
Conjugating 이다 to the future tense is the same as is done above, but it is also possible to
use another verb; 되다. 되다 is one of the hardest words in Korean, mainly because it has
so many meanings. You will be introduced to each of these meanings as you progress
through our lessons, but the first meaning of ‘되다’ is “to become”… which is slightly
different than “to be”. Let me introduce the word “되다” to you by showing you examples
of it being used in the past tense:

(Note the way  되다 is used.  ~이/가 is attached to the noun that the subject “becomes”
instead of  ~를/을)

저는 선생님이 되었어요 = I became a teacher

Which is slightly different than:
저는 선생님이었어요 = I was a teacher

Very similar, but the difference between “to become” and “to be” (which in this case is in
the past tense of ‘was’) is “become” suggests that prior to that time, the situation was
different. I’m sure you get it, but let me describe it using English examples:

I became a teacher last year

I was a teacher last year

When you say “I became a teacher last year”, you are indicating that – before last year you
were not a teacher – but last year you became a teacher.

When you say “I was a teacher last year”, you are not specifying if you were a teacher
before that time as well, or even if you are still a teacher. All you are specifying is that you
were a teacher last year, and no other information is given.

되다 can be used in the present tense as well (and again differs slightly from 이다). I’ll save
examples for when I’ve presented more grammar principles further into the course. My
whole purpose in mentioning it is to explain the application to the future tense. First off, it
is awkward to conjugate 이다 to the future tense using ~겠다.

나는 선생님이겠다

If you want to say that something “will be” something in the future, because of the nature
of the word “되다” there is no real difference if you use 되다 or 이다. For example:

PLAY 저는 곧 선생님이 될 것입니다 = I will become a teacher soon

PLAY 저는 곧 선생님일 거예요 = I will be a teacher soon
Other examples:
PLAY 나는 미래에 의사가 될 거야 = I will become a doctor in the future
PLAY 나는 미래에 의사일 거야 = I will be a doctor in the future

PLAY 한국이 곧 좋은 나라가 될 것이다 = Korea will become a good country soon
PLAY 한국이 곧 좋은 나라일 것이다 = Korea will be a good country soon

PLAY 이 장소는 공원이 될 것이다 = This place will become a park

PLAY 이 장소는 공원일 것이다 = This place will be a park

I just want to point out here that the “일” you are seeing above is not the word “일“. Rather
it is the future conjugation (using the conjugation taught in the lesson) of  이다.
선생님이다 becomes  선생님 + 이다 + ~ㄹ/을 것이다.

As you build vocabulary, you will be able to apply this same format of sentences to create
sentences like:

This place will become a park next year

I will become a doctor in a few months

In  Lesson 11, you will learn the vocabulary necessary to create those types of sentences. 

The sentences above using 이다 and 되다 in the future tense can be used to make
negative sentences as well. When making the negative form of a 되다 sentence, you can
just add 안 or ~지 않다 just like with any other verb or adjective. When making the
negative form of an 이다 sentence, you should use 아니다. You can change each pair of
sentences above to a negative sentence. For example:

나는 미래에 의사가 되지 않을 거야 = I won’t become a doctor in the future

나는 미래에 의사가 아닐 거야 = I won’t be a doctor in the future

한국이 곧 좋은 나라가 되지 않을 거야 = Korea won’t become a good country soon

한국이 곧 좋은 나라가 아닐 거야 = Korea won’t be a good country soon

이 장소는 공원이 되지 않을 거야 = This place won’t become a park

이 장소는 공원이 아닐 거야 = This place won’t be a park

Those sentences, while kind of ridiculous, are all grammatically correct. I can’t think of any
time when you would actually want to say a sentence like that, but they are all possible if
the right situation came up. Most of the time, there would be a better way to say each of
the sentences above. For example, instead of saying:

나는 미래에 의사가 되지 않을 거야 = I won’t become a doctor in the future

It would probably be more natural to say something like “I don’t want to become a doctor
in the future.” You will learn how to say this, and other grammatical principles that can
make your speech more natural as you progress along with your studies. For now, try to
understand what is being done grammatically, and don’t worry too much about when you
would actually use a sentence like that.

One other quick thing; and I really don’t want to spend too much time on this because I
have already overwhelmed you with grammar in this lesson. However, the future
conjugation of 이다 is introduced in this lesson and I feel this needs to be talked about
here. By using the future ~ㄹ/을 것이다 conjugation on 이다, you can also create a
sentence where the speaker is guessing about a certain situation in the present tense.
Look at some examples first:

PLAY 그 사람이 의사일 거예요 = That person is probably/most likely a doctor

PLAY 그것은 여권일 거예요 = That thing is probably/most likely a passport
PLAY 문제는 돈일 거예요 = The problem is probably/most likely money

Remember, you are not adding  일 to these nouns. You are adding  ~이다 followed by
adding  ~ㄹ 것이다 to  이다. I get a lot of questions from learners asking me where this “일”
came from.

These sentences as well can be said using 아니다 instead of 이다:

PLAY 그 사람이 의사가 아닐 거야 = That person is probably/most likely not a doctor
PLAY 그것은 여권이 아닐 거야 = That thing is probably/most likely not a passport
PLAY 문제는 돈이 아닐 거야 = The problem is probably/most likely not money

Notice that in these cases the speaker is not talking about him/herself. Also, even though
the sentence is conjugated into the future tense, the speaker is guessing that something is
the case in the present tense. Thus, it is weird to include time indicators in these sentences
(for example “next year” or “in a few months from now”) because the speaker is not trying
to create this meaning.

The question then becomes – how can I distinguish if somebody is saying one of these
“guessing” sentences or saying “something will become something”. You will learn
continuously throughout your Korean studies that understanding a Korean sentence is all
about context – and the situation almost always makes it clear what the speaker wants to
express.

For now, rather than concern yourself with guessing nuances, I suggest focusing on how
to use the ~ㄹ/을 것이다 form to conjugate verbs/adjectives into the future tense – and
realize that 되다 can be used instead of 이다 when conjugating to the future tense.

That’s it for this lesson!

There are 1250 example sentences in Unit 1.

All entries are linked to an audio file. You can download all of these files in one
package  here.

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.

Lesson 10: Korean Numbers

Vocabulary

The vocabulary in this section does not need to be separated. In my mind, they would all
fall under the category of “Other.”

PLAY 하나 = one

PLAY 둘 = two
PLAY 셋 = three
PLAY 넷 = four
PLAY 다섯 = five
PLAY 여섯 = six
PLAY 일곱 = seven
PLAY 여덟 = eight
PLAY 아홉 = nine
PLAY 열 = ten
PLAY 스물 = twenty
PLAY 서른 = thirty
PLAY 마흔 = forty
PLAY 쉰 = fifty
PLAY 일 = one
PLAY 이 = two
PLAY 삼 = three
PLAY 사 = four
PLAY 오 = five
PLAY 육 = six
PLAY 칠 = seven
PLAY 팔 = eight
PLAY 구 = nine
PLAY 십 = ten
PLAY 백 = one hundred
PLAY 천 = one thousand
PLAY 만 = ten thousand

PLAY 영 = zero

PLAY 공 = zero

Click on the English words below to see information and examples of that word in use. You
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
seeing words being used in sentences is very helpful for understanding how they can be
used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

PLAY 처음 = the first time/beginning

PLAY 마지막 = last

PLAY 번째 = counter for 1st/2nd/3rd/etc..

PLAY 첫 번째 = first (1st)

PLAY 두 번째 = second (2nd)

PLAY 개 = counter for things

PLAY 번 = counter for behaviors/actions

PLAY 명 = counter for people

PLAY 대 = counter for automobiles

PLAY 잔 = counter for a ‘glass’ of ____

PLAY 시 = “o’clock”

PLAY 분 = minute

PLAY 초 = second

PLAY 살 = years old

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

Korean Numbers

Korean numbers are actually very easy once you get the hang of them. But, because they
are so different from English numbers, it is often hard for English speakers to fully
understand them at first.
First thing you need to know, there are two sets of numbers in Korean: The pure Korean
numbers and the numbers derived from Chinese (called Sino-Korean numbers). Let’s look
at the Sino-Korean numbers first, because they are easier:

Sino-Korean Numbers

These are the Sino-Korean numbers as provided earlier:

일 = one
이 = two
삼 = three
사 = four
오 = five
육 = six
칠 = seven
팔 = eight
구 = nine
십 = ten
백 = one hundred
천 = one thousand
만 = ten thousand

With only those numbers, you can create any number from 1 – 10 million. All you need to
do is put them together:

일 = one (1)
십 = ten (10)
십일 = eleven (10 + 1)
이십 = twenty (2 x 10)
이십일 = twenty one (2 x 10 + 1)
이십이 = twenty two (2 x 10 + 2)
백 = one hundred (100)
백일 = one hundred and one (100 + 1)
백이 = one hundred and two (100 + 2)
백구십 = one hundred and ninety (100 + 90)
구백 = nine hundred (9 x 100)
천 = one thousand (1000)
천구백 = one thousand nine hundred (1000 + 9 x 100)
오천 = five thousand (5 x 1000)
오천육백 = five thousand six hundred (5 x 1000 + 6 x 100)
만 = ten thousand
십만 = one hundred thousand
백만 = one million
천만 = ten million

The Sino-Korean numbers are used in limited situations. As each of these are taught
throughout the upcoming lessons, you will slowly learn when to use the Sino-Korean
numbers over the Korean numbers. For now, don’t worry about memorizing when they
should be used, as it will come naturally.
– When counting/dealing with money
– When measuring
– When doing math
– In phone-numbers
– When talking about/counting time in any way except the hour
– The names of each month
– Counting months (there is another way to count months using pure Korean numbers)

Pure Korean Numbers

These are the pure Korean numbers as provided earlier:

하나 = one
둘 = two
셋 = three
넷 = four
다섯 = five
여섯 = six
일곱 = seven
여덟 = eight
아홉 = nine
열 = ten
스물 = twenty
서른 = thirty
마흔 = forty
쉰 = fifty

Creating numbers 11-19, 21-29, 31-39 (etc..) is easy, and is done like this:

11: 열하나 (10 + 1)

12: 열둘 (10 + 2)
21: 스물하나 (20 + 1)
59: 쉰아홉 (50 + 9)

Notice that there are no spaces between the words representing numbers for both the Sino-
Korean and pure Korean numbers. I discuss this in a  much more difficult lesson  that covers
how numbers greater than 10,000 are used. For now, it is more important to focus on how to
use simple numbers in sentences.
After 60, regardless of what you are doing, pure Korean numbers are rarely used. I was
talking to my wife about this once, and she said that she didn’t think there was even a
pure Korean number for 60. I told her “yes, there is: 예순.” To which she replied “Oh yeah, I
forgot.” When you get that high (even as high as 40-50) it is not uncommon to use the
Sino-Korean numbers instead.

The pure Korean numbers are used when:

– You are counting things/people/actions

– Talking about the hour in time
– Sometimes used when talking about months.

Again, don’t worry about memorizing each of those yet. Whenever I talk about numbers, I
will tell you which set you are expected to use.

Using Numbers

Counters

When counting anything in Korean, you need to use the pure Korean numbers. In addition,
one thing that is very hard for English speakers to wrap their head around is that, when
counting most things in Korean, you need to also include a ‘counter.’ The most common
counters are:

개 = counter for things

명 = counter for people
번 = counter for behaviors/actions

There are many more counters, but if you can’t remember the specific counter of
something, you can usually substitute “개” (the counter for “thing”) instead. You will learn
the more difficult counters as you progress through future lessons. For now, the goal is to
get you accustomed to using these three simple counters.

When counting in English, we usually don’t use counters. Rather we just say: “two people,”
as in:

I met two people

But some things in English require the use of these counters. For example, you could not
say “I bought two films” (referring to the film in a camera, not a ‘movie’). Instead, you have
to say “I bought two rolls of film.” The word roll in that sentence is a counter, and is similar
to the counters in Korean. The main difference is that counters are used to count almost
everything in Korean.

The words 1, 2, 3, 4 and 20 change when adding a counter:

1 = 하나 -> 한
2 = 둘 -> 두
3 = 셋 -> 세
4 = 넷 -> 네
20 = 스물 -> 스무

Place a number, followed by a counter, after a noun to indicate how many of that thing
there are. For example:

PLAY 사람 두 명 = 2 people

PLAY 사람 한 명 = 1 person
PLAY 펜 다섯 개 = 5 pens
PLAY 펜 마흔네 개 = 44 pens

————

It is also possible to put the number-counter combination  before  the noun that is being
counted. However, the method shown immediately above is much more common. When
placed before the noun, “~의” is added to the counter, for example:

PLAY 두 명의 사람 = 2 people

PLAY 한 명의 사람 = 1 person
PLAY 다섯 개의 펜 = 5 pens
PLAY 마흔네 개의 펜 = 44 pens

The purpose and function of ~의 in this type of construction is discussed in  Lesson 23. As I
said, it is usually less common to count using this method, so for now, don’t worry about this
grammar. I simply want you to know that it can be done. Pay more attention to the “사람 두
명” form instead of the “두 명의 사람” form.

————
When writing out the word instead of using the numeral (for example, writing “한” instead
of “1”) the correct form is to have a space between the written number and the counter.
For example:

한 개 instead of 한개
두 번 instead of 두번
세 명 instead of 세명

When the Korean numbers are used (i.e. when counting things or actions), the word is
more typically used than the numeral. In our lessons, you will usually see the Korean word
written out when a counter is used.

In other situations where Sino-Korean numbers are used, there is no difference if you use
the Sino-Korean numeral or the word. I will come back to this in the next lesson when you
learn applications for Sino-Korean numbers.

These nouns that we have counted can now become the object of a sentence:

PLAY 나는 펜 네 개를 샀어 = I bought four pens

PLAY 나는 햄버거 두 개를 먹었어 = I ate two hamburgers
PLAY 나는 어제 친구 다섯 명을 만났어 = I met five friends yesterday

————

The number-counter combination could also be placed  before  the noun, as we discussed
earlier:

PLAY 나는 네 개의 펜을 샀어 = I bought four pens

PLAY 나는 두 개의 햄버거를 먹었어 = I ate two hamburgers
PLAY 나는 어제 다섯 명의 친구를 만났어 = I met five friends yesterday

————

Although the placement of the particles is important for your initial understanding of
Korean grammar, eventually, you will become more comfortable with omitting particles
altogether. Omitting particles is not something I recommend for a beginner because it is
very important that you understand how to use them perfectly for more complex
sentences. Nonetheless, most often in speech, particles in this situation are often omitted.
For example, you might hear something like this:
나는 펜 네 개 샀어 = I bought 4 pens

In this structure, it is also possible to put the particle on the noun instead of the counter,
for example:

나는 펜을 네 개 샀어 = I bought 4 pens

Try not to worry about this too much at this stage, as the following three sentences would
sound perfect to Korean people:

나는 펜 네 개 샀어
나는 펜을 네 개 샀어
나는 펜 네 개를 샀어

————

Here are some more examples of counters in use:

PLAY 그 사람은 차 네 대가 있어요 = That person has four cars

PLAY 저는 우유 두 잔을 샀어요 = I bought two glasses of milk
PLAY 저는 땅콩 두 개를 먹었어요 = I ate two peanuts

Zero

I figure since I am talking about numbers, I should mention something about how/when
the number zero is used. Just like other numbers, there are two ways to say “zero” in
Korea. However, unlike other numbers, both ways of saying “zero” are of Chinese origin.

영, which is (from what I understand), the way Chinese people say “zero”
공, which is sort of like the meaning of “nothing”

That isn’t really very important, but what is important is knowing which word to use in
which situation.

You should use “영” when talking about:

  Points that can be given or taken away, like in a game. For example, when
saying the score “2 – 0”, you would say “이 대 영”. Another example would be if
you are in a quiz show, and you ask your friend how many points she has, she
could say “영점”

 The temperature “zero”

 When using numbers in math (which, if you’re just learning Korean now,
you probably won’t do for a long time)
You should use “공” when talking about:

 Phone numbers. For example, when saying “010 – 5555 – 5555”, all the
zeros should be read as “공.” If you don’t live in Korea, you probably won’t
know this, but “010” is the typical area code for a cell phone (in Seoul, at least).
Therefore, when giving your phone number, you usually start out by saying “공-
일-공”.
 

번 – Counter of Behavior or Action

번 is a common counter that counts behavior or actions, and is not directly counted with a
noun in a sentence. Putting a number before “번” creates an adverb that tells you how
many times something was done. It is an adverb, so 를/을 is usually not attached to it.

PLAY 저는 어제 학교에 세 번 갔어요 = I went to school three times yesterday

PLAY 저는 그 영화를 다섯 번 봤어요 = I saw that movie five times
PLAY 저는 오늘 두 번 운동할 것입니다 = I will exercise twice (two times) today
PLAY 저는 어제 고기를 두 번 먹었어요 = I ate meat twice yesterday
PLAY 저는 오늘 축구를 네 번 할 거예요 = I will play soccer four times today

This is fairly simple to use, but you will continue to learn about this word in the next lesson
when you learn how to say “this time,” “next time,” and “last time.”

Telling Korean Time

There are so many different ways to talk about time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks,
months, years, etc…). You will learn more about how to indicate when you did/do/will do
something using these ‘time’ words in the next lesson. In this lesson, however, you will
learn about telling time, as in the time on a clock.

When talking about the hour, as in ‘2 o’clock’ all you need to do is put 시 after a number:

2 시 = 2:00 (2 o’clock)

When talking about the minute, add 분 after the number:

2 시 30 분 = 2:30

The pure Korean numbers are used when saying the hour number, whereas the Sino-
Korean numbers are used when saying the minute number. For example:

PLAY2 시 30 분 = 2:30, or

PLAY 두 시 삼십 분 = Two thirty

Earlier in the lesson I said that when a pure Korean number is used with a counter, it is
more commonly written out instead of using the numeral. In this case, “시” could be seen
as a counter as we are counting “hours.” However, writing the numeral or the word is
equally as common and acceptable when referring to the time. In my case, I much prefer
to use the numeral instead of the word.

To indicate the minute, Sino-Korean numbers are used and (just like all times when Sino-
Korean numbers are used) there is no difference if you use the numeral or the word. I
prefer to use the numeral in these cases.

The spacing of these also needs to be discussed. As I mentioned earlier, when a written
number is placed before a counter, there should be a space between the number and the
counter. This is true for the number before “분” as well. For example, if you were writing
the words out:

두 시 should be written instead of 두시

삼십 분 should be written instead of 삼십분

However, when using the numeral, it is acceptable to omit the space and attach the
numeral directly with the following counter. For example:
PLAY2 시 30 분

Officially, there should be a space. However, most people do not include a space and it is
also seen as correct to omit it. Other examples:

PLAY3 시 10 분 = 3:10

PLAY 세 시 십 분 = Three ten

PLAY12 시 50 분 = 12:50

PLAY 열두 시 오십 분 = Twelve fifty

You will see more examples of this in the next lesson when you learn more applications of
numbers (specifically Sino-Korean numbers). If you can’t get it into your brain yet, it will be
easier when you see more examples in the next lesson.

These times can now go in a sentence as usual by adding 에 to indicate a time:

PLAY 나는 5 시에 먹을 거야 = I will eat at 5:00

PLAY 나는 2 시 30 분에 왔어 = I came at 2:30
PLAY 우리는 야구를 1 시에 할 거예요 = We will play baseball at 1:00
PLAY 우리는 7 시 20 분에 시작할 거예요 = We will start at 7:20

Age

When indicating how old a person is, you should use pure Korean numbers along with the
word “살” which is a counter for ages. For example:

PLAY 저는 열 살이에요 = I am ten years old

PLAY 저의 여자 친구는 스물여섯 살이에요 = My girlfriend is twenty six years old

It would sound weird to use the Sino-Korean numbers to indicate the age of somebody
who is under thirty. However, after thirty, it is not uncommon to use the Sino-Korean
numbers instead of the pure Korean numbers. The older the age, the more likely you will
hear the Sino-Korean number used instead of the pure Korean number. After 50, you are
most likely to exclusively hear the Sino-Korean numbers.

You haven’t learned how to ask questions yet, so it is difficult for me to explain how to ask
about a person’s age. You will understand the following sentence better once you are
confident with the content introduced in Lessons 21 and 22. Nonetheless, it would be
good to memorize this sentence because of how common of a question it is:

PLAY 몇 살이에요? = How old are you?

번째: First, Second, Third, etc…

번째 can be used after a number like a counter to mean first/second/third/etc. When

saying “first”, “첫” replaces “한”.

For example:

첫 번째 = first
PLAY 저의 첫 번째 친구는 착했어요 = My first friend was nice
PLAY 저는 첫 번째 차를 싫어했어요 = I didn’t like that first car
If you think that is confusing, explain how ‘one’ gets changed to ‘first,’ ‘two’ gets changed to
‘second’ and ‘three’ gets changed to ‘third.’

After “first,” you can use the regular Korean numbers. Just like with counters, the numbers
2 – 4 change when 번째 follows. For example:

두 번째 = second
PLAY 그 두 번째 선생님은 똑똑했어요 = That second teacher was smart
PLAY 저는 두 번째 남자를 골랐어요 = I chose the second man

세 번째 = third
PLAY 이 여권은 저의 세 번째 여권이에요 = This passport is my third passport
PLAY 저는 세 번째 문을 열었어요 = I opened the third door

네 번째 = fourth
PLAY 저는 네 번째 사람이었어요 = I was the fourth person
PLAY 이 아이는 저의 네 번째 아들이에요 = This person is my fourth son
After the number four, the words don’t change when adding 번째. For example:

PLAY 이 수업은 오늘 저의 열 번째 수업입니다 = This is my tenth class today

PLAY 저는 백 번째 페이지를 읽었어요 = I read the 100th page

Sometimes you might see these numbers + counters used in the following way:

첫 번째 = 첫째 = first
두 번째 = 둘째 = second
세 번째 = 셋째 = third
네 번째 = 넷째 = fourth
etc.…

Here is a video explaining a Korean sign that uses this idea of shortening 첫 번째 to 첫째.

These shortened forms can’t be used in as many situations as their longer counterparts.
The most common situation where these are used is when talking about your
first/second/third/etc. children. For example:

PLAY 우리 둘째 아들은 고등학생이에요 = Our second son is a high school student

PLAY 우리 셋째 아이는 야구를 좋아해요 = Our third child likes baseball
PLAY 이 아이는 우리 첫째 아들이에요 = This (child) is our first son

In these cases, it is common to just refer to the child as “one’s first” or “one’s second.” We
often do the same thing in English. For example:

PLAY 우리 둘째는 고등학생이에요 = Our second (child) is a high school student

PLAY 우리 셋째는 야구를 좋아해요 = Our third (child) likes baseball
PLAY 이 아이는 우리 첫째예요 = This (child) is our first (child)

However, as I mentioned, it would be unnatural to use these words in sentences like this:

저는 셋째 문을 열었어요 (very understandable, but awkward)

저는 넷째 사람이었어요 (very understandable, but awkward)

Another place you will see words like 첫째 and 둘째 is when making lists about things that
need to be done, and the speaker/writer is indicating “Firstly… and then secondly…” For
example:
첫째, 저는 야채를 많이 먹겠습니다 = First, I will eat a lot of vegetables
둘째, 저는 매일 운동하겠습니다 = Second, I will exercise everyday

I didn’t make audio recordings for the above sentences because I feel they would more likely
be written than spoken.

Another useful word is 마지막 which often translates to ‘last.’ It is often confusing for
English speakers to understand the usage of 마지막 at first because the word “last” has
more than one usage in English. 마지막 is used to refer to the final  (last) thing at the end
of sequence… as in “first meal… second meal… third meal… fourth meal… final (last) meal.”
It is not used to refer to a “previous” thing. Notice the difference between these two
usages of “last night”:

Last night (the previous night) I went to the movies

The last night (the final night) of our trip was the best

The second example would be where you could use 마지막, because you are referring to
the final  (last) night of a sequence of nights on a trip. In the first example, you are talking
about the previous night. I will introduce how you can refer to a “previous” thing in the
next lesson where I introduce 지난.

Here are some examples of 마지막 in use:

PLAY 이것은 저의 마지막 수업이에요 = This is my last class

PLAY 저는 마지막 것을 안 봤어요 = I didn’t see the last thing (I didn’t see that last one)

In these examples, 마지막 is being used as a descriptive word, even though it is not an
adjective in its original form (it is not an adjective because it does not end in 다, and
cannot be conjugated). Words can be used this way in English as well. The word “face” is a
noun. But in the sentence “I put on face paint,” the word “face” describes the type of paint
you used. Similarly, you could say “that is a computer room,” where the word “computer”
is describing the room.

처음– First Time

처음 is a very complex word that can be used in many situations. I have been studying
Korean for years and I still don’t know how to use it perfectly in all situations. It can be
used in sentences when you are talking about the first time something is being done. It
can be used as a noun or an adverb, depending on the situation (which adds to it’s
complexity). The two most common situations are:

1) 처음에 … (at first/in the beginning)

PLAY 처음에 그 여자를 싫어했어요 = I didn’t like that girl at first
PLAY 저는 처음에 체육 수업을 싫어했어요 = At first I didn’t like PE class

2) Put in a sentence as an adverb to indicate this is the first time something has happened:
PLAY 저는 어제 선생님을 처음 만났어요 = I met my teacher for the first time yesterday
PLAY 저는 내일 한국에 처음 갈 것입니다 = I will go to Korea for the first time tomorrow

You’ve gotten this far! You can’t stop now! Haha. The learning curve now is still fairly
steep, but it will get much easier in the future. As I keep saying, having a good solid base
in the fundamental grammar concepts of Korean will help you tons later on!

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson!  Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.

Lesson 11: 동안, Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months,

Years
Jump to:
Vocabulary

A Quick Note
“For” a certain amount of time (동안)

Korean Hours (시간)

Korean Seconds (초)

Last/Next (지난/다음)

Korean Days (일/날/하루)

Korean Weeks (주)
Korean Months (달/개월)
Korean Years (년)

This Week/This Month/This Time (이번)

Per
 

Vocabulary

Months of the year:

PLAY1 월 (일월) = January
PLAY2 월 (이월) = February
PLAY3 월 (삼월) = March
PLAY4 월 (사월) = April
PLAY5 월 (오월) = May
PLAY6 월 (유월) = June*
PLAY7 월 (칠월) = July
PLAY8 월 (팔월) = August
PLAY9 월 (구월) = September
PLAY10 월 (시월) = October*
PLAY11 월 (십일월) = November
PLAY12 월 (십이월) = December

*June (6 월/유월) and October (10 월/시월) should actually be 육월 and 십월 but, written
like that, they are difficult to pronounce. Because of this, their correct pronunciations are
유월 and 시월 NOT 육월 and 십월.

Click on the English words below to see information and examples of that word in use. You
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
seeing words being used in sentences is very helpful for understanding how they can be
used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 기회 = chance/opportunity

PLAY 계획 = plans

PLAY 회사원 = office worker

PLAY 요리사 = a cook/chef

PLAY 운전사 = a driver

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 달리다 = to run

CONJUGATE PLAY 요리하다 = to cook

CONJUGATE PLAY 운전하다 = to drive

CONJUGATE PLAY 죽다 = to die

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 두렵다 = to be scared

CONJUGATE PLAY 이상하다 = to be strange

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 동안 = for, during, while

PLAY 달 = month

PLAY 개월 = month

PLAY 날 = day

PLAY 하루 = one day

PLAY 이틀 = two days

PLAY 사흘 = three days

PLAY 지난 주 = last week

PLAY 지난 달 = last month

PLAY 이번 주 = this week

PLAY 이번 달 = this month

PLAY 다음 주 = next week

PLAY 다음 달 = next month

PLAY 작년 = last year

PLAY 올해 = this year

PLAY 내년 = next year

PLAY 평생 (동안) = in my whole life

PLAY 보통 = usually

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will build on what you learned in Lesson 10 by learning how to use a
variety of different words of time in Korean. Using these words, you will be able to say “I
did X for 2 months” or “I didn’t do Y last week.” You will also learn whether you should
use the pure Korean or Sino-Korean numbers when using these different words of time.

The use of pure Korean or Sino-Korean numbers may seem random, but there is a reason
for it. Anytime the ‘time’ word is of Chinese origin, the Sino-Korean numbers are used. For
example “개월” (month) is counted using Sino-Korean numbers, because “개월” is of
Chinese origin and has corresponding Chinese (한자) characters. “달” (also meaning
month) is a Korean word, and thus, is counted using Korean numbers. A lot of Korean
words are of Chinese origin and have corresponding Chinese (한자) characters. You will
learn about those later.
This lesson is a little bit less organized than the previous lessons. It was difficult to teach
everything in this lesson together because you need to have a mutual understanding of all
concepts in order to understand one of them. In order to understand how to use 동안, you
need to know how to use 주. But in order to understand how to use 주, you should
understand how to use 동안. Around and around we go. Anyways, I made it as simple as
possible. After this lesson, any time you learn about other ‘time’ grammar concepts, it
should be really easy because this lesson will give you a solid base to work from.

“For” a certain amount of time (동안)

동안 is a very useful word that can be used to indicate how long an action occurs. It is
typically placed after a duration of time, for example:

2 분 = 2 minutes
2 분 동안 = for 2 minutes

10 분 = 10 minutes
10 분 동안 = for 10 minutes

이틀 = two days
이틀 동안 = for two days

동안 can also be used to indicate that an action occurs “while” another action occurs. You
will learn about that application in  Lesson 33  after learning some key grammar points in
the lessons to come.

Those can then be added into sentences to indicate how long one does something for.
Notice also that no additional particle is added to 동안. One would think that 에 should be
added, but it is not.

PLAY 저는 10 분 동안 걸었어요 = I walked for 10 minutes

PLAY 저는 30 분 동안 공부했어요 = I studied for 30 minutes
While the translation of “동안” in these examples is usually “for”, in essence, what you are
doing is stating “for that period of time.” Understanding this will help you understand later
usages of “동안” in future lessons. For example:

PLAY 저는 10 분 동안 걸었어요 = I walked for (a period of) 10 minutes

PLAY 저는 30 분 동안 공부했어요 = I studied for (a period of) 30 minutes
PLAY 저는 이틀 동안 안 잤어요 = I didn’t sleep for two days

Remember:

It doesn’t matter if you use the word or the numeral when writing a number. However,
typically the word is written when a pure Korean word is used with a counter like 개, 명, 번,
시간, 대, 살, etc. In situations where Sino-Korean numbers are written (for example, in the
sentences above) it makes no difference if you write the numeral or the word.

Also remember that the spacing is different depending on if you write a numeral or a
word. If writing the word, there should be a space between the number and the word. For
example:

PLAY 저는 십 분 동안 걸었어요

If writing a numeral, it doesn’t matter if you include a space or not. Both are seen as
acceptable:

PLAY 저는 10 분 동안 걸었어요
PLAY 저는 10 분 동안 걸었어요

I want to show you more and more examples of 동안, and I expect you might not want to
limit yourself to only “분” (minutes), so lets move on to hours.

Korean Hours (시간)

Talking about minutes is easy because you always simply use 분. For example:

3 시 20 분 means “3:20”, and

20 분 동안 means “for 20 minutes”
When talking about hours, however, 시 is used when talking about the hour on a clock,
whereas 시간 is used when counting hours. Notice the difference between these two sets:

3 시 = 3:00
세 시 = Three o’clock

3 시간 동안 = for 3 hours
세 시간 동안 = for three hours

Remember that pure Korean numbers are used when talking about hours. I usually write
out the Korean word when I’m referring to an amount of hours as in the examples below.
For example:

PLAY 저는 세 시간 동안 잤어요 = I slept for 3 hours

PLAY 저는 한 시간 동안 달렸어요 = I ran for one hour
PLAY 저는 여덟 시간 동안 운전했어요 = I drove for eight hours
PLAY 저는 어제 한 시간 동안 야구를 했어요  = I played baseball for an hour yesterday
PLAY 저는 어제 두 시간 동안 TV 를 봤어요* = I watched TV for two hours yesterday

*Notice that  보다 (to see) is used when watching something. You can also use  보다 when
you watch a performance or concert, or similar things. In English “I saw a TV” and “I
watched TV” have two different meanings, but Koreans simply say “I see TV.”

At this point you are probably asking saying “Okay, I understand how to say that I have
done things for X hours or minutes, but what about if I want to say something like:

I will eat in three hours, or

I ate three hours ago

I will go in 10 minutes, or
I came 10 minutes ago”

You will learn how to create those types of sentences when you learn about 전 and 후
in Lesson 24. For the moment, there is a ton of content in this lesson, so try to focus on
what is presented here.

Korean Seconds (초)

When talking about seconds, you need to use the Sino-Korean numbers. When putting a
number before “초,” it doesn’t matter if you use the word or the numeral. For example:

1 초 = 1 second
일 초 = one second

2 초 = 2 seconds
이 초 = 2 seconds

2 초 동안 = for 2 seconds
이 초 동안 = for two seconds

Examples in sentences:
PLAY 저는 2 초 동안 달렸어요 = I ran for 2 seconds
PLAY 저는 그 사람을 10 초 동안 만났어요 = I met that person for 10 seconds
PLAY1 분은 60 초입니다 = One minute is sixty seconds

Last/Next (지난/다음)

지난 and 다음 are two words that you can use in many situations, including in situations
related to time. In Lesson 10, you learned about 마지막, which can be used to refer to the
“last” or “final” thing in a sequence. Remember, Korean people use another word when
referring to a “previous” (or last) thing, as in: “I saw a movie last (the previous) week.”

In order to refer to a “previous” thing, the word “지난” can be used. I drew a picture to
depict the image I have in my head distinguishing 마지막 and 지난. Imagine you are on a
six week trip, and you are currently in your fourth week of the trip. You can use “지난” to
refer to the previous week, and you can use “마지막” to refer to the final  week. (You can
refer to them both as “last week” in English). For example:
지난 can be added immediately before some words of time (I discuss “some” a little bit
later) to refer to a “previous” thing. This often translates to “last,” though. For example:

PLAY 저는 지난 주에 영화를 봤어요 = I saw a movie last week

PLAY 저는 지난 주에 캐나다에 갔어요 = I went to Canada last week.
PLAY 저는 지난 수업을 안 들었어요 = I didn’t go to/attend the last/previous class

In order to say “attend a class,” Korean people say “수업을 듣다,” which literally translates
to “listen to/hear a class.” As such, you can see that the particle ~을 is attached to “수업”
because “the class” is the noun that is being listened to. Korean learners are sometimes
confused as to why “~에” is not attached to “수업” because they are accustomed to the
English way of saying “I didn’t go to the last class”.

Also, note that this sentence is also correct, but is referring to a different class than above:
저는 마지막 수업을 안 들었어요 = I didn’t attend the last class

지난 can be added only before some words of time. For example, you couldn’t say “지난 분
/지난 초.” These would mean “last minute/second” as in ‘the last minute/second’ that just
passed – which doesn’t make any sense. Notice that they do not have the meaning of “I
handed in my paper at the last minute.” This meaning refers to the last minute in a
sequence of minutes; therefore, “마지막” must be used in this case.

시간, however, means “time” in addition to being a counter for “hours.” So, “지난 시간”
can be used to mean “last time” (but not “last hour”).

PLAY 저는 그것을 지난 시간에 배웠어요 = I learned that (thing) last time

You can also use the word 번 to refer to the last “time” something happened.

PLAY 저는 그것을 지난 번에 배웠어요 = I learned that (thing) last time

PLAY 우리가 지난 번에 계획이 없었어요 = We didn’t have plans last time
PLAY 우리는 지난 번에 돼지고기를 먹었어요 = We ate pork last time

다음 is used in the same way as 지난, but it means “next.” For example:

PLAY 저는 다음 주에 영화를 볼 거예요 = I will see a movie next week

PLAY 저는 다음 주에 캐나다에 갈 거예요 = I will go to Canada next week

Like above, 다음 can be used with 시간 to mean “next time,” but not “next hour.”
PLAY 우리는 다음 번에 학교에 갈 거예요 = We will go to school next time
PLAY 우리는 다음 시간에 학교에 갈 거예요 = We will go to school next time

PLAY 나는 너를 다음 번에 방문할 거야 = I will visit you next time

PLAY 나는 너를 다음 시간에 방문할 거야 = I will visit you next time

Korean Days (일/날/하루)

Days are very confusing in Korean because there are a few different words you need to be
acquainted with. You learned the names of the days of the week in the vocabulary section
of another lesson. You should have noticed that every day of the week ends in 일. 일
means “day” but it is never used alone (if it is used alone, it means ‘work’). I’m looking at
my Korean calendar now, and see a variety of words ending in “일.” Don’t worry about
these words now, just recognize the importance of “일” within them:

총선 = general election
총선일 = the day of the general election (election day)
현충일 = Memorial day

일 is also the counter for days. You learned in Lesson 10 that you must use pure Korean
numbers when counting. When you count days, however, you use Sino-Korean numbers.
When putting a number before “일,” it doesn’t matter if you use the word or the numeral.

PLAY 나는 3 일 동안 공부했어 = I studied for 3 days

PLAY 나는 삼 일 동안 공부했어 = I studied for 3 days

PLAY 나는 3 일 동안 학교에 안 갔어 = I didn’t go to school for 3 days

PLAY 나는 삼 일 동안 학교에 안 갔어 = I didn’t go to school for 3 days

PLAY 저는 5 일 동안 계획이 없을 거예요 = I won’t have plans for 5 days

PLAY 우리는 6 일 동안 만나지 않았어요 = We didn’t meet for 6 days

To make things more confusing, if you are counting days from 1 – 10 there is a word that
corresponds to “one day,” another word that corresponds to “2 days,” another word that
corresponds to “3 days” etc… The most common of these words is 하루 which means “one
day.” 하루 is used much more than 일 일. But 2 일 (이 일)/3 일 (삼 일)/4 일 (사 일)/5 일 (오
일)/etc are used more than their corresponding words.
PLAY 저는 하루 동안 여행했어요 = I traveled for 1 day
PLAY 저는 사흘 동안 밥을 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat rice for 3 days
PLAY 저는 3 일 동안 밥을 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat rice for 3 days
PLAY 우리는 이틀 동안 미국에 있었어요 = We were in America for two days
PLAY 우리는 10 일 동안 한국에 있을 거예요 = We will be in Korea for ten days

You can also place a (Sino-Korean) number before 일 to refer to a specific day in a month.
It seems like it would be easy to confuse when one is talking about the day of a month (3
일) and when doing something for a specific period (3 일). But, in sentences, these are
easily distinguishable:

PLAY 나는 3 일에 수업을 들었어 = I went to class on the 3rd (day of the month)
PLAY 나는 3 일 동안  수업을 들었어 = I went to class for three days

You can refer to a specific day and month by adding #일 after #월:

3 월 2 일 = March 2nd
5 월 25 일 = May 25th

PLAY 저는 8 월 15 일에 도착할 거예요 = I will arrive on August 15th

PLAY 저는 이 여권을 1 월 2 일에 받았어요 = I received my passport on January 2nd

날 is another word that means “day” and can be used as a stand alone word, but not
counted. It is used when talking about a specific day by itself. For example:

PLAY 저는 그 날에 갔어요 = I went on that day

PLAY 저는 그 날에 계획이 있어요 = I have plans on that day
PLAY 저는 그 날에 선생님이 되었어요 = I became a teacher on that day
PLAY 우리는 그 날에 시작할 거예요 = We will start on that day

If you want to talk about doing something on the first/second/third day, you can use 번째
(which you learned in the previous lesson) with 날. For example:

PLAY 우리는 두 번째 날에 서울에 갔어요 = We went to Seoul on the second day

PLAY 우리는 둘째 날에 서울에 갔어요 = We went to Seoul on the second day

PLAY 우리는 세 번째 날에 안 만났어요 = We didn’t meet on the third day

PLAY 우리는 셋째 날에 안 만났어요 = We didn’t meet on the third day
PLAY 저는 네 번째 날에 계획이 없어요 = I have no plans on the fourth day
PLAY 저는 넷째 날에 계획이 없어요 = I have no plans on the fourth day

첫날 is a word that specifically refers to the first day:

PLAY 저는 첫날에 명동에 갔어요 = I went to 명동 on the first day

PLAY 저는 첫날에 그 여자를 만났어요 = I met that girl on the first day

Korean Weeks (주)

Weeks in Korean can be used in sentences just like 일 (day) except that there are no other
weird words to worry about. You use Sino-Korean numbers when talking about weeks:

PLAY 저는 다음 주에 미국에 갈 거예요 = I will go to the US next week

PLAY 지난 주에 저는 계획이 많았어요 = I had a lot of plans last week

The word “주” can also be used as a counter to count weeks. When counting weeks, just
like when counting days, Sino-Korean numbers are used. When putting a number before
“주,” it doesn’t matter if you use the word or the numeral. For example:

PLAY 저는 2 주 동안 한식을 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat Korean food for 2 weeks

PLAY 저는 4 주 동안 여자친구를 안 만났어요 = I didn’t meet my girlfriend for 4 weeks

PLAY 저는 이 주 동안 한식을 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat Korean food for two weeks
PLAY 저는 사 주 동안 여자친구를 안 만났어요 = I didn’t meet my girlfriend for four weeks

The word “주일” can also be used as a counter for weeks. This is acceptable, but it sounds
a bit more natural to use “주” as shown above. For example:

PLAY 저는 2 주일 동안 한식을 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat Korean food for two weeks
PLAY 저는 4 주일 동안 여자친구를 안 만났어요 = I didn’t meet my girlfriend for four weeks

Korean Months (달/개월)

First, notice that the names of each month correspond to the number of the month in the
calendar For example:

January = 1 월
February = 2 월
December = 12 월

When counting months, you can either use 달 or 개월. When using 달, you must use the
pure Korean numbers, and when using 개월, you must use the Sino-Korean numbers.
There is no difference in meaning, and both are used frequently. When putting a number
before 달, I prefer to write the Korean word. When putting a number before 개월, it
doesn’t matter if you use the word or the numeral.

PLAY 저는 두 달 동안 한국어 수업을 들었어요 = I took a Korean class for 2 months

PLAY 저는 2 개월 동안 한국어 수업을 들었어요 = I took a Korean class for 2 months

PLAY 저는 이 개월 동안 한국어 수업을 들었어요 = I took a Korean class for 2 months

My Korean grammar teacher told me years ago that ‘동안’ is actually incorporated into the
meaning of 달, which would mean that you wouldn’t have to say 동안 after 달. Still,
though, most people use 동안 after 달.

Korean Years (년)

Years are used just like weeks, which means that you must use the Sino-Korean numbers.
When putting a number before “년,” it doesn’t matter if you use the word or the numeral:

PLAY 저는 3 년 동안 형을 안 만났어요 = I didn’t meet my brother for 3 years

PLAY 저는 10 년 동안 한국어를 공부했어요 = I studied Korean for 10 years

PLAY 저는 삼 년 동안 형을 안 만났어요 = I didn’t meet my brother for three years

PLAY 저는 십 년 동안 한국어를 공부했어요 = I studied Korean for ten years

However, if you want to say “last/next year” in Korean, you can’t use “지난/다음 년.”
Instead, you must use separate words:

작년 = last year
내년 = next year, for example:
PLAY 나는 내년에 한국에 갈 거야 = I will go to Korea next year
PLAY 그 사람은 작년에 죽었어요 = That person died last year

 This Week/This Month/This Time (이번)

Finally, you can use 이번 just like 지난/다음 when talking about weeks or months to mean
“this week/this month.” You cannot say “이번 년,” instead you must use the separate word
“올해.”

PLAY 저는 이번 주에 계획이 없어요 = I have no plans this week

PLAY 저의 어머니는 올해 한국에 올 것입니다 = My mom will come to Korea this year
Note here that it is common to see “에” omitted from the word “올해.” You can also see in
the section above that this is not the case with  작년 and  내년.

You cannot use 이번 when talking about minutes/seconds/hours. “I want to go to

school this hour” doesn’t make any sense. But remember, in addition to meaning ‘hour’
시간 also means “time.” This means that you can say 이번 시간 to mean “this time,” which
is usually used when talking about “this time in class.” For example:

PLAY 우리는 이번 시간에 많이 배웠어 = We learned a lot this time

In most other cases, it is more natural to use “이번에” instead of “이번 시간:”
PLAY 나는 너를 이번에 안 만날 거야 = I won’t meet you this time

번 can also be added after 지난/다음 to mean “last/next time”

PLAY 저는 박물관에 다음 번에 갈 거예요 = I will go to the museum next time

PLAY 저는 박물관에 지난 번에 갔어요 = I went to the museum last time

“Per”
When talking about each of these units of time, you can add the particle ~에 to
indicate within  that unit of time, how much something was done. You can usually translate
this to “per” in English. For example:

PLAY 저는 이 약을 하루에 두 번 먹어요 = I eat (take) this medicine twice per day
PLAY 저는 그 친구를 1 주일에 한 번 만나요 = I meet that friend once per week
PLAY 저는 여기에 한 달에 세 번 와요 = I come here three times per month
PLAY 저는 1 년에 두 번 미국에 가요 = I go to America twice per year

Almost all the examples in this lesson used 동안. There are other ways you can talk about
these time words without using 동안 (for example, “I will go to Canada 3 days from now”).
However, this lesson was reaching the 6 page mark, and I didn’t want to overload you
more than I already have. I feel like the material in this lesson alone is enough to make
your head spin for a while, so I will end it here.

In later lessons, you will learn how to apply the concepts you learned in this lesson to
more complicated sentences.

That’s it for this lesson!

There are 1250 example sentences in Unit 1.

All entries are linked to an audio file. You can download all of these files in one
package  here.

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.

Lesson 12: Korean Particles 들, 만, 에서, 부터, 까지, (으)로

Jump to:
Vocabulary

An Important Note: Eliminating Subjects/Topic

Korean Particle 들 (and using 몇 with counters)

Korean Particle (only): 만
Korean Particle (from): 에서
Korean Particles: (from and to) 부터 and 까지
Korean Particle (으)로
 

Vocabulary

The vocabulary is separated into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs for the purpose of
simplicity.

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 점원 = store assistant

PLAY 배우 = actor

PLAY 목 = neck/throat

PLAY 소리 = noise/sound

PLAY 목소리 = voice

PLAY 의미 = meaning

PLAY 상황 = situation

PLAY 닭 = chicken

PLAY 문장 = sentence

PLAY 기름 = oil/grease/gasoline

PLAY 그들 = them

PLAY 생활 = lifestyle/life
Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 속삭이다 = to whisper

CONJUGATE PLAY 복습하다 = to review, to re-study

CONJUGATE PLAY 바꾸다 = to change

CONJUGATE PLAY 유학하다 = to study abroad

CONJUGATE PLAY 넘어지다 = to fall

CONJUGATE PLAY 독서하다 = to read a book

CONJUGATE PLAY 출발하다 = to depart

CONJUGATE PLAY 마시다 = to drink

CONJUGATE PLAY 내리다 = to get off, to go down, to come down

CONJUGATE PLAY 나오다 = to come out

CONJUGATE PLAY 나가다 = to go out

CONJUGATE PLAY 쓰다 = to cover one's head

CONJUGATE PLAY 모르다 = to not know

CONJUGATE PLAY 신청하다 = to apply

CONJUGATE PLAY 사다 = to buy

CONJUGATE PLAY 팔다 = to sell

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 얇다 = to be thin

CONJUGATE PLAY 적당하다 = to be moderate

CONJUGATE PLAY 어리다 = to be young

CONJUGATE PLAY 기쁘다 = to be glad

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 꽤 = fairly/quite

PLAY 때 = time, when

PLAY 그때 = at that time

PLAY 쪽 = side/direction

PLAY 열심히 = ‘hard/well’ (study hard)

PLAY 완전히 = perfectly, completely

PLAY 몇 = some ____, how many (used with a counter)

PLAY 층 = floor

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

 Einführung

As of now, you have learned a few different Korean particles. The particles you have
learned so far are: 는/은, 이/가, 를/을, 의 and 도. There are many more particles that you
will need to learn – and this lesson will cover a lot of them. In this lesson, you will learn
about ~들, ~만, ~에서, ~부터, ~까지 and ~(으)로! Let’s get started!

An Important Note: Eliminating the Subject

One thing that I have yet to tell you is that Korean people often omit the topic/subject of
the sentence – especially when the topic/subject is ‘I.’ Korean people love making their
sentences as short as possible, and this is one additional way of doing it. In most cases,
when the subject/topic can be inferred by the situation, Korean people drop it entirely
from the sentence. For example, instead of saying:

저는 아침식사를 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat breakfast

They would say:

PLAY 아침식사를 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat breakfast

Both are perfect sentences and both can be used, but you should be aware that Korean
people often get rid of the subject/topic altogether when speaking. This will be done from
time to time throughout our lessons.

Korean Particle ~들 and using 몇 with a counter

You have probably been asking yourself ‘how can I make something plural?’ Up to now, I
haven’t mentioned anything about plural words in Korean. The reason for this is Korean
people rarely distinguish between singular and plural. For example, if I say:

PLAY 나는 사과를 샀어

This could mean “I bought an apple” OR “I bought apples.” This seems crazy to English
speakers, but this is just how it is done in Korean. In most cases, the context can make it
clear if you bought ‘an apple’ or if you bought ‘apples.’ If you really want to make it clear
that you bought one apple, you could say:

PLAY 나는 사과 한 개를 샀어 = I bought one apple

When dealing with the ambiguity of singular/plural sentences in Korean, you could also
use the word 몇 which can replace a number in these examples: 두 개/두 명/두 번. When
몇 replaces a number in these cases (몇 번/몇 명/몇 개), it has the meaning of “some ____.”
For example, instead of saying: “PLAY 나는 사과 한 개를 샀어”, you could say:

PLAY 나는 사과 몇 개를 샀어 = I bought SOME apples

More examples (remember that 펜 한 개 and 한 개의 펜 have the same meaning):
PLAY 나는 몇 개의 펜을 샀어 = I bought some pens
PLAY 나는 몇 명의 사람을 만났어 = I met some people
PLAY 나는 학교에 몇 번 갔어 = I went to school a few/some times (not sometimes)
(remember,  번 acts as an adverb – so it doesn’t need a particle to be attached to it).

Anyways, back to what I was trying to say earlier. ~들 can be attached to a noun to make
that noun plural. However, adding ~들 to a noun that is not referring to a person is usually
unnatural. Therefore, it would be unnatural to say something like this:

저는 사과들을 샀어요

Instead, ~들 is usually only attached to the word “person” (사람) or other words with the
meaning of people (for example: actors, workers, doctors, etc…).

PLAY 의사들은 돈이 많아 = doctors have a lot of money

PLAY 선생님은 내일 학생들을 만날 거야 = The teacher will meet the students tomorrow
PLAY 배우들은 그들의* 영화를 보통 좋아하지 않아 = actors usually don’t like their movies
*By adding the possessive particle  의 to  그들 (them) it becomes  그들의 (their)

Korean Particle ~만 (only)

The particle ~만 is very common and has the meaning of “only.” It can be attached directly
to the end of a noun to express “only (that noun).” For example:

PLAY 나는 물만 마셔 = I only drink water

It can be attached to the subject or the object of a sentence, and in each case it replaces
the particle that would normally be attached there (~은/는 or ~을/를) or For example:

PLAY 나만 그 여자를 좋아해 = Only I like that girl

PLAY 나는 그 여자만 좋아해 = I only like that girl

PLAY 나만 사과를 샀어 = Only I bought apples

PLAY 나는 사과만 샀어 = I only bought apples

You could also stress that you only bought one apple (or any other number of things) by
placing ~만 on a counter:
PLAY 나는 사과 한 개만 샀어 = I only bought 1 apple
PLAY 저는 차 두 대만 있어요 = I only have two cars
PLAY 저는 친구 한 명만 만났어요 = I only met one friend

I said it once before in Lesson 3, but it is something that learners of Korean often forget:
When a verb ends in 하다, the part before 하다 is usually a noun form of that verb. The
examples I gave before were:

성공하다 = succeed
성공 = success

말하다 = speak
말 = speech/words

성취하다 = achieve
성취 = achievement

With these verbs, the part before 하다 can be separated from 하다 to make a noun form of
that verb. Then, “하다,” meaning “do” can act on that noun (I do study = I study). It is hard
to explain, but look at the following example:

나는 공부했어 = I studied
나는 공부를 했어 = I studied

Those two mean exactly the same thing, even though in the second example, 공부 is used
as a stand-alone noun. But why is all of this important? It is important because now you
can treat 공부 as a regular noun, which means you can attach 만 to it:

PLAY 저는 공부만 했어요 = I only studied

PLAY 저는 어제 일만 했어요 = Yesterday, I only worked

Note that just because a word ends in 하다, doesn’t mean you can do this. For example,
many adjectives end in 하다 (for example: 행복하다: happy), but this:

저는 행복만 해요 = I am only happy – doesn’t really make a lot of sense

Also, many verbs don’t end in 하다 and just end in 다 (for example: 가다, 먹다, 보내다). 
The way that you can change those verbs into a form that allows ~만 to be attached will
be discussed in Lesson 29.
The examples above show ~만 attached to nouns, but really it can be attached to a wide
variety of things – including grammatical principles and other particles, which we’ll get into
after a few more lessons on Korean basics.

When ~만 gets attached to more complicated things, it usually doesn’t replace something,
but overlaps it. What I mean is, when ~만 is attached to the subject or object, ~을/를 or ~
은/는 get eliminated. However, when ~만 is attached to something else, everything usually
stays in place.

I’ll show now how it can be attached to the ~에 particle we’ve covered, and follow up in
later lessons with other particles.

PLAY 우리는 학교에만 갔어요 = We only went to school

PLAY 학생들은 교실 안에만 있어요 = The students are only in their classrooms
PLAY 저는 밤에만 운동해요 = I exercise only at night
PLAY 저는 커피를 낮에만 마셔요 = I drink coffee only during the day
PLAY 저는 그 여자를 그때만 사랑했어요 = I loved her only at that time

When using  그때,  ~에 is often omitted because it can be assumed.

You can see ~만 used on a Korean sign in this YouTube video.

Korean Particle ~에서

Foreign learners of Korean are often very confused as to when they should use ~에서
instead of ~에, as they both denote places in Korean sentences. ~에서 is used to denote
the location in which the subject is doing something.

For example:

PLAY 저는 학교에서 공부할 거예요 = I will study at school

PLAY 저는 저의 친구를 병원에서 봤어요 = I saw my friend at the hospital
PLAY 저는 남편을 공원에서 만날 거예요 = I will meet my husband at the park
PLAY 저는 한국어를 한국에서 배웠어요 = I learned Korean in Korea

In order to help you understand the purpose of ~에서, I would like to make a distinction
between ~에 and ~에서. As I said, ~에서 is used to indicate the location in which the
subject is doing something.
This does not  mean the location that he/she is going to
This does not  mean the location that he/she looking at
This does not  mean the location that he/she places something on
This does not  mean the location that he/she places something in

All of the locations from those examples above would require the particle “~에” to denote
the location.

~에서, on the other hand refers to the location where the subject – the acting agent of the
sentence – is in when actually doing the action. Let’s look at the following example:

저는 건물에 간판을 봤어요

In this sentence, where is the subject (저) when doing the action (보다)? ~에서 is not used
in this sentence, so it is unknown as to where the subject was when he/she saw the sign. It
might be known from context, but this specific sentence is not describing it. Therefore, the
person is saying that he/she saw the sign “on the building” – as if he/she was walking by
and saw the sign attached to the building in some way. The action did not occur  at/on/in
the building, it’s just the location in which he/she was looking at.

Conversely, look at this sentence:

저는 건물에서 간판을 봤어요

In this sentence, where is the subject (저) when doing this action (보다)? ~에서 is attached
to “건물.” Therefore, the subject was in  the building and saw the sign.

Another example:

저는 병을 탁자에 놓았어요

In this sentence, where is the subject (저) when doing the action (놓다)? ~에서 is not used
in this sentence, so it is unknown as to where the subject was when he/she put the bottle
on the table. It might be known from context, but this specific sentence is not describing it.
Therefore, the person is saying that he/she put the bottle “on the table.”

Conversely, look at this sentence:

저는 병을 탁자에서 놓았어요

This sentence is nonsense. It is indicating that, the action actually occurred on/in the table.
That is, the subject somehow within the table placed the bottle somewhere. But the
sentence is so nonsensical that it is not even indicating where the bottle is placed. It could
translate to something like “(While I was) in the table, I placed the bottle.” Don’t get too
hung up on that translation because it’s hard to translate a sentence that doesn’t make
sense.

However, because ~에서 can be used to indicate where the subject is acting, and because
~에 can be used to in this sentence to indicate where the bottle is placed, both ~에 and ~
에서 can be used in the same sentence. For example:

PLAY 저는 방에서 탁자에 병을 놓았어요 = I placed the bottle on the table in the room

This is the same reason that the particle ~에 is placed on the location to which a person is
going. For example, if I said something like this:

PLAY 저는 한국에서 갈 거예요

(This sentence is correct, but it is stating that the person left from Korea because the action
of “going” (가다) is occurring at/in Korea). This function is talked about a little bit later.

Instead, in order to indicate the place to which you are going (and, therefore, not currently
in/at), you must use ~에. For example:

저는 한국에 갈 거예요 = I will go to Korea

~에서 can also be attached to a location where an adjective “occurs.” The word “occurs” is
a bad way to describe this (because adjectives don’t really “occur”, but I can’t think of a
better word. Just like how a verb can be used with a subject…:

저는 잤어요 = I slept

…and a location can be used in this sentence to indicate where that action occurred:

저는 집에서 잤어요 = I slept at home

In that same sense, adjectives can be used with a subject…:

PLAY 과일은 비싸요 = Fruit is expensive

… and a location can be used in this sentence to indicate where that adjective “occurs”:

PLAY 과일은 한국에서 비싸요 = Fruit is expensive in Korea

Here are some other examples:

PLAY 저는 학교에서 추웠어요 = I was cold at school

PLAY 고등학교는 한국에서 어려워요 = High school is difficult in Korea
PLAY 녹차는 한국에서 유명해요 = Green Tea is famous in Korea

I don’t want to provide a ton of examples for this because in order to make perfectly
natural sentences, it requires the use of other, more complicated grammar that you
haven’t been introduced to yet. For now, try to understand this specific function of ~에서
and how it can be used to indicate where a verb or adjective “occurs.”

Also note that when you indicate where something is by using 있다, you should use ~에
instead of ~에서. For example:

PLAY 저는 집에 있어요 = I’m at home

PLAY 저는 차 안에 있어요 = I’m in the car

The other main usage of ~에서 has the general meaning of “from.” In it’s most basic sense,
it can be used to indicate the place from which the subject is departing. This is the usage I
mentioned earlier. For example:

PLAY 저는 한국에서 갈 거예요 = I will go from Korea

PLAY 다음 버스는 저 정류장에서 출발할 거예요 = The next bus will depart from that
station

This same usage can be applied to more complicated scenarios that are similar to
“departing.” For example:

When you are getting off of something (bus/train):

PLAY 저는 서울역에서 내릴 거예요 = I will get off at (from) Seoul station

When something/someone is coming/going/being taken out of something:

PLAY 학생은 교실에서 나왔어요 = the student came out of the classroom
You can also use this to indicate the country (or any other place, for that matter) that you
come from. In English, we say “I come from Canada/I’m from Canada” but in Korean the
past tense of “come” must be used:

PLAY 저는 캐나다에서 왔어요 = I come from Canada

I don’t want to go on a rant here, but one of the things that bugs me is the textbooks that
teach “저는 ___에서 왔어요” in the first or second lesson – before any of the grammar
concepts within the sentence have been taught. For example, when I first started learning
Korean, I had a textbook that taught me “저는 ____에서 왔어요” on the very first page.
Without explaining why I was using 저 instead of 나, why I was using 는, what 에서 meant,
what 오다 meant, how/why 오다 changes to 왔다, how/why 왔다 changes to 왔어요. But I
digress…

It is also important to know that when ~에서 is added to the words 여기/거기/저기 (here,
there, there), it is common to write/say:

여기서 instead of 여기에서

거기서 instead of 거기에서
저기서 instead of 저기에서

In addition to the examples provided, there are more ways in which ~에서 can be used to
mean “from.” Below is a sneak preview of more ways ~에서 can be used to mean “from,”
but I’ve used some grammar forms not yet introduced. Making a mental note of these
types of sentences might help you when you come across similar sentences later.

저는 학교에서 멀리 살고 있어요 = I live far from school

1 에서 10 까지 센다 = Count from 1 to 10
그들은 많은 후보자들 중에서 저를 뽑았어요 = They chose me from many candidates
1 시에서 2 시까지 오세요 = Please come from 1:00 to 2:00
10 에서 5 를 뺀다 = Subtract 5 from 10

As you can see, ‘from’ (in English) has many usages as well. When a word has a lot of
meanings in Korean – and the corresponding English word also has a lot of meanings –
mastering the usage can be challenging, but also rewarding when it all comes together.

Korean Particles ~부터 and ~까지

Two more important Korean particles you need to know are ~부터 and ~까지.

~까지 can be used in sentences with or without ~에서 to have the meaning of “to/until a
place/time.” For example:

PLAY3 시까지 기다릴 거예요 = I will wait until 3:00

PLAY 그 여자를 지금까지 좋아했어요 = I liked that girl until now
PLAY 저는 그 회사에서 5 월까지 일할 거예요 = I will work at that company until May
PLAY 저는 그때까지 김치를 먹지 않았어요 = I hadn’t eaten Kimchi until that time
PLAY 저는 오늘 이 책을 여기까지 읽었어요 = Today, I read up to here in this book
PLAY 저는 한강까지 달렸어요 = I ran until (I reached) the Han River

~부터 is a particle that is often confused with ~에서 because both can translate to “from”
and have seemingly overlapping usages. You learned earlier that one usage of ~에서 is to
indicate the location from which an action is departing. For example:

우리는 집에서 출발할 거예요 = We will depart from home

~부터 is very similar, but is specifically identifying the place (or time) in which
something starts from. If we look at this sentence:

PLAY 나는 인천에서 서울까지 갈 거야 = I will depart from Incheon and go to (until) Seoul

The particle ~에서 identifies that the person departed from 인천. In theory, this could also
be seen as the starting point. Therefore, this sentence could also be written as:

PLAY 나는 인천부터 서울까지 갈 거야 = I will go from Incheon to Seoul

These two sentences (despite the slight nuance of “departing” and “starting”) are
essentially the same. In both cases, the subject is going from Incheon to Seoul. They can
both be seen as correct, but most Koreans would rather use ~에서 when talking about the
location in which something starts/departs.

For example, I showed these two sentences to a Korean person and asked him to explain
the difference:

PLAY 다음 버스는 저 정류장에서 출발할 거예요

= The next bus will depart from that station
다음 버스는 저 정류장부터 출발할 거예요
= The next bus will leave from that stop

He said: “The first one sounds more natural. The second one sounds as if the place the bus
is leaving from is the bus garage… like the absolute starting point of the bus. In most
situations, it would be most natural to say the first sentence.”

Instead, ~부터 is commonly attached to a time  to indicate when  something starts. For

example:

PLAY 저는 어제부터 아팠어요 = I have been sick since (from) yesterday

PLAY 저는 내일부터 한국어를 공부할 거예요 = I’m going to study Korean from tomorrow
PLAY 내년부터 우리는 서울에서 살 거예요 = From next year, we will be living in Seoul
PLAY 저는 3 시부터 학교에 있을 거예요 = I will be at school from 3:00
PLAY 저는 작년부터 한국어를 배웠어요 = I have been learning Korean since last year

It is very common to see ~까지 used in the same sentence as ~부터. Here, ~부터 indicates
the starting point and ~까지 indicates the end point. For example:

PLAY 저는 아침부터 밤까지 공부만 했어요 = From morning to night I only studied
PLAY 나는 캐나다에 1 일부터 8 일까지 있을 거야 = I will be in Canada from the 1st to the 8th

It is common to see “부터” attached to 처음 to translate to something like “from the start”
or “from the beginning.” For example:

PLAY 그들은 저를 처음부터 싫어했어요 = They didn’t like me from the start
PLAY 우리는 그 일을 처음부터 시작할 거예요 = We will start that job/task from the
beginning

When used to say “from start to finish,” the word “끝” is often used to mean “finish.” For
example:

PLAY 저는 그 상황을 처음부터 끝까지 몰랐어요 = I didn’t know that situation from start to
finish
PLAY 저는 그것을 처음부터 끝까지 복습했어요 = I reviewed that from start to finish
PLAY 저는 그 책을 처음부터 끝까지 읽었어요 = I read that book from start to finish
 

 
 Korean Particle ~(으)로

The Korean particle ~(으)로 can be added to nouns with a few different meanings. One of
the main meanings is to indicate with what tool/device/method/material something is
carried out. The English equivalent varies depending on the usage:

Write with a pen
Go to the store by car
Go to school on foot
Make a house out of wood

This meaning of ~(으)로 can be used in so many situations it would be impossible to list
them all. As you get comfortable with the basic examples of this usage, you will slowly be
able to grasp when it should be used in all situations.

~로 is added to words ending in a vowel, whereas ~으로 is added to words ending in a

consonant. ~로 is also added to words ending in ㄹ. The only reason for this difference is
for ease of pronunciation. If you say “것로” there is a split second where your tongue
cannot go directly from 것 to ~로 – so it is changed to 것으로.

PLAY 나는 우리 집을 나무로 지었어 = I built our house out of wood

PLAY 배로 제주에 갈 거야 = I will go to Je-ju by boat
PLAY 저는 그것을 손으로 만들었어요 = I built that with my hands

In this same respect, ~(으)로 can be used to indicate the language which something is
spoken. Here, just like in some of the examples above, the language acts as the “tool” in
which something was communicated. For example:

PLAY 저는 그 문장을 한국어로 말했어요 = I said that sentence (using) in Korean

PLAY 저는 그것을 영어로 할 거예요 = I will say that (using) in English

It is also used to indicate what you ate for a specific meal:

PLAY 저는 아침식사로 밥을 먹었어요 = I ate rice for breakfast

PLAY 저는 보통 점심식사로 과일만 먹었어요 = I usually only ate fruit for lunch
If somebody does an action in line with a bunch of other people, you can use ~(으)로 to
indicate the order something is done by attaching it to a number + 번째.  For example:

PLAY 저는 그것을 두 번째로 했어요 = I did that second (I was the second person to do
that)
PLAY 저는 학교에 두 번째로 왔어요 = I came to school second (I was the second person to
come to school)
PLAY 저는 그것을 첫 번째로 할 거예요 = I will go (do it) first

The other main meaning of ~(으)로 is to indicate the direction that something is
happening in. This sometimes has the same meaning as “에.”For example:

PLAY 저는 집으로 갈 거예요 = I will go in the direction of home (simply ‘I will go home’),
which would be the same as:
PLAY 저는 집에 갈 거예요 = I will go home

~(으)로 is often added after ~쪽 to make “~쪽으로”.  ~쪽 can be added after some nouns
and some direction words (above/below/East/West/etc) to mean “the direction of ___.”

그쪽 = that way/direction
위쪽 = upper direction
사람 쪽 = the direction of the people, etc..

To make sentences like:

PLAY 저의 친구는 저 쪽으로 갔어요 = My friend went that way

PLAY 학생들은 교실 쪽으로 걸어요 = Students walk towards/in the direction of their class

Notice the difference between these two:

PLAY 저는 집 안 쪽으로 달렸어요 = I ran inside the house

PLAY 저는 집 안에서 달렸어요 = I ran inside the house

In the first example, you are running into the house/in the direction of ‘inside the house.’
In the second example, you are running inside the house.
Here is a Korean sign that is used to warn passengers that the door opens “in the direction
of inside” by saying “안쪽으로”! Watch me analyze the grammar and the vocabulary found
on this sign.

Here is a Korean sign that is used to indicate that you should not go “in the direction” of
below/downwards by saying “아래로.” Watch me analyze the grammar and the vocabulary
found on this sign.

That’s it for this lesson! I wanted to cover a few more particles, but this lesson already has
way too much in it! In the next lesson, I will introduce you to more of these common
particles. Until then, make sure you review this lesson before you move on!

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.

Lesson 13: Korean Particles: and, with, to, from, for, about
Jump to:
Vocabulary
Introduction

Korean Particles (and) 과/와, 랑/이랑 and 하고

Korean Particles (with) 과/와, 랑/이랑 and 하고
Korean Particles (to) 에게/한테/께
Korean Particles (from) 에게서/(으)로부터
Do something for somebody (을/를 위해(서))
About something ~에 대해

Vocabulary

The vocabulary is separated into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs for the purpose of
simplicity.
Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 사실 = fact

PLAY 약 = medicine

PLAY 음악 = music

PLAY 하늘 = sky

PLAY 땅 = land

PLAY 지하 = underground

PLAY 빵 = bread

PLAY 쓰레기 = trash/garbage

PLAY 회계사 = accountant

PLAY 녹차 = green tea

PLAY 이 = teeth

PLAY 정부 = government

PLAY 성격 = personality

PLAY 온도 = temperature

PLAY 커튼 = curtains
PLAY 숨 = breath

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 축하하다 = to congratulate

CONJUGATE PLAY 일어나다 = to rise, to get up

CONJUGATE PLAY 준비하다 = to prepare, to get ready

CONJUGATE PLAY 들어오다 = to come in

CONJUGATE PLAY 들어가다 = to go in

CONJUGATE PLAY 입장하다 = to enter (the verb form of 'admission'

CONJUGATE PLAY 숨쉬다 = to breathe

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 흥미롭다 = to be interesting

CONJUGATE PLAY 늦다 = to be late

CONJUGATE PLAY 시원하다 = to be cool, to be relaxing

CONJUGATE PLAY 질투하다 = to be jealous

CONJUGATE PLAY 맵다 = to be spicy

CONJUGATE PLAY 죄송하다 = to be sorry

CONJUGATE PLAY 미안하다 = to be sorry

CONJUGATE PLAY 무겁다 = to be heavy

CONJUGATE PLAY 가볍다 = to be light

CONJUGATE PLAY 유명하다 = to be popular, to be famous

CONJUGATE PLAY 익숙하다 = to be familiar with something

Adverbs:
PLAY 요즘 = these days

PLAY 같이 = together

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

Einführung

In the last lesson, you learned some important Korean particles that you can use in a wide
variety of situations. There are still a few more basic particles that you need to be aware of
before you can begin learning more complex grammar. Most of these particles are very
common, so it is hard to build sentences using more complex grammar without the use of
what you learned in Lesson 12, and what you will learn in this lesson. Let’s get started!

Korean Particles (and): ~과/와, ~랑/이랑 and ~하고

~과/와, ~랑/이랑 and ~하고 can all be used interchangeably to mean “and” in Korean.
~과 and ~와 are the same. ~과 is attached to words ending in a consonant, ~와 is
attached to words ending in a vowel. Similarly, ~랑 and ~이랑 are the same. ~이랑 is
attached to words ending in a consonant, ~랑 is attached to words ending in a vowel. ~
하고 can be attached to words ending in a vowel or consonant. These can be added fairly
simply to nouns. For example:

PLAY 우리는 밥과 빵을 팔아요 = We sell rice and bread

PLAY 나는 사과와 바나나를 샀어 = I bought apples and bananas

The two examples above show ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 placed between two nouns that
together act as the object of the sentence. Notice that although there are two nouns, both
of them (together) sort of act as the single object of the sentence.
Other particles can attach to the construction made by using ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 as well.
For example:

PLAY 나는 인천이랑 서울에 갈 거야 = I will go to Seoul and Incheon

PLAY 형하고 아버지는 영화를 봤어 = My brother and dad saw a movie
PLAY 저는 약과 녹차만 샀어요 = I only bought medicine and green tea

Korean Particles (with): ~과/와, ~랑/이랑 and ~하고

Just when you thought this was going to be an easy lesson! Ha! This sounds crazy to an
English speaker, but the same particles are used to mean “and” and “with” in Korean. You
can distinguish them purely by the context of the conversation, which sounds like it would
be difficult. However, even though you probably think it is difficult, it is always clear (even
to a beginner) if the speaker is trying to express the meaning of “and” or “with” because of
the sentence structure.

For example, when used to have the meaning of “and,” a noun will always follow 과/와/(이)
랑/하고:  For example:

PLAY 나는 사과와 바나나를 샀어 = I bought apples and bananas

After 와, another noun is used, which means you are talking about apples AND bananas.
But if I said this:

PLAY 나는 친구와 갔어 = I went with my friend

There is no additional noun after 와, which means it can only mean “with.” If ~와 in that
sentence had the meaning of “and”, it would translate to:

I went, my friend and…

… which is just nonsense

Here are some examples:

PLAY 저는 친구와 집에 갔어요 = I went home with my friend

PLAY 나는 아버지랑 공원에 갈 거야 = I will go to the park with my dad
PLAY 선생님은 학생들과 박물관에 갔다 = The teacher went to the museum with the
students
PLAY 요즘에 사람들이 친구들이랑 매운 음식을 먹지 않아요 = These days, people don’t eat
spicy food with their friends

Also notice that you can actually use these particles to mean both “and” and “with” within
the same sentence:

PLAY 저는 밥을 친구랑 저의 어머니랑 먹었어요 = I ate (rice*) with my mom and my friend
*Korean people often use “밥” (rice) to simply mean “food.” It stems from the fact that
Korean people eat rice with (almost) every meal – so if you ate, it means that you ate rice.
You can say “밥을 먹었어” which can simply mean “I ate.”

Two adverbs that are commonly used in sentences with “with” are 같이 and 함께. Both of
them mean “together,” and can be used in sentences even if the sentence doesn’t have
one of the particles meaning “with” (과/와/랑/이랑/하고). For example:

PLAY 우리는 빵을 같이 먹었어요 = We ate bread together

PLAY 우리는 빵을 함께 먹었어요 = We ate bread together

PLAY 우리는 집에 같이 들어갔어요 = We went into the house together

PLAY 우리는 집에 함께 들어갔어요 = We went into the house together

PLAY 우리는 음악을 같이 들었어요 = We listened to music together

PLAY 우리는 음악을 함께 들었어요 = We listened to music together

The use of the word “together” in the same sentence as the word “with” in English is
usually unnatural. For example, it sounds unnatural for me to say something like this:

I ate bread together with a friend

Instead, in English, we would say one of the following sentences:

I ate bread with a friend

We ate bread together

In Korean however, it is okay to use 같이 or 함께 in either of these situations; that is – with

the word “with” in the sentence, or without it. For example:

PLAY 저는 빵을 친구랑 같이 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend (together)

PLAY 저는 빵을 친구와* 함께 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend (together)
PLAY 저는 빵을 친구랑 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend
PLAY 저는 빵을 친구와 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend
Notice that I used  ~와 with  함께 instead of ~랑. Just like with the meaning of “and,”  “~와/
과” is more likely to be used in writing and in formal situations, whereas “~(이)랑” is more
likely to be used is speech. This entirely depends on the person who is speaking/writing, but
it is generally true. Likewise, the use of “함께” is generally used in writing and formal
situations. Therefore, the use of  함께 is more likely to be paired with ~과/와 in these cases.

To add an additional level of complexity to this explanation –  같이 is more commonly used
than  함께 (같이 is probably one of the most common words in Korean, while  함께 would
fall much further down the list). However, when  함께 is used, it is more likely to be used
with ~과/와. These are just generalizations based on observations of years of speaking with
Korean people.

More examples:

PLAY 저는 녹차를 엄마랑 같이 마셨어요 = I drank green tea with my mom

PLAY 저는 엄마랑 유명한 영화를 같이 봤어요 = I saw/watched a famous movie with my
mom

PLAY 저는 선생님과 함께 공부했어요 = I studied with my teacher

PLAY 저는 여자 친구와 함께 영화를 봤어요 = I watched a movie with my girlfriend

You can also use these particles to say that you are simply ‘with’ somebody in a location.
In order to do this, you must use 있다 along with one of the adverbs meaning “together”.
For example:

PLAY 나는 친구랑 같이 있어 = I’m with my friend

PLAY 저는 친구와 집에 함께 있어요 = I’m with a friend at home

Note that this meaning of “with” in Korean cannot be used like this:
I built a house  with  my hands
Remember, “my hands” are the method by which you did something, so, as you learned
in  Lesson 12  ~(으)로 should be used in those situations. For example:

저는 손으로 집을 지었어요

 
 Korean Particles (to) 에게/한테/께

These three particles can all be used to indicate that you are doing (usually giving)
something TO somebody. 에게, 한테 and 께 all have the same meaning, but ~한테 is
usually used in conversation, ~에게 is usually written (although it is still said in
conversation very often) and ~께 is used when the person you are giving something to
requires respect (께 is the honorific form of 에게/한테).

PLAY 아버지는 아들에게 돈을 준다 = The father gives money to his son
PLAY 나는 학생들한테 한국어를 가르쳤어 = I taught Korean to the students
PLAY 저는 부장님께 그 사실을 말할 거예요 = I will tell that (fact) to my boss

In the sentence above using ~께, a different verb (말씀) and grammatical form (드리다)
would more likely be used to conjugate the sentence. At this point, you haven’t learned
either of those words (or how they are used), so I refrained from using them in this example.
These will be introduced in  Lesson 39. For now, focus on the use of ~께 in this sentence.

Note that just because you use ~께 doesn’t mean that your sentence needs to end in a
polite way. ~께 is used when the person who is being given to is of high importance,
regardless of who you are talking to. For example, if I was a teacher, talking to my student,
talking about something being given TO the principal, I could say:

PLAY 나는 책을 교장선생님께 줬어 = I gave the principal a book

Again, the word  “드리다” would most likely be used instead of  주다 here. For now, focus on
the use of ~께 and we will continue to discuss this in  Lesson 39.

Korean Particles (from): ~에게서/한테서/(으)로부터

You learned in Lesson 12 that ~에서 can be used to mean “from” in a wide variety of
situations. ~에게서/한테서 can also have the translation of “from,” but they are used in a
more restricted way.

~에게서/한테서 has the meaning that is opposite of ~에게/한테/께, which means it is

used when somebody receives something from somebody. These particles are attached to
the person from whom one receives something. For example:

PLAY 나는 나의 여자친구에게서 편지를 받았어 = I received a letter from my girlfriend

The “thing” that is being received doesn’t need to be something physical. It could be
something abstract like stories, explanations, or other things. For example:

PLAY 저는 교감선생님에게서 한국어를 배웠어요 = I learned Korean from my vice principal

PLAY 저는 그것을 친구한테서 들었어요 = I heard that from my friend

A very similar particle is ~(으)로부터. This particle can also be attached to the person from
whom one receives something. For example:

PLAY 나는 나의 여자친구로부터 편지를 받았어 = I received a letter from my girlfriend

PLAY 저는 교감선생님으로부터 한국어를 배웠어요 = I learned Korean from my vice
principal
PLAY 저는 그것을 친구로부터 들었어요 = I heard that from my friend
PLAY 저는 친구들로부터 사랑을 많이 받았어요 = I received a lot of love from friends
PLAY 아버지로부터 선물이 왔어요 = A present came from my father

~(으)로부터 can also be used when receiving something from a non-person thing (a
company/the government/etc). For example:

PLAY 나는 돈을 정부로부터 받았어 = I received money from the government

PLAY 이것을 하늘로부터 받았어요 = I received this from the sky (heavens)

However, you cannot use ~에게서/~한테서 to indicate that you received something from
a non-person.

To summarize, ~(으)로부터 can be used to indicate that one receives something from a
person or non-person. ~에게서 and ~한테서 have a similar meaning, but can only be used
when one receives something from a person.

Do something for somebody: ~을/를 위해(서)

If you want to say that you are doing something FOR (the benefit of) somebody, you can
add ~를/을 to the person who you are doing something for, followed by 위해(서):

PLAY 나는 나의 여자 친구를 위해(서) 꽃을 샀어 = I bought flowers for my girlfriend

PLAY 나는 부장님을 위해(서) 이것을 썼어 = I wrote this for my boss
PLAY 저는 친구를 위해 빵을 만들었어요 = I made bread for my friend
PLAY 아버지를 위해 시원한 물을 준비했어요 = I prepared cool water for my father
There doesn’t seem to be a difference between 위해 and 위해서.

This form is usually used when you are doing something for a person, but can also be used
sometimes when you are doing something for a non-person:

PLAY 저는 회사를 위해 열심히 일할 거예요 = I will work hard for the company

The important thing is that the thing for which you are doing something must be a noun.
You can use 위해 to indicate that you are doing something for the purpose of a verb (I am
going there to/for the purpose of see(ing) a movie) but you will learn about that
in Lesson 32 once  you have learned how to change verbs into nouns.

Also make sure that you realize that ‘for’ can have many meanings in English. Just because
you say ‘for’ in English, doesn’t mean that it can be translated directly to ~를/을 위해. In
Korean, ~를/을 위해 means for the benefit of. For example, in this sentence:

I am waiting for the bus – the ‘bus’ is the object which you are waiting for, so, in Korean,
you attach the particle ~을/를 to ‘bus’ but not ~을/를 위해:

나는 버스를 기다린다

This isn’t incredibly important right now, but I thought I’d mention it. “위해” is actually a
verb, and the base form of the verb is 위하다. When ~아/어/여 is added to 위하다, it
changes to 위하여. This was first presented in Lesson 5. 하다 officially changes to 하여
when adding ~아/어/여, but this is commonly shortened to 해. Therefore, it is possible to
use “위하여” instead of “위해.” Technically, this is possible in any word that finishes in ~
하다, but it seems to be much more common with 위하다 than any other verb or adjective.

Here is a Korean sign that shows ~을/를 위하여, and my explanation of it.

About something ~에 대해

~에 대해 can also be attached to nouns like 를/을 위해, but this has the meaning of
“about.” It’s very easy to understand when used in simple situations:

PLAY 나는 너에 대해 생각했어 = I thought about you

PLAY 나는 나의 아버지에 대해 말했어 = I spoke about my father
PLAY 나는 그것에 대해 책을 쓸 거야 = I will write a book about it
PLAY 그 회계사는 정부에 대해 나쁜 말을 했어요 = That accountant said bad things about
the government

Just like with ~을/을 위해서, there is very little (if any) difference between ~에 대해 and ~
에 대해서. For example, the sentences above could all be written as:

나는 너에 대해서 생각했어 = I thought about you

나는 나의 아버지에 대해서 말했어 = I spoke about my father
나는 그것에 대해서 책을 쓸 거야 = I will write a book about it
그 회계사는 정부에 대해서 나쁜 말을 했어요 = That accountant said bad things about the
government

One way that you cannot use ~에 대해 is in the following sentence:

My favorite thing about you is your eyes.

I’d love to teach you that sentence in Korean, even though we haven’t covered the
grammar, Ah, what the heck – I’ll show you – even though full understanding won’t come
until Lesson 28.

너에 있어서 내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 너의 눈이야.

Too complicated for you right now, the grammar within that sentence will be discussed
in Lesson 28. Until then…

That’s it for this lesson! I think this one was one of the easiest lessons yet… haha, what do
you think? Simple memorizing – nothing too complicated. In the next lesson, we will be
talking about something native speakers of any language never think about when they
speak… which means it is going to be hard to grasp! Think of this lesson as a gift from me
to relax your brain before you start to get confused again!

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.

Lesson 14: Korean Passive Verbs

Jump to:
 Vocabulary
Einführung

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 되다

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 받다
Korean Passive Verbs – Non-하다 verbs
Korean Passive Verbs – 내다 and 나다
Korean Passive Verbs – Normal verbs

Vocabulary

The vocabulary is separated into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs for the purpose of
simplicity.

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 냄새 (나다) = smell

PLAY 청소기 = vacuum cleaner

PLAY 얼굴 = face

PLAY 시장 = market

PLAY 몸 = body

PLAY 불 = light/fire

PLAY 숙제 = homework
PLAY 기억 = memory

PLAY 상자 = box

PLAY 바람 = wind

PLAY 세금 = tax

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 켜다 = to turn on

CONJUGATE PLAY 끄다 = to turn off

CONJUGATE PLAY 숨다 = to hide oneself

CONJUGATE PLAY 숨기다 = to hide an object

CONJUGATE PLAY 고장내다 = to break

CONJUGATE PLAY 놓다 = to lay an object down

CONJUGATE PLAY 눕다 = to lie down

CONJUGATE PLAY 존경하다 = to respect

CONJUGATE PLAY 대체하다 = to replace

CONJUGATE PLAY 제공하다  = to provide, to offer

CONJUGATE PLAY 포함하다 = to include

CONJUGATE PLAY 내다 = to make something come up/arise/occur

CONJUGATE PLAY 싸우다 = to fight

CONJUGATE PLAY 속이다 = to trick somebody

CONJUGATE PLAY 감동하다 = to impress

CONJUGATE PLAY 서다 = to stand

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 잠기다 = to be locked

CONJUGATE PLAY 켜지다 = to be turned on

CONJUGATE PLAY 꺼지다 = to be turned off

CONJUGATE PLAY 나다 = to have something you didn’t have

CONJUGATE PLAY 고장나다 = to be broken

CONJUGATE PLAY 화나다 = to be mad

CONJUGATE PLAY 짜증나다 = to be annoyed

CONJUGATE PLAY 놓이다 = for an object to be lying down

CONJUGATE PLAY 열리다 = to be open

CONJUGATE PLAY 닫히다 = to be closed

CONJUGATE PLAY 속다 = to be tricked

Adverbs:
PLAY 자꾸 = repeatedly

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

Einführung

This lesson contains a lot of boring, confusing grammar. I am warning you now.
If you looked at the vocabulary list of this lesson before reading this, you may have
noticed something strange with some of the words. A lot of the words look very similar to
each other. The reason for this is because today you will learn about passive verbs in
Korean. Though I studied passive verbs very early in my studies, it is something that
actually took me a year to fully grasp – and not because it is incredibly difficult, but rather
that I never received any proper instruction regarding passive verbs.

I don’t really like explaining English grammar too much in my lessons. However, an
understanding of what passive verbs are and how they are used in English sentences will
help you with your understanding of their equivalent Korean sentences.

An active verb is used when a subject does an action. For example:

In the examples below, the subject is “I”

I eat
I learn
I open

Active verbs often act on an object. For example:

The word “object” here refers to the part of speech that a verb can act on. Sometimes
learners get confused and think that an object means “a thing,” for example; “a pencil” or “a
door.” In theory, any noun can be an object of a sentence – including people or abstract
ideas that are not considered “objects” in the literal (non-language) sense. For example, the
objects are underlined in the following sentences:

I love  my father
He wants  respect

I eat rice
I learn Korean
I open the door

Some active verbs by their nature cannot act on an object. For example, the active verbs
are underlined in the examples below:

I went to the park

I arrived at the park
“The park” in the above examples are not objects. The verb is not acting on that part of
speech. They just indicate places within the sentence.

In all of the above examples, regardless of if there is an object in the sentence or not, the
subject performs the action. These are all active sentences.

Passive sentences indicate that an action is performed on the subject. For example:

I was kicked
The door was opened
The hamburger was eaten

In English, passive verbs feel like adjectives because their sentence structures are similar.
For example:

I was handsome
The door was big
The hamburger was delicious

Let’s look at an active verb and passive verb being used in similar sentences:

1) I opened the door

2) The door was opened

In the first example “I” am the subject and I performed the action (opening) on the object
(the door).
In the second example, “the door” is the subject and the action (opening) was performed
on it.

Below are some more active-passive pairs to help you see how they differ from one-
another:

All of the examples below are in the present tense. In the present tense, these passive
sentences (just like most plain sentences used in the present tense) sound unnatural. For
example, I would never say “I turn the computer on.” However, I am using the present tense
simply because this is the basic “raw” form of the sentence. They could be applied to the
past, the future, or other complicated things could be applied to them.

I turn the computer on

The computer is turned on
I lock the door
The door is locked

I respect my friend
My friend is respected

I cooked the rice

The rice is cooked

Passive verbs (like adjectives) cannot act on an object. For example:

I opened the door (active verb) – correct

The door was opened me (passive verb) – incorrect
The door was big me (adjective) – incorrect

However, sentences with passive verbs can include more information to indicate by whom
(or by what) the action was performed. For example:

The door was opened by me

The door was opened by the wind
The door was opened by the guard

I’ll do the same with all of the passive sentences that I showed you earlier:

The computer was turned on by me

The door was locked by the teacher
My friend is respected by many people
The rice was cooked by my mother

Because passive verbs cannot act on an object, you will never see ~을/를 in a sentence
predicated by a passive verb in Korean. Remember, ~을/를 is used to mark objects in
Korean sentences – and therefore their usage is impossible with passive verbs.

This is probably the most important paragraph in the entire lesson; it is usually unnatural
to use passive verbs in Korean. In almost every situation, it is more natural to use the
active form of a verb. For example, instead of saying “the house is built” it is more natural
to say “somebody built the house” (which implies that the house is now built).

Nonetheless, understanding how passive verbs are used in Korean is crucial to your
development.
There are many ways to make a passive sentence in Korean. In this lesson, we will look at
the different ways this can be done.

It is also important to remember that passive verbs are verbs – not adjectives. Korean
learners often think they are adjectives because they look, sound and feel similar to
adjectives and they never act on objects. Always remember that passive verbs are verbs.
This is important because you must conjugate them as verbs and not as adjectives.

Alright, let’s get started.

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 되다

I’ve told you twice before that verbs ending in 하다 can usually be separated from 하다 to
create a noun form of that verb. 하다 then has the meaning of “do”:

나는 일했어 = I worked
which has the same meaning of:
나는 일을 했어 = I did work/I worked

When dealing with 하다 verbs, most of the time you can simply exchange 하다 with 되다,
to make that verb passive. For example:

포함하다  = to include
포함되다 = to be included

제공하다 = to provide
제공되다 = to be provided

대체하다 = to replace
대체되다 = to be replaced

You can use passive verbs to create sentences that have similar meaning to sentences with
each respective active verb. Structurally the sentences will be different however, because
the passive version of a verb cannot act on an object. For example:

PLAY 이 값은 세금을 포함해요 = This price includes tax

PLAY 세금은 포함돼요 = The tax is included
PLAY 저는 점심을 준비했어요 = I prepared (the) lunch
PLAY 점심이 준비되었어요 = (The) lunch was prepared

PLAY 회사는 기계를 대체했어 = The company replaced the machine

PLAY 기계는 대체되었어 = The machine was replaced

Adding  어 to  되 creates either  되어 or  돼 with no difference in meaning. (For example, 
되다 in the present tense can either be 돼 or 되어. In the past tense, it can either be 
되었다 or  됐다.

Often the speaker wants to indicate by whom/what the lunch was prepared, or

by  whom/what  the machine was replaced. For example:

– The lunch was prepared by the school

– The machine was replaced by the company

In the examples above, although we are still using a passive verb, information about how
the passive verb occurred is given. This is an example of when it is much more common to
use the active form over the passive form in Korean. In Korean (and most likely in English
as well), it would be much more natural to say “I prepared the lunch” instead of “The lunch
was prepared by me.” Nonetheless, the grammar within these sentences is important, so I
need to continue teaching it to you here.

In order to create these sentences, you need to remember that sentences with a
predicating passive verb can NOT have an object – which means that you CANNOT attach
~를/을 to “the school” or “the company.” For example, the sentence below would be
ridiculous and probably wouldn’t be understood at all:

점심이 학교를 준비되었어요

In these types of sentences, in order to indicate how/by which means the passive verb
occurs, you need to use different particles. If this part of a sentence is a person, it is
acceptable to attach the particle “에게” to the noun. For example:

PLAY 그것은 이해되었어 = It was understood

PLAY 그것은 학생들에게 이해되었어 = It was understood by the students

PLAY 집은 청소되었어 = The house was cleaned

PLAY 집은 아버지에게 청소되었어 = The house was cleaned by my dad
Again, I highly suggest that you refrain from using this passive voice in Korean. I need you to
understand what is being introduced here so I can build on it in later lessons. The two
sentences above would be better said as:

PLAY 학생들은 그것을 이해했어요 = The students understood that

PLAY 아버지는 집을 청소했어요 = My dad cleaned the house

The particle ~에 can be used when this part of a sentence is a non-person. For example:

점심이 학교에 준비되었어요 = The lunch was prepared by the school

The particle “~에 의해” can also be attached to nouns that are non-people in these
situations, but the distinction between ~에 and ~에 의해 isn’t formally introduced
until Lesson 78, Since I’m advising against using this passive form, it’s best to focus on the
current presentation and not skip ahead.

Also, remember the meaning of ~(으)로 which you learned in Lesson 12. You learned that
~(으)로 can be used to indicate with what tool/device/method/material something is
carried out. This means that you can say something like:

PLAY 저는 집을 청소기로 청소했어요 = I cleaned the house with a vacuum cleaner

But, if you wanted to say that sentence by using the passive verb (to be cleaned), you
would have to again use ~(으)로 as the particle attached to 청소기 because that was
the method/tool  that was used for it to be cleaned:

PLAY 집은 청소기로 청소되었어 = the house was cleaned by a vacuum cleaner, whereas:

집은 청소기에 청소되었어 = is not correct, although most Korean people would probably
understand you.

Wow. Confusing.

It’s confusing for me, I’m sure it is confusing to you, and it is actually confusing to Korean
people as well – so don’t get too hung up on the difference between ~에/에게 /~(으)로 in
these situations because, as I said – Korean people don’t use passive verbs as much as
they use active verbs.

What do you need to take from all of this? Because it is so confusing, I wrote the main
points that you should know:
 1. Clauses ending in a passive verb can never have a word with an object
marker (를/을) within the clause.

2. Passive verbs are conjugated just like active verbs, even though they feel
like adjectives

3. Though clauses ending in a passive verb cannot have an object in the

clause, other particles can be attached to nouns to indicate how the passive
action occurred. These particles are usually:

1. 에 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person

2. 에 의해 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-

person, but we haven’t studied this specifically yet

3. 에게 – to indicate that something occurred due to a person

4. ~(으)로 – to indicate the tool/method by which something

occurred
One other thing. Just because a noun in a passive sentence has the particle ~에 (or ~에게,
or ~에 의해 for that matter) attached to it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that is the noun that
caused the passive verb to occur. ~에 could also have its more familiar function of
designating a place. For example, we saw this sentence before:

PLAY 세금은 포함돼요 = the tax is included

I could put the noun “값” in the sentence to indicate the location of where the tax is
included in.

PLAY 세금은 값에 포함된다 = The tax is included in the price

Notice in the example above that the particle “~에” is not denoting that the tax is
included by  the price. Rather, it is included in  the price. Being able to recognize things like
this just takes practice and your understanding of this will increase as you progress
through your studies. For now, try not to focus too much on the tiny parts of this lessons,
and focus more on the big-picture.

 
 

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 받다

In addition to the usual way of switching 하다 with 되다 to make a passive verb – there is
another (similar) way of making these verbs passive. This can only be done with certain
verbs (usually acting on people), and is done by switching 하다 with 받다 (to receive). For
example:

PLAY 저는 저의 형을 존경해요 = I respect my brother

PLAY 저의 형은 존경 받아요 = My brother is respected (literally-my brother receives
respect)

The same rules apply with ~에 and ~에게 as described previously:

PLAY 교장선생님은 선생님들에게 존경받아요 = The principal is respected by the teachers

PLAY 나는 너의 말에* 감동받았어 = I was impressed with what you said
*Remember that  말하다 means “to speak.” By removing  하다, 말 becomes the noun form of
“speak,” which is “words/the thing you said/what you said/etc…”

Korean Passive Verbs – Non-하다 verbs

So far you have only learned how to change ~하다 verbs into the passive tense. There are,
of course many verbs in Korean that don’t end in ~하다. When dealing with words not
ending in 하다, there is often a separate (but very similar) word that can be used to
indicate the passive voice. These words will always be presented separately in the
vocabulary lists. Here are some examples:

켜다 = to turn on
켜지다 = to be turned on

끄다 = to turn off
꺼지다 = to be turned off

닫다 = to close
닫히다 = to be closed
The words above are just some examples of active verbs and their passive equivalents. There
are many more of these active-passive pairs, and unfortunately there is no way to
instinctively know which one is active and which one is passive. In all of the examples above,
the longer word (i.e. the word with one more syllable) is the passive verb. However,
sometimes the longer word is the active verb, for example:

붙다 = to be attached
붙이다 = to attach

끓다 = to be boiling
끓이다 = to boil

If you look at these examples, you might think “Oh, so maybe the pattern is – if there is an
active-passive pair where “이” is the difference between the two, then the longer word will
be the active verb.” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Here are two other examples of
active-passive pairs that show the opposite:

쓰다 = to write
쓰이다 = to be written

보다 = to see
보이다 = to be seen

There are many instances of these active-passive pairs in Korean, and there is no way to
know which one is active or which one is passive unless you have specifically memorized it.
This is just something that you will have to memorize whenever you come across it. The only
thing that is helpful is that the active verb usually looks very similar to the passive verb –
with just one syllable added or deleted from the active form.  

I talk about passive verbs, and the use of 줄다  (to be decreased) and 줄이다  (to decrease) in
this YouTube video.

I also talk about it in this video, where 열리다 is used.

You can treat these passive verbs just like the passive verbs you learned in the previous
two sections (되다 and 받다 verbs). Make sure you use the passive verb and not the active
verb (for example – use 닫히다 instead of 닫다 in a passive sentence):
PLAY 밥은 학교에 의해 제공된다 = food is provided by the school
PLAY 밥은 학교에 의해 제공되었다 = food was provided by the school
PLAY 문은 바람에 의해 닫혔어요 = The door was closed by the wind

When dealing with these passive verbs however, you need to think about whether or not
that passive verb is in the state of something. For example, every passive verb you learned
in the previous two sections (하다 to 되다 and 하다 to 받다) were not passive verbs in the
state of something. For example, again:

PLAY 나는 너의 말에 감동받았어 = I was impressed with what you said

Simply means that you were impressed. It does not mean that you are in the state of being
impressed. But, in these sentences:

The computer is on.

The TV is off
The door is locked

All of those nouns are in the state of something. The computer is in the state of being on,
the TV is in the state of being off, and the door is in the state of locked. To indicate that
something “is in the state” of something in Korean, you must add ~아/어 있다 to the
passive verb. For example:

As you know,  있다 has many usages and meanings in Korean. Sometimes  있다 is a verb,
and sometimes it is an adjective. When used as ~아/어 있다 as described here,  있다 is a
verb. For now, this is only important to you when conjugating in the plain form. In the
future, there will be other times when this distinction will be important.

PLAY 저는 컴퓨터를 켰어요 = I turned the computer on

PLAY 컴퓨터가 켜져 있어요 = The computer is (in the state of) on

PLAY 저는 TV 를 껐어요 = I turned the TV off

PLAYTV 가 꺼져 있어요 = The TV is (in the state of) off

PLAY 저는 문을 잠갔어요 = I locked the door

PLAY 문이 잠겨 있어요 = The door is (in the state of) locked

Notice that ~이/가 is used in the passive sentences above. In most cases, this is usually
more natural with these types of sentences. Don’t worry about that for now (I’ll discuss it
in Lesson 17), and focus more on how the verbs (both active and passive) are being used.
I get a lot of people who are confused about this “state” nonsense of these passive verbs. I
would like to fully describe how these words can be used to describe that something is in
a “state” and compare them to the same passive verb that is not in that state. For example:

PLAY 저는 문을 닫았어요 = I closed the door

This sentence is an active sentence. It has an active verb, and has an object. This should be
no problem.

PLAY 문이 닫혔어요 = The door was closed

This is a passive sentence. It is indicating that at some point in the past, the door was
closed by something or someone. This is the exact passive equivalent of “저는 문을
닫았어요” – the only difference is that we have no idea who/what closed the door. Though
you could assume that the door (after that point) was in the state of “closed” this sentence
does not specifically indicate that.

PLAY 문이 바람에 닫혔어요 = The door was closed by the wind

This is essentially the same sentence as above, but in this case we know how the door was
closed. Again, though you could assume that the door (after that point) was in the state of
“closed” this sentence does not specifically indicate that.

PLAY 문이 닫혀 있었어요 = The door was closed

This is another passive sentence, but notice the difference between this sentence and the
two examples above. Here, the sentence is specifically indicating that the door was in the
state of “closed”. Here, we have absolutely no idea if something/somebody had opened it
recently; all we know is that, at that time, the door was not open.

PLAY 저는 문을 닫아요 = I close the door

This is another active sentence with an active verb. Though it makes sense, it probably
wouldn’t be said like this unless there was some sort of adverb or other information in the
sentence (for example, “I close the door every day at 9:00pm”)

PLAY 문이 닫혀요 = The door closes

While technically correct, you would need some other information to make this sentence
more natural (for example, “the door closes every day at 9:00pm”). This is the exact passive
equivalent of “저는 문을 닫아요” – except for that in this example, there is no information
given as to who/what will close the door. The sentence is not referring to the door being
in the state of “closed”, but rather, indicating that door somehow closes.

PLAY 문이 닫혀 있어요 = The door is closed

Notice the difference between this example and the one above. This sentence is not
referring to the door closing. It is only stating that the door is currently in the state of
“closed”

PLAY 문이 닫힐 거예요 = The door will close

Again, this example is referring to the door somehow closing. It is the exact passive
equivalent of “저는 문을 닫을 거예요” – except for that in this example, there is no
information given as to who/what will close the door.

PLAY 문이 닫혀 있을 거예요 = The door will be closed

This is a passive sentence that is indicating that the door will be in the state of “closed” in
the future. It does not indicate who/what will close the door; all we know is that, at that
time in the future, the door will be closed.

Just because an active verb has a passive equivalent, it does not mean you can attach ~아/
어 있다 to that word to describe that it is in the “state” of something. Typically this is only
done for words like on, off, open, closed, etc…

A good example of this not working with a passive verb is with 속이다 and 속다.

속이다 = to trick somebody

속다 = to be tricked

PLAY 나는 친구를 속였어 = I tricked my friend

This is an active sentence.

PLAY 나는 친구에게 속았어 = I was tricked by my friend

This is a passive sentence

나는 속아 있다…
… I am… in the state of being tricked.
This doesn’t make sense. Once you’re tricked, you’re tricked. You do not continue being in
the state of “tricked” like a door continues to be open once it is open.

Here’s an example that I am including just because I have the audio for it. I’m going to get
more example sentences for this lesson shortly with more audio clips:

PLAY 펜이 탁자에 놓여 있었어요

= The pen was (in the state of) laying on the table

 
 

Korean Passive Verbs – 내다 and 나다

There are quite a few words in Korean that can either end in 나다 or 내다.

These two play the same role as 되다 and 하다, where a word ending in 나다 is passive
and a word ending in 내다 is active. For example:

끝내다 = to finish
끝나다 = to be finished

나다 and 내다 can actually be used as standalone verbs as well as be attached to other

words. Both of their meanings are very complex and depend heavily on the situation, but
their general meanings are:

나다 = for something to come up/arise/occur

내다 = to make something come up/arise/occur

However, not all words ending in 나다 have an equivalent 내다 verb (and vice-versa). For
example, 어긋나다 is a word (to be out of step with something) but 어긋내다 is not a
word. At any rate, the two most common words ending in 나다/내다 are:

끝내다 = to finish
끝나다 = to be finished

고장 내다 = to break
고장 나다 = to be broken

It is very common to use the past tense conjugation of both of these words in the passive
voice even when the thing is currently broken/finished. In English, we would say these
sentences in the present tense, but in theory the thing/task was broken/finished in the
past. For example:

PLAY 숙제는 끝났어요 = My homework is finished

PLAY 컴퓨터는 고장 났어요 = The computer is broken

It is possible to use the active voice to express these sentences, but the use of “나다” (as
seen above) is more common than the use of 내다 in these cases. Nonetheless, the
following are acceptable:
PLAY 저는 숙제를 끝냈어요 = I finished my homework
PLAY 저는 컴퓨터를 고장냈어요 = I broke the computer

As I said before, 나다 itself means “for something to come up/arise/occur” which means it
can be used in a lot of sentences to indicate that some noun “comes up”. Three common
ways to use 나다 are with 기억 (a memory) with 생각 (a thought) and with 냄새 (a smell):

PLAY 아! 그것이* 기억났다! = Ah! I remember that! (Literally – my memory came up)
PLAY 좋은 생각이* 났어요! = I have a good idea (Literally – a good idea came up)
PLAY 그 가방에서 냄새가 났어요 = That bag is smelly (A smell is coming out of that bag)
PLAY 그 방에서 냄새가 났어요 = That room is smelly (A smell is coming out of that room)

*Remember that  나다 is a passive verb and cannot act on an object. Therefore, the particle
~이/가 must be used on “것.” You will learn more about this sentence structure in the  next
lesson.

Another common example of “나다” in use is in the following phrase:

PLAY 큰 일 났어요!

Literally, this translates to “a big thing/task/work came up!” In Korean, this expression is
used similar to the expression “Oh no! Something bad just happened!” A more common
expression would probably be “Oh crap!”

You will see “나다” used with many other words throughout your Korean studies. The most
common examples of 나다 (or it’s active 내다 form) are the examples above. Other
common examples that you will learn shortly are provided below. I haven’t included these
words in the vocabulary list above, so you don’t need to memorize them now. I am simply
introducing them to you at this point because they are related to this topic.

소리 = sound
소리가 나다 = the verb of a sound happening (for a sound to “come up”)

화 = anger, rage
화가 나다 = to be angry (for anger to “come up”)

사고 = accident
사고가 나다 = to get into an accident (for an accident to “arise”)
땀 = sweat
땀이 나다 = to be sweating (for sweat to “come up”)

전쟁 = war
전쟁이 나다 = for a war to start (for a war to “come up”)

멀미 = motion sickness
멀미가 나다 = for motion sickness to “come up”

In a lot of these cases, you will see 나다 conjugated into the past tense when we as English
speakers would think of the situation in the present tense. To explain this phenomenon, let
me bring up an example from before:

PLAY 아! 그것이 기억났다! = Ah! I remember that!

Notice here that 나다 is conjugated to the past but I have translated the English sentence
into the present tense. If you imagine your memory as a thing that can “come up,” in
theory, the memory had already came up before you said that sentence – therefore
making it in the past tense. Here, the context of the conversation can inform you if the
speaker is referring to something in the past or present tense.

It is possible to use these words in the present tense, but that would mean that the noun
is currently  coming up. A good example from that list above would be:

PLAY 땀이 났어요 = I’m sweating

Here again, you can see 나다 conjugated to the past tense but the English sentence is
translated into the present tense. Just by the nature of the word “나다” (to come out) in
Korean, when sweat has “come out” of your body it means that you now have sweat on
your body which we as English speakers would say as “I’m sweating.”

When 나다 is conjugating into the present tense in these cases, it insinuates that the thing
is currently “coming up.” In most situations, the difference is negligible and distinguishing
them would really be splitting hairs.

However, let’s split some hairs:

PLAY 땀이 났어요 = Sweat was coming out of my body… which means that there is
currently sweat on my body… which means that I am wet from the sweat on my body that
had previously come out of my body.
PLAY 땀이 나요 = Sweat is literally currently coming out of my body

PLAY 저는 그것이 기억 났어요 = I remembered that… which means that I also currently
remember that fact… which means that I know that fact that I had previously remembered

PLAY 저는 그것이 기억 나요 = That memory is literally currently just coming to my mind

Really, this whole past/present thing is quite advanced and is not something I developed
an understanding of until many years of exposure to Korean. As a beginner (you are still a
beginner if you are only at Lesson 14!) you probably don’t need to worry about splitting
these hairs. However, when I was learning, I would have wanted this to be explained to me
at some point, so here I am explaining it to you.

I should point out that we don’t see this same phenomenon when these words are used in
negative sentences. For example, if I say:

그것이 기억 안 났어

Does the fact of your memory “not  coming up” mean that it is currently not up when you
said the sentence? Huh…. I can’t even wrap my head around that sentence.

This type of past-tense-conjugated negative sentence with 나다 would only  be used to say

that you didn’t remember something sometime in the past. If you want to say that you
cannot currently remember something, you can use the present tense conjugation. For
example:

PLAY 나는 그때 기억이 안 났어 = I didn’t remember (that) at that time

PLAY 나는 그것이 기억 안 나 = I don’t remember that

Korean Passive Verbs – Normal verbs

So far, you’ve learned about dealing with 하다/되다/받다 verbs, verbs that can be in a
state (닫다/닫히다) and 나다/내다 verbs. Sometimes, however, a verb that fits none of
these conditions can be put into the passive voice. All that needs to be done in these cases
is to add ~아/어지다 to the verb stem to make it passive. Note that this cannot be done
with all verbs, but some common examples are:

주다 = to give
주어지다 = to be given
(Note that the word is 주어지다 and not  줘지다)

짓다 = to build
지어지다 = to be built (짓 + 어 = 지어) + 지다 = 지어지다

PLAY 기회가 주어졌어요 = I was given a chance

PLAY 그 집은 한국에서 지어졌어요 = that house was built in Korea

That’s it!

I warned you earlier, there was a lot of grammar in this lesson. Though all of the grammar
in this lesson is very important, and must be understood to continue your development of
Korean – keep in mind that it is always more natural to use active sentences instead of
passive sentences in Korean.

I’m sure you are very confused! But I did my best to describe everything somebody would
need to know when having to worry about the passive voice in Korean.

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.

Lesson 15: Miscellaneous Words and Grammar: 들다, Korean

Homonyms, Being Sick, Different/Similar/Same
Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

Explanation of 좋다/싫다 to 좋아하다/싫어하다
Subject – Object – Adjective Form
 Korean Word: 들다
Korean Compound Verbs
Different/Similar/Same in Korean (다르다/비슷하다/같다)
Korean Homonyms
Being Sick in Korea

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 잠 = sleep

PLAY 모자 = hat

PLAY 줄 = line, string, rope, queue

PLAY 감기 = a cold

PLAY 기침 = cough

PLAY 설사 = diarrhea

PLAY 독감 = the flu

PLAY 재채기 = sneeze

PLAY 동아리 = a club in school or university

PLAY 취미 = hobby

PLAY 수학 = math

PLAY 가족 = family

PLAY 실력 = skills

PLAY 사촌 = cousin

PLAY 삶 = life

PLAY 맥주 = beer

PLAY 과거 = past

PLAY 마음 = one’s heart/mind

PLAY 그림 = picture, painting

PLAY 속 = inside

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 들다 = to lift, to carry, to hold

CONJUGATE PLAY 들다 = to enter, to go into

CONJUGATE PLAY 가져오다 = to bring an object

CONJUGATE PLAY 가져가다 = to bring/take an object

CONJUGATE PLAY 돌리다 = to turn, to run a machine, to hand out

CONJUGATE PLAY 돌다 = to turn oneself, to rotate oneself

CONJUGATE PLAY 돌아보다 = to look back

CONJUGATE PLAY 돌아가다 = to go back, to return

CONJUGATE PLAY 돌아오다 = to come back, to return

CONJUGATE PLAY 돌려주다 = to give back

CONJUGATE PLAY 걸다 = to hang

CONJUGATE PLAY 주문하다 = to order

CONJUGATE PLAY 결혼하다 = to get married

CONJUGATE PLAY 부르다 = to call out

CONJUGATE PLAY 고르다 = to choose, to pick

CONJUGATE PLAY 넣다 = to insert, to put inside

CONJUGATE PLAY 경험하다 = to experience

CONJUGATE PLAY 설명하다 = to explain

CONJUGATE PLAY 자랑하다 = to show off

Passive verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 걸리다 = to be hanging

CONJUGATE PLAY 걸리다 = to be caught, to be stuck, to be trapped

CONJUGATE PLAY 걸리다 = to catch a cold/sickness

CONJUGATE PLAY 걸리다 = to “take” a certain amount of time

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 똑같다 = to be exactly the same

CONJUGATE PLAY 자랑스럽다 = to be proud

CONJUGATE PLAY 또 다르다 = another

CONJUGATE PLAY 시끄럽다 = to be noisy, to be loud

CONJUGATE PLAY 흔하다 = to be common

CONJUGATE PLAY 드물다 = to be rare

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 아마도 = maybe/might

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

Einführung

This lesson will have a very different feel than all the previous lessons you have learned.
Most of the words you have learned so far can be understood and used in sentences
without much thought or hesitation. For example, if you knew how to say this:
저는 한국어를 배웠어요 = I learned Korean

And then subsequently learned “공부하다” (to study), it would be easy to figure out that
you could also say:
저는 한국어를 공부했어요 = I studied Korean.

However, there are many words that you would not be able to pick up instinctively
because they follow different rules or patterns. In this lesson, I want to teach you about
some of these words. I also want to use this lesson as a means to teach you some small
concepts in Korean that you should know. These concepts are important, but are too small
to have an entire lesson dedicated to that one concept. So, I have included them in this
“miscellaneous” lesson:

More about 좋다/싫다 to 좋아하다/싫어하다
I have told you a few times that in most  words ending in 하다, you can remove the ~
하다 and the remaining word then becomes a noun of that verb. For example:

말 = speech/words/the thing that you say

말하다 = to speak

주문 = an order
주문하다 = to order

결혼 = marriage
결혼하다 = to marry

존경 = respect
존경하다 = to respect

This cannot be done with 좋아하다 and 싫어하다. That is:

좋아 is not a noun that means “likeness” (or whatever), and

싫어 is not a noun that means “dis-likeness “(or whatever)

Note, however that 좋아 and 싫어 can be found in sentences, but only as conjugated

forms of 좋다/싫다 and not as the noun form of 좋아하다 and 싫어하다. You learned in
previous lessons that 좋다 and 싫다 are adjectives. As adjectives, they can describe an
upcoming noun or predicate a sentence. For example:

PLAY 저는 좋은 김치를 먹었어요 = I ate good kimchi

PLAY 김치는 좋아요 = Kimchi is good

Just a quick note. Only in rare cases would you actually say ‘김치는 좋아요.’ In most cases if
you wanted to describe  김치 by saying it was good, you would use the word  맛있다 instead.
You would only really use this sentence if you/somebody was talking about something bad
(like maybe something bad for your health), and then you could say “… is bad, but Kimchi is
good.” Nonetheless, it is grammatically correct, and I am specifically using this sentence to
make a point that you will understand later in the lesson.

좋아하다 is made by adding ~아/어하다 to the stem of 좋다. This changes 좋다 from an
adjective (good) to a verb (to like). Likewise,

싫어하다 is made by adding ~아/어하다 to the stem of 싫다. This changes 싫다 from an
adjective (not good) to a verb (to dislike).
It would be good to note that you can add ~아/어하다 with some other adjectives as well.
좋다 and 싫다 are the most common (and the most important) to worry about right now,
but other common examples are:

부끄럽다 = shy (this is an adjective)

부끄러워하다 = shy (this is a verb)

부럽다 = envious (this is an adjective)

부러워하다 = envious (this is a verb)

Aside from knowing that one is a verb and one is an adjective, you don’t need to worry
about these other words right now. I talk more about this concept and how they are used
differently, but not until much later in Lesson 105. For now, let’s just focus on 좋아하다
and 싫어하다.

As a verb, 좋아하다 can be used to indicate that one “likes” something. For example:

PLAY 김치는 좋아요 = Kimchi is good

PLAY 저는 김치를 좋아해요 = I like Kimchi

Likewise, 싫어하다 can be used to indicate that one “dislikes” something. For example:

PLAY 김치는 싫어요 = Kimchi is bad/not good

PLAY 저는 김치를 싫어해요 = I don’t like Kimchi

However, the use of “좋다” and “싫다” in these sentences is commonly used to say:

PLAY 김치가 좋아요 = I like Kimchi

PLAY 김치가 싫어요 = I don’t like Kimchi

Or, other examples:

PLAY 학교가 좋아요 = I like school

PLAY 학교가 싫어요 = I don’t like school

PLAY 맥주가 좋아요 = I like beer

PLAY 맥주가 싫어요 = I don’t like beer

The mechanics to how this is done is talked about next.

 

Subject – Object – Adjective Form

One of the basic fundamentals of grammar (not just Korean grammar) is that an adjective
cannot act on an object. This means in Korean you can never have a sentence predicated
by an adjective that is acting on a word with the object particle ~를/을. This means that
you cannot say this:

저는 김치를 좋다 = I kimchi good

(this doesn’t make sense in either language)

But, you can say any of these:

PLAY 저는 김치를 먹었어요 = I ate kimchi

An object predicated by a verb

PLAY 김치가 좋아요 = kimchi is good

A subject predicated by an adjective

PLAY 저는 좋은 김치를 먹었어요 = I ate good kimchi

An object being described by an adjective predicated by a verb

That being said, sometimes, Korean people actually DO make sentences that are
predicated by adjectives and also have an “object.” Remember though, you cannot (100%
cannot) use an adjective to act on an object. So how do Korean people say this? They do
so by adding ~이/가 to the object instead of ~을/를. This technically makes the grammar
within the sentence correct because there is not an adjective acting on an object. Take a
look at the example:

PLAY 김치는 좋아요 = Kimchi is good

PLAY 저는 김치를 좋아해요 = I like kimchi, which can also be said like this
PLAY 저는 김치가 좋아요 = I like kimchi

What I am trying to get at here – is that often times in Korean there is an adjective or
passive verb that acts on objects. However, these adjective/passive verbs must (of course)
always be treated as an adjective or passive verb.
Adjectives and passive verbs can never act on objects, so instead of using ~를/을 in these
situations, you have to use ~이/가. Another example where this is commonly done is with
그립다:

그립다 = this word is translated as “to miss,” but is usually used when talking about
missing a non-person (it is sometimes used to say that you miss a person, but we will talk
about how to say you miss a person in Lesson 17).

그립다 is an adjective in Korean (because it actually describes the feeling rather than an
action verb). This means that if you want to say “I miss Korean food” you cannot say:

저는 한국 음식을 그리워요. Instead, you must say:

PLAY 저는 한국 음식이 그리워요 = I miss Korean food

More examples. Notice that the predicating word of each sentence in an adjective:

PLAY 나는 네가 자랑스러워 = I am proud of you

PLAY 나는 그 사람이 싫어 = I don’t like that person
PLAY 저는 한국이 좋아요 = I like Korea

You also saw this same phenomenon in the previous lesson with passive verbs. Remember,
you cannot have a passive verb act on an object. Therefore, we saw the following types of
examples in the previous lesson:

PLAY 저는 그것이 기억나요! = I remember that!

PLAY 저는 땀이 나요! = I’m sweating!
PLAY 저는 화가 났어요 = I was/I am angry

Korean Word: 들다

The word 들다 in Korean is very difficult because it can be used in so many ways. Two of
the most common usages are:

들다 = to carry/hold something
들다 = to enter/go into something/somewhere

Both of these usages are overarching situations that most of the usages of 들다 can fit
into. The difficulty with 들다 is, because it can be used in so many different ways, it is often
hard to come up with a translation that fits all possible situations. Let me show you three
examples of how 들다 can be used under the overarching situation of “to enter/go into
something/somewhere.”

PLAY 나는 동아리에 들었어 = I joined a club (I “entered” a club)

(나는) PLAY 잠이 들었다 = I fell asleep (I “entered” sleep)
PLAY 저는 그 그림이 마음에 들어요 = I like that picture (That picture enters my heart)
The definition of the word  마음 generally refers to one’s heart/one’s mind

Now, let me show you examples of how 들다 can be used under the overarching situation
of “to carry/hold something.”

PLAY 저는 손을 들었어요 = I raised my hand (I “held up” my hand/carried my hand)

PLAY 저는 가방을 들었어요 = I carried the/my bag

Okay, so what’s my point?

Well, I have three points actually.

1) First, I wanted to introduce how 들다 can be used. With a general understanding of the
two overarching usages presented here (along with the specific situations outlined in the
example sentences), you should be able to tackle most usages of 들다 as you continue to
study more advanced sentences.

2) This is really crucial to your development of Korean and how it relates to the meanings
you have of words from your understanding of English. You have to realize that Korean
and English are fundamentally different, and it is very difficult to translate sentences
sometimes. In cases like these, you should try not to translate the meaning of a word
directly into a specific definition. Rather, you should be open to the fact that it can have
many meanings depending on the context.

For example, imagine if you knew the following words and their definitions:

 저 = I/me

 마음 = heart/mind

 들다 = enter

 그림 = picture
And you saw the following sentence:
PLAY 저는 그 그림이 마음에 들어요

Would you be able to understand its meaning if I had not explained it to you earlier? Many
learners of Korean might read that and say “Well, it looks like that person has a picture
entering his heart/mind… but I’m not quite sure what that means.”

This is the first of many times where I will encourage you to not translate/understand
sentences literally. Instead, try to understand what the meaning of a sentence could  be
based on your understanding of the words within it. For example, if you come across the
word “들다” in your studies, realize that it can have many usages – and just because it
doesn’t immediately look like it will translate to “enter” or “carry,” an open mind might
allow you to see things in different ways.

3) I specifically wanted to teach you the meaning of 들다 because it is commonly used in

compound words, which I will talk about in the next section.

Korean Compound Verbs

You will notice (or may have already noticed) that many Korean verbs are made by
combining two verbs together. This is usually done by adding one verb to the stem of the
other, along with ~아/어. When this happens, the meanings of both of the words form to
make one word. For example:

들다 = to enter something

가다 = to go

들다 + 가다 = 들 + 어 + 가다
= 들어가다 = to go into something

PLAY 아버지는 은행에 들어갔어요 = My dad went into the bank

 
들다 = to enter something
오다 = to come

들다 + 오다 = 들 + 어 + 오다
= 들어오다 = to come into something

PLAY 남자는 방에 들어왔어요 = A man came into the room

나다 = to arise out of something/come up/come out

가다 = to go

나다 + 가다 = 나 + 아 + 가다
= 나가다 = to go out of something

PLAY 저는 집에서 나갔어요 = I went out of home (I left home)

나다 = to arise out of something/come up/come out

오다 = to come

나다 + 오다 = 나 + 아 + 오다
= 나오다 = to come out of something

PLAY 학생은 학교에서 나왔어요 = The student came out of school

가지다 = to own/have/posses
오다 = to come

가지다 + 오다 = 가지 + 어 + 오다
= 가져오다 = to bring something

PLAY 나는 나의 숙제를 가져왔어 = I brought my homework

PLAY 그 학생은 숙제를 가져오지 않았어 = That student didn’t bring his homework

가지다 = to own/have/posses
가다 = to go
가지다 + 가다 = 가지 + 어 + 가다
= 가져가다 = to take something

PLAY 저는 저의 모자를 가져갈 거예요 = I will bring/take my hat

가져오다 often translates to “to bring” and  가져가다 often translates to “to take.” However,
the translation of “to bring” could work for both  가져오다 and  가져가다.

가지다 means “to possess” and “오다” and “가다” mean “to come” and “to go” respectively. 
Deciding to use  가져오다 or  가져가다 depends on the point of reference of the acting agent
in the sentence to the speaker. Specifically, whether the acting agent is coming or going to
the location in question.

Imagine you have money at your house, and you will go to your friend’s house later to give
it to him. Therefore, you will have to “bring” or “take” (same meaning) that money with you
when you head over there. If you are currently at your house and are talking to your friend
about what you will do, you should use the word “가져가다” because you are  going  to your
friend’s house while in possession of the money (저는 돈을 가져갈 거예요). In this example, 
가져가다 is used and the best English translation would be “I will bring the money.”

However, imagine you have already arrived at your friend’s house with the money. You can
use the word “가져오다” because you  came  to your friend’s house while in possession of the
money (저는 돈을 가져왔어요). In this example,  가져오다 is used and the best English
translation would be “I brought the money.”

People would read those two examples and think “Oh, so if it is something happening in the
future – I should use  가져가다 and if it is something happening in the past, I should use 
가져오다.”

No. It has nothing to do with the tense of the sentence. It has everything to do with the point
of reference of the acting agent of the sentence to the speaker.

For example, imagine you are at your house with the money. If your friend wants to tell you
to “bring the money,” he should use the word “가져오다” because you are  coming  (not
going) to him. To his reference, you are “coming.” In this case,  가져오다 should be used.

You will come across many of these words when you are learning how to speak Korean. It
is not something terribly difficult, but is something that you should be aware of (it helps to
understand the word if you realize that it is made up of two separate words).
Another word that you will see commonly in these compound words is “돌다”:

돌다 = to turn/to spin/to rotate

Examples of compound words:

돌다 + 보다 = 돌아보다 = to turn around (and see)

돌다 + 가다 = 돌아가다 = to return/go back
돌다 + 오다 = 돌아오다 = to return/come back
돌리다 + 주다 = 돌려주다 = to give back

PLAY 저는 9 월 1 일에 캐나다에 돌아갈 거예요 = I will go back to Canada on September 1st

PLAY 저는 친구에게 책을 돌려줬어요 = I gave my friend back his book

That’s good enough for now, but you will continue to see these as you progress through
your studies.

Different/Similar/Same in Korean (다르다/비슷하다/같다)

Three words that you have learned in previous lessons are:

다르다 = different
비슷하다 = similar
같다 = same

Using these words isn’t as straight forward as it would seem, so I wanted to spend some
time teaching you how to deal with them. Of course, in simple sentences, they can be used
just like any other adjectives. For example:

PLAY 그것은 비슷해요 = That is similar

PLAY 우리는 매우 달라요 = We are so different
우리는 같아요 = We are the same

The sentence above sounds unnatural in Korean. Although “같다” translates to “the same,”
in most cases (especially in cases like this where nothing is being compared), it is more
natural to use the word “똑같다,” which usually translates to “exactly the same.”
For example:
PLAY 우리는 똑같아요 = We are exactly the same

When comparing things like this in English, we use a different preposition for each word.
For example:

I am similar to my friend
That building is different from yesterday
Canadian people are the same as Korean people

In Korean, the particle ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 can be used to represent all of these

meanings. For example:

PLAY 저는 친구와 비슷해요 = I am similar to my friend

PLAY 그 건물은 어제와 달라요 = That building is different from yesterday
PLAY 캐나다 사람들은 한국 사람들과 같아요 = Canadian people are the same as Korean
people
PLAY 이 학교는 우리 학교와 똑같아요 = This school is exactly the same as our school

The ability of ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 to be used in all of these cases creates confusion for
Korean people when they learn English. You will often hear mistakes from Korean people
like:

“This school is the same to our school”

Notice in the sentence above that the particle ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 is used to denote that
something is different from, similar to, or the same as something else. In theory, you could
change the order of the sentences (to make the sentence structure similar to what you
learned in Lesson 13) to indicate that two things (this and that) are different, similar or the
same. For example:

PLAY 우리 학교와 이 학교는 똑같아요 = Our school and this school are exactly the same

As you can see with the English translation – this doesn’t create any difference in meaning.
It merely changes the wording of the sentences and the function of the particles slightly.

I talk about the usage of 같다 later in Lessons 35 and 36. Specifically, in Lesson 36 I talk
about how 같다 is more commonly used to say “something is like something.” I don’t want
to get into this too much in this lesson, because the purpose of this section was for me to
introduce you to the grammar within these sentences so you could apply it to what I am
about to introduce next.

Check this grammar out. This is probably an easy sentence to you now:
PLAY 나는 잘생긴 남자를 만났어 = I met a handsome man
Subject – adjective (describing an) – object – verb

What about these next sentences?

PLAY 나는 비슷한 남자를 만났어 = I met a similar man, or
PLAY 나는 같은 남자를 만났어 = I met the same man

These sentences have the same structure as before:

Subject – adjective (describing an) – object – verb

That should be easy for you too. But what about if you wanted to say “I met a man who is
similar to your boyfriend.” Seems too complicated, but let’s break it down:

너의 남자친구와 비슷하다 = similar to your boyfriend

비슷하다 is an adjective – which means it can modify a noun:
비슷한 남자 = similar man

너의 남자친구와 비슷한 남자 = A man (that is) similar to your boyfriend

나는 ( — )를 만났어 = I met —

PLAY 나는 (너의 남자친구와 비슷한 남자)를 만났어 = I met a man that is similar to your

boyfriend

This structure is very complex and is an introduction to describing nouns with phrases
instead of simply using one adjective. In Lesson 26, you will learn more about how to
describe nouns with things other than simple adjectives – such as verbs and complex
phrases.

The meaning of “different” in English has more than one nuance, which are possessed by
“다르다” as well. Although the meaning of “different” in the two sentences below is similar,
try to see that they are slightly different:

I am different than him

I saw a different movie

The first one describes that something is not the same as something else.
The second one has a meaning similar to “other” or “another,” where (in this case) the
person did not see the movie that was originally planned, but instead saw “another” or a
“different” movie.

다르다 can be used in both situations. For example:

PLAY 저는 그와 달라요 = I am different from him

PLAY 저는 다른 영화를 봤어요 = I saw a different (another) movie

“또 다르다” usually translates to “another,” while “다르다” translates to “other.” However,

in the example above, replacing “another” with “other” makes it sound weird.

The function of “또 다르다” is hard to explain, but it is easier to explain (and understand) if
you think of it as two separate words (which it actually is). It is a combination of the
adjective “다르다” and the adverb “또”, which is used when something happens again.

“또 다르다” is used when one particular thing has already been described, and you are
explaining another  thing. For example, imagine you are sitting in a meeting with your
coworkers discussing potential problems for a plan. People are all discussing the problems
they see, and you can point out:

PLAY 또 다른 문제는 그것이 비싸요 = Another problem is it (that thing) is expensive

In this same respect, you can say the following sentence, and although the translation in
English is similar, try to understand the difference in adding “또”:

PLAY 저는 또 다른 영화를 봤어요 = I saw ANother movie

In this, maybe the person saw one movie, and then again  saw a different movie.

Words that are the same but have different meanings (Korean Homonyms)

This may be something that is obvious when learning any language, but I wanted to point
it out. In Korean, there are a lot of words that have more than one meaning. It is like this in
English as well, but most people never notice it until they stop to think about how many
there actually are. Whenever there is a word with many meanings in Korean, these
different meanings will always have a separate entry in our vocabulary lists (not necessarily
in the same lesson, however). An example of this is “쓰다”:

쓰다 = to write
쓰다 = to use
쓰다 = to wear a hat

Each of these words has had a separate entry in our vocabulary lists. However, when a
word has many meanings, but most of those meanings can be combined into a few
‘umbrella term’ meanings – only those ‘umbrella term’ meanings will be shown. A good
example we talked about earlier is 들다. 들다 has so  many meanings, most of which can fit
into three or four broad definitions.

Either way, be aware that many words have many meanings in Korean:

PLAY 나는 편지를 친구를 위해 쓸 거야 = I am going to write a letter for my friend

PLAY 나는 그 기계를 썼어 = I used that machine
PLAY 저의 아버지는 모자를 항상 써요 = My father always wears a hat

Another word that has many common meanings is 걸리다:

걸리다 = to be (in the state of) hanging

걸리다 = to be caught/stuck/trapped
걸리다 = to “take” a certain amount of time
걸리다 = to catch a cold/sickness

There are more usages, but lets just focus on these four for now:

걸리다 = to be hanging
Similar to the passive verbs you learned in the previous lesson, this verb can be used to
indicate the passive ‘state’ of hanging:

PLAY 그림은 벽에 걸려 있어요 = The picture is hanging on the wall

걸리다 = to be caught/stuck/trapped
A verb that can be used when something trips/gets caught/gets trapped:

PLAY 나는 줄에 걸렸어 = I tripped over the line

걸리다 = to “take” a certain amount of time
This is a very useful form that we will talk about in greater detail in a later lesson. You can
use this to indicate how long it takes to get from one place to another:

PLAY 서울부터 인천까지 2 시간 걸려요 = It takes 2 hours to get from Seoul to Incheon

PLAY 우리 학교에서 식당까지 10 분 걸려요 = It takes 10 minutes to get from our school to
the restaurant

Notice however, that even though each of these has a very different meaning in English (to
be hanging, to be caught, to take a certain amount of time) they are actually pretty similar.
When a picture is ‘hanging’ on the wall, technically it is ‘stuck/trapped’ on the wall.
Similarly, if you go from Incheon to Seoul, the time it takes (2 hours) is ‘stuck/trapped.’
Haha, No? Well, that’s just the way I explained it to myself when I first learned some of
these words.

Try to think outside of the English box. One word in Korean is often used to represent
many words in English. Usually these words aren’t actually very different, but the different
translations lead us to believe that they are in fact very different. Read these sentences
again and see if you can understand them this way:

The picture is caught on the wall

I was caught over the line
2 hours are caught to get from Seoul to Incheon

Obviously not natural in English – but you can probably understand what these sentences
mean.

My point? Just because it looks like a word has many meanings doesn’t necessarily mean
that those meanings are vastly different from each other. Think about the example from
earlier in this lesson (들다) one more time. 들다 has many meanings – but most of which
can be grouped into only 2 or 3 different meanings. Always keep this in mind.

Being Sick in Korea

One of the things people often try to learn first when learning a new language is how to
express themselves in the event that they have to go to the doctor. This is something that
wouldn’t fit into any specific lesson, so I want to cover it here:
You already know the word 아프다, which you can use to indicate that you are sick OR
sore in some place. In English “sore” and “sick” mean slightly different things. Because of
this, Korean people (who are learning English) often mistakenly say “My arm is sick.” Also
note that 아프다 is an adjective… and for some reason ‘이/가’ are used instead of 는/은
when creating sentences about a place on your body:

PLAY 배가 아파요 = My stomach is sore

PLAY 팔이 아파요 = My arm is sore
PLAY 저는 어제 너무 아팠어요 = I was very sick yesterday

Also, you can use the word 걸리다 to indicate that you have some sort of disease/sickness.
You learned a little bit about 걸리다 in the previous section. This usage of 
걸리다 essentially has the same meaning that was described in all the other examples of
걸리다 (I am caught in a sickness). Korean people use this in the following way:

PLAY 저는 감기에 걸렸어요 = I caught a cold/I have a cold

PLAY 저는 독감에 걸렸어요 = I caught the flu/I have the flu
Notice how “에” is used in these sentences due to  걸리다 having the nuance of being stuck
IN something

Also note that even though you have a cold in the present tense, Korean people use the
past “걸렸다” to express that they currently have a cold.

기침 (a cough) and 재채기 (a sneeze), although not originally nouns of Chinese origin, are
both nouns where you can add 하다 to get the respective verb form (to cough and to
sneeze). For example:

PLAY 저의 아들은 시끄럽게 기침했어요 = My son coughed loudly

(Probably more naturally translated to “My son was coughing loudly.” Korean people don’t
really distinguish between simple and progressive past tenses as much as we do in English.
You will learn about the progressive tense in  Lesson 18.)  

Wow that’s a long lesson. I have to apologize for writing these lessons so long. This lesson
could have easily been broken into 2, 3 or even 4 separate lessons, but I chose against
doing it that way. When I was first learning Korean, I wanted to plow through material as
fast as I possibly could – and I guess that is coming out as I am writing these lessons as
well.

Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,

Click here for a workbook to go along with this lesson.
Lesson 16: Noun + ~적, ~적으로, ~적이다, ~스럽다
Jump to:

Vocabulary

~적/~적으로/~적이다
~스럽다

Vocabulary

Some of these words are too difficult for you at this level. However, I am introducing them
to you in this lesson so you can understand a specific grammatical concept. These words
are separate from the other words in the Vocabulary List below.

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

PLAY 경제 = economy/economics

PLAY 경제적 = economical

PLAY 역사 = history

PLAY 역사적 = historical

PLAY 과학 = science

PLAY 과학적 = scientific

PLAY 충동 = impulse/shock
PLAY 충동적 = impulsive

PLAY 문화 = culture

PLAY 문화적 = cultural

PLAY 민주(주의) = democracy

PLAY 민주적 = democratic

PLAY 개인 = individual/personal

PLAY 개인적 = individual

PLAY 자연 = nature

PLAY 자연스럽다 = natural

PLAY 실망(하다) = disappointment(disappointed)

PLAY 실망스럽다 = to be disappointing

PLAY 사랑(하다) = love/(to love)

PLAY 사랑스럽다 = to be lovely

PLAY 만족(하다) = satisfaction/(to be satisfied)

PLAY 만족스럽다 = to be satisfactory

Nouns:
PLAY 관계 = relationship

PLAY 스트레스 = stress

PLAY 연필 = pencil

PLAY 색깔 = color

PLAY 그 = he, him

PLAY 그녀 = she, her

PLAY 결과 = result

PLAY 꿈 = a dream

PLAY 세상 = world

PLAY 세계 = world

PLAY 회화 = conversation

PLAY 문자 = text message

PLAY 가슴 = chest

PLAY 제목 = title of something (book, etc)

PLAY 근처 = close/near by

PLAY 나중 = later

PLAY 최근 = recently

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 풀다 = to untie, to unfasten, to loosen

CONJUGATE PLAY 꿈꾸다 = to dream

CONJUGATE PLAY 태어나다 = to be born

CONJUGATE PLAY 다니다 = to go somewhere frequently

CONJUGATE PLAY 믿다 = to believe, to trust

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 가깝다 = to be close to, to be near

CONJUGATE PLAY 힘들다 = to be difficult to do something

CONJUGATE PLAY 순수하다 = to be pure

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 조금 = a little

PLAY 그러나 = but/however

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

There are 1050 vocabulary entries in Unit 1. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

~적/적으로/적이다

~적 is a common suffix that can be added after some nouns of Chinese origin (적 (的) is of
Chinese origin). At first, there is no way to anticipate or expect which nouns this can be
added to. As you progress through your Korean studies, you can sort of start anticipating
this, but still, the only real way of knowing if ~적 can be added to a particular noun is if
you have specifically learned that it can. The goal of this lesson isn’t to teach you all of the
words that ~적 can be attached to (that would take forever). Rather, the goal of this lesson
is to show you how you can recognize and use these words when you come across them.

Adding ~적 to a noun changes it into a descriptive word that has the meaning of “relating
to, or having the properties of’ the original noun. For example:

문화 = culture
문화적 = relating to, or having the properties of culture

경제 = economy
경제적 = relating to, or having the properties of economy

역사 = history
역사적 = relating to, or having the properties of history
However, the translations above are nonsense and a more accurate way to translate words
with ~적 is to add “-al” to the English word. For example:

문화 = culture
문화적 = cultural

경제 = economy
경제적 = economical

역사 = history
역사적 = historical

Adding “-al” doesn’t always work with the English word, though. For example:

과학 = science
과학적 = relating to, or having the properties of science
과학적 = scientific

충동 = impulse/shock
충동적 = relating to, or having the properties of impulse
충동적 = impulsive

The main point of this lesson is to teach you how you can understand the meaning of a
word ending in ~적 even if you have never seen it before. This still happens to me fairly
regularly – I will read something, and come across a word I have never seen before ending
in ~적.

For example, if you knew that the word “민주” meant “democracy” What do you think “
민주적” would mean? A descriptive word that has the properties of democracy – that
would be “democratic.”

민주 = democracy
민주적 = democratic

Though these descriptive words can be used in sentences, it is easy for a beginner to
understand them when they are used by adding ~이다 or ~으로.

Adding 으로
Adding ‘으로’ to the end of ~적 changes the word into an adverb. These adverbs usually
have the ending ‘ly’ in English. Below are the most common examples of using ~적으로
with example sentences for each:

문화 = culture
문화적 = cultural
문화적으로 = culturally

PLAY 한국은 지난 50 년 동안 문화적으로 많이 변했어요 = Korea has changed a lot

culturally in the period of/during/for the past 50 years

경제 = economy
경제적 = economical
경제적으로 = economically

PLAY 그것은 경제적으로 가능하지 않아요 = That isn’t economically possible

역사 = history
역사적 = historical
역사적으로 = historically

PLAY 한국과 미국은 역사적으로 좋은 관계가 있다 = Historically, Korea and the US have
had a good relationship

과학 = science
과학적 = scientific
과학적으로 = scientifically

PLAY 그들은 그 문제를 과학적으로 풀었다 = They solved that problem scientifically

충동 = impulse/shock
충동적 = impulsive
충동적으로 = impulsively

PLAY 저는 자주 옷을 충동적으로 사요 = I often buy clothes impulsively

민주 = democracy
민주적 = democratic
민주적으로 = democratically

Any examples I can make using “민주적으로” require me to use words that you haven’t
learned before. Forgive me:

PLAY 미국은 대통령을 민주적으로 선출해요 = America elects its president democratically

Adding 이다

Adding ‘이다’ to the end of ~적 turns the word into an adjective that can predicate a
sentence or describe an upcoming noun. The translation of these adjectives are usually are
the same (in English) as without adding ‘이다.” For example:

문화 = culture
문화적 = cultural
문화적이다 = cultural

PLAY 캐나다와 미국은 문화적인 차이가 있다 = Canada and the US have a cultural
difference
(차이 = difference)

경제 = economics
경제적 = economical
경제적이다 = economical

PLAY 미국은 경제적인 결정을 했어요 = The US made an economical decision

역사 = history
역사적 = historical
역사적이다 = historical
PLAY 저 학교는 역사적인 건물이에요 = That school is a historical building

과학 = science
과학적 = scientific
과학적이다 = scientific

PLAY 이것은 과학적인 문제예요 = This is a scientific problem

충동 = impulsive
충동적 = impulsive
충동적이다 = impulsive

PLAY 저는 너무 충동적이에요 = I’m too impulsive

Notice that when a word ending in ~적이다 is used to predicate a sentence, 이다 is
conjugated as if it were actually 이다.

민주 = democracy
민주적 = democratic
민주적이다 = democratic

PLAY 미국은 민주적인 나라예요 = The US is a democratic nation

A question that always comes up here is – What is the difference between using ~적이다
and just using ~적? For example, what is the difference between these two:

경제적 = economical
경제적이다 = economical

The difference between these is that ~적 is a noun, whereas ~적이다 is an adjective.

Sometimes however, nouns can technically be used to sound like adjectives. For example:

That is a big bag

‘Big’ describes the type of bag it is. Big is clearly an adjective which is telling us about the
type of bag that it is (that it is big). “Book” is clearly a noun.

However, in the following example:

That is a book bag

In this example, ‘book’ acts as a descriptive word because it describes the type of bag it is
(that it is a book bag).

This is usually the only time that ~적 (with nothing following it) is used in Korean. That is,
when it is actually a noun, but acting as a descriptive word within a sentence. Because it is
usually used as this type of descriptive word, you don’t really need to worry much about
the difference between ~적 and ~적이다. Just be aware that ~적이다 is more commonly
used, and how  they are used within a sentence. That is, when using “~적이다,” 이다 should
be conjugated, and when using “~적” nothing needs to be conjugated because it is a
noun. For example:

PLAY 미국은 민주적인 나라예요 = The US is a democratic nation

PLAY 북한에는 민주적 정부가 없습니다 = There is not a democratic government in North
Korea

At this point, I don’t want you to spend too much time dwelling over when you need to
use ~적 vs. 적이다 . The purpose of this lesson was to introduce you to what ~적(이다/
으로) can do to a word and how it can be used. I’ve created four more examples of ~적 vs.
~적이다 that I would like to show you, but please don’t worry about these too much. If
anything, just try to understand the use of ~적(이다) in these sentences:

PLAY 경제적 문제가 있다 = There is a financial problem

PLAY 경제적인 문제가 있다 = There is a financial problem

PLAY 캐나다와 미국은 문화적 차이가 있다 = Canada and the US have a cultural difference
PLAY 캐나다와 미국은 문화적인 차이가 있다 = Canada and the US have a cultural
difference

PLAY 나는 개인적 문제로 회사를 그만두었다 = I quit the company due to personal reasons
(problems)
PLAY 나는 개인적인 문제로 회사를 그만두었다 = I quit the company due to personal
reasons (problems)
(그만두다 = to quit a job or school)
PLAY 이 건물은 역사적 건물이다 = This building is a historical building
PLAY 이 건물은 역사적인 건물이다 = This building is a historical building

In all cases above, I would rather use the ~적인 form to describe the upcoming noun. The
native Korean speaker beside me says the same thing. However, she also says that the first
example of each (the examples just using ~적 instead of ~적인) are also acceptable. In my
opinion, the use of ~적인 instead of ~적 is more common in speaking and in printed
sources. However, you are more likely to see ~적 in print sources compared to hearing it
in spoken Korean. (i.e. ~적이다 is more common than ~적 in all cases. However, when
compared only to itself, you are more likely to find ~적 in print than in speech).

Okay, enough of that for now. Let’s talk about something else.

~스럽다

~스럽다 can also be added to some nouns to change them into an adjective, much like
the function of ~적(이다). When doing this, ~스럽다 changes the noun into an adjective
that has the “properties” of that noun. The two easiest examples to explain this change
are:

사랑 = love
사랑스럽다 = “with the properties of love”

자연 = nature
자연스럽다 = “with the properties of nature”

For example:

PLAY 그 여자가 아주 사랑스러워요 = That girl is something “with the properties of love”
PLAY 그 여자의 머리 색깔은 자연스러워 = That girl’s hair color has “the properties of
nature”

Of course, those translations are nonsense. A more accurate translation of these words
would be:

사랑스럽다 = lovely
자연스럽다 = natural
The only way of knowing if ~스럽다 or ~적 can be added to a word is if you have
specifically learned that it can. Because one can never know which words ~스럽다 and ~적
can be added to, these words will always be presented as a separate entry in our
vocabulary lists.

Anyways, ~스럽다 can be added to nouns to make that noun a descriptive word:

The two examples above are fairly straight-forward. However ~스럽다 is sometimes added
to words that seem to already have an adjective form. For example:

실망 = disappointment
실망하다 = to be disappointed
실망스럽다 = “with the properties of disappointment” (disappointing)

I’ll do the best I can to distinguish between 실망스럽다 and 실망하다 for you.

실망하다 is used to describe a person’s emotions. This could be referring to anybody’s

emotions; not necessarily just the speaker’s emotions. For example:

PLAY 저는 실망했어요 = I was disappointed

PLAY 우리 아버지는 어제 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed yesterday

If you want to say that somebody is disappointed in  a person using 실망하다, you must
attach the particle ~에게/한테 to the person he/she is disappointed in. For example:

PLAY 저는 친구에게 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in my friend

PLAY 우리 아버지는 저에게 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in me

If you want to say that somebody is disappointed in a non-person using 실망하다, you
must attach the particle ~에 to the thing he/she is disappointed in. For example:

PLAY 저는 영화에 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in the movie

PLAY 우리 아버지는 식당에 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in the restaurant

Hmmm… Adding ~에게/한테 to a person, and adding ~에 to a non-person. What does

this remind you of? Remember, you learned this same rule in Lesson 14 when predicating
sentences with passive verbs.

Well, 실망하다 is a verb. In English, it definitely feels like an adjective, but in Korean the
dictionary (and the use of the particles ~에게/한테 and ~에) indicate that it is a verb. Here,
실망하다 is a verb (much like passive verbs) that cannot act on an object. Other verbs like
this are 자다 (to sleep), 죽다 (to die), etc. This really means very little, and the only thing
you need to take from this is:

In order to say one is disappointed, you can use 실망하다:

PLAY 저는 실망했어요 = I was disappointed

PLAY 우리 아버지는 어제 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed yesterday

In order to say one is disappointed in something/somebody, you can use 실망하다 along
with the use of the particles ~에게/한테 (for a person) or ~에 (for a non-person). For
example:

PLAY 저는 친구에게 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in my friend

PLAY 우리 아버지는 저에게 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in me

PLAY 저는 영화에 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in the movie

PLAY 우리 아버지는 식당에 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in the restaurant

Now, 실망스럽다 usually is not describing one’s emotions. Rather, it is describing

something that has the “properties of disappointment.” This usually translates to
“disappointing.” For example:

PLAY 결과는 조금 실망스러웠어요 = The result was a little bit disappointing

PLAY 그 영화는 조금 실망스러웠어요 = The movie was a little bit disappointing

That being said, you might sometimes hear 실망스럽다 being used like this:

PLAY 저는 실망스러웠어요

In this case, what do you think this would mean?

I guess in theory this could sometimes mean “I am disappointing.” But very rarely would
somebody say that. Most of the time, this sentence would translate to “I am disappointed.”

Wait a second… I thought the word to describe one’s emotions as “disappointed” was “
실망하다.” In this sentence, why is “실망스럽다” being used to describe the person’s
emotions in this sentence.

It’s not.
If you heard the sentence “저는 실망스럽다” in Korean, it would most likely be from a
person describing that something  is disappointing, but they have omitted it from the
sentence. For example, using the adjective “실망스럽다” you can use the Subject – Object
– Adjective form in the following way:

PLAY 저는 친구가 실망스러워요 = I am disappointed in my friend

(My friend is disappointing, and therefore I am disappointed)

PLAY 저는 학생들이 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed in the students

(My students were disappointing, and therefore I was disappointed)

PLAY 저는 그 영화가 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed in the movie

(The movie was disappointing, and therefore I was disappointed)

If you just walked into a room and said:

저는 실망스러워요~ = I am disappointed (in something….)

Whoever was listening to that sentence would probably say “In what?”
What the speaker has done when saying “저는 실망스러워요” is they have simply omitted
the object that they are describing.

Wow… that’s a lot of stuff to wrap your head around. Let’s break it down one more time:

 실망하다 is a verb that describes one’s emotions of being disappointed:

PLAY 저는 실망했어요 = I was disappointed

 실망하다 cannot act on an object (like 자다, 죽다, or any passive verb).
Therefore, the following is incorrect:
저는 학생을 실망했어요

 Instead, as with passive verbs, the use of ~에게/한테 should be used to

indicate that you are disappointed in a person:
PLAY 저는 친구에게 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in my friend

 ~에 can be used to indicate that you are disappointed in a non-person:

PLAY 저는 영화에 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in the movie

 실망스럽다 is an adjective that describes something which is

disappointing:
PLAY 그 영화는 조금 실망스러웠어요 = The movie was a little bit disappointing
  The adjective 실망스럽다 can be used in the subject – object – adjective
form to indicate that you were disappointed in something:
PLAY 저는 그 영화가 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed in that movie

 In the sentence above, the object can be omitted from the sentence, in
which case the speaker is indicating that something was disappointing (and by
virtue, he/she is disappointed), but has omitted the noun that is disappointing:
PLAY 저는 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed (something was
disappointing…)
I realize that is incredibly confusing.

This same phenomenon happens with the word 만족스럽다. Look at the following three
words:

만족 = satisfaction
만족하다 = to be satisfied
만족스럽다 = “with the properties of satisfaction” (satisfactory)

Just like with 실망하다, 만족하다 is used to describe a person’s emotions. This could be
referring to anybody’s emotions; not necessarily just the speaker’s emotions. For example:

PLAY 저는 만족해요 = I am satisfied

PLAY 그는 만족해요 = He is satisfied

Again, just like with 실망스럽다, 만족스럽다 is not  describing one’s emotions. Rather, it is
an adjective that is describing something that has the “properties of satisfaction.” This
usually translates to “satisfactory.” For example:

PLAY 결과는 만족스러웠어요 = The results were satisfactory

만족스럽다 can be used in the Subject – Object – Adjective form to indicate that one is
satisfied in something. For example:

PLAY 저는 결과가 만족스러웠어요 = I was satisfied with the results

PLAY 저는 음식이 만족스러웠어요 = I was satisfied with the food

In this Subject – Object – Adjective form, the object can be omitted and the speaker can
indicate that something was satisfactory (and thus he/she was satisfied). For example:

PLAY 저는 만족스러웠어요 = I was satisfied (something was satisfying…)

Don’t worry too much about the difference between words like 실망하다 vs. 실망스럽다
and 만족하다 vs. 만족스럽다. I’m really going deep into this, and it is not something you
really need to worry about as most Korean people wouldn’t know the difference unless
they really think about it.

In other words with -스럽다, the difference is much less ambiguous because the -스럽다
version of the word is an adjective, but the –하다 version is a verb that can act on an
object. For example:

PLAY 저는 그 여자를 사랑해요 = I love that girl

PLAY 그 여자는 사랑스러워요 = That girl is lovely

Another good example of –스럽다 is:

자랑하다 = to show off (verb)

자랑스럽다 = proud (adjective)

Here as well, 자랑하다 is a verb that can act on a noun, so its usage is very simple:
PLAY 저는 저의 한국어 실력을 자랑했어요 = I showed off/boasted my Korean skills

자랑스럽다 is usually used in the Subject – Object – Adjective form to indicate who
somebody is proud of. For example:

PLAY 저는 저의 딸이 아주 자랑스러워요 = I am very proud of my daughter

PLAY 저는 학생들이 자랑스러워요 = I am proud of the students

It’s also good to recognize that because all of these ~스럽다 words are adjectives, they
can also describe an upcoming noun (just like any other adjective) by placing ~ㄴ/은 to
the stem of the word. For example:

PLAY 우리 딸은 사랑스러운 여자예요 = Our daughter is a loving/lovely girl

Also, ~게 can be added to the end of the stem of –스럽다 to change the word into an
adverb. For example:

PLAY 그는 한국어를 자연스럽게 말해요 = he speaks Korean naturally

PLAY 저는 그를 사랑스럽게 봤어요 = I looked at him lovingly
PLAY 그는 실망스럽게 행동했어요 = He acted disappointingly (in a disappointing way)
PLAY 저는 일을 만족스럽게 끝냈어요 = I finished the work/job satisfactorily (in a
satisfactory way)
That’s it for this lesson!

Lesson 17: Connecting Particle ~고 and ~고 싶다 “I want to”

Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

Connecting Particle ~고
– Using ~아/어서
– Position-like Verbs

I want to: (~고 싶다)

~는/은 and ~이/가 Revisited

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 과일 = fruit

PLAY 술 = alcohol

PLAY 우산 = umbrella

PLAY 잎 = leaf

PLAY 교회 = church
PLAY 강 = river

PLAY 계절 = season

PLAY 날씨 = weather

PLAY 부엌 = kitchen

PLAY 담임선생님 = homeroom teacher

PLAY 방학 = vacation

PLAY 배 = pear

PLAY 당근 = carrot

PLAY 무 = radish

PLAY 감자 = potato

PLAY 칼 = knife

PLAY 단어 = word

PLAY 문법 = grammar

PLAY 발 = foot

PLAY 바다 = sea

PLAY 신문 = newspaper

PLAY 고객 = customer

PLAY 부자 = a rich person

PLAY 교육 = education

PLAY 기분 = feelings
PLAY 산 = mountain

PLAY 순서 = turn (turn to go)/order

PLAY 시험 = exam/test

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 머무르다 = to stay

CONJUGATE PLAY 쉬다 = to relax, to rest

CONJUGATE PLAY 보내다 = to send

CONJUGATE PLAY 걸어오다 = to come by walking

CONJUGATE PLAY 걸어가다 = to go by walking

CONJUGATE PLAY 초대하다 = to invite

CONJUGATE PLAY 울다 = to cry

CONJUGATE PLAY 환영하다 = to welcome

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 반갑다 = to be happy when meeting somebody

CONJUGATE PLAY 따뜻하다 = to be warm

CONJUGATE PLAY 높다 = to be high

CONJUGATE PLAY 가난하다 = to be poor

CONJUGATE PLAY 낮다 = to be low

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 권 = a counter for books/magazines/etc

PLAY 분 = ‘person’ – high respect form, also a high-respect counter for ‘people’
You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will be introduced to your first (of very many) connecting particles in
Korean. You can usually use these particles to separate two ideas/phrases/sentences. In
this lesson you will learn about 고 and how it can be used in sentences, also using the
example of ~고 싶다. You will also learn that some words (usually position-like words) play
by different rules than most verbs in these situations.

Connecting Particle ~고

When studying Korean, eventually your entire life becomes learning about the various
connecting particles and their respective meanings. There are so many of these things,
whose functions are essentially to connect two clauses, sentences, or ideas. These particles
usually get attached to the end (i.e. the adjective/verb) of one clause connecting it to the
next clause. The simplest one of these connecting particles is ~고, which can be attached
to the stem of a verb/adjective.

The most basic usage of ~고 is to indicate that one action occurs, and then something
happens after that. The most common translation of this usage of “~고” is “then.” For
example:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹고 갈 거예요 = I will eat then go

PLAY 저는 자고 한국어를 공부했어요 = I slept then studied Korean
PLAY 저는 책을 읽고 바로 잤어요 = I read a book then slept immediately
PLAY 저는 10 분 동안 쉬고 갈 거예요 = I will rest for 10 minutes then go
PLAY 애기가 1 분 동안 울고 배를 먹었어요 = The baby cried for 1 minute and then ate a
pear
PLAY 저는 당근을 칼로 자르고 냉장고에 넣었어요 = I cut the carrots with the knife then
put (them) in the fridge
PLAY 우리는 서울에서 2 일 동안 머무르고 부산에 갈 거예요 = We will stay in Seoul for two
days, then go to Busan
If you really want to stress that you are doing something after doing something else, you
can add 나서 after ~고. For example:

PLAY 저는 숙제를 끝내고 나서 집으로 갈 거예요 = I will finish my homework and then go
home
PLAY 저는 친구를 만나고 나서 은행에 갈 거예요 = I will meet a friend and then go to the
bank

In the sentences I presented so far, ~고 represents the meaning of ‘then,’ but it doesn’t
always have that meaning. It can also be used to simply connect two clauses that have a
similar idea. For example:

PLAY 저는 과일도 좋아하고 야채도 좋아해요 = I like fruit, and I like vegetables too
*Notice that  도 can be added to both  과일 and  야채 in this example. In English, we would
just say “I like apples and vegetables too.” That sentence only has one “too,” but in Korean, 
도 can be used twice. That sentence before could also be said like this:
PLAY 저는 과일과 야채도 좋아해요 = I like fruit and vegetables too

Essentially, ~고 is used to connect two sentences/clauses together. Korean people LOVE

making their sentences as short as possible – and using ~고 is one way of doing this. All of
the sentences above could be separated into two sentences. I don’t need to write all of
them, but for example:

저는 밥을 먹을 거예요. 그리고 저는 갈 거예요

= PLAY 저는 밥을 먹고 갈 거예요

저는 잤어요. 그리고 저는 한국어를 공부했어요

= PLAY 저는 자고 한국어를 공부했어요

저는 과일을 좋아해요. 저는 야채를 좋아해요

= PLAY 저는 과일도 좋아하고 야채도 좋아해요

You can also use ~고 when you want to string together adjectives to describe something.
Again, while each of these sentences could be split into two separate sentences, you can
use ~고 to connect two clauses with a similar idea. For example:

그 사람은 착해요. 그 사람은 똑똑해요 = That person is nice. That person is smart.
= PLAY 그 사람은 착하고 똑똑해요 = That person is kind and smart
저의 여자 친구는 귀여워요. 저의 여자 친구는 예뻐요 = My girlfriend is cute. My girlfriend
is pretty.
= PLAY 저의 여자 친구는 귀엽고 예뻐요 = My girlfriend is cute and pretty

오늘 고객이 많아요. 오늘 분위기가 좋아요 = Today there are a lot of customers. Today the
atmosphere is good
= PLAY 오늘 고객이 많고 분위기가 좋아요 = Today there are a lot of customers, and the
atmosphere is good

In a lot of Korean grammatical principles that connect sentences (which you will start
learning a lot of soon), you will notice that the verb/adjective in the first clause is not
conjugated, and that the grammatical principle is added directly to the stem of the word in
the first clause. In these cases, the tense is usually indicated in the final verb/adjective of
the sentence and the tense of the first verb/adjective can usually be implied by the
context.

When attaching ~고 to the first clause, it is possible for the first verb/adjective to be
conjugated. I have noticed that there are two cases when you would do this:

1) When one action happens after another action (just like I introduced at the beginning of
this lesson), but when a considerable amount of time has passed between the two actions.
The two actions are often connected in a way in that the first clause led to the possibility
of the second clause to happen. For example:

PLAY 저는 열심히 공부했고 의사가 되었어요 = I studied hard and (then) became a doctor
PLAY 저는 영어 문법을 열심히 공부했고 시험을 잘 봤어요 = I studied English grammar
hard and then did well on the test
Notice that Korean people say “시험을 보다” to mean “to take/do a test”

2) When connecting two clauses that have a similar idea that both happened in the past
tense. Here, there is no real indication of one action happening after another. Instead, the
person is just indicating that both things happened. For example:

PLAY 저는 방학 동안 영어 문법을 많이 공부했고 영어 신문도 많이 읽었어요 = During

vacation I studied a lot of English grammar, and I also read a lot of English newspapers

The sentences I provided at the beginning of the lesson (where one clause happens [right]
after the other clause) would sound awkward if the first clause was conjugated. For
example:
저는 잤고 한국어를 공부했어요
저는 책을 읽었고 바로 잤어요

You started learning about the particles ~는/은 and ~이/가 in Lesson 2. I continue to
discuss the difference in purpose between these particles later in the lesson. Before that, I
would like to introduce you to usage of ~는/은 because it is commonly used in sentences
with ~고.

In Lesson 2, I mentioned that ~는/은 has a comparative function. One way that it is often
used is to say “this thing is one way, and this other thing is another way.” For example:

이 산은 높아요. 저 산은 낮아요. = This mountain is high. That mountain is low.

문법은 어려워요. 단어는 쉬워요. = Grammar is difficult. Words are easy.
이 사람은 부자예요. 저 사람은 가난해요 = This person is rich. That person is poor.
이분은 저의 아버지입니다. 이분은 저의 어머니입니다. = This person is my father. This
person is my mother

In these situations, it is common to use ~고 to connect the two sentences as they are
expressing a similar idea. In these cases, ~는/은 is attached to both things that are being
compared. For example:

PLAY 이 산은 높고 저 산은 낮아요 = This mountain is high, but that mountain is low

PLAY 문법은 어렵고 단어는 쉬워요 = Grammar is hard, but words are easy
PLAY 이 사람은 부자이고 저 사람은 가난해요 = That person is rich, but that person is poor
PLAY 이분은 저의 아버지이고 이분은 저의 어머니입니다 = This person is my father, and
this person is my mother

I continue to talk about the use of ~는/은 and ~이/가 later in the lesson.

For now, let’s move on to applying this meaning to other verbs.

Using ~아/어서
Another way to indicate that one action happens after another action is to attach ~아/어서
to the verb in the first clause. The verb before ~아/어서 is never conjugated to the past
tense. For example:

PLAY 저는 당근을 칼로 잘라서 냉장고에 넣었어요 = I cut carrots with a knife and then put
them into the fridge

You must be thinking, then: “What is the difference between using ~고 and using ~아/서.”
For example:

PLAY 저는 당근을 칼로 잘라서 냉장고에 넣었어요 = I cut the carrots with the knife then
put them in the fridge
PLAY 저는 당근을 칼로 자르고 냉장고에 넣었어요 = I cut the carrots with the knife then
put them in the fridge

Both sentences are effectively saying the same thing.

However, from my experience ~아/어서 is more likely to be used when the action of the
first clause is intrinsically linked with the action of the second clause.

The best way to explain this is to look at why specifically ~아/어서 is more commonly used
with the verbs 가다 and 오다 instead of ~고.

If you want to say that you go somewhere then do something, you should not say this:

저는 학교에 가고 공부할 거예요

Instead of ~고, you must add ~아/어서 here:

PLAY 저는 학교에 가서 공부할 거예요 = I will go to school and then study

Likewise, if you want to say that you come somewhere and do something, you should not
say this:

우리는 집에 오고 바로 잤어요

Instead of ~고, you must add ~아/어서 here:

PLAY 우리는 집에 와서 바로 잤어요 = We came home and went to sleep immediately

The reason for this is simply due to the nature of the verbs 오다 and 가다. When
connecting two clauses with ~고 containing other verbs, (for example: 먹다), the first and
second action, despite the fact that one happened before the other one, have no real
connection. For example, in an example I presented previously:

저는 밥을 먹고 갈 거예요 = I will eat and then go

This sentence is implying that you will eat, and then finish eating, and then go somewhere.
Aside from the fact that one happened after another, the act of eating didn’t affect the act
of going.

However, with “가다” and “오다,” the fact that you are “coming” or “going” is directly
connected to the next action, in that, in order to do the second action, you needed to have
gone somewhere or came from somewhere.

I drew a picture to express the image that I have in my brain about this explanation.

When you use 가서 … 먹다, the verb of “going” leads up to the verb of “eating.” However,
when you use 먹고 … 가다, even though the verb of “eating” happened before the verb of
“going,” they aren’t related to each other.

In this same sense, it is possible to attach ~아/어서 to verbs other than 가다 or 오다 to

connect two clauses. Below are some examples that show this being done:

PLAY 우리는 맛있는 고기를 골라서 같이 먹었어요 = We chose delicious meat then ate
together
PLAY 문을 열어서 밖으로 나갔어요 = I opened the door and then went outside

While it is very important to know how to use “~고”, and how to use “~아/어서” with “
가다/오다” at this point, being able to fully understand the nuance of adding “~아/어서”
to other words is beyond your current ability. The usage of ~아/어서 is much more
complex, and I will continue to discuss its usage in Lesson 70. Also note that the sentence
connector ~아/어서 has another meaning that will be discussed in Lesson 37.

It is possible to connect ~고 to “가다” and “오다”, but only in situations where the speaker
is connecting sentences that have a similar idea, and not where one goes/comes to a place
and does something.

For example, I was in my office today and one of my coworkers was telling a current
student about all the former students who came to visit him the day earlier (it was
Teacher’s Day). He said:

PLAY 혜원도 오고… 슬기도 오고… 승하도 오고… 지혜도 오고… = 혜원 came, 슬기 came,
승하 came, 지혜 came, …

Position verbs
There are also many position verbs that usually act differently than regular verbs (not just
in this situation, but in many situations). The most common of these are to sit (앉다), stand
(서다), and to lie down (눕다).

The reason these are treated differently is because these are verbs of position. For
example, if I just said:

저는 먹고 공부했어요 = I ate and studied

In that sentence, aside from the fact that one action happened after another, 먹다 and
공부하다 have no relation to each other. However, if you were to say:

저는 눕고 책을 읽었어요 – That would mean “I lied down, and then read a book” – as in, I
lied down, stood up again, and then read a book. I guess technically you COULD do that,
but nobody would ever do that. Instead, what you wanted to say is that you lied down,
and then, while lying down, you read a book. In these situations with position verbs, the
first action is related to the second action (similar to how 가다 and 오다 are related to the
upcoming verb). That is why they are treated differently.

If you want to use these position verbs in this way, you need to add ~아/어서 to them:
PLAY 저는 누워서 책을 읽었어요 = I lied down and read a book
PLAY 나는 앉아서 쉴 거야 = I’m going to sit down and relax
PLAY 저는 줄에 서서 순서를 기다렸어요 = I stood in line and waited for my turn

I want to: ~고 싶다

As I said earlier, ~고 is a verb that can connect two clauses/sentences together. However,
there are many other usages of ~고 when also combined with other words. What you are
about to learn is SO common (in Korean and English), and I almost want to apologize for
waiting until lesson 17 to finally introduce it to you. I just felt that there were other things
you needed to learn before this.

Anyways, enough apologizing, lets get down to business.

Adding ~고 싶다 to the stem of a verb gives it the meaning of “I want to ____.” Very easy
to use:

PLAY 저는 한국어를 배우고 싶어요 = I want to study Korean

PLAY 저는 캐나다에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go to Canada
PLAY 저는 여자친구를 위해 편지를 쓰고 싶어요 = I want to write a letter for my girlfriend
PLAY 저는 새로운 차를 사고 싶어요 = I want to buy a new car
PLAY 저는 내일 쉬고 싶어요 = I want to rest tomorrow
PLAY 저는 저의 친구를 파티에 초대하고 싶어요 = I want to invite my friend to the party
PLAY 저는 방학 동안 책 두 권을 읽고 싶어요 = I want to read two books during vacation

It can be used with 되다 to indicate that you want to be/become something:

PLAY 저는 선생님이 되고 싶어요 = I want to be/become a teacher

It can be used in the past tense as well:

PLAY 저는 선생님이 되고 싶었어요 = I wanted to become a teacher

PLAY 그 여자는 나랑* 결혼하고 싶었어 = that girl wanted to marry me

Notice that when talking about ‘marrying’ somebody, ‘with’ must be used in Korean instead
of attaching ‘를/을.’ Because of this difference in English and Korean, many Korean people
will mistakenly say “I want to marry with you.”
Actually, you have  come across this ~고 싶다 grammar concept before, but you probably
didn’t even realize it. In Korean, there are two ways to say “I miss ____.” One way is to use
the word “그립다” and is used when you “miss” something other than a person (I miss my
hometown). The word for missing a person in Korean is 보고 싶다. See anything funny
about that word? 보고 – 싶다? Literally, it means “I want to see:”

PLAY 저는 친구를 보고 싶어요 = I miss my friend/I want to see my friend

~고 싶다 is not used with adjectives. In English, it is acceptable to say something like “I

want to be happy.” If you want to say something like this in Korean, you need to add an
additional grammatical principle that changes the meaning to “I want to become happy.”
You will learn how to create this meaning with ~아/어지다 in the next lesson.

One thing to note is that 싶다 actually acts as an adjective, and must be conjugated as
one. This means that:

나는 먹고 싶다 (I want to eat) would be a correct conjugation, however

나는 먹고 싶는다, would be an incorrect conjugation

Also, notice the difference between 원하다 and ~고 싶다. You can say 원하다 when you
want an object:

PLAY 저는 그 책을 원해요 = I want that book

and you can use ~고 싶다 when you want to do a verb:

PLAY 저는 그 책을 읽고 싶어요 = I want to read that book

You can also use “안” or attach “~지 않다” to 싶다 to indicate that one does not want to
do something. For example:

PLAY 저는 술을 안 마시고 싶어요 = I don’t want to drink alcohol

PLAY 저는 울고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to cry
PLAY 나는 너를 파티에 초대하고 싶지 않아 = I don’t want to invite you to the party
PLAY 저는 부자가 되고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to become a rich man
PLAY 방학 동안 저는 학교에 있고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to be at school during
vacation

 
Sometimes you will learn grammatical principles that are not used so much – but the
concepts you learned in this lesson are used all  the time. Up until now, actually, it has
been hard for me to continue to create good example sentences without the use of ~고
and ~고 싶다.

The further and further you go along in these lessons, the more complicated the example
sentences will become!

Before you move to the next lesson, I would like to continue the discussion from Lesson 2
about ~이/가 and ~는/은.

~는/은 and ~이/가 Revisited

Now it is time to continue what was presented back in Lesson 2. In Lesson 2, you started
learning about the differences between ~이/가 and ~는/은.

Now that you have increased your understanding of Korean grammar, I can continue to
explain the nuances between ~이/가 and ~는/은. At this point, I encourage you to re-
read Lesson 2 in order to refresh yourself on what we talked about at that time.

One problem with both of these particles is that they both have many functions. Another
specific function of ~는/은  (in addition to the comparison function that you learned
in Lesson 2 and the examples I showed you earlier in the lesson) is to indicate a general
fact or statement. For example:

Rocky (로키) 산은 높아요 = The Rocky Mountains are high (the Rocky Mountain is high)

This would be said as a general fact. Everybody would typically know that the Rocky
Mountains are high, so this could be said in a general way as seen as above. This can be
contrasted with ~이/가. Used this way, ~이/가 wouldn’t be used to describe a general fact
about something. Rather, it would be used to describe a specific situation that (usually) the
speaker just realized or observed. For example, if you were hiking with your friend, and
suddenly got a glimpse of a nearby mountain, you could say:

와! 산이 높다! = Wow! The mountain is high!

Note here that even though the speaker is talking about this one specific mountain, he or
she is not comparing it with something else (for example, another mountain), as this would
require the use of ~는/은 (albeit, in its other usage)

Let’s look at more simplified versions of the sentences above:

산은 높다
산이 높다

Remember that the difference between ~이/가 and ~는/은 is more about nuance, and not
about creating a different translation in your head. If I attempted to make a translation
that describes this nuance for the two examples above, I could maybe write:

산은 높다 = In general, mountains are high

산이 높다 = This mountain that I’m looking at, which I’ve never seen or noticed before, is
high

At the same time (and this is where people really get confused with these particles) ~는/은
could be used in this situation to have a comparing function. For example, I could say:

이 산은 높아요. 하지만, 저 산은 낮아요 = This mountain is tall. But that mountain is low
(small)

This is precisely what causes the confusion among foreigners when trying to distinguish
the difference between ~이/가 and ~는/은. Both of them can be used to express different
nuances that seem to overlap each other. For example, if I say:
“산은 높다”

What am I trying to say? Am I trying to say…:

“In general, mountains are high”, or

“This mountain, in comparison to that other mountain (or maybe some other thing) is
high”

The only way you can distinguish between the particular nuances being used is by
understanding the situation in which they are said.

Let’s look at another example. If I said:

여름 날씨는 좋다 = (in general) summer weather is good

The purpose of this sentence would be to express a general fact about summer weather.
That is, that summer weather is (in general) good. However, if you just walked outside and
saw /experienced that the weather is good, you would be more inclined to say:

날씨가 좋다 = The weather (right now that I am experiencing) is good

Here, the speaker is just indicating that the weather at the moment is good, and is not
talking about the weather being good all the time.
This doesn’t mean that “날씨는 좋다” is incorrect. You most definitely could use that
sentence, but only in an appropriate situation. This was the dialogue I had with a Korean
person:

 Me: When would you be able to say “날씨는 좋다”. It clearly isn’t used as
a general statement, because weather (in general) isn’t always good. So when
could I say this?

 Korean person: It sounds like you are comparing it with something. Like,
you are saying that the weather is good, but something else might be bad.

 Me: For example?

 Korean person: Maybe, “여기 음식이 맛이 없어요. 하지만 날씨는 좋아요.”

(The food here isn’t delicious, but the weather is good). Here, you’re saying that
the weather is good, but the food is bad.
That’s the thing about ~이/가 and ~는/은. It’s not about understanding their meanings.
Their meanings can’t be translated into English. It’s about understanding the nuances they
possess when used in different situations.

Let’s look at another example:

다이아몬드는 딱딱하다 = (in general) Diamonds are hard
(This is a statement that can be applied generally. Most people would know that diamonds
are hard, and this is not new information or anything like that)

However, if somebody picked up a diamond and felt it, and realizes exactly how hard that
particular diamond is, they would be more inclined to say:

다이아몬드가 너무 딱딱하다 = Diamonds are hard (due to the experience that I have right
now with this diamond, I can see/realize that this diamond is very hard!)
(Please try to ignore my attempt to translate this nuance. It would never actually be
translated to that.)
Now, if we changed the noun:
밥은 딱딱하다 = The rice is hard
This would not be expressed as a general statement. Why? Because rice is generally not
hard. However, if you were about to have dinner with the rice on your plate and you
touched it, you could say:
밥이 딱딱하다 = The rice is hard (due to what I am experiencing right now, I can say that
this particular rice is hard)
(Again, please ignore this ridiculous translation)

Now this:
밥은 딱딱하다 = The rice is hard
Again, this is not a general statement. Therefore… is it wrong?
No, because there are other purposes of ~는/은. Maybe here the speaker wanted express
the comparison function of ~는/은. Maybe to say that the soup is hot (and ready to eat),
but the rice is hard. Remember, all of this is situational.

Another example: (빨갛다= red, 노랗다= yellow. These words aren’t introduced until
Lesson 23. Sorry.)
사과는 빨갛다 = (in general) apples are red, or
사과는 빨갛다. 바나나는 노랗다 = Apples are red. Bananas are yellow
사과가 빨갛다 = the apple is red (the apple that I am looking at that I just noticed)
사과가 파랗다 = the apple is blue (this would not normally be the case and therefore
would never be used with ~는/은 to express a general statement meaning. However, ~이/
가 is used here to specifically describe the apple that the speaker is experiencing – which
may or may not follow what is typical of other apples)

의사들은 똑똑하다 = (in general), doctors are smart

그 의사가 아주 똑똑하다 = the doctor is smart (the one specific doctor who is in the room,
for example)

This is why, when you want to say “it is raining” you must use the following sentence:
비가 와요 = It’s raining

Instead of:
비는 와요… (incorrect)

The use of “비는 와요” would suggest that, in general, it rains; which wouldn’t make sense.
Instead, the fact that it is raining/rained/will rain would always fall into the particular
situation that “이/가” is used for.
I said this at the end of Lesson 2, but I’m going to say it again here. Your understanding of
exactly when to use ~는/은 over ~이/가 and vice-versa will progress with your general
understanding of Korean grammar.

Also remember that sentences (in every language, including Korean) are usually much
more complicated than what is presented in this lesson. In addition, very rarely are
sentences said as just ‘one-off’ sentences. Rather, they are said in response to a question
or statement, which is important information in understanding the nuances of both ~이/가
and ~는/은.

I am sorry to do this again, but you still haven’t learned everything you need to know
about ~이/가. Once again, I need to send you along without having learned everything.

In order to understand the next explanation detailing the usages of ~이/가 and ~는/은,
you need to have some understanding of how questioning works in Korean. I will continue
this explanation at the end of Lesson 22.

For now, continue on to Lesson 18.

Lesson 18: Present Progressive ~고 있다; To be Getting ~아/

어지다
Jump to:

Vocabulary

Present Progressive (I am __ing) ~고 있다

– 살고 있다
– 알고 있다
– 가지고 있다
– Position Verbs
– Adjectives

Adjective + 아/어지다

 
 Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 원숭이 = monkey

PLAY 교과목 = subject in school

PLAY 교과서 = textbook

PLAY 소문 = rumor

PLAY 충전기 = charger

PLAY 청구서 = bill

PLAY 계산원 = cashier

PLAY 계산기 = calculator

PLAY 출장 = business trip

PLAY 밥솥 = rice cooker

PLAY 소설 = novel

PLAY 백과사전 = encyclopedia

PLAY 전공 = major (in university)

PLAY 가위 = scissors
PLAY 팀 = team

PLAY 부모님 = parents

PLAY 피부 = skin

PLAY 군대 = army

PLAY 군인 = soldier

PLAY 지도 = map

PLAY 책상 = desk

PLAY 어깨 = shoulder

PLAY 백화점 = department store

PLAY 대학생 = university student

PLAY 중학교 = middle school

PLAY 가수 = singer

PLAY 공기 = air

PLAY 새벽 = dawn

PLAY 내부 = inside part

PLAY 외부 = outside part

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 자르다 = to cut

CONJUGATE PLAY 요청하다 = to ask, to request

CONJUGATE PLAY 젖다 = to be wet

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 궁금하다 = to be curious about

CONJUGATE PLAY 안타깝다 = to be unfortunate

Adverbs and Other Words

PLAY 주로 = mainly, mostly

PLAY 이쪽 = this direction

PLAY 그쪽 = that direction

PLAY 저쪽 = that direction

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Present Progressive (I am __ing): ~고 있다

Attaching ~고 있다 to the stem of verbs gives it the meaning of “I am ____ ing,” – as in, I
am currently doing something. It is called the “present progressive” because the action is
being done in the present, and is currently “progressing” as time goes on.

This grammatical form is very common in Korean. Simply attach ~고 있다 to a verb stem:

As you know,  있다 has many usages and meanings in Korean. Sometimes  있다 is a verb,
and sometimes it is an adjective. When used as  ~고 있다 as described here,  있다 is a
verb.  For now, this is only important to you when conjugating in the plain form. In the
future, there will be other times when this distinction will be important.

PLAY 나는 음악을 듣고 있어 = I am listening to music

PLAY 저의 아버지는 자고 있어요 = My father is sleeping
PLAY 여자들은 지금 영화를 보고 있어요 = The girls are watching a movie now
PLAY 저는 사과를 자르고 있어요 = I am cutting the apple
PLAY 저는 청구서를 지금 내고 있어요 = I am paying the bill now

This same form can be used in the past tense to mean “I was ___ing.”
PLAY 저는 밥을 먹고 있었어요 = I was eating
PLAY 학생들은 수업 시간 동안 자고 있었어요 = The students were sleeping during class

You learned previously that  동안 has the meaning of “for” when placed after an indication
of time (10 년 동안 = for 10 years). However, when placed after a noun, it has the meaning
of “during” (방학 동안 = during vacation/수업 시간 동안 = during class)

However, using ~고 있다 in the past tense is slightly awkward in Korean. It can be used like
this, but it is often more natural to use the regular past tense conjugation instead. For
example:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹고 있었어요 = I was eating

PLAY 학생들은 자고 있었어요 = The students were sleeping

In most situations the sentences above could be said in the following way without any real
difference in meaning:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹었어요 = I ate

PLAY 학생들은 잤어요 = The students slept

Nonetheless, if you really want to stress that you were  doing something, you can use this
form. More examples:

저는 백화점에서 쇼핑했어요 = I shopped at the department store

대학생은 책상에서 공부를 했어요 = The university student studied at his desk

PLAY 저는 백화점에서 쇼핑하고 있었어요 = I was shopping at the department store

PLAY 대학생은 책상에서 공부를 하고 있었어요 = The university student was studying at his
desk

~고 있다 can also be conjugated into the future tense. For example:

PLAY 나는 다음 주에 시험 공부를 하고 있을 거야 = Next week, I will be studying for an

exam

But, just like with the past tense of this form, the same meaning can be expressed by just
using a regular future tense conjugation. Therefore, although the sentence above is
correct, the same meaning can be expressed by saying:

저는 다음 주에 시험 공부를 할 거예요 = Next week, I will study for an exam

~고 있다 can usually be used very easily with most verbs, but there are some special
situations that we need to talk about before we move on.

1) 살고 있다

In English, we can say “I live in Canada.” You could also say “I am living in Canada,” but to
me it sounds more natural to say “I live in Canada.” In Korean, however, “살고 있다” is
often used when you want to say “I live in ________:” For example, both of these are
acceptable:

PLAY 저는 한국에서 살고 있어요 = I live in Korea

PLAY 저는 한국에서 살아요 = I live in Korea

살다 (to live) is a little bit strange because you can actually use ‘에서’ or ‘에’ to indicate the
place that you are living. For example, these are also correct, and have the same meaning
as the previous examples:

PLAY 저는 한국에 살고 있어요 = I live in Korea

PLAY 저는 한국에 살아요 = I live in Korea

Although they both sound natural to Korean speakers, I’ve heard that ~에서 is probably
the correct one.

2) 알고 있다

In English, almost every verb can go into the “I am ___ing” form. For example:

I am studying
I am praying
I am listening
I am walking
I am playing

However, one word that we would never say that way is

I am knowing

In Korean, however, it is very common to say “알고 있다.” Instead of translating this to “I
am knowing” it needs to be translated to “I know,” because we would never say “I am
knowing” in English.

PLAY 나는 그것을 알고 있어 = I know that

PLAY 나는 그것을 알아 = I know that

While we are on the subject of “알다,” let’s talk about other ways that this word is
commonly used.

When a person tells you something and you want to say “okay,” Korean people would use
“알다” in these situations. One common time you would want to say “okay” or “알다” in
this respect is when responding to a command. I haven’t taught you how to give
commands yet (you will learn that in Lesson 40), but for the moment just accept that “집에
빨리 와” means “come home quickly.”

Person 1: PLAY 집에 빨리 와! = come home quickly

Person 2: PLAY 알았어 = Okay

However, this doesn’t need to be used in response to a command. It could just be any
piece of new information that you want to say “okay” to. For example:

Person 1: PLAY 우리는 내일 6 시에 출발 할 거야 = We will leave at 6:00 tomorrow

Person 2: PLAY 알았어 = Okay

In formal situations, it is possible to use “알았어요,” but it is also very common to use the
future tense formal conjugation of 알겠습니다. For example:

Person 1: PLAY 이 일을 내일까지 해야 합니다 = You have to finish this work by tomorrow
(You haven’t learned the grammar for this sentence yet, so don’t worry about the Korean
sentence. Focus more on the English sentence, because what I am trying to teach you here
is the response to that question in Korean)
Person 2: PLAY 네, 알겠습니다 = Yes, okay. (I got it)

 
3) 가지고 있다
A word that you learned in a previous lesson is “가지다.” 가지다 is a verb that means “to
have/posses.” You also know that you can use 있다 to state that you “have” something.
For example:

나는 펜이 있다 = I have a pen (remember that this usage of 있다 requires that 이/가 be

added to the object, because 있다 is actually an adjective in this form).

When using 가지다, however, you would think that you could simply do this:

나는 펜을 가져 – I have a pen – But, it is not usually said like this. If you want to say that
you have  something using 가지다, you should say “가지고 있다” instead of just “가지다.”
For example:

PLAY 나는 펜을 가지고 있어 = I have a pen

Just like how we don’t say “I am knowing” in English, we also wouldn’t say “I am having.”
Therefore, when translating “~를/을 가지고 있다” into English, you need to say “I have
____.”

If you want to talk about ‘people’ that you ‘have,’ you should never use “가지고 있다.’
Instead, you should use just ‘있다.’ For example:

PLAY 나는 여자 친구가 있어 = I have a girlfriend

나는 여자 친구를 가지고 있어 – this technically means “I have a girlfriend,” but it’s meaning
is more similar to “I possess a girlfriend.” If you say something like this in Korean, Korean
people will probably understand you, but laugh at your mistake (similar to if somebody
told me that they possess a girlfriend in English).

Using 고 있다 with Position Verbs

In the previous lesson, you learned that you cannot add ~고 to position verbs. Examples of
these verbs were:

앉다 = to sit
서다 = to stand

Specifically, I said:
“These position verbs usually act differently than regular verbs (not just in this situation,
but in many situations).”

~고 있다 is another situation where these position verbs act differently than regular verbs.

First of all, adding ~고 있다 to these verbs can be done. For example:

저는 앉고 있다 = I am sitting – but note that this only means that you are actually in the
process of sitting; as in, you are currently bending your knees getting ready to sit.
“저는 앉고 있다” is grammatically correct, but you need to ask yourself when you would
ever say this.

What you want to say, is “I am (in the state of) sitting”… as in, your butt is on the floor/on a
chair, etc.. If you want to do this, you have to add ~아/어 있다 to these verbs instead of ~
고 있다. For example:

PLAY 나는 앉아 있어 = I’m sitting

PLAY 나는 학교 옆에 서 있어 = I’m standing next to the school
PLAY 나는 침대에 누워 있어 = I’m lying in bed

In theory, this is the same concept that you used when you added ~아/어 있다 to “state”
like words in Lesson 14. For example:

PLAY 컴퓨터가 켜져 있어요 = The computer is (in the state of) on

PLAYTV 가 꺼져 있어요 = The TV is (in the state of) off
PLAY 문이 잠겨 있어요 = The door is (in the state of) locked

One more time, for good measure:

나는 서고 있다 = This means that you are currently in the process of standing up – which

probably wouldn’t be said… especially since Korean people have a specific word for
“getting up” – 일어나다.
나는 서 있다 = This means that you are in the state of standing (probably what you want
to say in almost every situation)

Another common word that this is used with is 살다. Earlier in this lesson, you learned how
you can use ~고 있다 with 살다. For example:

PLAY 저는 한국에서 살고 있어요 = I live in Korea

By adding “~아/어 있다” to 살다, you can create the meaning of “in the state of living” (as
in, the opposite of dead. For example:

PLAY 그 돼지는 살아 있어요 = That pig is living (alive)

PLAY 그 소는 살아 있지 않아요 = That cow isn’t living (alive)

Using ~고 있다 with Adjectives

You cannot attach ~고 있다 to adjectives. Adjectives, by their nature, are not able to
“progress” as verbs do. This is the same as in English. For example:

저는 행복해요 = I am happy – this is okay.

저는 행복하고 있어요 – I am… being happy? Doesn’t make any sense.

In English, you can say I am getting  happy. The next section will teach you how to do that.

Adjective + ~아/어지다

Another powerful grammatical form in Korean is adding ~아/어지다 to the stem of an

adjective. This changes the meaning of an adjective from “be (adjective)” to “get/become
(adjective).” For example:

행복하다 = to be happy
행복해지다 = to get/become happy

춥다 = to be cold
추워지다 = to get cold

비싸다 = to be expensive
비싸지다 = to get expensive

크다 = to be big
커지다 = to get/become big

따뜻하다 = to be warm
따뜻해지다 = to get warm
You can technically use these adjectives in the present tense, but just like with verbs, you
only ever really use the present tense conjugation to indicate common truths or to
indicate the frequency of something happening. For example, you would rarely ever say:

I eat rice
But you might be more inclined to say:
I eat rice everyday

Same thing here:

날씨가 추워져 = The weather gets cold

PLAY 날씨가 매일 밤에 추워져요 = The weather gets cold every night

It is more natural to use these types of words in sentences in the past/future tense:

PLAY 날씨는 주말에 추워졌어 = The weather got cold over the weekend
PLAY 기름 값은 비싸졌어요 = The price of oil got expensive
PLAY 그 사람은 밥을 먹고 나서 행복해졌어요 = That person ate, and then became happy
PLAY 우리 강아지는 지난 1 년 동안 많이 커졌어요 = Our puppy got a lot bigger in the last
year
PLAY 저는 군대에 갔고 똑똑해졌어요 = I went to the army and got smart
PLAY 대학교 수업은 내년에 어려워질 거예요 = University classes will get difficult next year

Want to see how ~아/어지다 would be used in a Korean street sign? Watch me
breakdown the usage in a YouTube video.

When ~아/어지다 is added to an adjective, the entire construction is a verb. In practice,

this is rarely an issue because most times the conjugation of an adjective and a verb is the
same. However, there are some conjugation patterns (which you learned about in Lessons
5 and 6) that are different depending on if the word is an adjective or verb. For example,
when conjugating these using the “diary form,” it should be conjugated as:

날씨가 매일 밤에 추워진다 = The weather gets cold every night, instead of:
날씨가 매일 밤에 추워지다 = The weather gets cold every night

Keep this on your mind when you reach Lessons 26 – 30, where I introduce the ~는 것
principle. In those lessons, you will learn about another grammatical principle that is
treated differently depending on if it is added to verbs or adjectives. It also allows
grammatical principles that otherwise wouldn’t be able to be attached to adjectives to be
attached to this new “verb” word.
As I mentioned earlier, you cannot attach ~고 있다 to an adjective. However, by attaching
~아/어지다 to an adjective, you can indicate that something “becomes” an adjective. It is
then possible to attach ~고 있다 to an adjective that has ~아/어지다 already attached. For
example:

PLAY 저의 여자 친구는 예뻐지고 있어요 = My girlfriend is getting pretty

PLAY 집 값은 비싸지고 있어 = House prices are getting expensive
PLAY 피부가 부드러워지고 있어요 = My skin is getting soft

In the previous lesson, you learned that you cannot add ~고 싶다 to an adjective. By
attaching ~아/어지다, you can indicate that something “becomes” an adjective. It is then
possible to attach ~고 싶다 to an adjective as with ~고 있다. For example:

PLAY 나는 행복해지고 싶어 = I want to become happy (I want to be happy)

PLAY 나는 예뻐지고 싶어 = I want to become pretty (I want to be pretty)

That’s it!

Lesson 19: Korean Comparatives and Superlatives: 더, 보다, 가장

/제일
Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

More: 더

Korean Comparatives – 보다
Less: 덜

Korean Superlatives – 가장/제일

Vocabulary
Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 한식 = Korean food

PLAY 양식 = western food

PLAY 키 = height

PLAY 별 = star

PLAY 태도 = attitude

PLAY 월급 = pay cheque

PLAY 도심 = downtown

PLAY 시내 = downtown

PLAY 추억 = memory

PLAY 후보자 = candidate

PLAY 라면 = instant noodles (ramen)

PLAY 주년 = anniversary

PLAY 자세 = body position/posture

PLAY 평소 = usual

PLAY 옛날 = old days

PLAY 옛사랑 = old love

PLAY 옛길 = old road/path

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 걱정하다 = to worry

CONJUGATE PLAY 씻다 = to wash

CONJUGATE PLAY 확인하다 = to confirm, to check

CONJUGATE PLAY 모으다 = to gather, to collect

CONJUGATE PLAY 이야기하다 = to talk with, to have a conversation

CONJUGATE PLAY 수집하다 = to collect

CONJUGATE PLAY 추천하다 = to recommend

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 좁다 = to be narrow

CONJUGATE PLAY 넓다 = to be wide

CONJUGATE PLAY 특별하다 = to be special

CONJUGATE PLAY 게으르다 = to be lazy

CONJUGATE PLAY 편하다 = to be comfortable

CONJUGATE PLAY 안락하다 = to be comfortable

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 더 = more

PLAY 덜 = less

PLAY 가장 = the most (superlative)

PLAY 제일 = the most (superlative)

PLAY 여러 = many/various

PLAY 옛 _____ = something old

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will learn how to make comparative and superlative sentences in
Korean. Using comparative sentences, you will learn how to make sentences like “I am
more beautiful than you” or “he is faster than his brother.” Using superlative sentences,
you will learn how to make sentences like “I am the most handsome person in the world.”
In addition, we will take an in-depth look at the word 더, which is commonly used in
comparative sentences. Let’s get started.

More: 더

Before we even get into using comparatives, I want to make you familiar with the word 더,
 meaning “more” in English. The word ‘more’ (in English and Korean) is very commonly
used in sentences when comparing things. For example:

I am more  handsome than you

In order to understand how 더 is used, let’s first look at sentences where it is not used:

PLAY 여기는 편해요 = Here is comfortable (it is comfortable here)

PLAY 라면은 매워요 = Ramen is spicy

Those are simple sentences without 더. By adding 더 you can indicate that the particular
subjects are “more comfortable” or “spicier” than something else. For example:

PLAY 여기는 더 편해요 = Here is more comfortable (it is more comfortable here)
PLAY 라면은 더 매워요 = Ramen is spicier
At this point we haven’t specifically indicated what the subjects are being compared to,
but we will get to that later in the lesson. For now, let’s just focus on the use of 더. Below
are many more examples:

PLAY 도심은 더 멀어요 = Downtown is further

PLAY 이 방은 더 좁아요 = This room is smaller (narrower)
PLAY 추억은 더 중요해요 = Memories are more important
PLAY 한식은 더 맛있어요 = Korean food is more delicious
PLAY 저는 더 특별한 것을 사고 싶어요 = I want to buy something more special
PLAY 저는 더 넓은 집에서 살고 싶어요 = I want to live in a bigger (wider) house

In all of the examples above, 더 is used with adjectives. It can also be used with verbs to
indicate that an action will happen “more.” For example:

PLAY 저는 밥을 더 먹을 거예요 = I will eat more

PLAY 저는 더 공부할 거예요 = I will study more
PLAY 저는 더 기다릴 거예요 = I will wait more (longer)
PLAY 그 회사는 월급을 더 줘요 = That company gives more of a paycheque
PLAY 우리는 돈을 더 모을 거예요 = We will collect more money
PLAY 저는 손을 더 씻을 거예요 = I will wash my hands more

In sentences where 더 is used with verbs, it is common to place an adverb after 더 to

indicate the degree in which the action occurs. When used like this, it’s not that the action
happens more – but rather that the verb happens more in a way of the adverb. For
example:

PLAY 저는 더 열심히 공부할 거예요 = I will study harder

PLAY 저는 밥을 더 건강하게 먹을 거예요 = I will eat healthier
PLAY 그 학생들은 더 시끄럽게 이야기했어요 = Those students talked louder

It is also common to use 조금 before 더 to indicate that something occurs “a little bit
more.” For example:

PLAY 이 방은 조금 더 좁아요 = This room is a little bit smaller

PLAY 저는 조금 더 기다릴 거예요 = I will wait a little bit more
PLAY 저는 조금 더 열심히 공부할 거예요 = I will study a little bit harder

——————-

You can also add 더 to sentences with counters in them. For example:
PLAY 나는 펜 두 개가 있어 = I have two pens
PLAY 나는 펜 두 개가 더 있어 = I have two more pens

PLAY 사람 두 명이 올 거예요 = Two people will come

PLAY 사람 두 명이 더 올 거예요 = Two more people will come

PLAY 저의 여동생은 지난 주에 책을 두 권 읽었어요 = My sister read two books last week

PLAY 저의 여동생은 지난 주에 책을 두 권 더 읽었어요 = My sister read two more books
last week

PLAY 나는 어제 학교에 두 번 갔어 = I went to school two times (twice) yesterday

PLAY 나는 어제 학교에 두 번 더 갔어 = I went to school two more times yesterday

——————-

It is common to use the word 좋다 with 더 to indicate that something is “more good.” Of
course, we don’t say “more good” in English. Instead, we say “better.” For example:

PLAY 도심이 더 좋아요 = Downtown is better

PLAY 그 자세가 더 좋아요 = That position/posture is better
PLAY 그 학생의 태도가 더 좋아요 = That student’s attitude is better

——————-

It is also common to use the word 많다 with 더 to indicate simply that there is more of
something. For example:

PLAY 저는 돈이 더 많아요 = I have more money

PLAY 여기는 별이 더 많아요 = There are more stars here

So far, you have seen how 더 can be used in simple sentences without any specifically
identified comparison. It is also possible to indicate what the situation is being compared
to. I will discuss this in the next section.

Korean Comparatives – 보다
As you learned in the previous section, you can use 더 in sentences when not making any
specific comparison. 더 is often used in sentences when a specific comparison is being
made. In English, comparing is really hard and confusing. Look at these examples:

It is hotter than yesterday
It is more beautiful than yesterday
It is smellier than yesterday

In English, depending on the word that you are using to compare, the conjugation is
different. I can’t imagine how annoying this would be for an English learner. Luckily,
comparatives in Korean are much simpler (or is it more simple?).

In Korean, you can make a specific comparison by attaching the particle ~보다 to the thing
that is being compared to. I feel like it is most logical to present sentences using ~보다 in
the same order that I presented the sentences using 더. So here we go:

You can use ~보다 to make a specific comparison with adjectives:

PLAY 나는 더 잘생겼어 = I am more handsome

PLAY 나는 아버지보다 더 잘생겼어 = I am more handsome than my father

Notice here the example “잘생기다” (handsome) is conjugated into the past tense. When
conjugating  잘생기다 and  못생기다 it is always more natural to use the past tense
conjugation.

PLAY 선생님들은 더 똑똑해요 = Teachers are smarter

PLAY 선생님들은 학생들보다 더 똑똑해요 = Teachers are smarter than students

PLAY 한식은 더 매워 = Korean food is spicier

PLAY 한식은 양식보다 더 매워 = Korean food is spicier than western food

PLAY 오늘은 더 더워 = Today is hotter

PLAY 오늘은 어제보다 더 더워 = Today is hotter than yesterday

PLAY 저는 키가 더 커요 = I am taller

PLAY 저는 남동생보다 키가 더 커요 = I am taller than my brother

PLAY 추억은 더 중요해요 = Memories are more important

PLAY 추억은 돈보다 더 중요해요 = Memories are more important than money
You don’t really need  더 in these types of sentences. The use of ~보다 in these types of
sentences would also carry this meaning. However, there is no harm in including it.

You can use ~보다 to make a specific comparison with verbs:

PLAY 나는 밥을 더 먹었어 = I ate more

PLAY 나는 남동생보다 밥을 더 먹었어 = I ate more than my brother
PLAY 나는 어제보다 밥을 더 먹었어 = I ate more than yesterday

PLAY 저는 더 공부할 거예요 = I will study more

PLAY 저는 친구들보다 더 공부할 거예요 = I will study more than my friends
PLAY 저는 작년보다 더 공부할 거예요 = I will study more than last year

You can use adverbs in these sentences to indicate that they occur more as a function of
the adverb:

PLAY 저는 친구들보다 더 열심히 공부할 거예요 = I will study harder than my friends
PLAY 저는 작년보다 더 열심히 공부할 거예요 = I will study harder than last year

You can compare things in sentences with counters as well. For example:

PLAY 나는 친구보다 펜이 두 개 더 있어 = I have two more pens than my friend

PLAY 어제보다 두 명 더 올 거예요 = Two more people will come compared to yesterday
PLAY 저의 여동생은 지난 주보다 이번 주에 책을 두 권 더 읽었어요 = My sister read two
more books this week than she read last week

——————

The words 좋다 and 많다 are often used with ~보다 as well. For example:

PLAY 저는 옛날보다 돈이 더 많아요 = I have more money than a long time ago
PLAY 저는 저의 아버지보다 돈이 더 많아요 = I have more money than my father
PLAY 그 학생의 태도가 지난 주보다 더 좋아요 = That student’s attitude is better than last
week

——————

Another way you can create the meaning of “better” is by using the adjective 낫다. 낫다 is
very much like 좋다, but it is more naturally used when a specified comparison is being
made. Therefore, it is common to see 낫다 used in sentences with ~보다. For example:
PLAY 그 학생의 태도가 지난 주보다 나아요 = That student’s attitude is better than last
week
PLAY 라면보다 밥이 더 나아요 = Rice is better than Ramen
PLAY 한식보다 양식이 더 나아요 = Western food is better than Korean food

낫다 is also very commonly used when you are talking about getting better after being
sick. You can say things like this:

PLAY 병은 나았어 = I’m better (literally – the sickness/disease is better)

PLAY 감기는 나았어 = My cold is better

Although ~보다 is not used in the sentences above, by context the listener assumed that
the speaker is referring to the time where he/she had a cold.

——————

Two words that ~보다 is commonly attached to are 평소 and 생각. For example:

PLAY 저는 요즘에 평소보다 더 바빠요 = These days, I am busier than usual

PLAY 나는 평소보다 더 공부하고 있어 = I am studying more than usual
PLAY 오늘 하늘에 별이 평소보다 더 많아요 = Tonight, there are more stars in the sky than
usual

PLAY 도심은 생각보다 멀어요 = Downtown is further than I thought

PLAY 별이 생각보다 더 많아요 = There are more stars than I thought
PLAY 한식은 생각보다 매워요 = Korean food is spicier than I thought

덜 – Less

The word “덜” can be used to have the opposite meaning of 더. That is, it can be used to
mean “less.” For example:

PLAY 나는 남동생보다 덜 잘생겼어 = I’m less handsome than my brother

PLAY 한국에서 대학교는 고등학교보다 덜 어려워요 = In Korea, University is not as hard as
high school
These sentences are correct, and would be perfectly understood, but it is usually more
natural and common to create the opposite sentence and use 더 instead. For example, I
would much rather say the following sentences than the two sentences above:

PLAY 남동생이 나보다 더 잘생겼어 = My brother is more handsome than me

PLAY 한국에서 고등학교는 대학교보다 더 어려워요 = In Korea, high school is harder than
university

One more quick thing – it is kind of funny/cute slang to pronounce 덜 as 들. I suggest you
try it out sometime. Korean people often get a kick out of foreign people speaking in
slang-like language. They usually can’t get over the fact that we know Korean, let alone the
fact that we know a bit of slang.

Korean Superlatives – 가장/제일

Superlatives, just like comparatives are so much easier in Korean than they are in English.
In English, depending on the word you are using, you have to conjugate it differently:

She is the hottest girl

She is the most beautiful girl
She is the smelliest girl

In Korean, instead of mucking (I said “mucking”) around with different forms like in
English, all you need to do is add one word: 가장

예쁘다 = pretty
가장 예쁘다 = Prettiest

아름답다 = beautiful
가장 아름답다 = Most beautiful

A synonym of “가장” is “제일,” which is often used in speech.

You can then put these into sentences just like you would normal adjectives:

PLAY 저의 여자 친구는 한국에서 가장 예쁜 여자예요 = My girlfriend is the prettiest girl in

Korea
PLAY 가족은 가장 중요해요 = Family is the most important
You can’t really use 가장 with verbs unless there is also an adverb included within the
sentence. For example, you can’t say this:

나는 가장 달려 = I run… most?… doesn’t make sense

In these cases, you need to add an adverb to the sentence:

PLAY 나는 가장 빨리 달려 = I run the fastest

PLAY 우리가 집에 제일 늦게 도착했어요 = We arrived home the latest (we were the latest
people to arrive at home)

However, you can add 가장 to 좋아하다 (to like) without an adverb to indicate that

you ‘like something the most.’ (This is also how you say “my favorite” in Korean).

PLAY 나는 그 여자를 가장 좋아해 = I like that girl most (that girl is my favorite)
PLAY 나는 수학을 가장 좋아해 = I like math most (math is my favorite)

Note here that in most real situations it is probably more natural [in English and in Korean]
to say something like:

I am the fastest runner – instead of – I run the fastest

Math is my favorite subject – instead of – Math is my favorite

To this point, you haven’t learned how to add this extra dimension to your sentences with
verbs. This concept is introduced in  Lesson 26. That being said, it is essentially the same as
making this change to adjectives:
가족은 가장 중요해요 = Family is the most important
가족이 가장 중요한 것이에요 = Family is the most important thing

In order to express a negative superlative, of course, you can use a word that has a
negative meaning, for example:

PLAY 저는 사과를 가장 싫어해요 = I dislike apples the most

PLAY 저는 사과를 제일 싫어해요 = I dislike apples the most

You could technically add ~지 않다 or ~안 to the sentence to make it a negative

superlative sentence. For example:

PLAY 그 여자는 우리 반에서 가장 예쁘지 않은 여자예요 = That girl is the least pretty in our
class
PLAY 그 여자는 우리 반에서 제일 예쁘지 않은 여자예요 = That girl is the least pretty in our
class

수학은 가장 쉽지 않아요 = Math is the least easy

수학은 제일 쉽지 않아요 = Math is the least easy

However, those sentences would sound much more natural (in English and Korean) if you
just used a word with the opposite meaning. For example:

PLAY 그 여자는 우리 반에서 제일 못생긴 여자예요 = That girl is the ugliest in our class
PLAY 수학은 제일 어려워요 = Math is the hardest

In most of these superlative sentences, it would usually sound much more natural to add
“Of all X”. For example:

Of all subjects at school, math is the most difficult

Of all fruit, I dislike apples the most

The grammatical principle needed to add this extra level of complexity to your sentences
is introduced in Lesson 33.

Two adverbs that 가장/제일 are often used with are 잘 and 못, which will be talked about
in the next lesson.

That’s it for this lesson!

Lesson 20: Well and Poorly: 잘 and 못

Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

잘하다: To do something well

잘: Well

못하다: To do something poorly

못: Poorly
~지 못하다
 잘못

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 교수 = professor

PLAY 주인 = master/owner/proprietor

PLAY 잘못 = mistake/fault

PLAY 기온 = temperature

PLAY 거울 = mirror

PLAY 가루 = powder

PLAY 근육 = muscle

PLAY 어둠 = darkness

PLAY 기본 = basic/basics

PLAY 사고 = accident

PLAY 교통 = traffic

PLAY 이상 = a noun to indicate that something is more than something else
Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 잘하다 = to do something well

CONJUGATE PLAY 못하다 = to do something poorly

CONJUGATE PLAY 수영하다 = to swim

CONJUGATE PLAY 대우하다 = to treat somebody

CONJUGATE PLAY 퇴직하다 = to retire

CONJUGATE PLAY 접수하다 = to receive (an application)

CONJUGATE PLAY 씹다 = to chew

CONJUGATE PLAY 통역하다 = to interpret

CONJUGATE PLAY 번역하다 = to translate

CONJUGATE PLAY 젓다 = to stir

CONJUGATE PLAY 늘리다 = to gain, to improve, to increase

CONJUGATE PLAY 빠지다 = to fall into

CONJUGATE PLAY 빠져나오다 = to escape, to come out of

CONJUGATE PLAY 빠져나가다 = to escape, to go out of

CONJUGATE PLAY 헷갈리다 = to be confused

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 늘다 = to be gained, improved, increased

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 둥글다 = to be round, to be spherical

CONJUGATE PLAY 어둡다 = to be dark

Adverbs and Other Words:
PLAY 잘 = well

PLAY 못 = poorly

PLAY 님 = adds respect to person’s name or position

PLAY 또는 = or

PLAY 세 = a counter for years of age

PLAY 꼭 = surely/definitely

PLAY 물론 = of course

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

You might also want to try listening to all of the words on loop with this Vocabulary
Practice video.

Einführung

Until now, you have not learned how to say “I am good at something/I do something well”
or “I am bad at something/I do something poorly.” In this lesson, you will learn about the
words 잘하다 (to do something well) and 못하다 (to do something poorly). 못하다 is very
hard to understand perfectly, so I will ease you in by introducing you to 잘하다 first.
.

잘하다: To do something well

The main meaning of 잘하다 is “to do something well.” To use 잘하다, simply place a noun
in a sentence with 잘하다 as the verb.

This is easy to do with 하다 verbs (for example, 수영하다 and 공부하다) because to make a
noun all you need to do is remove 하다 from those words. I discuss making non-하다
verbs into nouns in Lesson 26, but the principal is the same for any noun form of a verb. 
All you need to do is:

나는 (noun form of verb)을/를 잘하다. For example:

PLAY 나는 수영을 잘해 = I am good at swimming

PLAY 저 학생은 공부를 잘해 = That student studies well
PLAY 우리 애기는 말을 잘해요 = Our baby speaks well
PLAY 저는 야구를 잘해요 = I play baseball well

잘하다 is a verb, but now we need to talk about “잘,” which is an adverb.

잘: Well

Just like 잘하다, you can use the word 잘 in sentences to indicate that one does something
well. Usually, when you remove 하다 from a word, the word without 하다 becomes a noun.
In this case, removing 하다 from 잘 does not make 잘 a noun. Instead, it is an adverb. The
only reason this is important is so that you know that you can use 잘 in sentences just like
other adverbs, in this case to mean “(to do something) well.” It is essentially the same as
“잘하다,” but used slightly different. For example:

PLAY 그 주인은 고객님들을 잘 대우해요 = That owner treats the customers well
PLAY 나는 어젯밤에 잘 잤어 = I slept well last night

When I first learned about 잘하다 and 잘, I was trying to understand if these two
sentences were the same:

PLAY 나는 공부를 잘해 = I study well

나는 잘 공부해 = I study well

The answer: essentially, but not entirely.

The difference is so subtle that you don’t really need to worry about it. However, when I
learned this, I worried about it, so I think maybe you should worry about it too. The reason
I say “don’t worry about it” is because now when I speak I can’t really distinguish the
difference in meaning. The only way I could tell the difference is referring back to my old
notes from 5 years ago. Nonetheless, there is a subtle difference:
나는 공부를 잘한다 = I study well, or
“나는 (noun)을 잘한다” means that, in general, your ability to do something is good.
However,

나는 잘 공부한다 = I study well, or

“나는 잘 (verb)다” means that you can study well because of some situation (for example,
maybe you have a test coming up and you are studying really hard because of that
situation).

But really, don’t get too caught up on the difference between the two. Especially since
sometimes they look and sound almost exactly the same. If you separated 공부 and 하다
in the second example, you would get:

PLAY 나는 공부를 잘 해 = I study well, which sounds (and almost looks) exactly the same
as:
PLAY 나는 공부를 잘해 = I study well

Anyways, don’t worry about it too much.

You already know the word 잘생기다 means “handsome.” That word is actually 잘 and
생기다 put together. 생기다 has a lot of meanings, but putting 잘 and 생기다 together, it
sort of means “to come out well.” The opposite is true for 못생기다 (to be ugly).

Always remember to not translate directly from English to Korean, as there are so many
things that are not 100% the same in both languages. For example, in English, we would
never say “I don’t know well,” but in Korean, it is very common to say:

PLAY 저는 잘 모르겠어요* = I don’t know (well)

*Also notice that the future tense  모르다 is used here. Even though it is in the present, 
모르겠다 is used very commonly to indicate that you don’t know something – Even though
it directly translates to “I will not know.”

못하다: To do something poorly

Alright, this is where it gets hard. 잘하다 was easy. Let’s do this step by step.

First of all, 못하다 has the opposite meaning of 잘하다 – so it can be used to indicate that
one generally is poor at something. For example:

PLAY 나는 수영을 못해 = I am bad at swimming

PLAY 저 학생은 공부를 못해 = That student does not study well

The difference between 못하다 and 못 is the same as the difference between 잘하다 and
잘. When you say a sentence like “나는 수영을 못해” it means that in general your ability
to swim is bad. Because of this, you need to be careful about the type of verb you are
using in this situation. For example, you couldn’t really use the verb “to eat” in this
situation, because that would mean that “in general, my ability to eat is bad.” Instead, what
you would probably want to say is that “I CAN eat, but because of some situation, I can’t
really eat right now.” That is when you need to use 못 instead of 못하다.

못: Poorly

Using 못하다 and understanding the meaning it creates is quite simple, especially if you
can understand how 잘하다 is used. If you use the adverb 못, the meaning depends on the
situation. Here are two simple examples we can look at:

PLAY 저는 어제 못 잤어요
PLAY 저는 어제 시험을 못 봤어요

This is where it gets unnecessarily confusing. Both of those sentences could have two
meanings.

The first example:

PLAY 저는 어제 못 잤어요 could mean either of the following:

I didn’t sleep well last night because of some situation, or

I didn’t sleep last night because something prevented me from sleeping

The second example:

PLAY 저는 어제 시험을 못 봤어요 could mean either of the following:
I did poorly on the exam yesterday because of some situation, or
I didn’t write the exam yesterday because something prevented me from doing so

(My translations of “… One didn’t … because something prevented him/her from …” is often
simply translated to “One couldn’t” or “One can’t.” These English terms are complex, and
might be related to one not doing something because something prevented them or related
to one’s ability. Another way to say “one couldn’t” or “one can’t” in Korean is by using  ~ㄹ/
을 수 없다 , which I discuss in  Lesson 45).

Confusing? Let me say this again. When you put 못 in a sentence, it can indicate that one
does something poorly (or not well) OR that one does not do something because
something prevented him/her from doing it. When it has the second meaning (“I didn’t
do”) it is the result of some situation preventing you.

I want to take a minute to distinguish this from other negative sentences – specifically
using 안 or ~지 않다 which you learned in Lesson 8. When you use 안 or ~지 않다, there is
no deeper meaning that “something prevented you from doing the action.” For example, if
I said:

저는 어제 시험을 안 봤어요, or
저는 어제 시험을 보지 않았어요

I am just saying that I didn’t write the exam yesterday – as if yesterday specifically
was not  the day that I was supposed to write the exam anyway (or something like that).
Why would I write the exam when it is not the exam day? Of course I wouldn’t. Nothing
is preventing  me from writing the exam. It’s just not the day to write the exam. It’s also
possible that I just didn’t do the exam because I didn’t want to. Either way, nothing is
preventing me from doing it, I just didn’t do it.

However, if I say:

PLAY 저는 어제 시험을 못 봤어요

It probably was  the day to write the exam, but something prevented me from writing it.
The thing that prevented me from writing it could be anything – it could have been that I
had to go to a party with my wife, or it could of been that I had explosive diarrhea. Either
way, both of those things (especially the latter) would prevent me from writing the exam.

——————–
In order to explain this further, I can explain a very  common mistake that English speakers
make when speaking Korean.

You don’t know how to ask questions yet (you’ll learn that in the next lesson), but imagine
if somebody asks you

“Did you hear what I say?” (내 말을 들었어?)

English speakers learning Korean often respond with:

아니. 안 들었어.

However, if you say that, it’s kind of like you are specifically/purposely trying not to hear
what the person said. Instead, you obviously can  hear, but something prevented you from
hearing the person. Maybe it was the loud TV, maybe it was the motorcycle driving by, or
maybe it was your explosive diarrhea. Either way, something prevented you from hearing
the person, so you should say:

아니. 못 들었어. = No, I didn’t (couldn’t) hear (you)

——————–

But, how can you distinguish the difference between somebody saying “I did something
poorly” and “I didn’t do something”? There are three ways I can teach you:

잘못
If you really want to stress that you do something poorly, you can include 잘 before 못.
This specifically indicates that you “don’t do something well” and removes the ambiguity
of “I didn’t”:

PLAY 저는 어제 시험을 잘 못 봤어요 = I didn’t do good on the exam yesterday

The word being used

Sometimes, the word being used makes it clear which meaning you are trying to express.
For example, if I said:
PLAY 저는 어제 학교에 못 갔어요, This could have two meanings:

1) I didn’t go to school yesterday because of some situation

2) I didn’t go to school well yesterday

Which one of those two makes sense? In situations like this, it is easy to figure out which
meaning is being used. Is it possible to “go somewhere well?” I don’t think so.

A perfect real-world example of this is something that my co-worker said to me once. The
school I work at was in the process of buying my plane ticket back home, and it happened
to be really expensive (like, really expensive). My co-worker always wanted to go to
Canada, but when she heard how much my plane ticket was, she said to herself “캐나다에
못 가겠다.” The meaning of this sentence is not “she will go to Canada poorly” but rather
“she can’t/won’t go to Canada because of some situation” (the ticket being too expensive).

Situation
Sometimes you just need to think about the context of the sentence to understand the
meaning completely. For example, if you already knew for sure that a friend wrote the
exam, and they later said “시험을 못 봤어요” – the sentence could only have one meaning
(because you already knew that he/she wrote the exam).

Let’s look at some examples. If somebody said:

저는 밥을 못 먹어요

This could technically mean two things. It could mean:

1. That the person can’t eat (well)

2. That the person won’t eat because of some situation (most likely because
he/she is full/doesn’t like that particular food, etc…)
In this case, the first possibility does not make sense because everybody (99.9% of the
time) has the ability to eat. Therefore, this person is expressing that he/she is not going to
eat because of some situation that is causing him/her to not want to eat.

Another example:
PLAY 저는 답을 잘 못 썼어요
This sentence could really only mean one thing. Because of the use of “잘,” we know that
the speaker is expressing that he/she did not do something well. Therefore, the sentence
above translates to “I didn’t answer well.

There is still another way that 못/못하다 can be used to have yet another similar meaning
to what has been described so far.

~지 못하다

One more thing about 못하다. Similar in structure to ~지 않다, you can also write ~지
못하다 to have the same meaning as 못. For example:

PLAY 저는 어제 못 잤어요 AND
저는 어제 자지 못했어요 have the same meaning (I didn’t sleep [well] last night)

Remember that 못 and ~지 못하다 have the same meaning, which is subtly different than
를 못하다:

PLAY 저는 어제 못 공부했어요 = I didn’t study well yesterday/I couldn’t study yesterday

PLAY 저는 어제 공부하지 못했어요 = I didn’t study well yesterday/I couldn’t study
yesterday
PLAY 저는 공부를 못해요 = I am bad at studying

잘못

To make all of this even more confusing, the word 잘못 (with no space between 잘 and 못)
has a different meaning. 잘못 means “mistake.” This word would normally be an easy word
to deal with. However, it is more difficult than it needs to be because 잘못 and 잘 못 have
two different meanings. 잘못 can be used like this:

PLAY 그것은 제 잘못이었어요 = That was my fault/my mistake

Normally when you say “my _____” you use  저의 or  나의. However, some nouns prefer to
have  제 and  내 before them instead of  저의/나의. 잘못 is one of these nouns. Another
example is  제/내 생각 (instead of  저의/나의 생각) meaning “my thought/my opinion/what I
think.”
 

잘 and 못 with Comparatives and Superlatives

One final thing before I finish. In the previous lesson, you learned about using ~보다 and
가장/제일 to make comparative and superlative sentences. The concepts you learned in
this lesson are very commonly used alongside ~보다 or 가장/제일 in sentences to say that
somebody can do something better/worse, or do something the best/worst. Some
examples:

Comparative Sentences:
PLAY 우리 아들은 친구들보다 축구를 더 잘해요 = Our (my) son is better than (his) friends
at soccer
PLAY 그 교수는 다른 교수들보다 수업을 더 잘해요 = That professor teaches classes better
than other professors
PLAY 저는 수영을 작년보다 더 잘해요 = I am better at swimming than last year

Superlative Sentences:
PLAY 우리 아들은 축구를 가장 잘해요 = Our (my) son is the best at soccer
PLAY 그 교수는 수업을 제일 잘해요 = That professor teaches classes the best (is the best at
teaching classes)

PLAY 저는 축구를 제일 못해요 = I play soccer the worst

PLAY 저는 수영을 제일 못해요 = I swim the worst

Again, in most situations, these sentences would sound more natural with the use of other
grammatical principles. For example, to say “I am the one who plays soccer the worst” or “Of
all people, I play soccer the worst.” To be able to wrap your head around those sentences,
you’ll need to read/understand the grammar taught in  Lessons 26  and  33  respectively.

That’s it for this lesson!

Lesson 21: Asking Questions in Korean: Why, When, Where,

Who
Jump to:

Vocabulary
 Asking Questions in Korean
~습니까
~니
~은/ㄴ가(요)
~나(요)

Using Question Words

Why (왜)
When (언제)
Where (어디)
Who (누구)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 소식 = news

PLAY 엄마 = mom

PLAY 아빠 = dad

PLAY 결혼식 = wedding

PLAY 우표 = postage stamp

PLAY 신 = god

PLAY 만화 = comics, cartoons

PLAY 만화책 = comic book

PLAY 예정 = schedule

PLAY 코딱지 = booger, a small amount of something

PLAY 논 = rice paddy

PLAY 낮잠 (자다) = nap

PLAY 의견 = opinion, feedback

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 사라지다 = to disappear

CONJUGATE PLAY 졸업하다 = to graduate

CONJUGATE PLAY 입원하다 = to check into a hospital

CONJUGATE PLAY 퇴원하다 = to check out of a hospital

CONJUGATE PLAY 이기다 = to win

CONJUGATE PLAY 지다 = to lose

CONJUGATE PLAY 후회하다 = to regret

CONJUGATE PLAY 타다 = to ride

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 즐겁다 = to be pleasant

CONJUGATE PLAY 부족하다 = to not be enough, to be lacking

CONJUGATE PLAY 간단하다 = to be simple

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 누구 = who

PLAY 왜 = why
PLAY 언제 = when

PLAY 어디 = where

PLAY 역시 = also

PLAY 몇몇 = some

PLAY 벌써 = already

PLAY 이미 = already

PLAY 특히 = especially, particularly

PLAY 점점 = gradually

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Asking Questions in Korean

Asking questions in Korean, at first glance, is very easy. For the most part, asking questions
in Korean without the use of a “question” word (who/what/when/where/why/how/how
much/how many) is incredibly simple.

Asking questions in English is unnecessarily complicated. If I asked you the question “Do
you like sports?” In English, what is the meaning of the word “do” in that sentence? In
English, whenever we ask a question (without a question word), we need to include the
words did/do/will to make the listener know that we are asking a question.

Did you go to the park?

Do you like sports?
Will you eat with us?

It is so confusing in English, and my two sentence explanation doesn’t really explain it very
well. Luckily, this is not an English learning website! You are here to learn how to ask
questions in Korean. Enough of this English nonsense.
In Korean, if you are asking a question that does not require the use of a question word
(one more time: who/what/when/where/why/how/how much/how many) you don’t need
to do anything structurally to make that sentence a question. All you need to do is raise
the intonation of the end of the sentence to make it sound like a question. For example, if
you want to say “My mother ate” you already know that you can say:

엄마는 먹었어요 = My mom ate

But if you want to ask somebody “did you eat?” You just raise the intonation of the end of
the sentence to make it sound like a question:

PLAY 엄마는 먹었어요? = (literally means “did mom eat?”)

Remember that Korean people rarely say the word “you,” so if you ask a question to the
person you are talking to about  the person you are talking to, you can just omit the
subject of the sentence.

PLAY 밥을 먹었어? = Did (you) eat?

PLAY 집에 갔어? = Did (you) go home?
PLAY 소식을 들었어? = Did (you) hear the news?

If you are talking to somebody and the subject of the sentence is not the person who you
are talking to, you can just use the subject as normal. Also notice that regardless of the
tense of the sentence (past/present/future) you don’t need to do anything special other
than raise the intonation at the end of the sentence:

PLAY 남동생은 울었어요? = Did your brother cry?

PLAY 한국은 좋은 나라야? = Is Korea a good country?
PLAY 엄마도 올 거야? = Will mom come too?

As I said, you don’t need to change anything structurally in these sentences to make them
questions. There are, however, a few ways that you can change the structure of a sentence
to make the sentence a question (if you want).

Korean Questions ~ㅂ/습니까

The formal high respect ~습니다 is never used as a question. When asking a question in
this form, instead of using ~습니다 you must use ~ㅂ/습니까. ~ㅂ니까 gets added directly
to stems ending in a vowel, and ~습니까 gets added after a stem ending in a consonant.
You can do this with all tenses:

PLAY 방학 동안 집에 안 갔습니까? = You didn’t go home during vacation?

PLAY 그 사람을 만나고 싶습니까? = Do you want to meet that person?
PLAY 내일 학교에 갈 겁니까? = Are you going to school tomorrow?
PLAY 내일 학교에 갈 것입니까? = Are you going to school tomorrow?

I work at a school in Seoul. In the bathrooms, there are charts on the walls that the
cleaning staff is supposed to check once per day. Written on these charts is a list of
questions about the state of the bathroom.

While you will not understand most of the words on this list, notice that all of the
sentences (except for the last one) has the ending ~ㅂ/습니까?

Some of the words provided in the 10 sentences above

are fairly difficult. However, I would like to translate it for you:

1. Is the bathroom floor clean?

2. Is the sink clean?

3. Has the mirror been wiped clean?

4. Is there extra soap?

5. Is the toilet paper ready?

 6. Is the bathroom’s garbage can empty?

7. Are there no toilets that haven’t been flushed?

8. Are any lights broken?

9. Is there any smell?

10. Are there any places, the doorknob, the faucet, etc that are broken?
There are other ways you can change a sentence to make it a question. ~ㅂ/습니까 is
typically the most formal. We will talk about the others in the upcoming sections.

Korean Questions ~니

When asking a question, instead of ending your sentences with ~아/어, you can end them
with ~니. This is an informal way to ask a question, and you can do this in all tenses. For
example:

Past tense: 했니, 먹었니, 갔니, 이었니

Present tense: 하니, 먹니, 가니, 이니
Future tense (~겠): 하겠니, 먹겠니, 가겠니
Future tense (~ㄹ 것이다): 할 거니, 할 것이니, 먹을 거니, 먹을 것이니

However, note that using this form gives the sentence a slightly feminine feel to it (I’ve
never once used ~니). However, I work at a Korean high school, and I hear female Korean
teachers use this form all the time when asking questions to a student.

PLAY 시험을 잘 봤니? = Did you write the exam well (did you do well on the exam)?
PLAY 서울에 가겠니? = Are you going to go to Seoul?
PLAY 몇 반이니? = What class are you in?
PLAY 이미 졸업했니? = Did you already graduate?

—————–

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different
additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~니.

The ㄹ irregular applies when adding ~니. When you add ~니 to a stem of a word that
ends in ㄹ, you must drop the ㄹ from the stem, and attach the grammatical principle to
the remainder of the word. For example:
열다 + ~니 = 여니

As you know, some additions require the speaker to choose between two possible options
– for example, choosing between ~아 and ~어 when adding ~아/어. Notice that when
adding ~니 there is no choice. I call this a “solid ㄴ.” That is, there is only one choice, and it
starts with ㄴ.

In later lessons, you will learn other grammatical additions that have a solid ㄴ. For
example:

~나 (later in this lesson)

~는 (Lesson 26)
~는데 (Lesson 76)
~네 (Lesson 83)
~나 (Lesson 109)

All grammatical additions where a solid ㄴ is attached to a word follow the same rule as
when ~니 is added. Below are some examples of ~니 in use with the ㄹ irregular:

PLAY 뭐 만드니? = What are you making?

PLAY 마음에 드니? = Do you like it?
PLAY 어디 사니? = Where do you live?

~니 also affects the ㅎ irregular, which is introduces in Lesson 23.

Korean Questions ~ㄴ/은가(요)

Just like ‘~니’ you can also end your questions with ~ㄴ/은가(요). Adding “요” to the end 
makes it more formal. This form is less formal than the high-respect ~ㅂ/습니까 form.

~ㄴ/은가(요) gets added to the stem of adjectives. Using this form makes a question a
little bit softer than using the forms described previously. The exact difference cannot be
translated perfectly, but sort of like how “would it be okay if I go into the park?” sounds
slightly softer than “can I go into the park.”
You add ~ㄴ/은 to adjective stems just like you would when conjugating it to describe a
noun:
예쁘다 + ㄴ/은 = 예쁜
작다 + ㄴ/은 = 작은

And then attach “가(요)” after that construction:

예쁜가(요)?
작은가(요)?

It is only conjugated into the present tense and therefore usually only used to ask about
some sort of present situation. For example:

PLAY 그 여자는 예쁜가? = Is that girl pretty?

PLAY 이것은 너무 작은가요? = Is this too small?
PLAY 그 학교가 좋은가? = Is that school good?
PLAY 일이 너무 복잡한가요? = Is this work/task too complicated?

~ㄴ/은가(요) is commonly added to 이다 as well. For example:

PLAY 그 사람이 선생님인가? = Is that person a teacher?

PLAY 그 사람이 우리 엄마인가? = Is that person our mom? (Is that our mom?)

아닌가(요)? Is very commonly used at the end of a full sentence to say “no?” when you are
asking yourself a question as if you are doubting yourself. For example:

PLAY 그 여자는 한국에서 가장 예쁜 여자야. 아닌가?  = That girl is the most beautiful girl in
Korea… no?/isn’t she?

PLAY 너무 복잡해! 아닌가? = This is too complicated. Isn’t it?

Korean Questions ~나(요)

Using ~나(요) at the end of a sentence to ask a question has the same function of ~ㄴ/
은가(요). That is, it can be used to make a question sound slightly softer than the other
ways to ask a question. However, ~나(요) is more often used with verbs and with 있다 and
없다. For example:
Notice that the  ㄹ irregular needs to be applied in appropriate situations again:

PLAY 밥이 있나? = Is there rice?

PLAY 사과도 여기서 파나요? = Do you sell apples here too?
PLAY 소녀시대 콘서트를 여기서 하나요? = Is the Girl’s Generation concert here?
PLAY 지하철을 타고 있나요? = Are you on (riding) the subway now?

This form can be used in the past tense as well. For example:

PLAY 교통카드가 있었나요? = Did you have your bus (transportation) card?
PLAY 그 소식을 들었나요? = Did you hear that/the news?
PLAY 만화책을 샀나요? = Did you buy the comic book?
PLAY 어제 병원에 입원했나요? = Did you go to the hospital yesterday?

It is possible to use this in the future tense, but it only sounds natural when applying it to
the ~겠다 future conjugation. Adding ~나(요) to 이다 is typically not done, and therefore
adding it to words that are conjugating using ~ㄹ/을 것이다 is unnatural. For example:

내일 퇴원할 거나요? – unnatural

내일 퇴원할 것이나요? – unnatural

Using Question Words

Depending on which question word you are using, building a question can be really easy
or really confusing. I will teach you the easy examples in this lesson (who, when, where,
why) and the more confusing examples in the next lesson (what, how, how much/how
many).

Why (왜)

Why (왜) is probably the easiest question word in Korean. ‘왜’ is an adverb, which means it
can be used/placed as an adverb in sentences. Many of the question words that you will
learn in this lesson (and the following lesson) are adverbs. As you know, adverbs can be
used very freely in sentences and do not have any specific location that they need to be
used. However, the most common position for these adverb-question words is before the
verb. If there are other adverbs in the sentence (including the negative “안”) the question
word is usually placed first.

With these adverb-question words, you can typically just take a statement and change it
into a question by inserting the word into the sentence. For example:

만화책을 좋아합니까? = Do you like comic books?

PLAY 만화책을 왜 좋아합니까? = Why do you like comic books?

(저는) 한국어를 공부하고 있어요 = I am studying Korean

PLAY 한국어를 왜 공부하고 있어요? = Why are you studying Korean?

(저는) 너무 빨리 먹었어요 = I ate really fast

PLAY 왜 너무 빨리 먹었어요? = Why did you eat so fast?

(저는) 어제 학교에 안 갔어요 = I didn’t go to school yesterday

PLAY 어제 학교에 왜 안 갔어요? = Why didn’t you go to school yesterday?

왜 is also used to respond when somebody calls your name (because they want you for
some reason). In English, we would say “what,” but in Korean, they say “왜.” For example:

Person 1: PLAY 슬기야! = Seulgi!

Person 2: PLAY 왜? = Why/what do you want?

Notice that saying “why” in English is unnatural. This is how they say it in Korean.

When (언제)

The usage of ‘when’ (언제) is very similar to the usage of ‘왜’ in Korean. As an adverb, it
can be used to ask “when” something happens. For example:

집에 갔어? = Did you go home?

PLAY 집에 언제 갔어? = When did you go home?

집에 갈 거야? = Will you go home?

PLAY 집에 언제 갈 거야? = When will you go home?
그 여자가 사라졌어요 = That girl disappeared
PLAY 그 여자가 언제 사라졌어요? = When did that girl disappear?

낮잠을 잤어요? = Did you take a nap?

PLAY 낮잠을 언제 잤어요? = When did you take a nap?

아빠가 왔어요? = Did dad come?

PLAY 아빠가 언제 왔나요? = When did dad come?

Particles like ~부터 and ~까지, which are often used to indicate from/until when
something happens can be attached to 언제 to indicate that it is unknown “from/until
when” something happens. For example:

어제부터 아팠어요 = I have been sick since yesterday

PLAY 언제부터 아팠어요? = Since when have you been sick?
Notice that  어제 and  언제 are not the same word.

한국에서 내년까지 있을 거예요 = I will be in Korea until next year

PLAY 한국에서 언제까지 있을 거예요? = Until when will you be in Korea?

작년부터 한국어를 공부했어요 = I have been studying Korean since last year
PLAY 언제부터 한국어를 공부했어요? = Since when have you been studying Korean?

언제 can also be attached to “이다” to ask “when” something is. In these cases as well, it
replaces the noun that would normally be attached to 이다. For example:

결혼식은 내일이야 = The wedding is tomorrow

PLAY 결혼식은 언제야? = When is the wedding?

방학은 다음 주야 = Vacation is next week

PLAY 방학은 언제야? = When is vacation?

The grammatical principle ~든지 is commonly attached to 언제 to form 언제든지. For now,
you can think of this simply as a word that means “whenever.” When you learn about the
function of ~든지 in Lesson 106, you will understand how this meaning is formed.

Where (어디)
어디 works very much like 언제. It can be used to ask “where” something happened if the
place is unknown. For example:

집에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go home

PLAY 어디 가고 싶어요? = Where do you want to go?

한국에 살아요 = I live in Korea

PLAY 어디 살아요? = Where do you live?

Just like  여기, ~에 is often omitted from “어디.”  어디에서 is often contracted to  어디서.

More examples:
그것을 집에서 하고 싶어요 = I want to do that at home
PLAY 그것을 어디서 하고 싶어요? = Where do you want to do that?

한국에서 왔어요 = I came from Korea

PLAY 어디에서 왔어요? = Where are you from (from where did you come?)

The particle ~까지 is commonly attached to 어디. ~부터 is not commonly attached to 어디
for the same reason that ~부터 is not commonly attached to a place, as described
in Lesson 12. For example:

부산까지 가고 싶어요 = I want to go until Busan

PLAY 어디까지 가고 싶어요? = How far/until where do you want to go?

지하철을 서울역까지 탈 거예요 = We will take/ride the Subway until Seoul Station
PLAY 지하철을 어디까지 탈 거예요? = Until where will we ride the subway?

Like 언제, it can be used as the noun before 이다 to ask where something “is.”

Placing 어디 before 이다 is really only done if asking somebody directly where they are:

PLAY 어디야? = Where are you?

Or when asking where a place is:

PLAY 너의 집이 어디야? = Where is your house?
PLAY 그곳이 어디야? = Where is that place?
PLAY 학교가 어디예요? = Where is the/your school?
When asking where another person, or an object is, it is more natural to use 있다 in these
sentence. For example:

PLAY 친구가 어디에 있어요? = Where is your friend?

PLAY 엄마가 어디에 있어요? = Where is mom?
PLAY 펜이 어디에 있어요? = Where is the pen?
PLAY 아빠가 어디에 있어? = Where is dad?
PLAY 그 만화책이 어디에 있어? = Where is that comic?

These would be unnatural:

아빠가 어디야?
그 만화책이 어디야?

Just like 언제, there are of course more complicated ways that 어디 can be used. For now,
this is good enough.

Who (누구)

In Korean, 누구 has the function of a pronoun.

Actually, some of the ways you use 언제 and 어디 in Korean are  pronouns. I chose not to
explain this to you because the definition of a pronoun in Korean and English is not exactly
the same.  언제 and  어디 can act as pronouns in Korean, but this same usage would be
called an adverb in English. I actually had an explanation typed out, but decided not to
include it into this lesson because it makes things more confusing than they actually are.
However, knowing that  누구 is a pronoun in English and Korean is helpful (if you know what
pronouns are).

As a pronoun, 누구 can be used in the place of a noun in a sentence – that is, it can be
used to replace the object, the subject or as a noun before 이다.

This is the same in English – as you can see in the following three examples:
Who will study Korean tomorrow? – ‘who’ is the subject of the sentence
Who will you meet tomorrow? – ‘who’ is the object of the sentence -“you” is the subject
Who is that person? = ‘who’ is ‘that person’ in the sentence

However, this is confusing in English because in all three cases “who” is the first word of
the sentence regardless of its role.
In Korean, instead of always placing ‘who’ at the start of the sentence, it should be placed
in the location of the subject (usually the start of the sentence), the object (usually
somewhere in the middle of the sentence) or before 이다. I will show you an example of
each:

In the third sentence below you can see an example of 누구 being used as a subject. The
subject is underlined in each case. When 누구 is used as the subject of a sentence, it is
changed to 누가.

너는 내일 한국어를 공부할 거야 = You will study Korean tomorrow

너는 내일 한국어를 공부할 거야? = Will you study Korean tomorrow?
PLAY 누가 내일 한국어를 공부할 거야? = Who will study Korean tomorrow?

In the third sentence below you can see an example of 누구 being used as an object. The
object is underlined in each case. The object particles can be used if 누구 is the object.

너는 내일 친구를 만날 거야 = You will meet a friend tomorrow

너는 내일 친구를 만날 거야? = Will you meet a friend tomorrow?
PLAY 너는 내일 누구(를) 만날 거야? = Who will you meet tomorrow?

In the third sentence below you can see an example of 누구 being used before 이다:

그 사람은 너의 아버지야 = That person is your dad

그 사람은 너의 아버지야? = Is that person your dad?
PLAY 그 사람은 누구야? = Who is that person?

That’s it for this lesson, but there is still lots for you to know about asking questions in
Korean! This lesson covered the first half of what you need to know, and the following
lesson (Lesson 22) will cover the rest!

Lesson 22: Asking Questions in Korean: How, What, Which, How

Many
 Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

How (어떻게)
어때?

What (뭐/무엇/무슨)
뭐 and 무엇
무슨

Which (어떤/어느)
어떤
어느

How many: 몇
How much, How many: 얼마나

~는/은 and ~이/가 Revisited (again)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 계란 = eggs

PLAY 자리 = a seat, a place to put something

PLAY 중요성 = importance, emphasis

PLAY 벌금 = a fine

PLAY 파일 = file

PLAY 로션 = lotion

PLAY 습관 = customs, habit

PLAY 치마 = skirt

PLAY 단계 = step, phase, stage

PLAY 짓 = some sort of negative act

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 차지하다 = to occupy a space

CONJUGATE PLAY 수거하다 = to collect, to come and pick up

CONJUGATE PLAY 첨부하다 = to attach (a file)

CONJUGATE PLAY 찢다 = to tear, to rip

CONJUGATE PLAY 다녀오다 = to go and then come back

CONJUGATE PLAY 예상하다 = to expect

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 올바르다 = to be correct

CONJUGATE PLAY 복잡하다 = to be complicated

CONJUGATE PLAY 짧다 = to be short, to be brief

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 얼마나 = how much

PLAY 몇 = how many ___

PLAY 뭐 = what

PLAY 무슨 = what

PLAY 무엇 = what

PLAY 어떤 = which

PLAY 어떤= some

PLAY 어느 = which

PLAY 어때? = How is/was … ?

PLAY 대개 = usually

PLAY 바깥 = outside

PLAY 쯤= approximately

PLAY 서로= reciprocally

PLAY 필독 = must read

PLAY 며칠 = how many days

PLAY 퍼센트 = percent

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In the previous lesson, you learned about how to make question sentences in Korean. In
this lesson, you will build on what you learned in Lesson 21 by learning more ways to ask
questions in Korean. Specifically, you will learn how to ask questions using the following
words: how, what, which and how many.

 
 How (어떻게)

어떻게 is the easiest of the words that you will learn today. The word 어떻게 is actually
어떻다 (a word you don’t know yet) turned into an adverb by adding ~게 to the stem (
어떻 + 게). Though 어떻다 and 어떻게 are technically the same word, don’t think of them
that way. Just remember that 어떻게 means “how.” You can use 어떻게 to ask how
somebody does a verb, but it can not be placed before an adjective or adverb in Korean to
mean “how (adjective/adverb).” For example:

“Learn” is a verb, so you can use 어떻게 in the following sentence:

How did you learn?

“Beautiful” is an adjective. “Often” is an adverb. Which means you can  not  use 어떻게 in
the following sentences:
How beautiful is your girlfriend?
How often do you go to school?

You will learn another word (얼마나) later in this lesson to use in those sentences.

어떻게 is an adverb, so you can place it in sentences very freely. You can use it to ask
questions in the past, present or future tense. For example:

PLAY 그것을 어떻게 해요? = How do you do that?

PLAY 한국어를 어떻게 배웠어요? = How did you learn Korean?
PLAY 그 자리를 어떻게 찾았어요? = How did you find that seat?
PLAY 그 파일을 어떻게 보낼 거예요? = How are you going to send that file?

One thing that is different between English and Korean is when you ask “what do you
think about…” If you want to say that in Korean, you have to use the equivalent of “how do
you think about…”:

PLAY 그 여자에 대해 어떻게 생각해요? = What do you think about that girl?

That’s pretty much all you need to know with regards to ‘어떻게,’ but there is still more
that you should know about the word 어떻다.

어때?
The word 어떻다 is rarely used as 어떻다 in sentences. Actually, if you asked Korean
people if they thought that ‘어떻다’ and 어떻게’ are the same word, they would probably
say that the two are completely different words.

In addition to 어떻게, there is another way that you can use 어떻다 in sentences. Through
conjugation, 어떻다 can change to ‘어때.” I’ll show you how 어떻다 changes to 어때, but
you really don’t need to worry about how it is changed (there are only a few other words
in Korean that can take on a similar transformation).

1. 어떻다 is an adjective

2. ~아/어하다 can be added to some  adjectives (You already know about

좋다 + ~아/어하다 = 좋아하다)

3. The addition of ~아/어하다 causes the ㅎ to drop (you will learn more
about this in the next lesson)

4. 어떠하다 can conjugate to 어떠해

5. Say 어떠해 fast enough and it comes out as “어때”

어때 is used to say “how is/was the…?” or “what do/did you think about…?” It is used when
you want to ask somebody’s opinion/evaluation of something. It sounds more natural in
Korean for the thing you are asking about with “어때”  to not have a particle. For example:

PLAY 남자 친구 어때? = How is your boyfriend? (is he good/bad/handsome/etc..?)

It is also very commonly used in the present tense to say “how about… ?/what do you
think of…?” For example:

PLAY 점심 어때? = How about lunch? / What do you think about lunch?

Think of this example. You and I are searching through a bunch of pictures, trying to find
the best one for my profile picture on Facebook. I find one that I like, but I want to ask you
“what do you think about this picture/how about this picture?” In that case, I can say:

PLAY 이 사진(이) 어때? = How about this picture?

In fact, 어때 is probably the  most commonly miss-translated word by Korean speakers

learning English. If you ask a Korean person what ‘어때’ means, they will all say it means
“how about.” Sometimes, this is true, but 어때 can only be used as “how about” in a
limited number of cases. In the example I just gave about choosing a good picture, 어때
can be translated to “how about.” But what about in example with the boyfriend?:
How about your boyfriend?

Sounds weird, and most English-speaking people probably couldn’t even understand the
meaning of this sentence.

Try it sometime. If you have a Korean friend (one that can’t speak 100% perfect English),
ask him how to say “한국 어때?” in English. I guarantee he will say “How about Korea?” But
really, this should be translated to “what do you think about Korea?/How is Korea?”

~요 can be added to 어때 to make it more formal. Also, 어때 can be put into the past-
tense to ask about something in the past. But note that even if you are asking about the
past, it is not 100% necessary to use 어때 in the past tense:

PLAY 시험 어땠어요? = How was the exam?/What did you think about the exam? (was it
hard/easy?)
PLAY 점심 어땠어요? = How was the lunch?/What did you think about the lunch? (was it
delicious?)

What (뭐/무엇/무슨)

Now that you’ve learned all the easy ways to ask questions, let’s work on the hard ways.
Figuring out how to ask “what” in Korean is probably the hardest thing you will come
across (grammatically) for a while. Essentially, there are three ways to say “what:”

뭐 – which is a pronoun
무엇 – which is a pronoun
무슨 – which is a word that can be placed before nouns to describe them

Let me explain how each one is used.

뭐 and 무엇

These two essentially have the same meaning and function. Let me introduce 뭐 first.
뭐 can be used similar to 언제, 어디 and 누구. That is, to represent an unknown thing in a
sentence. For example:

밥을 먹었어 = I ate rice

PLAY 뭐 먹었어요? = What did you eat?

계란을 샀어요 = I bought eggs

PLAY 뭐 샀어요? = What did you buy?

Like 누구 (as you learned in the previous lesson), “뭐” and “what” act as a pronouns in their
respective sentences. More examples:

파일을 첨부했어요 = I attached the file

뭐 첨부했어요? = What did you attach?

치마를 입었어요 = I put on a skirt

PLAY 뭐 입었어요? = What did you put on/wear?

Particles are not usually attached to 뭐 when asking a question like this. For example, these
would be unnatural:

뭐를 먹었어요?
뭐를 첨부했어요?
뭐를 입었어요?

One of the times it is possible to attach a particle to 뭐 is when asking somebody what
they are referring to in a previous sentence where a noun was omitted. For example, if you
look at this dialogue:

Person 1: PLAY 저는 많이 먹었어요 = I ate a lot

Person 2: PLAY 뭐를? = what? (you ate a lot of what?)

Here, the first person didn’t specifically indicate what he/she ate. The second person is
asking for clarification of what was eaten, and can use “뭐를.” Here, “뭐” essentially acts as
the noun that was omitted in the previous sentence.

무엇 is very similar to 뭐. However, it is more common to attach ~을 to 무엇 than with 뭐.

For example:
PLAY 점심을 먹었어? = Did you eat lunch?
PLAY 무엇을 먹었어? = What did you eat?
PLAY 무엇을 입었어요? = What did you put on/wear?
PLAY 무엇을 샀어요? = What did you buy?

When used before 이다 to ask what something “is,” it is more common to use 뭐 than to
use 무엇. For example:

PLAY 이것이 뭐야? = What is this?

PLAY 이름이 뭐예요? = What is your name?
PLAY 점심이 뭐야? = What is (for) lunch?

Instead of:
이것이 무엇이야?
이름이 무엇이야?
점심이 무엇이야?

무슨

무슨 also translates to “what” but it is instead placed before nouns to describe them.

For example:

그 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Do you want to see that movie?

무서운 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Do you want to see a scary movie?
PLAY 무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? = What movie do you want to see?

The dictionary form of 무슨 is 무슨. Although it looks like an adjective with ~ㄴ/은
attached to it, the word itself is 무슨, and thus, is not actually an adjective. However, it
looks and feels like an adjective because of how it is used in sentences.

무슨 is used when the speaker doesn’t know what an object is, and is asking about what it
may be. The most common situations you will see 무슨 used are the following:

PLAY 그것이 무슨 냄새야? = What is that smell?

PLAY 무슨 생각(을) 해? = What are you thinking?
PLAY 그것이 무슨 소리야? = What is that sound?
PLAY 무슨 말이야? = What do you mean?
(The last two examples are often used to ask “what do you mean” or “I can’t understand
what you are trying to say”)

One way I like to think of 무슨 and how it can be distinguished from 어떤 and 어느 (which
you will learn next in the lesson), is that 무슨 is used when the speaker is asking a question
and has no idea what the answer will be. The answer could be almost an unlimited choice
of options. For example, if I ask:

PLAY 무슨 냄새야? = What is that smell?

I might use that if I just walk into a room and smell something for the first time. Because of
this, I would not know the source of the smell and would have no idea what the answer to
my question might be. The answer could be anywhere from “my fart” to “the toaster.”

Likewise, if I ask:

PLAY 무슨 생각(을) 해? = What are you thinking?

I might be looking at somebody and seeing them staring into space. In this case, I would
not be able to even guess what that person is thinking, so I have no idea what the answer
to my question might be. The answer could be anywhere from “my future” to “eating
pizza.”

Sounds simple enough, right? Let’s talk about other words that are often confused with
무슨.

Which (어떤/어느)

어떤

어떤 is another one of these words that, although not an adjective, we can place before a
noun to describe it. For example:
그 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Do you want to see that movie?
무서운 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Do you want to see a scary movie?
PLAY 무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? = What movie do you want to see?
PLAY 어떤 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Which movie do you want to see?

Or

그 차를 사고 싶어요? = Do you want to buy that car?

비싼 차를 사고 싶어요? = Do you want to buy an expensive car?
무슨 차를 사고 싶어요? = What car do you want to buy?
PLAY 어떤 차를 사고 싶어요? = Which car do you want to buy?

The first question every learner has when learning about 어떤 is how it can be
differentiated from 무슨. 어떤 usually translates to “which” and 무슨 usually translates to
“what.” Their meanings are very similar and their respective English translations don’t really
give any hints as to what the differences between the two are.

The difference is subtle, and at this point you don’t really need to fully understand how
they are different. The difference is even hard for Korean people to understand, and using
one of them in place of the other usually creates a sentence with essentially the exact
same meaning. That being said, let me give you a brief introduction of how they are
different.

In the case of asking questions, 어떤 is used for two main reasons.

 To choose from a selection of options

For example, in: “어떤 차를 사고 싶어요?” Maybe you are selling cars and giving
a person a selection of cars to choose from. Here, although you technically
don’t know the answer to the question, you can assume that it will be from a
limited number of choices given.

 To ask about the type of properties or characteristics related to a

person/object
For example, in: “어떤 차를 사고 싶어요?” Maybe you are asking your friend
about the type of car he wants to buy based on the characteristics of it. Here,
you could be asking if he wants to buy a van, an SUV, a truck, etc…
By looking at those two main usages, you can see how 어떤 should not be used to replace
무슨 in most situations. For example, in the examples earlier with 무슨, I showed you this
sentence:
PLAY 무슨 냄새야? = What is that smell?

Here, “PLAY 무슨 냄새야?” would be used when the person doesn’t know the source of the
smell, and has no idea what the smell could be. Like I said earlier, the answer to the
question would likely indicate the source of the smell and could literally be anything from
“farts” to “the toaster.”

However saying “어떤 냄새야?” in most situations would be ridiculous. It could only really
be used if you are asking a person to tell you about the characteristics of a smell they are
smelling. For example, imagine if you had a bouquet of flowers and put the flowers to your
friend’s nose. In this case, you want your friend to describe the characteristics of the smell
– “Is it a nice smell? A fresh smell? A rosy smell?” The answer to this question would likely
be describing (the characteristics) of the smell.

Despite this distinction, there are many situations where 어떤 and 무슨 could basically be
used interchangeably. For example, ask a Korean person if they can describe the
differences between the two sentences:

PLAY 무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? = What movie do you want to see?

(In theory, the speaker would have no idea what the answer to the question would be)

PLAY 어떤 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Which movie do you want to see?

(In theory, the speaker would have given the listener a choice to choose from, or would be
asking about the type of movie the listener wants to see [for example, a comedy, a horror
movie, or a love story]).

Another usage of 어떤 that is completely unrelated to asking questions can be seen in this
sentence:

PLAY 어떤 남자는 어제 여기에 왔어 = Some man came here yesterday

Here, 어떤 is used to show that the speaker knew a man came, but is unsure of specifically
who he was. This can be applied to other nouns as well when the speaker is aware of some
object, but is unsure of what specific object is in question. For example

PLAY 저는 어떤 책을 읽고 있었어요 = I was reading some book

(the speaker doesn’t know exactly what book he was reading)
PLAY 저는 어떤 건물에 들어갔어요 = I went into some building
(the speaker doesn’t know exactly what building he went into)

Just when you thought you might actually be understanding this confusion, we have to
look at another word with a similar meaning.

어느

Another way you can ask this type of question is with the word 어느. Like 무슨 and 어떤,
어느 is placed immediately before nouns.

Unfortunately for your brain, 어느 translates to “which.” For example:

그 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Do you want to see that movie?

무서운 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Do you want to see a scary movie?
PLAY 무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? = What movie do you want to see?
PLAY 어떤 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Which movie do you want to see?
PLAY 어느 영화를 보고 싶어요? = Which movie do you want to see?

In the case of asking questions, 어느 is used in a similar way to the first explanation I gave
of 어떤 from above. That is, “to choose from a selection of options.” It would not be used
to refer to the type of characteristics or properties of an object, and it would not be used
to refer to something unknown.

Here, you can see that the usages of 무슨, 어떤 and 어느 overlap on multiple levels.
Although this overlap leads to confusion, it also allows each word to be used
interchangeably in most cases, which makes using them easier than you think. In my
opinion, it is just as important to realize how not  to use each of these words when asking a
question. Let me brief that for you:

무슨:
Don’t use this when asking about the type of characteristics or properties of something
Don’t use this when giving somebody options to choose from
However,
Do use this when you can’t expect what the answer will be at all

어떤:
Don’t use this when asking about something that you can’t expect the answer for

However,
Do use this when asking about the type of characteristics or properties of something
Do use this when giving somebody options to choose from

어느:
Don’t use this when asking about the type of characteristics or properties of something
Don’t use this when asking about something that you can’t expect the answer for

However,
Do use this when giving somebody options to choose from

Here are a bunch of similar examples which each word being used:

PLAY 무슨 집에서 살아요? = What house do you live in?

PLAY 어떤 집에서 살아요? = Which house do you live in?
PLAY 어느 집에서 살아요? = Which house do you live in?

PLAY 무슨 대학교를 다녀요? = What university do you go to?

PLAY 어떤 대학교를 다녀요? = Which university do you go to?
PLAY 어느 대학교를 다녀요? = Which university do you go to?

무슨 쪽으로 가고 싶어요? – This would generally not be said in Korean. You would most
likely say this when standing on a street (or somewhere similar), where you have a selection
of options to choose from. Therefore, one of the following would be used instead:
어떤 쪽으로 가고 싶어요? = Which way do you want to go?
어느 쪽으로 가고 싶어요? = Which way do you want to go?

PLAY 무슨 치마를 샀어요? = What skirt did you buy?

PLAY 어떤 치마를 샀어요? = Which skirt did you buy?
PLAY 어느 치마를 샀어요? = Which skirt did you buy?

This table is equally confusing, but it helped me organize my thoughts, so I thought I

would present it here as well. I have attempted to organize the main usages of 무슨, 어떤
and 어느.
 무슨 어떤 어느

Object is 무슨 냄새야? 어떤 냄새야? 어느 소리야?

unknown What is that smell? Could be okay, but it Awkward
would be referring to the
characteristics of the
smell, not the source.

Characteristics 그 사람이 무슨 사람이야? 그는 어떤 사람이야? 그 사람이 어느 사람

Awkward What type of person is he? Awkward

Choosing among 무슨 차를 사고 싶어요? 어떤 차를 사고 싶어요? 어느 차를 사고 싶어

options What car do you want to buy? Which car do you want to Which car do you wa
More in Lesson (This fits in with the “object is buy?
33 unknown” usage) (This could also be
referring to the
characteristics/type of car)

Unsure of 나는 무슨 책을 읽었어 나는 어떤 책을 읽었어 나는 어느 책을 읽었

specifics Awkward I read some book Awkward

This is a good start, but there are other specific situations when you might use one of
these words. For example, 어느 has other usages as well. You will learn about some of the
other usages of 어느 in Lesson 25 and Lesson 72.

In addition, as 어떤 and 어느 are used when options are given, we will continue to talk
about these words in Lesson 33 when you learn how to give options to people.

How many (몇)___ (words with counters)

Before I explain how to ask somebody “how many ____?” as in “how many cars do you
have?” let’s review how to say “I have # cars.” Remember that you need to use counters in
these types of sentences:
PLAY 저는 차 두 대가 있어요 = I have 2 cars
PLAY 나는 어제 친구 다섯 명을 만났어 = I met five friends yesterday
PLAY 저는 그 영화를 다섯 번 봤어요 = I saw that movie five times

If you want to ask “how many ___?” you must include “몇” before the counter:

PLAY 차가 몇 대 있어요? = How many cars do you have?

PLAY 친구를 몇 명 만났어요? = How many friends did you meet?
PLAY 어제 학교에 몇 번 갔어요? = How many times did you go to school yesterday?
PLAY 파일을 몇 개 보냈어요? = How many files did you send?
PLAY 치마를 몇 개 샀어요? = How many skirts did you buy?
PLAY 그 종이를 몇 번 찢었어요? = How many times did you rip that paper?

Notice the difference in the placement of the particles. When you say “몇 번” or “몇 대” or
“몇 명” you have essentially created a question word. Just like most other question words,
particles are not typically attached. Nonetheless, if you placed the particles after “몇 ___”,
your questions would still be understood, but to me it is more natural to place them after
the noun that you are asking about, and not after the counter. Just to show you, these
would be understandable, and it probably just depends on the speaker who says them:

차 몇 대가 있어요? = How many cars do you have?

친구 몇 명을 만났어요? = How many friends did you meet?

Also make sure not to confuse these types of sentences with these similar sentences you
learned in a previous lesson:
(저는) 차 몇 대가 있어요 = I have some cars
(저는) 어제 학교에 몇 번 갔어요 = I went to school some times (a few times) yesterday
(저는) 친구를 몇 명 만났어요 = I met some friends

The difference between the first three sentences and the last three sentences is the first
three are questions and the last three are statements. Remember when you are asking a
question that the intonation needs to rise at the end of the sentence.

By using 몇 ___ you can also ask “how old are you?” and “what time is it?”:

PLAY 몇 시예요? = What time is it?

PLAY 몇 살이에요? = How old are you?
PLAY 너의 남동생은 몇 살이야? = How old is your younger brother?

 
 How much, How many: 얼마나

The word “얼마나” can be placed before adjectives and adverbs to mean “how.” In these
cases, the speaker is asking to what extent something occurs. For example:

Adjectives
얼마나 짧다 = how short
얼마나 예쁘다 = how pretty
얼마나 많다 = how much/many

Adverbs
얼마나 자주 = how often
얼마나 빨리 = how quickly
얼마나 잘 = how well

For example:

PLAY 한국어를 얼마나 자주 공부해요? = How often do you study Korean?

PLAY 여자 친구는 얼마나 예뻐요? = How pretty is your girlfriend?
PLAY 축구를 얼마나 잘 해요? = How well do you play soccer?

It can also be used before verbs when the speaker is not making a distinction between
countable objects in his/her question. Instead, the speaker’s inquiry falls within an
uncountable continuum. For example, notice the difference between these two questions:

How many pieces did you eat?

Speaker is making a distinction between countable objects

How much did you eat?

Speaker is not making a distinction between countable objects. Here, the speaker’s inquiry
falls within an uncountable continuum.

When used like this with a verb, the most common translation for “얼마나” is “how much.”
For example:

PLAY 빵을 얼마나 먹었어요? = How much bread did you eat?

PLAY 그 여자를 얼마나 사랑해요? = How much do you love that girl?
PLAY 돈을 얼마나 가져갈 거예요? = How much money will you take?
PLAY 물을 얼마나 마셨어요? = How much water did you drink?
PLAY 그 책상은 자리를 얼마나 차지해요? = How much space does that desk take up?

The adverb 많이 is sometimes used in these sentences, and creates essentially the same
meaning. In fact, the translation usually would not change when using 많이 in these types
of sentences. For example:

PLAY 빵을 얼마나 많이 먹었어요? = How much bread did you eat?

PLAY 그 여자를 얼마나 많이 사랑해요? = How much do you love that girl?
PLAY 돈을 얼마나 많이 가져갈 거예요? = How much money will you take?
PLAY 물을 얼마나 많이 마셨어요? = How much water did you drink?
PLAY 그 책상은 자리를 얼마나 많이 차지해요? = How much space does that desk take up?

Using 많이 in the sentences above just stresses that the speaker knows that the answer is
“a lot” (remember, the meaning of 많이 is “a lot” or “many”), and is sort of asking “okay, I
know it is a lot, but how much  a lot?” (I realize that sentence is grammatically incorrect).

—————–

많이 (the adverb) can also be used as 많다 (the adjective) in these sentences. The meaning
is still the same, but the structure of the sentence changes so 많다 describes the noun in
question. For example:

PLAY 얼마나 많은 빵을 먹었어요? = How much bread did you eat?

PLAY 얼마나 많은 돈을 가져갈 거예요? = How much money will you take?
PLAY 얼마나 많은 물을 마셨어요? = How much water did you drink?

Although correct and understandable, I highly suggest you refrain from using this style of
sentence. It sounds much more natural to say “빵을 얼마나 먹었어요?” or “빵을 얼마나
많이 먹었어요?” instead of “얼마나 많은 빵을 먹었어요?”

—————–

When the speaker is  making a distinction between countable objects, the counter should
be used as you learned in the previous section. For example:

PLAY 빵을 몇 개 먹었어요? = How many pieces of bread did you eat?

PLAY 몇 명의 여자를 사랑해요? = How many girls do you love?
Note that although “얼마나” translates to “how” in all of these usages above. This is
different from the usage of 어떻게 which also translates to “how” in English.

Notice the difference between the use of “how” in the sentences below:

PLAY 한국어를 얼마나 자주 공부해요? = How often do you study Korean?

PLAY 한국어를 어떻게 배웠어요? = How did you learn Korean?

The word “얼마” can be used to ask how much something costs.
얼마나 and  얼마 are technically not the same word. However, I am presenting  얼마 in this
form here because it is very common and it is in the form of a question.

For example:

PLAY 그 로션이 얼마예요? = How much is that lotion?

PLAY 저 바지가 얼마예요? = How much are those pants?
PLAY 벌금은 얼마였어요? = How much was the fine?
PLAY 이게 얼마예요? = How much is this?

Remember,  이게,  그게 and  저게 are contractions of  이것이,  그것이 and 

저것이 respectively.

———————-

I just want to point out that it is possible to use most of these question words by
themselves to ask for more information about a situation. If somebody is talking, and you
want more information about who, what, when, where, why or how something occurs, you
can use 누구, 뭐, 언제, 어디, 왜 or 어떻게 by themselves as questions. I don’t show this,
but you can also add “요” after any of these words if you are speaking in a more formal
situation. For example:

왜
In Lesson 21, you saw that you can use this when somebody calls you, for example:

Person 1: PLAY 슬기야! = Seulgi!

Person 2: PLAY 왜? = Why/what do you want?

It can also be used by itself to ask “why” something occurs. For example:
Person 1: 저는 내일 캐나다에 갈 거예요 = Tomorrow, I will go to Canada
Person 2: 왜? = Why (will you go to Canada tomorrow)?

언제
Person 1: 저는 캐나다에 갈 거예요 = I will go to Canada
Person 2: 언제? = When (will you go to Canada)?

어디
Person 1: 저는 내일 갈 거예요 = I will go tomorrow
Person 2: 어디? = Where (will you go tomorrow)?

누구
Person 1: 내일 그 사람을 만날 거예요 = I will meet that person tomorrow
Person 2: 누구(를)? = Who(m) (will you meet)?

You can use 누가 by itself when asking about the acting agent of a sentence. For example:

Person 1: 내일 어떤 사람이 여기 올 거예요 = Tomorrow, some person will come here

Person 2: 누가? = Who (will come here)?

어떻게
Person 1: 저는 공항에 갈 거예요 = I will go to the airport
Person 2: 어떻게? = How (will you go to the airport)?

뭐
You saw this already in this lesson:

Person 1: PLAY 저는 많이 먹었어요 = I ate a lot

Person 2: PLAY 뭐(를)? = what? (you ate a lot of what?)

———————-

That’s it for asking questions in Korean! There was a lot  of content in this lesson and the
one before it (Lesson 21). Make sure you review those concepts a lot, because they are
very important!

Before we move on to the next lesson, though, we need to revisit ~는/은 and ~이/가
again.

 
 

~는/은 and ~이/가 Revisited (again)

Now that you have continued to increase your understanding of Korean grammar over the
past few lessons – and specifically learned how to ask questions in Korean, I can continue
to explain the nuances between ~이/가 and ~는/은.

Assuming that the situation is not set up in a way that would be grammatically appropriate
to compare yourself with somebody else, it would be very awkward for you to say the
following:

내가 밥을 먹었어

If you just walked into a room without anybody saying anything to you, or without any
prior back-story, and simply said “내가 밥을 먹었어” (despite being able to understand
you perfectly) it would sound very awkward to Korean people.

When you use ~이/가 over ~는/은, the speaker is putting an enormous amount of stress
on the fact that it was that particular subject that did the action. The speaker isn’t
comparing anything, but specifically stressing that it was the subject who/that does the
action in the sentence (or has the properties described by the adjective, or “is” the thing
attached to 이다). Again, this is just a nuance, and cannot be expressed in translation to
English. The only way it can be explained is through descriptions.

The reason why “내가 밥을 먹었어” sounds weird is because it is just like walking into a
room and saying:

“I am the one who ate rice!”

Note here that I wouldn’t actually translate  “내가 밥을 먹었어” to “I am the one who ate
rice.” I would still translate it to “I ate.” I am using the translation “I am the one who ate” to
show how the stress can be on the subject.
Nobody would ever say that without anything prompting a person to say it. Instead, you
would just say:

나는 밥을 먹었어 = I ate rice

Note that here, you are not comparing anything. You are also not stating a general fact.
You are just indicating the subject of the sentence. How can I know that nothing is being
compared? How can I know that this isn’t just a general fact? How can I know that ~는/은
is just acting as a plain old subject marker?

I am going to reiterate what I said in Lesson 17:

This is precisely what causes the confusion amongst foreigners when trying to distinguish
the difference between ~이/가 and ~는/은. Both of them can be used to express more
than one nuance. The only way you can distinguish between the particular nuances being
used is by understanding the situation in which they are used.

The whole process of distinguishing ~이/가 from ~는/은 is incredibly confusing. I want to
share an important phrase that I came up with that you should always think about when
trying to learn the purposes of these particles:
“It’s not about understanding them – it’s about understanding when to use them.”

At this point I would like to dive a little bit deeper into this purpose of stressing the
subject of a sentence. Like I said, to have this purpose, it would need some sort of back-
story indicating why the speaker would need to stress the subject.

It would be weird in most situations to just say the following as a one-off sentence:

내가 학생이야
… this is just like walking into a room and saying “It is me who is a/the student!”

However, imagine two students in a class arguing about who gets to sit in the front row
(the best seats in the class). After arguing for a few minutes, the class president can come
in and say:

내가 반장이야! = I am the class president! (반장 = class president)

In this situation, the speaker is stressing that it is he/she that is the class president, and
therefore has the power to solve the situation.

I waited until Lesson 22 to talk about this usage because now you know how to ask
questions. The particle ~이/가, in its usage as a subject stressor, is used when somebody
specifically asks “who” did a particular action.

For example, in the following dialogue:

누가 밥을 먹었어? = Who ate the rice?

내가 밥을 먹었어 = I ate the rice
This could also be shortened to only include the subject:
내가 = “I did”, or “me”

Another example:
누가 피자를 만들었어? = Who made the pizza?
내가 만들었어 = I made it (me)

Notice here that just because (in English) somebody asks a “who” question doesn’t mean
that ~이/가 must be used on the subject. This is only relevant when the speaker is asking
“who” the subject was – and not who the object was (in effect, when “who” translates to
누가 and not to 누구”).

누가 그녀를 좋아해? = Who likes her?

내가 그녀를 좋아해 = I like her
Notice above the question is asking who the subject is

너는 누구를 좋아해? = Who do you like?

나는 그녀를 좋아해 = I like her
Notice above the question is asking who the object is. The use of “는” on the subject takes
the stress off of the subject and “는” just acts as a subject marker.

The same thing can be done with other question words, as long as the question is asking
for the subject. For example:

어떤 것이 더 좋아요? = Which one is better?

이것이 더 좋아요 = This one is better

I can’t stress enough that all of these nuances are all situational.
A particular sentence with ~는/은 can make sense in one situation, but could be awkward
in another situation. That same sentence might be awkward with ~이/가 in one situation,
but appropriate in another situation. In some situations, they could be exactly the same.
Ask a Korean person to distinguish between the following:

내 친구가 밥을 먹었다
내 친구는 밥을 먹었다

They will tell you that – depending on the situation – they could be exactly the same. It
entirely depends on the nuance that the speaker is trying to make.
Before we finish, I would like to organize everything that we’ve done and try to describe
the usages of ~는/은 and ~이/가 very quickly. Notice that I say “try.” It is almost
impossible to do this in any form, let alone in just a few sentences. Korean people literally
write their doctoral theses on this topic. Nonetheless, here we go:

~는/은:

 1)    To denote a subject of a sentence. For example:

나는 밥을 먹었다 = I ate rice
내 친구는 밥을 먹었다 = My friend ate rice
나는 그녀를 좋아해 = I like her
This may or may not have an overlapped meaning with the following purposes:

 2)    To compare something. For example:

이 산은 높다 = This mountain is high (but maybe another mountain is low)
사과는 빨갛다. 바나나는 노랗다 = Apples are red. Bananas are yellow.

 3)    To state a general fact. For example:

로키산은 높다 = The Rocky Mountains are high
여름 날씨는 좋다 = Summer weather is good (nice)
다이아몬드는 딱딱하다 = Diamonds are hard
사과는 빨갛다 = Apples are red
~이/가:

 1)    To denote a subject of a sentence. For example:

고양이가 집 뒤에 있다 = The cat is behind the house
This may or may not have an overlapped meaning with the following purposes:

 2)    To indicate something based on a recent experience/observation. For

example:
날씨가 좋다 = The weather is nice!
비가 와요 = It’s raining!
사과가 파랗다 = The apple is blue

 3)    To stress that the subject does the action (or is the adjective). For
example:
누가 그녀를 좋아해? = Who likes her?
– 내가 그녀를 좋아해 = I like her
내가 반장이야! = I am the class president!
  4)    Placed on objects in sentences that are predicated by adjectives. For
example:
나는 학교가 싫다 = I don’t like school
나는 그것이 좋다 = I like that
나는 펜이 있다 = I have a pen

 5)    Placed on the object before 아니다 to indicate what something is

not. For example:
나는 학생이 아니다 = I am not a student
나는 의사가 아니다 = I am not a doctor

 6)    Placed on the object predicated by “되다” to indicate what

something becomes. For example:
나는 의사가 되고 싶다 = I want to become a doctor
나는 선생님이 되고 싶다 = I want to become a teacher
In Lesson 14 you also learned about creating passive sentences with verbs that act in the
“state” of something. For example:

문이 열려 있다 = The door is open

In that lesson, I told you that you should use ~이/가 on the object that is in the state of
something. I can only assume that the purpose of this is what is described in number 2)
above. That is, “the door being open” is not some general statement because (obviously)
not all doors are open. Rather, the speaker is referring to a particular door in a particular
situation that is open, and thus, requires the use of ~이/가. Adding ~는/은 to “문” (or any
other object in that situation) would only be acceptable in a comparison situation.

One last time before we put this to bed for a while:

Your understanding of this will progress along with your understanding of Korean in
general. Through Lesson 2, 17 and 22 I hope you have a better understanding of this.
However, I know that you will still be confused. Don’t worry, that is normal, and I promise
your understanding will evolve as you keep progressing with your Korean.

In our later lessons, you will continue to be introduced to when it is more appropriate to
use either ~는/은 or ~이/가. For now, focus on what we have learned so far.

Lesson 23: ㅎ Irregular: Korean Colors, 이렇다, 그렇다 and

저렇다
 Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 초록색 = (the color) green

PLAY 보라색 = (the color) purple

PLAY 연두색 = (the color) light green

PLAY 분홍색 = (the color) pink

PLAY 갈색 = (the color) brown

PLAY 회색 = (the color) grey

PLAY 적색 = (the color) red

PLAY 셔츠 = shirt

PLAY 눈 = snow

PLAY 눈보라 = blizzard, snow storm

PLAY 뉴스 = news

PLAY 전쟁 = war

PLAY 작품 = a piece of work

PLAY 날짜 = date
PLAY 그릇 = bowl

PLAY 등 = one's back

PLAY 손등 = back of hand

PLAY 손톱 = fingernail

PLAY 독자 = readers

PLAY 부부 = couple, married couple

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 변경하다 = to change

CONJUGATE PLAY 들르다 = to stop by

CONJUGATE PLAY 내려오다 = to come down

CONJUGATE PLAY 내려가다 = to go down

CONJUGATE PLAY 드러내다 = to reveal, to show

CONJUGATE PLAY 발표하다 = to announce

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 드러나다 = to be revealed, to be shown

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 푸르다 = to be sea blue

CONJUGATE PLAY 노랗다 = to be yellow

CONJUGATE PLAY 빨갛다 = to be red

CONJUGATE PLAY 하얗다 = to be white

CONJUGATE PLAY 까맣다 = to be black

CONJUGATE PLAY 파랗다 = to be blue

CONJUGATE PLAY 섬세하다 = to be delicate

CONJUGATE PLAY 이렇다 = to be like this

CONJUGATE PLAY 그렇다 = to be like that

CONJUGATE PLAY 저렇다 = to be like that

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 대부분 = most

PLAY 송이 = counter for “bunch” of bananas or single flower

PLAY 종류 = counter for a “type/kind of thing”

PLAY 가지 = counter for a “type of thing”

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will learn how to use colors in Korean by applying the ㅎ irregular. In
addition, you will learn about the words 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 and how the ㅎ
irregular can be applied to those words. Let’s get started.

Korean Irregular: ㅎ

Korean Colors

You learned all about the Korean irregulars in Lesson 7. On top of all of those irregulars,
there is one more that you should be aware of.
The reason I didn’t include this irregular in Lesson 7 is because it is an irregular irregular.
Usually, if the last consonant of a word stem ends in ㅎ, the word is not conjugated in any
special way. For example:
좋다 = 좋아
많다 = 많아

However, a lot of colors in Korean end with the final syllable ㅎ (see the vocabulary list for
a good list of these). When conjugating these words (which are adjectives) to allow them
to describe an upcoming noun, we can add ~ㄴ/은, just like it is done with other
adjectives. However, in some words (mostly colors) the ㅎ gets dropped and ㄴ gets added
directly to the word stem. For example:

Word Word + ~ㄴ/은 Word + noun Translation

PLAY 노랗다 = yellow 노란 노란 공 Yellow ball

PLAY 빨갛다 = red 빨간 빨간 공 Red ball

PLAY 하얗다 = white 하얀 하얀 공 White ball

PLAY 까맣다 = black 까만 까만 공 Black ball

PLAY 파랗다 = blue 파란 파란 공 Blue ball

You can use those color words to describe objects in sentences where appropriate. For
example:

PLAY 저 노란 집이 예뻐요 = That yellow house is pretty

PLAY 빨간 사과는 가장 맛있어요 = Red apples are the most delicious
PLAY 그녀는 빨간 셔츠를 입고 있다 = She is wearing a red shirt
PLAY 나는 하얀 차를 사고 싶어 = I want to buy a white car
PLAY 저는 보통 까만 양복을 입어요 = I usually wear black suits
PLAY 파란 불이 제일 뜨거워요 = The blue flame is the hottest

If you want to use these words as nouns (as in, “the color white” or “the color red”), you
can add “색” after the adjective form of the color (색 means ‘color’):

노란색 = the color yellow

빨간색 = the color red
하얀색 = the color white
까만색 = the color black
파란색 = the color blue

Though these words are nouns, they are often placed before another noun to describe it.
For example

PLAY 저 노란색 집이 예뻐요 = That yellow (colored) house is pretty

PLAY 그녀는 빨간색 셔츠를 입고 있어요 = She is wearing a red (colored) shirt
PLAY 나는 하얀색 차를 사고 싶어 = I want to buy a white (colored) car
PLAY 저는 보통 까만색 양복을 입어요 = I usually wear black (colored) suits
PLAY 파란색 불이 제일 뜨거워요 = The blue (colored) flame is the hottest

Here, each of these “color” nouns is describing an upcoming noun without being an
adjective.

This is a good time to teach you about another usage of the particle “~의”. “~의” can be
attached to words that commonly describe nouns (like adjectives) but are inherently not
adjectives. What I mean by this, is that you will often find words that are always (or very
commonly) placed before nouns to describe them, but are technically classified as adverbs
or nouns (and hence, don’t end with “~다” like a typical adjective). It is acceptable to
attach the particle “~의” to these adjective-like adverbs or nouns when they describe an
upcoming noun. The meaning is the same when using “~의” or not using it, but in speech
it is more common to not use it.

For example, all of the above could be written as:

저 노란색의 집이 예뻐요 = That yellow (colored) house is pretty

그녀는 빨간색의 셔츠를 입고 있다 = She is wearing a red (colored) shirt
나는 하얀색의 차를 사고 싶어 = I want to buy a white (colored) car
저는 보통 까만색의 양복을 입어요 = I usually wear black (colored) suits
파란색의 불이 제일 뜨거워요 = The blue (colored) flame is the hottest
Although acceptable and understandable, it would be slightly more natural to not  use ~의
with these color words. Therefore, I didn’t make audio recordings for the sentences above
using ~의. In other situations with other (non-color) words, you will more commonly see ~
의 attached to a noun or adverb being used to describe a noun.

For example, a common word that ~의 is attached to is “대부분,” which translates to

“most.” Just like in English 대부분 is usually placed immediately before a noun to say
“most (noun).” For example:

대부분 사람들… = Most people…

대부분 부부들… = Most couples…
대부분 독자들… = Most readers…

In each case, it is also possible to attach ~의. For example:

대부분의 사람들… = Most people…

대부분의 부부들… = Most couples…
대부분의 독자들… = Most readers…

These constructions can now be used in sentences where appropriate. For example:

PLAY 대부분의 사람들은 아침밥을 먹지 않아요 = Most people don’t eat breakfast (rice
breakfast)
PLAY 대부분 사람들은 아침밥을 먹지 않아요 = Most people don’t eat breakfast (rice
breakfast)

PLAY 대부분의 부부들은 같은 침대에서 자요 = Most couples sleep in the same bed
PLAY 대부분 부부들은 같은 침대에서 자요 = Most couples sleep in the same bed

PLAY 대부분의 독자들은 그 작품을 안 좋아해요 = Most readers don’t like that work
PLAY 대부분 독자들은 그 작품을 안 좋아해요 = Most readers don’t like that work

Using ~의 here is in effect the same reason why we can attach ~의 to counters when
placed before a noun (as you learned in Lesson 10). To jog your memory, in that lesson I
said it was acceptable to place a counter before a noun you are counting followed by the
use of “~의.”

For example:
PLAY 나는 네 개의 펜을 샀어 = I bought four pens
PLAY 나는 두 개의 햄버거를 먹었어 = I ate two hamburgers
PLAY 나는 어제 다섯 명의 친구를 만났어 = I met five friends yesterday

The number-counter pairs in the above sentences are effectively describing the upcoming
noun. Of course, the number-counter pairs are not adjectives, so ~의 can be used.

I dig deeper into the use of “의” and specifically how it relates to “적” (which was
introduced in Lesson 16) later in the lesson. I want you to be aware of this usage of ~의
and how it can be attached to adverbs and nouns when describing an upcoming noun.
However, the main purpose of this lesson is to talk about color words and the ㅎ irregular,
so I will continue with that now.

Often, the most common way to describe a color is to use a word that only exists as a
noun and does not have an adjective form. For example, look at the following:

초록색 = (the color) green

연두색 = (the color) light green
보라색 = (the color) purple
분홍색 = (the color) pink
갈색 = (the color) brown
회색 = (the color) grey

The above are all color words, but they do not have a respective adjective form (like
빨갛다 and 빨간색). In order to use these words to describe the color of something, they
can be placed immediately before a noun (naturally) without ~의 and (slightly unnaturally)
with 의 just as described earlier. For example:

PLAY 저는 초록색(의) 펜으로 쓰고 싶어요 = I want to write this with a green pen
PLAY 연두색(의) 바지를 샀어요 = I bought green pants
PLAY 대부분(의) 여자들은 분홍색(의) 가방을 골랐어요 = Most girls chose the pink bag
PLAY 남자 친구가 보라색(의) 꽃 한 송이를 샀어요 = My boyfriend bought one purple
flower

When adding “~아/어” (or any of its derivatives) to color words where the stem ends in
‘ㅎ,’ an irregular conjugation applies. For now, the only situation you know where you
would add ~아/어 (or a derivative like ~았/었) is when conjugating using the honorifics
introduced in Lesson 6. Note that there are other times when you would have to add ~아/
어 to words, you just haven’t learned about them yet.
When adding ~아/어 to these words, the ㅎ is dropped and the final vowel changes to
either ㅐ or ㅒ. If the final vowel is ㅏ or ㅓ, it changes to ㅐ, and if the final vowel is ㅑ, it
changes to ㅒ. For example:

Word Word + ~아/어 Word + ~았/었어

PLAY 노랗다 노래 노랬어

PLAY 빨갛다 빨개 빨갰어

PLAY 하얗다 하얘 하얬어

PLAY 까맣다 까매 까맸어

PLAY 파랗다 파래 파랬어

Here are some of these used in sentences:

PLAY 불이 노래요 = The light is yellow

PLAY 얼굴이 왜 빨개요? = Why is your face red?
PLAY 유럽 사람의 피부는 하얘요 = European people’s skin is white
PLAY 그 여자의 머리가 까매요 = That girl’s hair is black
PLAY 저 남자의 눈이 진짜 파래요 = That man’s eyes are really blue

In each case, it would also be acceptable to use the noun form of each of the words above
and conjugate the sentence with 이다. For example:

PLAY 불이 노란색이에요 = The light is (the color) yellow

PLAY 얼굴이 왜 빨간색이에요? = Why is your face (the color) red
PLAY 유럽 사람의 피부는 하얀색이에요 = European people’s skin is (the color white)
PLAY 그 여자의 머리가 까만색이에요 = That girl’s hair is (the color) black
PLAY 저 남자의 눈이 진짜 파란색이에요 = That man’s eyes are really (the color) blue

A more advanced Korean speaker (or a Korean person) could argue that the two sets of
sentences are not completely identical. Their meanings and translations could be exactly the
same, but they could have a slightly different nuance. For example, “얼굴이 왜 빨개요?”
would be more about a face being red as a result of it blushing, whereas “얼굴이 왜
빨간색이에요?” would be more about a face that is actually red from something like paint.
This nuance is very subtle and not something you need to worry about as a beginner. Even
as an advanced learner, I find it very hard to articulate this difference into words. In a way, I
find the difference between the two similar to “why is your face red?” and “why is your face
the color red?”  

————–

So far, you have seen how ~ㄴ/은 and ~아/어 cause the ㅎ irregulars to change. Since the
beginning of this course, you have also learned the following additions that could
potentially cause a change to a word stem:

~ㅂ/습니다 (Lesson 6)
~ㄹ/을 (Lesson 9)
~니 and ~나 (Lesson 21)

To this point, you have seen how these additions can cause changes to the irregulars
introduced in Lesson 7. Because this is your first time learning about the ㅎ irregular, we
should quickly discuss the changes that occur as a result of adding these to ㅎ irregular
words:

 Adding ~ㅂ/습니다 does not cause a change to ㅎ irregular words. ~

습니다 is added directly to the stem. For example:
노랗다 + ~ㅂ/습니다 = 노랗습니다

 Adding ~ㄹ/을 causes a change to ㅎ irregular words. The ㅎ is removed,

and ~ㄹ is added to the stem. For this addition, the ㅎ irregular and ㄹ irregular
follow the same rule. For example:
살다 + ~ㄹ/을  = 살
노랗다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 노랄
  Adding ~니 causes a change to ㅎ irregular words. The ㅎ is removed,
and ~니 is added after the stem. For this addition, the ㅎ irregular and ㄹ
irregular follow the same rule. For example:
살다 + ~니 = 사니
노랗다 + ~니 = 노라니

The table below shows all of the additions you have learned so far that can cause a change
to a word stem. This table shows how these additions affect various words, including
words that follow the ㅎ irregular. Examples where irregulars apply are in bold.

Word (translation + ~ㄴ/은 ~ㅂ/습니다 ~아/어 ~ㄹ/을 ~

짓다 (to build) 지은 짓습니다 지어 지을 짓

걷다 (to walk) 걸은 걷습니다 걸어 걸을 걷

쉽다 (to be easy) 쉬운 쉽습니다 쉬워 쉬울 쉽

돕다 (to help) 도운 돕습니다 도와 도울 돕

잠그다 (to lock) 잠근 잠급니다 잠가 잠글 잠

다르다 (to be different) 다른 다릅니다 달라 다를 다

살다 (to live) 산 삽니다 살아 살 사

 노랗다 (to be yellow) 노란 노랗습니다 노래 노랄 노

You will learn more additions in later lessons. In those lessons, you will learn how each
addition affects each irregular – including the ㅎ irregular.

————–

The words 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 are not colors, but they also follow the ㅎ irregular. I
will talk about those in the section below.

이렇다/그렇다/저렇다

이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 are all adjectives. Each word is essentially the same – the only
difference being the difference between 이, 그 and 저. Remember the difference between
these?

이 means “this”

그 means “that” when you are referring to something in a previous sentence. For example:
“I went to Canada last week. At that time I forgot about my test that I had to write.”

저 means “that” when something is far from you.

이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 are very important and common in Korean, so let’s look at
them one by one.

이렇다

이렇다 means “like this,” but (along with 그렇다 and 저렇다) is rarely used in its dictionary
form. It is generally used in two ways: as an adjective and as an adverb:

As an Adjective: 이런
By adding ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of 이렇다 we get 이런, which means “this sort of/this kind
of/this type of.” For example:
PLAY 이런 일은 위험하다 = This type of work is dangerous
PLAY 이런 차는 너무 커요 = This type of car is too big

As an Adverb: 이렇게
By adding ~게 to the stem of 이렇다 we get 이렇게, which means “like this.”

PLAY 저는 이렇게 하고 싶어요 = I want to do it like this

PLAY 왜 이렇게 일찍 가요? = Why are you going so early (like this)?
PLAY 이 일은 왜 이렇게 어려워요? = Why is this so hard (like this)?

You’ll notice that in the last two examples, the words “like this” in English don’t necessarily
need to be in the sentence. It is hard to fully explain in words, as this is something that you
really just pick up after a while when learning Korean. When Korean people ask a “why”
question, they often stress “why” by using  이렇게.

*Also notice the usage of “일” in the sentence above. Although the best translation of the
word “일” is “work” (in noun form), it is very common for Korean people to use “일” to
represent some sort of task or thing that somebody has to do (regardless of if we would
call it “work” in English). I am reluctant to show you the most common example of this
being used because you haven’t learned the grammar within it yet. Nonetheless, you will
often see “저는 할 일이 있어요” which translates to “I have something to do.” As of now,
you haven’t learned how “할” is being used, but try to focus on the usage of “일” in this
sentence. The sentence is essentially saying “I have a task that I will do.” The sentence
above could also be written as “이것은 왜 이렇게 어려워요.”

그렇다

Now that you know about 이렇다, learning about 그렇다 is simple. Like 이렇다, 그렇다 is
usually used as an adjective or an adverb:

As an Adjective: 그런
By adding ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of 그렇다 we get 그런, which means “that sort of/that kind
of/that type of.” For example:

PLAY 저는 그런 사람을 믿지 않아요 = I don’t trust that type of person/those types of

people
PLAY 저는 그런 것을 좋아하지 않아요 = I don’t like that type of thing
As an Adverb: 그렇게
By adding ~게 to the stem of 그렇다 we get 그렇게, which means “like that.”

PLAY 저는 그렇게 생각하지 않아요 = I don’t think like that

PLAY 저는 그렇게 운동하고 싶어요 = I want to exercise like that

저렇다

저렇다 can be used the same way as 이렇다 and 그렇다; as 저런 and 저렇게. All you need
to do is to keep in mind the differences between 이, 그 and 저.

As an adjective: 저런
PLAY 저는 저런 여자를 좋아하지 않아요 = I don’t like that kind of girl
PLAY 저는 저런 차를 사고 싶어요 = I want to buy that type of car

As an adverb: 저렇게
PLAY 아빠는 왜 저렇게 말하고 있어요? = Why is dad talking like that?
PLAY 저 사람이 왜 저렇게 걸어요? = Why is that person walking like that?

Just like our color words presented earlier in this lesson, when ~아/어 (or a derivative) is
added to 이렇다, 그렇다 or 저렇다, an irregular conjugation occurs. Let’s look at this next.

이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 As Predicating Words

이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 can also be used as the predicating word (i.e. the end) of a
sentence. These are usually only seen in relatively simple sentences asking or indicating if
something is “like this/like that.” For example:

PLAY 이 학교도 그렇지 않습니까? = Is this school not like that as well?
PLAY 네, 그렇습니다 = Yes, that is correct (that is the way it is)
The most common way that you will see any of these words being used, especially for a
beginner, is in the following form:

PLAY 왜 이래?
PLAY 왜 그래?
PLAY 왜 저래?

Notice that the same ㅎ irregular applies to the words above. That is, when adding ~아/어
(or one of its derivatives), the ㅎ is dropped and the ㅓ changes to ㅐ.

In each case, the speaker is asking “Why are you like this/that?” This is very common in
Korean conversation, as it essentially is like saying “what’s wrong?” or “what’s the matter”
or “what the **** are you doing?”

그렇다 specifically is also commonly used by people to express their content/agreement

with some sort of statement or situation. For example:

Person 1: PLAY 내일 공원에 같이 가고 싶어요? = Do you want to go to the park together

tomorrow?
Person 2: PLAY 그래요. 같이 가요 = Sure (like that is fine). Let’s go together.

Person 1: PLAY 제가 지금 갈 거예요 = I’m going to go now

Person 2: PLAY 그래요! = Sure (like that is fine)

Person 1: PLAY 저는 내일 회사에 못 와요 = Tomorrow, I can’t come to work

Person 2: PLAY 그래요! 월요일에 봐요! = Sure (like that is fine). See you on Monday!

In this same respect, it is often used as a question to express one’s “disbelief” or “shock.”
In reality, the speaker isn’t actually “shocked” or “in disbelief” but is merely showing
his/her interest in the conversation. This would be akin to using the word “Really?!” in
English. For example:

Person 1: PLAY 저는 지난 주에 캐나다에 있었어요 = I was in Canada last week

Person 2: PLAY 그래요? 어디에 갔어요? = Really!? (It’s like that?) Where did you go?

Person 1: PLAY 나는 보통 고기를 안 먹어 = I usually don’t eat meat

Person 2: PLAY 그래? 왜 안 먹어? = Really? (It’s like that?) Why don’t you eat it?

Person 1: PLAY 이 물이 맛이 없어 = This water doesn’t taste good

Person 2: PLAY 그래? = Really? (It’s like that?)
Many other grammatical principles can be added to 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 but these
haven’t been introduced yet.

Specifically, you will find that many grammatical principles can attach to 그렇다 to have
their respective meaning combined with the meaning of 그렇다. These will all be
introduced in future lessons (where the grammatical principle is introduced), but here is a
quick taste of what I am referring to. I suggest browsing through this list just to get an
idea of:

a) How versatile 그렇다 is

b) The general meaning of 그렇다
c) How this meaning can be applied to many, many other grammatical principles.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but rather a small taste of some of the concepts that
you will be learning in the next 100 lessons or so.

그렇다 + ㅁ/음 (Introduced in Lesson 29)

그럼 = “Yes, like that.”

그렇다 + ~ㄴ/은지 (Introduced in Lesson 30)

왜 그런지 몰라요 = “I don’t know why it is like that”

그렇다 + ~ㄹ/을 것 같다 (Introduced in Lesson 35)

그럴 것 같아요 = “It is probably like that”

그렇다 + ~아/어서 (Introduced Lesson 37)

그래서 = “It is like that, so…” (Therefore)

그렇다 + ~기 때문에 (Introduced in Lesson 38)

그렇기 때문에 = “It is like that, so…” (Therefore)

그렇다 + ~(으)면 (Introduced in Lesson 43)

그러면 = “If it is like that…”

그렇다 + ~지만 (Introduced in Lesson 47)

그렇지만 = “Even though it is like that”

그렇다 + ~았/었으면 좋겠다 (Introduced in Lesson 61)

그랬으면 좋겠다 = “It would be nice if it is like that”
그렇다 + ~ㄹ/을까? (Introduced in Lesson 63)
그럴까? = “Do you think it is like that?”

그렇다 + ~ㄴ/은데 (Introduced in Lesson 76 and 77)

그런데 = “It is like that… so…”

그렇다 + ~구나 (Introduced in Lesson 82)

그렇구나 = “Oh! It is like that”

그렇다 + ~네(요) (Introduced in Lesson 83)

그러네 = “Oh! It is like that”

그렇다 + ~지/죠 (Introduced in Lesson 93)

그렇죠 = Sure, yep, it is like that

At this point, I hope you can understand how 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 can be used, and
their general meanings. In addition, I hope you can understand how color words can be
used in sentences. Just below, I will continue the discussion of the use of ~의 and how it is
used on words where ~적 is commonly attached.

I have had some people ask me about the difference between using “의” on a word to
describe a noun (like 흰색의 차) and using “적” on a word to describe a noun. The
grammar below is a little bit advanced, but this is the lesson that it belongs in (as I am
already discussing the purpose of “~의” attached to nouns or adverbs to describe an
upcoming noun). It might be good to glimpse over this, and then come back to it later
when you have a better understanding of Korean grammar.

As you will recall from Lesson 16, “적” can be added to words to change them into a type
of adjective as well. As I mentioned in Lesson 16, the addition of “적” to a noun causes the
word to change a little bit. It’s hard to say exactly how the word changes, because it is a
little bit different for every word. The examples that are given in the lesson are:

경제 = economy/economics
경제적 = economical
역사 = history
역사적 = historical

과학 = science
과학적 = scientific

충동 = impulse/shock
충동적 = impulsive

문화 = culture
문화적 = cultural

개인 = individual/personal
개인적 = individual

Some other examples that you might want to jot down, but not memorize at this point
because they are quite advanced:

열정 = passion
열정적 = passionate

체계 = system
체계적 = systematic

획일 = standardization
획일적 = standardized

세계 = world
세계적 = global

Before I start, I want to first mention that the “의” that we are talking about here is not the
possessive particle that is discussed in Lesson 3. Rather, it is a particle that is added to a
word that is inherently not an adjective, but allows it to describe an upcoming noun (like
an adjective).

Most of the time, adding “적” literally changes the translation of the word. As you can see
in the list above, the word changes when “적” is added. For example, from “passion” to
“passionate”. However, when just “의” is added to the word, the translation would not
change – and using “noun+의” only makes sense if that word (the original word) can
actually act as an adjective (without being an adjective) to begin with.
The easiest examples to start with are ones that work with “적” but not with “의”. For
example:

열정 means “passion.” I can say things like:

과학에 대한 학생의 열정은 놀라워요 = The student’s passion for science is surprising

“적” can be added to mean “passionate”. For example:

그는 열정적인 사람이다 = He is a passionate man

However, simply adding “의” to the noun (열정) does not change it from “passion” to
“passionate”. The meaning still stays as “passion”. Using this in a sentence would yield:
그는 열정의 사람이다 = He is a passion man – which doesn’t make sense

In the same way “과학” means “science”

과학적 means “scientific”
과학의 still means “science”

I can use “과학적” to describe a noun that would be natural being described by “scientific”.
For example:

과학적인 증거 = scientific proof

However, “과학의 증거” literally translates to “science proof” which wouldn’t sound right.

Now, just like everything in life, there are some exceptions.  Specifically, the word “개인”
(without the use of “적” or “의” actually means personal. Therefore, just like how the word
“대부분(의)” (most) isn’t actually an adjective but feels like an adjective, “개인의” can be
placed before a noun to describe it.
“개인적” also works, as it also means “personal.”

My advice is to learn words with “적” as separate words. Don’t try to think of words with
“적” as a noun followed by a grammatical principle, but try to think of them as their own
words with their own translation. From what I can see – there are some words where the “-
적” version of the word is the same as the non-적 version of the word. In these cases, it
appears that both “의” and “적” can be used.

Lesson 24: Before, After, Since, Within (전/후/이래로/이내)

Jump to:
 Vocabulary
Einführung

Before/Ago (전)
After/Later (후)
Since (이래로)
Within/inside (안/이내)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

Nouns:
PLAY 설탕 = sugar

PLAY 경찰관 = policeman

PLAY 경찰서 = police station

PLAY 구름 = cloud

PLAY 경쟁 = competition

PLAY 경쟁자 = competitors

PLAY 피 = blood

PLAY 구두 = shoes, boots

PLAY 목욕 = bath
PLAY 번호 = number

PLAY 전화번호 = phone number

PLAY 열쇠 = key

PLAY 수박 = watermelon

PLAY 과자 = candy, cookies, snacks

PLAY 양복 = suit

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 날다 = to fly

CONJUGATE PLAY 걷히다 = to clear up (in weather)

CONJUGATE PLAY 구경하다 = to sight see

CONJUGATE PLAY 뒤처지다 = to fall behind

CONJUGATE PLAY 앞지르다 = to pass, to overtake

CONJUGATE PLAY 감독하다 = to supervise

CONJUGATE PLAY 느끼다 = to feel

CONJUGATE PLAY 치우다 = to remove, to clear away

CONJUGATE PLAY 지우다 = to wipe off, to erase

CONJUGATE PLAY 두다 = to put, to set, to place something

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 느껴지다 = to be felt

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 달다 = to be sweet

CONJUGATE PLAY 깊다 = to be deep

CONJUGATE PLAY 조용하다 = to be quiet

CONJUGATE PLAY 뜨겁다 = to be hot

CONJUGATE PLAY 차갑다 = to be cold

CONJUGATE PLAY 친절하다 = to be nice, to be kind

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 전 = before/ago

PLAY 직전 = just before

PLAY 후 = after/later

PLAY 직후 = right after

PLAY 이래 = since

PLAY 잠시 = a moment

PLAY 잠깐 = a short time

PLAY 이내 = within

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In Lesson 11, you learned a wide variety of different “time” words that you can use in
sentences. In that lesson, I said that there were two more words that were very important
when talking about time (전 and 후). In that lesson, I said that I would teach you those two
words sometime later. Well, this is now later.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use the words 전 and 후 as well as some other similar
words. Let’s get started:
.
 

Before/Ago (전)

The word ‘전’ translates to ‘before’ or ‘ago’ depending on where it is used. When placed
after any indication of time (2 seconds, 5 minutes, 10 hours, 4 days, 3 weeks, 2 years, etc…)
it has the meaning of “ago.” For example:

2 초 전에 = 2 seconds ago
5 분 전에 = 5 minutes ago
열 시간 전에 = 10 hours ago*
4 일 전에 = 4 days ago
3 주 전에 = 3 weeks ago
2 년 전에 = 2 years ago

*I typically write the word instead of the numeral when referring to an hour. To see why,
check out  Lesson 10  and  11.

Notice that ‘에’ gets added to ‘전’ because it is referring to a time.

You can now use those words in sentences very intuitively:

PLAY 저는 2 주 전에 남동생을 만났어요 = I met my brother 2 weeks ago

PLAY 구름은 5 분 전에 걷혔어요 = The clouds cleared up 5 minutes ago

When ‘전’ is placed after a verb, it translates to “before.” When you want to use 전 like this,
you must add ~기 to the verb stem of the preceding verb:

제가 먹기 전에 = before I ate
제가 가기 전에 = before I go
제가 오기 전에 = before I come

A few very important things before I say anything else:

There is a reason why ~기 is added to the stem of a verb. Adding ~기  to the stem of a
verb is a topic I cover in detail in Lesson 29.
Another thing. You can essentially add any sentence to the (verb-stem)~기 전에
grammatical form and it will have the meaning of “before (this happened).” You could say
something like “the country of Canada becomes a sovereign state 기 전에” and it would
have the meaning of “before Canada became a sovereign state”… Of course, that is a
terrible example because in English the verb doesn’t come at the end of the sentence.

You are now ready to create two-clause sentences. Up to this point we have dealt with
sentences having only one clause, meaning one subject, one object, and one predicating
verb or adjective. To illustrate, in the following sentences subjects are colored red, objects
are blue, and predicating verbs or adjectives are green. (Adverbs and other parts of the
sentences are not colored):

나는 너를 사랑해 = I love you
아버지는 언제 왔어요? = When did dad come?
저와 엄마는 밥을 같이 먹었어요 = Mom and I ate (rice)
그 여자들은 예뻐요 = Those girls are pretty
저는 똑똑한 여자들만 좋아해요 = I only like smart girls

However, there are grammatical principles (in English and Korean) that allow us to create
more than one clause. Each clause is able to have a subject, object and also a
verb/adjective. A sentence with more than one clause could therefore have more than one
subject, object or verb/adjective. For example:

When I go home, my mom will be waiting for me

When my mother ate a hotdog, I ate a hamburger
Before I eat, I want to wash my hands
After I saw the movie, my friend called me
I don’t want to meet him because he isn’t nice

The grammatical rules of a Korean sentence with two (or more) clauses are similar those
with only one clause. However, when a sentence has two (or more) clauses, the particle ~
는/은 cannot be placed on the subject of both clauses. Instead, it can only be attached to
the subject of the main clause of the sentence.

The main clause of a sentence is the clause that is expressing the main idea of the
sentence. One way to find the non-main clause (referred to as the “sub-clause” for the
remainder of this lesson) is by looking for the part of the sentence that tells us
when/where/why/how the main idea is happening. For example:
When I go home, my mom will be waiting for me
– Main clause: My mom will be waiting for me
– When will this happen: When I go home

When my mother ate a hotdog, I ate a hamburger

– Main clause: I ate a hamburger
– When did this happen: When my mother ate a hotdog

Before I eat, I want to wash my hands

– Main clause: I want to wash my hands
– When did this happen: Before I eat

After I saw the movie, my friend called me

– Main clause: My friend called me
– When did happen: After I saw the movie

I don’t want to meet him because he isn’t nice

– Main clause: I don’t want to meet him
– Why does this happen: because he isn’t nice

Notice that if you eliminate the sub-clause, the main clause still makes sense. However, if
you eliminate the main clause, you are left with an incomplete sentence.

Let’s go back to ~기 전에 and see how these rules apply. In the following sentence:
“Before my mom came, I ate rice”

Which clause is the main clause? Which clause is the sub-clause?

“I ate rice” is the main idea of the sentence. It is a perfect sentence by itself.

“Before my mom came” describes when  the action in the main clause takes place. It is also
an incomplete sentence by itself.

Therefore, this sentence in Korean can be written as:

엄마가 오기 전에 나는 밥을 먹었어 = Before my mom came, I ate (rice)

I am going to talk about how the particles ~는/은 and ~이/가 can be used in these
sentences. I’m going to separate this discussion with a line before and after it in an
attempt to organize it a little bit.

———————————————————————-
Notice that ~는/은 is attached to the subject of the main clause of the sentence. The
reverse would be incorrect. For example:
엄마는 오기 전에 내가 밥을 먹었어 – incorrect

Placing ~는/은 on both subjects would also be incorrect:

엄마는 오기 전에 나는 밥을 먹었어 – incorrect

However, placing ~이/가 on both subjects is acceptable. That is, it is not necessary to place
~는/은 on the subject of the main clause of the sentence, just like how (as you learned
in Lesson 2) it is not necessary to place ~은/는 on the subject of the following sentence:

고양이가 집 뒤에 있어요 = The cat is behind the house

Placing ~는/은 on the subject of the main clause of a multi-clause sentence has the same
effect of adding ~는/은 to the subject of a sentence with one clause. That is,
it could  indicate that something is being compared with something else. It could also have
the exact same meaning as a sentence with “~이/가” used as the subject particles. In both
situations, the context is the only thing that can determine if there is a subtle difference in
meaning. For example:

친구가 오기 전에 저는 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I went to the bank, or

친구가 오기 전에 제가 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I went to the bank

There could  be a difference between these two sentences. If the context allowed for it, the
feeling is that “I” is being compared to another noun. For example, “before your friend
came, (maybe) your girlfriend stayed home but you (I) went to the bank.”

Sometimes, the use of “~는/은” as the subject particle creates a different translation in
English, although the end result of the sentence is the same. Notice the difference
between the following possible English translations:

친구가 오기 전에 저는 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I was the person who went
to the bank (compared to my girlfriend who stayed home)
친구가 오기 전에 제가 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I went to the bank

If you are unsure of this distinction between ~은/는 and ~이/가 I encourage you to re-
read the distinction made in Lesson 2 and Lesson 22.

Almost all of the time, when you are making the sub-clause to go before “~전에,” ~이/가
will be attached to the subject of that clause. The only time this isn’t the case is when the
subject of both clauses is the same. In these cases, it is acceptable to place “~는/은” on the
subject of the first clause, and eliminate it from the second clause. For example:

PLAY 나는 오기 전에 밥을 먹었어 = Before I came, I ate

Instead of:
내가 오기 전에 나는 밥을 먹었어 = Before I came, I ate

Remember that Korean people love shortening their sentences. Every chance they get,
they want to eliminate something from their sentences. So, instead of saying “내가… 나는
…” you only need to say “I” once.

———————————————————————-

Also notice that (like a lot of things in Korean), no indication of tense is made before ~기
전에. Instead, the tense is determined by the conjugation of the main clause:

PLAY 엄마가 오기 전에 나는 먹었어 = Before mom came, I ate

PLAY 엄마가 오기 전에 나는 먹을 거야 = Before mom comes, I will eat

Many more examples of ~기 전에:

PLAY 한국에 오기 전에 저는 한국어를 배웠어요 = I learned Korean before I came to Korea
PLAY 수박을 먹기 전에 사과를 먹었어요 = Before I ate a watermelon I ate an apple
PLAY 양복을 입기 전에 목욕을 했어요 = Before putting on the suit I took a bath
PLAY 구름이 걷히기 전에 비가 왔어요 = Before the clouds cleared it rained
PLAY 집에서 나가기 전에 방을 치웠어요 = Before leaving the house I cleaned my room
PLAY 제가 아내와 결혼하기 전에 우리는 2 년 동안 사귀었어요 = Before marrying my wife,
we went out/dated for 2 years

After/Later (후)

The word ‘후’ translates to ‘after’ or ‘later/from now’ depending on how it is used in
Korean sentences. When placed after any indication of time (2 seconds, 5 minutes, 10
hours, 4 days, 3 weeks, 2 years, etc…) it has the meaning of “later/from now:” For example:

2 초 후에 = 2 seconds later/from now

5 분 후에 = 5 minutes later/from now
열 시간 후에 = 10 hours later/from now*
4 일 후에 = 4 days later/from now
3 주 후에 = 3 weeks later/from now
2 년 후에 = 2 years later/from now

*I typically write the word instead of the numeral when referring to an hour. To see why,
check out  Lesson 10  and  11.

You can use these sentences intuitively just like sentences with “전.” For example:

PLAY 두 시간 후에 갈 거예요 = I will go 2 hours from now

PLAY 수업은 2 분 후에 끝날 거예요 = Class will finish 2 minutes from now

When ‘후’ is placed after a verb, it has the meaning of “after.” You learned earlier in this
lesson that you must add ~기 to the stem of a verb to make “~기 전에.” When using “후”
after a verb, you do not add ~기 to the stem of the word. Instead, you must add ~ㄴ/은 to
the stem of the verb. ~은 gets added to a stem where the final syllable ends in a
consonant. ~ㄴ gets added directly to stems ending in a vowel. For example:

내가 먹은 후에 = After I eat
내가 간 후에 = After I go

These can now go into sentences like “~기 전에”

PLAY 숙제가 끝난 후에 나는 집에 갈 거예요 = After my homework is finished, I will go

home
PLAY 밥을 먹은 후에 친구를 만났어요 = After I ate I met a friend
PLAY 과자를 많이 먹은 후에 배가 아팠어요 = After eating a lot of candy/snacks, my
stomach was sore
PLAY 구두를 신은 후에 의자에서 일어났어요 = After putting on my boots, I got up from
the chair
PLAY 방을 치운 후에 밖에 나갔어요 = After cleaning up my room, I went outside

It is also possible to substitute the word 다음 (which you learned about in Lesson 11) for
후 to create the same meaning. For example:

PLAY 숙제가 끝난 다음에 나는 집에 갈 거예요 = After my homework is finished, I will go

home
PLAY 밥을 먹은 다음에 친구를 만났어요 = After I ate I met a friend
PLAY 과자를 많이 먹은 다음에 배가 아팠어요 = After eating a lot of candy/snacks, my
stomach was sore
PLAY 구두를 신은 다음에 의자에서 일어났어요 = After putting on my boots, I got up from
the chair
PLAY 방을 치운 다음에 밖에 나갔어요 = After cleaning up my room, I went outside

You can see in the vocabulary list that there are also these words:

PLAY 직전 = just before

PLAY 직후 = right after

These two can be used just like 전 and 후 respectively – the difference being that the
addition of “직” emphasizes that something was done immediately before or after the
action or indication of time. For example:

PLAY 아들이 저녁 먹기 직전에 과자를 먹었어요 = Right before having dinner, he (the son)
ate candy/snacks
PLAY 경찰관이 오기 직전에 그 사람이 갔어요 = That person left right before the police
came

PLAY 양복을 입은 직후에 밖에 나갔어요 = Right after I put on the suit, I went outside
PLAY 전화번호를 받은 직후에 잃어버렸어요 = Right after I got his phone number, I lost it

One quick thing. In a lot of the example sentences above, I placed the ~기 전에 or ~ㄴ/은
후에 clauses before the main clause of the sentence. It is important to recognize
something here – what we are essentially doing is creating a unit that gives us an
indication of time. For example:

친구가 오기 전에 저는 은행에 갔어요 = Before my friend came, I went to the bank

“친구가 오기 전에” can just be seen as one unit that can be placed elsewhere in a
sentence, just like other adverbs that give us an indication of time. For example:

저는 (at some time) 은행에 갔어요 =I went to the bank (at some time)
저는 (어제) 은행에 갔어요 = I went to the bank (yesterday)
저는 (친구가 오기 전에) 은행에 갔어요 = I went to the bank (before my friend came)

Therefore, although I often place this indication of time before the clause, it doesn’t always
need to be there, and it is the discretion of the speaker that will decide exactly where to
place it. Being able to create a single unit from a clause like this is a quick introduction to
what you will begin learning in Lesson 26 – where you will be able to manipulate entire
clauses to describe nouns in the middle of sentences.

Since: ~ㄴ/은 이래로

The word “since” in Korean (이래로) can be used in place of “후” in ~ㄴ/은 후에 to have
the meaning of “since I…”:

한국에 온 이래로 한국어를 배우고 있어요 = Since coming to Korea, I have been learning
Korean
열심히 공부한 이래로 실력은 빨리 늘었어요 = Since studying hard, my skills have been
quickly increasing

Those two sentences are perfectly correct, but you should know that Korean people rarely
use the word 이래로. You can use it, and everybody will understand what you mean (they
will probably be impressed because 이래로 is a difficult word). Instead, it is more common
for Korean people to use ~ㄴ/은 후에 to have the meaning of “since.” For example:

한국에 온 이래로 한국어를 배우고 있어요.. is better said like this:

PLAY 한국에 온 후에 한국어를 배우고 있어요 = After coming to Korea, I have been
learning Korean

열심히 공부한 이래로 실력은 빨리 늘었어요… is better said like this:

PLAY 열심히 공부한 후에 실력은 빨리 늘었어요 = After studying hard, my skills have been
quickly increasing

 Within/inside (안/이내)

Two other words that you can use in similar situations as 전 and 후 are 안 and 이내. You
already know the word “안” can be used in sentences to mean “inside:”

나는 집 안에 있다 = I am inside the house

If 안/이내 are placed after an indication of time, they have the meaning of “within” that
time period. For example:
PLAY 나는 5 년 이내에 외국어 다섯 개를 배우고 싶어 = I want to learn five languages
within 5 years
PLAY 나는 5 년 안에 외국어 다섯 개를 배우고 싶어 = I want to learn five languages within 5
years

PLAY 우리는 1 년 이내 결혼할 거예요 = We will get married within one year
PLAY 우리는 1 년 안에 결혼할 거예요 = We will get married within one year

This was a bit of an easy lesson as well! This lesson and the one before it were pretty easy
– but don’t worry – you are almost at Unit 2, and the lessons in that unit will be really hard!

Lesson 25: Anybody, Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, etc.

Jump to:

Vocabulary
Introduction

Everything/Everywhere/Every time/Everyone

Something/Somewhere/Sometime/Somebody

아무: Any, No

Each (마다)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this point, but
it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

You can try to find all of the words from this lesson, and all of the words from every lesson
in Unit 1 in a package of twenty five Word Searches.

The following words are kept in the order below because this lesson presents them in that
order:
PLAY 모든 = every

PLAY 모든 것 = everything

PLAY 어디나 = everywhere

PLAY 언제나 = every time

PLAY 누구나 = everyone

PLAY 뭔가 = something

PLAY 어딘가 = somewhere

PLAY 언젠가 = sometime, some day

PLAY 누군가 = somebody

PLAY 아무나 = anybody

PLAY 아무 거나 = anything

PLAY 아무 데나 = anywhere

PLAY 아무 때나 = anytime

PLAY 아무도 = nobody

PLAY 아무 것도 = nothing

PLAY 아무 데도 = nowhere

PLAY 마다 = each

PLAY 모두 = all

PLAY 다 = all

PLAY 데 = place
PLAY 언제든지 = anytime

Nouns:
PLAY 젓가락 = chopsticks

PLAY 혀 = tongue

PLAY 지갑 = wallet, purse

PLAY 기숙사 = dorm

PLAY 주소 = address

PLAY 메뉴 = menu

PLAY 아시아 = Asia

PLAY 동남아시아 = south east Asia

PLAY 눈물 = tears

PLAY 회의 = meeting, conference

PLAY 고향 = hometown

PLAY 휴일 = holiday

PLAY 아기/애기 = baby, infant

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 산책하다 = to go for a walk

CONJUGATE PLAY 사귀다 = to go out with, to date

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 무관심하다 = to be indifferent

CONJUGATE PLAY 심하다 = to be severe, to be extreme

Adverbs and Other Words:
PLAY 하루 종일 = all day long

PLAY 예전 = old days, past

PLAY 관심이 있다 = to be interested in

PLAY 이때 = at this moment

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

Once again, the vocabulary list of this lesson is  the lesson. While all slightly similar, these
words are very difficult to understand on their own, so I dedicated an entire lesson to
making you understand them. Here, you will learn how to say:

Every-
(everybody, every time, everywhere, etc…)

Any-
(anybody, anytime, anywhere, etc…)

Some-
(somebody, sometime, somewhere, etc…)

No-
(nobody, nowhere, nothing)

I left spaces in the vocabulary list between different sets of these words (for no reason
other than to make it organized).

Everything/Everywhere/Every time/Everyone
 Everything/All

모든

The most common way to say “every _____” is to place the word ‘모든’ before a noun. 모든
looks, sounds, and acts like an adjective, but it can not be used to predicate a clause or
sentence. This means that you won’t see the word “모든” at the end of a sentence, just like
in English. For example, you can’t say something like:

He is every…

Even though 모든 ends in ~ㄴ (which is the same as all adjectives when placed
immediately before a noun to describe them – 예쁜, 아름다운, 똑똑한), the dictionary form
of 모드다 does not exist.

However, as I mentioned, (like an adjective) “모든” can be placed before a noun. If you
place “모든” before a noun, it has the meaning of “every _____.” For example:

모든 것 = everything
모든 사람 = all people/every person
모든 과일 = all fruits/every fruit
모든 선생님 = all teachers/every teacher

Those can now go in sentences very easily:

PLAY 모든 아시아 사람들은 젓가락을 잘 쓴다 = All Asian people use chopsticks well
PLAY 모든 학생들은 하루 종일 잤어 = All students slept all day

Another possible word to use in similar situations is 다. 다 is used as an adverb in

sentences to indicate that “all” of something is done.
One way this is done is to use it in a sentence with an object to indicate that some action
was completed without leaving anything behind. For example:

PLAY 저는 라면을 다 먹었어요 = I ate all the ramen

PLAY 저는 숙제를 다 했어요 = I did all of my homework
PLAY 저는 소설을 다 읽었어요 = I read the whole book – or – I read all the books
PLAY 저는 월급을 이미 다 썼어요 = I already spent all of my paycheque

In these situations using “모든” and “다” create a slightly different meaning. ‘다’ is more
about doing one action to completion and leaving nothing behind. 모든 is indicating that
the action was performed on all possible nouns after “모든”. For example, if I say:

PLAY 저는 라면을 다 먹었어요 = I ate all of the ramen

In this sentence, I am indicating that I have completed the action of “eating ramen” and
nothing was left behind. In other words, there is no ramen left in my bowl because I ate it
all.

However, in this sentence:

저는 모든 라면을 먹었어요 = I ate every ramen

This sentence is a little bit ambiguous and a little but unnatural because in most situations
you wouldn’t say this. However, bear with me as I use it to explain the difference in
nuance. In this situation, there might have been many different types of ramen at my
house. I would use this sentence to indicate that I ate/tried “every one of them.” It is
ambiguous as to whether or not I finished eating them, which means that there could still
be some left – either in my bowl or in the cupboard.

If you did actually eat every one of them and finished all of the ramen in your house, it
would be more natural to use “저는 라면을 다 먹었어요” because the action was
completed and nothing was left behind.

This is why I provided two translations for this sentence:

PLAY 저는 소설을 다 읽었어요 = I read the whole book

PLAY 저는 소설을 다 읽었어요 = I read all the books

Depending on the situation, that sentence could be translated to either of those English
translations. In the first sentence, the action of ‘reading’ was completed on the subject
(one book) without leaving any pages behind within that book. In the second sentence,
the action of ‘reading’ was completed on the subject (more than one book) without
leaving any pages behind in any of those books.

However, by just saying:

저는 모든 소설을 읽었어요

I am more indicating that I have tried reading every book, but there is no indication on if I
have finished reading any of them.

다 can also be used to indicate that all the members/things that represent a subject do
some action (or are some adjective). For example:

PLAY 사람들이 다 왔어요 = All the people have come

PLAY 사람들이 다 죽었어요 = All the people died
PLAY 부모님은 다 그래요 = All parents are like that
PLAY 남자들은 다 게을러요 = All men are lazy
PLAY 학생들은 다 공부하고 있어요 = All of the students are studying
PLAY 애기들이 다 낮잠 자고 있어요 = All the babies are taking a nap

In these cases, I have noticed that there is effectively no difference between using 다 or
모든. For example, each of these sentences would have the same meaning:

PLAY 모든 사람들이 왔어요 = All the people have come

PLAY 모든 사람들이 죽었어요 = All the people died
PLAY 모든 부모님은 그래요 = All parents are like that
PLAY 모든 남자들은 게을러요 = All men are lazy
PLAY 모든 학생들은 공부하고 있어요 = All of the students are studying
PLAY 모든 애기들이 낮잠을 자고 있어요 = All the babies are taking a nap

The only difference I can feel is that ‘모든’ is considering the subjects (although groups of
people) almost as unique individuals/things within the group, whereas ‘다’ is describing
the subjects a groups. At this point, this is not something you need to worry about.
Understanding the precise nuance is more about feeling (which you will develop with
time).

The similarities in these usages allow them to be used in the same sentence. For example:
모든 사람들이 다 왔어요 = All the people have come
모든 사람들이 다 죽었어요 = All the people died
모든 부모님은 다 그래요 = All parents are like that
모든 남자들은 다 게을러요 = All men are lazy
모든 학생들은 다 공부하고 있어요 = All of the students are studying
모든 애기들이 다 낮잠 자고 있어요 = All the babies are taking a nap

All of these can also be used in negative sentences, for example:

PLAY 사람들이 다 안 왔어요 = Not all the people have come

PLAY 저는 라면을 다 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat all of the ramen
PLAY 저는 숙제를 다 하지 못했어요 = I couldn’t do all of my homework

다 can also be used as a noun. In this form, it is usually placed before 이다 or 아니다 to
indicate that something is (or isn’t) “all.” For example:

PLAY 그게 다야? = Is that all

PLAY 이게 다가 아니야 = This isn’t all

모두

There is also another word that you should be aware of: “모두,” which has the meaning of
“all.” It can generally be used in the following ways:

As an adverb
In these cases, 모두 essentially has the same meaning as “다.” For example:

PLAY 선생님들은 모두 똑똑해요 = All teachers are smart, which could also be written as:
PLAY 선생님들은 다 똑똑해요 = All teachers are smart, or
PLAY 모든 선생님들은 똑똑해요 = Every teacher is smart

In this adverb form, 다 can also be placed after 모두 in the same sentence. For example:

PLAY 선생님들은 모두 다 똑똑해요 = All teachers are smart

In this adverb form, you would not see particles attached to it.
As a (pro)noun
In these cases 모두 typically means “everybody” or “everything.” Particles are usually
attached to it. For example:

PLAY 모두가 이해했어요 = Everybody understood

PLAY 모두가 산책하고 있어요 = Everybody is going for a walk

Here’s the part that is a bit confusing. Often times when the sentence structure is just
Subject – 모두 – Verb, the ~를 is omitted from 모두. For example:

나는 모두를 이해했어 would be better said as:

PLAY 나는 모두 이해했어 = I understood everything

And

저는 모두를 먹고 싶어요 would be better said as:

PLAY 저는 모두 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat everything

It took me a long time to come to this conclusion, but my explanation as to why this is
done is because in these cases 모두 is acting as an adverb. Therefore, it is not so much
that the ~를 is being omitted, but rather that the 모두 is serving a different function (and
the sentence ends up having the same meaning anyways).

Just like how you would not see ~를 attached to 다 in the following sentences:

나는 다 이해했어 = I understood everything

저는 다 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat everything

Often times a word that represents a group of people is placed before 모두. In these cases,
~를 is usually attached to 모두. For example:

PLAY 저는 가족 모두를 사랑해요 = I love all of my family

PLAY 저는 학생 모두를 가르쳤어요 = I taught all of the students

The same structure works when the group of people is the subject of a sentence. For
example:

PLAY 학생 모두가 기숙사로 갔어요 = All of the students went to the dorm
PLAY 가족 모두가 고향에 갔어요 = All of the/my family went to the/our hometown
PLAY 선생님 모두가 회의에 갔어요 = All of the teachers went to a meeting
Other particles can be attached to it as well, for example:
PLAY 저는 선물을 모두에게 주었어요 = I gave a present to everybody

Everywhere/Every time/Everyone

~나 can be added to the words ‘where,’ ‘when,’ and ‘who’ to mean ‘everywhere,’ ‘every
time,’ and ‘everyone.’ Particles are usually not added to these words. For example:

어디 = where
어디나 = everywhere

PLAY 나는 한국에서 어디나 여행하고 싶어 = I (would) want to travel everywhere in Korea
PLAY 우리는 동남아시아에 어디나 갈 거예요 = We will go everywhere in South East Asia
PLAY 밥은 어디나 맛이 똑같아요 = Rice tastes the same everywhere

언제 = when
언제나 = every time/always

PLAY 그녀는 언제나 늦게 와요 = She comes late every time

PLAY 저는 언제나 똑같은 메뉴를 먹어요 = I always eat the same menu
PLAY 저는 언제나 똑같은 시간에 일어나요 = I always wake up at the same time

누구 = who
누구나 = everyone

PLAY 누구나 그 여자를 알아요 = Everybody knows that girl

PLAY 누구나 우리 애기를 보고 싶어요 = Everybody wants to see our baby
PLAY 누구나 한국을 좋아해요 = Everybody likes Korea
 

Something/Somewhere/Sometime/Somebody

~ㄴ가 can be added to the words ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when,’ and ‘who’ to mean ‘something,’
‘somewhere,’ ‘sometime,’ and ‘somebody.’ For example:

뭐 = what
뭔가 = something

The subject and object particles in general can be omitted from any sentence (although I
don’t suggest omitting particles until you have a very deep understanding of Korean), but
they seem to be more commonly omitted from these types of sentences. Many examples:

PLAY 나는 방금 뭔가(를) 봤어 = I just saw something a minute ago

PLAY 등에 뭔가(가) 있어요 = There is something on your back
PLAY 등에 뭔가(가) 있나요? = Is there something on my back?
PLAY 저는 팔에 뭔가(가)느껴져요 = I feel something on my arm
PLAY 저는 뭔가(를) 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat something
PLAY 저는 뭔가(를) 말하고 싶어요 = I want to say something

어디 = where
어딘가 = somewhere

By the nature of the word “somewhere,” you are most likely to use the particles ~에 or ~
에서 in these sentences. It would be acceptable to omit the particle ~에 from 어딘가 but
less acceptable to omit the particle ~에서. Many examples:

PLAY 열쇠를 어딘가(에) 뒀어 = I left my keys somewhere

PLAY 전쟁이 아시아 어딘가에서 났어요 = A war broke out somewhere in Asia
PLAY 피가 어딘가에서 나오고 있어요 = Blood is coming out of somewhere
PLAY 저는 그릇을 어딘가(에) 두었어요 = I put the bowl in some place
PLAY 선생님들이 회의를 어딘가에서 하고 있어요 = The teachers are having a meeting
somewhere
PLAY 저는 휴일에 어딘가에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go somewhere on the holiday
PLAY 저는 어딘가에서 커피를 마시고 싶어요 = I want to drink a cup of coffee somewhere

언제 = when
언젠가 = sometime/someday

~에 is typically not attached to 언젠가. Many examples:

PLAY 그 날이 언젠가 올 거예요 = The day will come sometime

PLAY 구름이 언젠가 걷힐 거예요 = The clouds will clear eventually/sometime
PLAY 저는 언젠가 경찰관이 되고 싶어요 = I want to become a police officer someday
PLAY 저는 언젠가 중국어도 배우고 싶어요 = I want to learn Chinese as well some day
PLAY 저는 언젠가 고향에 돌아가고 싶어요 = I want to return (go back) to my hometown
some day

When I first learned about this word, I wondered if particles like ~까지 or ~부터 could be
attached to it because 언젠가 represents a time. I kept bugging Korean people to try to
make me example sentences of these particles attached to 언젠가 and they always came
up with nothing. I realized that in both English and Korean, it isn’t logical to make
sentences with “until someday” or “from someday.”

누구 = who
누군가 = somebody

PLAY 누군가(는) 너를 찾고 있어 = Somebody is looking for you

PLAY 저는 누군가의 열쇠를 찾았어요 = I found somebody’s keys
PLAY 경찰관들은 누군가와 얘기하고 있어요 = The policemen are talking with somebody
PLAY 누군가가 지갑을 잃어버렸어요 = Somebody lost their wallet
PLAY 누군가가 그 파일을 저에게 보냈어요 = Somebody sent that file to me
In Lesson 22, you learned about using 어느 in sentences. Another usage of 어느 is to
reference a vague place or point in time. I am including this explanation in this section of
the lesson because of the similarities with the sentences above.

You would often see this type of thing in stories, poetry or news reports where the specific
location does not need to be given. This would be similar to something like this at a start
of a story in English:

A long time ago in a far-away castle, or

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

In this usage, 어느 is commonly placed before a broad indication of time or place. For
example:

어느 날 = some day (an ambiguous day)

어느 밤 = some night (an ambiguous night)
어느 겨울 = some winter (an ambiguous winter)
어느 여름 = some summer (an ambiguous summer)
어느 마을 = some village (an ambiguous village)
어느 시장 = some market (an ambiguous market)

Here, the person speaking/writing this way because he/she does not need to specifically
reference the time. Some example sentences:

PLAY 어느 겨울 꽃이 다 사라졌다 = Some winter, all the flowers disappeared

PLAY 어느 마을에서 애기 두 명이 태어났다 = Two babies were born in some village
PLAY 그 다음 날, 할머니가 어느 시장을 구경하고 있었다 = The next day, the grandmother
was browsing around some market

Again, like I said, you would most likely see these types of sentences used in stories, often
setting up the scenario or something within a book.

It is also possible to use a question word to refer to an ambiguous place, thing or person.
This is most commonly done with the following words:
어디
Person 1: 엄마가 집에 있어? = Is mom at home
Person 2: 아니요. 어디 갔어. = No, she went somewhere

뭐
우리가 이미 뭐 먹었어요 = We already ate something

누구
나는 내일 누구 만날 거야 = Tomorrow I’m going to meet somebody

Using these words like this is quite advanced, and is not something I learned until a few
years of exposure with Korean. What makes these usages even more confusing is that you
can use these words in sentences when you are asking a question. For example:

뭐 먹었어요? Could mean both:

– What did you eat? or
– Did you eat something?

어디 갔어요? Could mean both:

– Where did you go? or
– Did you go somewhere

누구(를) 만났어요? Could mean both:

– Who did you meet? Or
– Did you meet somebody

Distinguishing them, believe it or not, can be done quite easily if you train your ear
correctly. When using “뭐, 어디 or 누구” as the question word in the sentence, the stress of
the sentence is on the question word itself. Pay close attention to the audio in the
following examples:

PLAY 뭐 먹었어요? = What did you eat?

PLAY 어디 갔어요? = Where did you go?
PLAY 누구 만났어요? = Who did you meet?

When using “뭐, 어디 or 누구” to refer to an ambiguous thing, place or person, the stress
of the sentence is on the verb. Again, pay close attention to the audio in the following
examples, and specifically how they differ from the examples above:
PLAY 뭐 먹었어요? = Did you eat something?
PLAY 어디 갔어요? = Did you go somewhere?
PLAY 누구 만났어요? = Did you meet somebody?

As I mentioned however, this is quite advanced. You might not be able to hear the
difference at this stage in your learning, but it is good to be aware of as you continue to
progress through your studies.

아무
Anybody/Nobody

아무 is a pronoun that refers to “any” person. When using it in a sentence, the speaker is
indicating the person he/she is referring to is not a specific “set” person, but could actually
be “anybody.”

It is most commonly used with ~나 attached to it. This particle (when attached to other
nouns as you will learn in Lesson 58) often indicates the same indifference meaning that
“아무” itself has.

When used together, it can almost be seen as one unit that means “anybody.” As ~나 is
actually a particle in itself, when used as the subject or object of a sentence, particles ~는
or ~가 are not usually doubled up on top of ~나. For example:

아무나 그 책을 좋아할 거예요 = Anybody will/would like that book

이렇게 좋은 학교에서는 아무나 공부를 잘 할 거예요 = Anybody can study well at this
school

However, particles can be added before ~나 if the word being used has other functions
within a sentence (other than the subject or object). Because 아무 refers to a person in this
case, the most common particles you would see here are particles meaning “to” (~에게/
한테) and “with” (~와/하고). For example:
PLAY 나는 아무와나 사귀고 싶어 = I want to go out with anybody
PLAY 저는 이 선물을 아무에게나 주고 싶어요 = I want to give this present to anybody
PLAY 저는 아무하고나 축구를 하고 싶어요 = I want to play soccer with anybody

When ~도 replaces ~나 in these cases, we get the opposite meaning. 아무도 can be used
as the subject or object of a sentence to mean “nobody.” Just like 아무나, particles are not
usually attached to 아무도 as “~도” is actually the particle being used.

When using 아무도, the sentence must be conjugated in a negative way or end with some
negative word like 없다. This is counter intuitive for English speakers – because it makes us
think we are saying a double negative. For example, the following sentence:

집에 아무도 있어요 looks  like it should mean “there is nobody at home.” However, as I

said, a sentence with “아무도” should end in a negative way. Therefore, this is correct:

PLAY 집에 아무도 없어요 = There is nobody at home/There isn’t anybody at home

Because of the double negative in the Korean version, this creates a confusing translation
for the English version. In the English version, we can usually say either “anybody” with a
negative conjugation, or “nobody” with a positive conjugation.

For example:
PLAY 저는 아무도 못 봤어요 = I didn’t see anybody/I saw nobody
PLAY 저는 아무도 만나고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to meet anybody/I want to meet
nobody
PLAY 아무도 집에 가지 않았어요 = Nobody went home
PLAY 아무도 나를 좋아하지 않아 = Nobody likes me

Particles can be added before ~도 if the word being used has other functions within a
sentence (other than the subject or object). Because 아무 refers to a person in this case,
the most common particles you would see here are particles meaning “to” (~에게/한테)
and “with” (~와/하고). For example:

PLAY 저는 그 말을 아무에게도 안 했어요 = I didn’t say that to anybody/I said that to

nobody
PLAY 저는 아무하고도 얘기하고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to talk with anybody/I want to
talk with nobody

It is very easy to be confused with these double negatives at first. To make it simple at the
beginning, just tell your brain to use “아무나” when you want to say something that ends
positively, and to use “아무도” when you want to say something that ends negatively. In
theory,  아무나 and  아무도 are the  same  word in Korean (with different particles attached).
One just happens to be used with positive sentences, and the other happens to be used in
negative sentences.

아무 Used Before Other Nouns

Another function that 아무 has is to be placed before a thing/place/time to describe it. The
most common nouns you will see after 아무 are:

거 = short form of 것, meaning “thing”

데 = meaning “place”
때 = meaning “time”

When ~나 is attached to these nouns, the speaker is indicating that the thing/place/time is
not a specific “thing/place/time,” but could actually be “anything,” “anywhere” or
“anytime.” For example:

PLAY 저는 아무 거나 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat anything (I’d eat anything)

PLAY 아무 때나 좋아요 = Anytime is good
PLAY 저는 아무 데나 가고 싶어요 = I want to go anywhere (I’d go anywhere)

In the example above, you can see that “데” is used to refer to a place. When the verb
being used requires “~에” to be attached to that place, “~에” is omitted. However, when
the verb being used requires “~에서” to be attached to that place “~에서” should be
added before ~나.

For example, even though the same place is being used in both sentences below, because
of the nature of the verbs 가다 and 먹다, ~에 should be used in one case, and ~에서
should be used in the other.

저는 공원에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go to the park

저는 밥을 공원에서 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat in the park

The difference between these two sentences is the same as the difference between these
two sentences:
PLAY 저는 아무 데나 가고 싶어요 = I want to go anywhere
PLAY 저는 아무 데서나 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat (at) anywhere

~도 can replace ~나 in these cases to have the meaning of “nothing” or “nowhere.” For
example:

PLAY 저는 아무 것도 먹고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to eat anything/I want to eat nothing

PLAY 아기는 아무 데도 가지 않았어 = The baby didn’t go anywhere/The baby went
nowhere

“아무 때도” means “no time?” This doesn’t make sense. Instead, the word  전혀 (introduced
in  Lesson 34) should be used.

It is possible to use other nouns after 아무. For example:

PLAY 저는 아무 버스나 타고 갈 거예요 = I’m going to take any bus and leave
PLAY 저는 아무 말도 하지 않았어요 = I didn’t say anything/I said nothing
PLAY 저는 엄마랑 아무 관계도 없어요 = I don’t have any relationship with my mother/I
have no relationship with my mother

However, by far the most common three things to use after 아무 are 거, 데 and 때.

I would love to provide way more examples, but many of the examples I want to make
with 아무 (and the words it can create) use grammatical principles that you haven’t been
introduced to you yet. The two most common grammatical principles that you haven’t
learned yet that would be used in these situations are:

Making a command (introduced in Lesson 40), and

One can/cannot do (Introduced in Lesson 45)

Here are some quick examples using those two principles. The only reason I am showing
you these is because I think it is likely you have learned about these either by looking
ahead or by using some other resource.

Making a command
가방을 아무 데나 두세요 = Put your bag down anywhere
아무 거나 고르세요! = Choose anything!
아무 거나 먹자! = Let’s eat anything!
One can/cannot do
아무나 그것을 할 수 있어요 = Anybody can do that

It also might be helpful to take a peek at Lesson 58 to see how ~나 can be used when not
used in these specific cases of 아무나, 아무 거나, 아무 때나, etc. In theory, I should have
presented these words after  I taught you about ~나, but in my opinion the use ~나 as it is
used in this lesson is more common (and therefore more important) than the general use
of ~나 introduced later.

Each (마다)

마다 means “each” and is attached directly to the end of a noun:

날마다 = each day

학생마다 = each student
금요일마다 = each/every Friday
30 분마다 = each/every 30 minutes

When I first learned about this, I asked the following question to my grammar teacher:

“What is the difference between ‘모든 학생’, and 학생마다?”

The answer is so subtle, but there is a difference. The only  way I can explain it is by saying
the following:
If you can explain the difference between “every student” and “each student” in English,
then you fully understand the difference between “모든 학생” and “학생마다.”

But really, can  you explain the difference between “every student” and “each student?”
There is a difference. I know there is a difference. “Each” has something to do with ‘each
individual student,’ whereas “every” has something to do with ‘all students.’… huh?
I don’t know. I always think I can explain the difference between “each” and “every” in
English, but it’s too confusing.

Just remember that 마다 means “each” and “모든” means “every.” That is more than
enough.

PLAY 그 버스는 10 분마다 와요 = That bus comes each/every 10 minutes

PLAY 학생마다 달라요 = Each student is different

… and with that, you have finished Unit 1! You have come a really  long way from our first
lessons. When you first started learning through our website, you were learning sentences
like: “나는 선생님이다.”

Hopefully you enjoyed our first unit, and hopefully you didn’t get too confused – because
in Unit 2 you will start learning Korean grammar concepts that will not only make your
sentences much more complex, but also make your head explode.

If you are confident in what you learned in Lessons 17 – 25, why not check your
knowledge on our Lessons 17 – 25 Mini-Test.

Or you can go directly to our Unit 1 test, which will test you on everything you learned in
Unit 1.

If you are not into taking the tests, you could always head directly to Unit 2 and check out
our first lesson (Lesson 26).

Lesson 26: ~는 것 Describing Nouns with Verbs

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You will
probably be able to understand most of the grammar in these example sentences, but
some of the sentences might use grammar from later lessons. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.
Nouns:
PLAY 아줌마 = middle aged/older woman

PLAY 물건 = thing, item, goods

PLAY 복도 = hall, hallway

PLAY 목적 = purpose, aim, goal

PLAY 목적지= destination

PLAY 국가 = nation, country

PLAY 동네 = neighborhood

PLAY 학비 = tuition

PLAY 무기 = weapon

PLAY 정답 = right/correct answer

PLAY 청소년 = youth

PLAY 지역 = a certain area or region

PLAY 경기 = match or game

PLAY 점수 = grade, score

PLAY 선수 = player (in sports)

PLAY 목숨 = life

PLAY 모기 = mosquito

PLAY 허리 = waist

PLAY 달 = moon

PLAY 인사 = greeting
PLAY 소금 = salt

PLAY 담배 = tobacco, cigarettes

PLAY 환자 = patients

PLAY 옷걸이 = hanger

PLAY 국제 = international

PLAY 일반 = usual, normal, typical

PLAY 사이 = space, gap

PLAY 밖 = the outside of something

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 깎다 = to peel, cut, trim, shave

CONJUGATE PLAY 알아보다 = to recognize, to try to know

CONJUGATE PLAY 극복하다 = to overcome

CONJUGATE PLAY 맞추다 = to adjust, fix, set

CONJUGATE PLAY 합격하다= to pass, to get accepted

CONJUGATE PLAY 결정하다 = to decide

CONJUGATEPLAY 이혼하다 = to get a divorce

CONJUGATE PLAY 물어보다 = to ask

CONJUGATE PLAY 피우다 = to smoke, to light a fire of some sort

CONJUGATE PLAY 불다 = to blow

CONJUGATE PLAY 계속하다 = to continue

CONJUGATE PLAY 다치다 = to injure, to hurt

CONJUGATE PLAY 답하다 = to answer, to respond

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 틀리다 = to be incorrect

CONJUGATE PLAY 깨끗하다 = to be clean

CONJUGATEPLAY 남다= to be remaining, to be left over

CONJUGATE PLAY 맑다 = to be clear, clean, pure

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 무료 = free

PLAY 영업 시간 = business hours

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

There are 800 vocabulary entries in Unit 2. All entries are linked to an audio file.
You can download all of these files in one package  here.

Einführung

Okay, it is time to kick it up a notch.

Most of what you learned in Unit 1 was taught simply to be a foundation to what you will
learn here in Unit 2 (and later in Units 3, 4, 5 etc…). Of course, the content you learned in
Unit 1 was very important (foundations are important) but here in Unit 2 it will be slightly
different.

When learning Korean, you eventually reach a point where the only thing you are learning
is other ways to end sentences. There are hundreds upon hundreds of different things that
you can add to the end of sentences (to end them or to connect them to other sentences)
to give a sentence a different meaning. I’m not going to lie: most of what you will learn
from here on out (aside from vocabulary) will be these sentence enders/connectors.
Not today, though. Today you will learn the  most important aspect (in my mind) of Korean
grammar. It took me months to fully grasp this concept – but not because it is terribly
difficult, but rather because I did not have good enough explanations when learning it.
That is why I am here. I am going to break down this concept for you like crazy – spanning
four lessons.

I am talking, of course, of ~는 것.

Understanding this concept will literally make your ability to create sentences increase
dramatically. Lets get started.

This lesson is long. Very long. Please read the entire lesson to fully understand everything.
If something is confusing, it will more than likely be resolved later in the lesson.

~는 것: Modifying Nouns with Verbs

Adjectives (in Korean and in English) get placed before nouns to describe them. You
learned this a long time ago in Lesson 4. You learned that when you want to use an
adjective to describe a noun, you must add ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of the adjective. For
example:

예쁘다 = 예쁜
똑똑하다 = 똑똑한
젊다 = 젊은

To describe nouns in the following way:

Pretty girl: 예쁜 여자
Smart student: 똑똑한 학생
Young teacher: 젊은 선생님

Simple enough.

But, what you don’t know is that verbs can also describe nouns in this same way. It is the
exact same premise with adjectives, but it is very difficult for English speakers to
understand.
This same thing (verbs describing nouns) is also done in English, but is done differently
than in Korean. As you know, In English and Korean, when an adjective describes a noun,
the adjective comes before the noun:

However, In English, when a verb describes a noun, the verb comes after  the noun. For
example:

The girl who walks

The student who studies
The teacher who eats

The word “who” was added in all three examples, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be
“who” in English. For example:

The girl that walks

The student that studies
The teacher that eats

In those three examples, “that” was added, and each example essentially has the same
meaning as when “who” was written instead. You don’t need to worry about if it should be
“who/that” or whatever because you are not learning English – you are learning Korean.

The point I am trying to get at here is that verbs can also describe nouns. In English, verbs
are placed after the nouns to describe them.

The next sentence is the most important sentence of the entire lesson:

In Korean, verbs are placed before  nouns to describe them – very similar to how it is done
with adjectives.

How is this done? Like this:?

걷다 여자
공부하다 학생
먹다 선생님

Are those correct? Haha. No. Not by a long shot.

When you adjust adjectives to describe nouns, you know that you should add ~ㄴ/은 to
the stem of the word.
When you adjust verbs to describe nouns, you must add ~는 to the stem of a verb:

걷다 = 걷는
공부하다 = 공부하는
먹다 = 먹는

These are all verbs that can now be placed before a noun to describe it:

걷는 여자 = the girl who walks

공부하는 학생 = the student who studies
먹는 선생님 = the teacher who eats

Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking “Okay, that is great, but when would I
ever say ‘the girl who walks’ in a sentence?”

That is a good question. Really, you would never (or very rarely) say something like that in
a sentence – but understanding that sentence is the foundation for understanding
everything else about ~는 것.

Remember, in regular sentences (in English and Korean), it is very rare to just use the
present tense conjugation. For example, are these natural?:

여자는 걷는다 = The girl walks

학생은 공부한다 = The student studies
선생님은 먹는다 = The teacher eats

Are those natural? Yes, they are natural, but who would ever just say “the girl walks.”
Usually in every day sentences, you would add more information or conjugate the
sentence in other tense:

여자는 학교에 걸었어요 = The girl walked to school

여자는 학교에 걸을 거예요 = The girl will walk to school
여자는 빨리 걷는다 = The girl walks fast
etc…

You can use the same information to describe the noun (the girl):
The girl who walked to school
The girl who will walk to school
The girl who walks fast

Lets stick to the one in the present tense for now:

The girl walks: 여자는 걷는다

The girl who walks: 걷는 여자

The girl walks fast: 여자는 빨리 걷는다

The girl who walks fast: 빨리 걷는 여자

Okay, so what’s the point? When would I ever want to say “The girl who walks fast”?

The thing is, now that you have made the noun “the girl who walks fast” (“빨리 걷는 여자”)
you can now place that noun in sentences that:

–  end in an adjective
–  end in a verb
–  end in 이다

You have been doing the exact same things with adjectives since Lesson 4.

예쁜 여자 = Pretty girl
– 예쁜 여자는 어려요 = The pretty girl is young
– 저는 예쁜 여자를 만났어요 = I met a pretty girl
– 저는 예쁜 여자예요 = I am a pretty girl

The three sentences above include a noun that is being described by an adjective.

빨리 걷는 여자 = The girl who walks fast

– PLAY 빨리 걷는 여자는 어려요 = The girl who walks fast is young
– PLAY 저는 빨리 걷는 여자를 만났어요 = I met a girl who walks fast
– PLAY 저는 빨리 걷는 여자예요 = I am a girl who walks fast

The three sentences above include a noun that is being described by a verb.

Those sentences may not be that common in either English or Korean, but that is the basis
of this entire lesson. It is important to realize that entire clauses (including clauses that
include complex grammatical principles within them) can be put before this ~는 것 form.
These clauses can also include subjects within them. Typically, the subject within a clause
that is used to describe an upcoming noun has the simple subject marker “~이/가”
attached to it. Just like when a noun is being described by an adjective, once you have a
noun that is being described by a verb (or by an entire clause), you can put it wherever
you want in the sentence. Below are many more examples:

PLAY 제가 만나고 있는 사람은 예뻐요 = The person I am meeting is pretty

PLAY 제가 보고 있는 영화는 재미있어요 = The movie I am watching is funny
PLAY 제가 먹고 있는 음식은 맛있어요 = The food I am eating is delicious
PLAY 저는 제가 자주 가는 곳에 가고 있어요 = I am going to the place I often go to
PLAY 친구는 제가 자주 가는 곳에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the place I often go

Actually, I feel like this is getting a little bit too complicated. I want to break this down one
more time.

This sentence should be simple to you:

친구는 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to school

Simple enough. Subject – place – verb.

If you want to describe that school, you could do so with adjectives:

큰 학교 = big school
작은 학교 = small school|
나쁜 학교 = bad school

… or verbs:
제가 자주 가는 학교 = The school I go to often

Then, it is simply a matter of putting those nouns into sentences:

친구는 큰 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the big school

친구는 작은 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the small school
친구는 나쁜 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the bad school

PLAY 친구는 제가 자주 가는 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the school that I

go to often
Incredibly complicated at first, incredibly simple once you get the hang of it. The only
problem is that it is difficult for English speakers to get used to because we describe a
noun with a verb after the noun.

Many more examples:

과학을 좋아하는 여자 = the/a girl that likes science

PLAY 저는 과학을 좋아하는 여자들을 좋아해요 = I like girls that like science

제가 보고 있는 시험 = The exam I am writing

PLAY 제가 보고 있는 시험은 어려워요 = The exam I am writing is difficult

제가 사귀고 있는 여자 = The girl who I am going out with

PLAY 제가 사귀고 있는 여자는 미국에 갔어요 = The girl who I am going out with went to
the US

엄마가 요리하는 음식 = The food that my mother cooks

PLAY 엄마가 요리하는 음식은 항상 맛있어요 = The food that my mother cooks is always
delicious

공부하지 않는 학생들 = students who do not study

PLAY 공부하지 않는 학생들은 똑똑하지 않아요 = Students who do not study are not smart

제가 공원에 가는 날 = the day(s) I go to the park

PLAY 저는 공원에 가는 날에 항상 행복해요 = I am always happy on the days I go to the
park

이 동네에서 축구를 잘 하는 청소년들 = kids who are good at playing soccer in this
neighborhood
PLAY 이 동네에서 축구를 잘 하는 청소년들이 많아요 = There are a lot of kids who are
good at playing soccer in this neighborhood

Actually, Korean people have the same problem with this concept when translating to
English. If you meet a Korean person who can’t speak English well, they will always say
sentences like this in their ‘Korean style.’

Instead of saying: “girls that like science,” they say:

“like science girls’
Instead of saying “the exam I am writing,” they say:
“I write exam”

Instead of saying “the girl I am going out with,” they say:

“I go out with girl”

Instead of saying “the food my mother cooks,” they say:

“my mother cooks food”

Anyways, enough of what Korean people say.

It is hard to translate the definition of this concept directly in English, but it sometimes
translates to ‘who,’ ‘when,’ or ‘that.’ These words however don’t need to be in the sentence
in English, as you will see in the following examples. Each of the following pairs of
sentences have the same meaning in English:

My friend is going to the school I go to often

My friend is going to the school that I go to often

The exam I am writing is difficult

The exam that I am writing is difficult

The girl I am going out with went to the US

The girl who I am going out with went to the US
The girl that I am going out with went to the US

The food my mother cooks is always delicious

The food that my mother cooks is always delicious

Students that do not study are not smart

Students who do not study are not smart

I am always happy on the days I go to the park

I am always happy on the days that I go to the park
I am always happy on the days when I go to the park
“That” can be used in most situations. If the noun you are using is a person, “who” can be
exchanged for “that.” If the noun you are using is a time, “when” can be exchanged for
“that.”

I’m going to say this one more time. Read it a few times to make sure you understand it
completely (it is complicated). The noun that you create by describing it with a verb can be
placed anywhere that other nouns can be placed!

Lets describe one more noun and see where it can be placed:

내가 가르치는 학생들 = the students that I teach

Placed as the subject of a sentence:

PLAY 내가 가르치는 학생들은 수업을 듣고 싶지 않아 = The students that I teach don’t
want to come to class

Before 이다:
PLAY 그 사람은 내가 가르치는 학생이다 = That person is a student that I teach (I teach
that student)

Placed in any clause within a sentence:

PLAY 내가 가르치는 학생들이 수업에 오기 전에 나는 교실을 청소했어 = Before the
students that I teach came to class, I cleaned the classroom

.. okay, I think you get it.

I’ve made a bunch of YouTube videos that break down the grammar and vocabulary in
various Korean street signs. ~는 것 comes up in the following videos:
Video 1: Recycling Day Information
Video 19: Bus Etiquette

So far in this lesson you have learned how to describe nouns using verbs in the present
tense:

The place I go
The food I eat
The student I teach
But what about the past tense?

The place I went

The food I ate
The student I taught

Or the future tense?

The place I will go

The food I will eat
The student I will teach

Lets talk about those now.

~는 것 Past Tense (~ㄴ/은 것)

You can also describe nouns with verbs in the past tense to make nouns like:

The place I went

The food I ate
The student I taught

To do this, instead of adding ~는 to the stem of a verb, you must add ~ㄴ/은. You must
add ~은 to stems ending in a consonant (먹다 = 먹은), and ~ㄴ should be added directly
to stems ending in a vowel (가다 = 간):

제가 간 곳 = The place I went

제가 먹은 음식 = The food I ate
제가 가르친 학생 = The student I taught

The general idea is the same as the present tense; the verb is simply conjugated into the
past. More examples:

PLAY 엄마가 요리한 음식은 너무 맛있어요 = The food my mom cooked is delicious
PLAY 저는 엄마가 요리한 음식을 다 먹었어요 = I ate all the food my mom cooked
PLAY 제가 어제 만난 사람은 저를 다시 만나고 싶어요 = The person I met yesterday wants
to meet me again
PLAY 남은 음식을 포장하고 싶어요 = I want to pack up the food that is left over
PLAY 내가 회사에 가지 않은 날에 병원에 갔어 = On the day I didn’t go to work, I went to
the hospital
PLAY 선생님은 학생들이 물어본 질문에 답했어요 = The teacher answered the questions
that the students asked
PLAY 옛날에 담배를 많이 피운 환자가 많아요 = There are a lot of patients who smoked a
lot a long time ago
PLAY 내가 작년에 가르친 학생 한 명은 벌써 의사가 되었어 = One of the students I taught
last year has already become a doctor

I talk about how ~ㄴ/은 is used to describe an upcoming noun in this Korean Sign
Explanation video.

~는 것 Future Tense (~ㄹ/을 것)

You can also describe nouns with verbs in the future tense to make nouns like:

The place I will go

The food I will eat
The student I will teach

To do this, instead of adding ~는 to the stem of a verb, you must add ~ㄹ/을. You must
add ~을 to stems ending in a consonant (먹다 = 먹을) and ~ㄹ should be added directly
to stems ending in a vowel (가다 = 갈):

내가 갈 곳 = The place I will go

내가 먹을 음식 = The food I will eat
내가 가르칠 학생 = The student I will teach

Many more examples:

PLAY 제가 갈 곳은 제주도예요 = The place I will go is Jeju-do

PLAY 저는 할 일이 있어요 = I have something/work to do
PLAY 저는 그 사람이 저에게 줄 선물을 받고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to accept the gift
that that person will give me
PLAY 제가 받을 점수는 중요해요 = The score I will receive is important
 

In Lesson 9, you learned how to create a future tense conjugation by attaching ~ㄹ/을
것이다 to words. For example, in Lesson 9, you saw this sentence:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 = I will eat rice

If you look closely, the grammar being used in this type of sentence is the same as the
grammar that I am presenting in this lesson. If you look at the two examples below:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 = I will eat rice

PLAY 제가 받을 점수는 중요해요 = The score I will receive is important

In both of the sentences above, the ~을 attached to the verb is performing the same
function – in that it is describing the upcoming noun.

Remember, “것” is a noun, and in the first sentence above, “것” is being described by the
word before it (먹다). For example, look how “것” is being described in the first example::

밥을 먹을 것 = A thing that will eat rice

In theory, the full sentence (PLAY 저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요) could translate to “I am a thing

that will eat rice.” However, it would never be translated like that because when ~ㄹ/을
것이다 is used at the end of a sentence, it is usually done to create the future tense
conjugation that would translate to “one will do…” This isn’t imperative to your
understanding, but it is good to recognize that ~ㄹ/을 has the same function in both of
these types of sentences – which is describing the noun in-front of it.

There are many instances of a Korean grammatical principle having different English
translations depending on the type of sentence it is used in. There might be one thing in
Korean that represents many meanings in English, and there might be one thing in English
that represents many meanings in Korean. Try to step out of the “English box” and
understand that two vastly different languages will have very little similarities.

…Anyways…

…. All of this brings me to the last point of this lesson:

 

So What’s the Point?: ~는 것

The name for everything you learned in this lesson is “~는 것” (or ~ㄴ 것 for past tense
and ~ㄹ 것 for future tense). So far, I have shown you many examples of other nouns in
place of “것”:

제가 먹는 음식 = The food I eat

제가 먹은 음식 = The food I ate
제가 먹을 음식 = The food I will eat

제가 가르치는 학생 = the student I teach

제가 가르친 학생 = the student I taught
제가 가르칠 학생 = the student I will teach

제가 가는 날에 = the day I go
제가 간 날에 = the day I went
제가 갈 날에 = the day I will go

Question:
So why is the grammar concept called “~는 것”?

Answer: (This answer is ridiculously important)

If you ever want to change a sentence (or any part of a sentence) into a noun, you must do
so by adding ~는 것 to the clause. … which leads to the next question:

Question:
Why on earth would I want to change a sentence into a noun?

Answer:
Look at the following example:

You know this already:

저는 사과를 원해요 = I want apples

Very simple sentence. Subject – object – verb,
But what if you wanted to say the following:
I want my friend to bring apples.

The structure is actually identical in the two sentences:

I want apples
I want my friend to bring apples

In both cases, I will put the thing that you want in brackets:

I want (apples)
I want (my friend to bring apples)

In Korean:

저는 (apples)를 원해요
저는 (my friend to bring apples)를 원해요

The first one is easy, you already know:

저는 사과를 원해요

But the second one? How would I say this in Korean?:

저는 (my friend to bring apples)를 원하다

How can you say “my friend brings apples” in Korean?

친구는 사과를 가져와요 = My friend brings apples

But! You need to change that sentence to a noun. THIS is the situation when you will need
to change clauses/sentences to nouns. Lets change that sentence into a noun:

친구가 사과를 가져오는 것

This is very hard to translate into English. 것 means “thing.” The rest of it is an adjective
describing that “thing.” If I had to translate it, I would say “the thing of my friend bringing
apples.”.. but, again, it cannot really be translated.

So, if we look at our sentences again:

I want (apples)
I want (my friend to bring apples)

Apples = 사과
My friend brings apples (noun form) = 친구가 사과를 가져오는 것

저는 (apples)를 원해요
저는 (my friend to bring apples)를 원해요

저는 (사과)를 원해요
저는 (친구가 사과를 가져오는 것)을 원해요

저는 사과를 원해요 = I want apples

PLAY 저는 친구가 사과를 가져오는 것을 원해요 = I want my friend to bring apples

Wow, complicated.
Lets look at another example.

I like movies.
PLAY 저는 영화를 좋아해요
Simple sentence. Subject – object – verb

But what if you wanted to say

“I like making movies,” or

“I like watching movies”

Again, I will put the things that you like in brackets:

I like (movies)
I like (making movies)
I like (watching movies)

Movies: 영화
I make movies: 영화를 만들어요
I watch movies: 영화를 봐요

Into noun form?:

영화
영화를 만드는 것
영화를 보는 것

저는 (movies)를 좋아해요
저는 (making movies)를 좋아해요
저는 (watching movies)를 좋아해요

저는 (영화)를 좋아해요
저는 (영화를 만드는 것)을 좋아해요
저는 (영화를 보는 것)을 좋아해요

PLAY 저는 영화를 좋아해요 = I like movies

PLAY 저는 영화를 만드는 것을 좋아해요 = I like making movies
PLAY 저는 영화를 보는 것을 좋아해요 = I like watching movies

I didn’t realize this when I first learned this grammar concept. In almost every sentence you
will ever say, you need to put this concept into use – whether you realize it or not.

Think about it, how often do you simply say “I want to eat food”? You usually make it more
complex by saying:

PLAY 나는 그 사람이 먹고 있는 것을 먹고 싶어 = I want to eat what that person is eating

PLAY 나는 우리가 지난 번에 같이 먹은 것을 먹고 싶어= I want to eat what we ate
(together) last time
PLAY 나는 엄마가 요리하는 것을 먹고 싶어 = I want to eat my mom’s cooking

Etc…

Or, if you wanted to talk about what your dream is. Before this lesson, you could have said
this:

나의 꿈은 선생님이다 …

… but that translates to “My dream is teacher”…. Is that natural? My dream is teacher?
Instead, it would sound more natural if you said:

나의 꿈은 선생님이 되는 것이다 = My dream is becoming a teacher

Below are many more examples of a verb (with a clause before it) describing a noun being
used in sentences. The following sentences specifically use the vocabulary that is
introduced at the beginning of this lesson. In addition, these sentences are slightly more
complex than the simple sentences I have used to describe the ~는 것 concept up until
this point.

PLAY 우리 학교의 목적은 국제고등학교가 되는 것이다 = Our school’s goal is becoming an

international school
PLAY 소금을 많이 먹는 것은 건강에 안 좋아요 = It is not healthy to eat a lot of salt
PLAY 담배를 피우는 것은 건강에 나빠요 = It is unhealthy to smoke cigarettes
PLAY 저의 목적은 그 시험을 합격하는 것이에요 = My goal is to pass that exam
PLAY 이 문제를 극복하는 것이 힘들 거예요 = It will be difficult to overcome this problem
PLAY 모자를 쓴 학생을 알아보는 것이 어려워요 = It is difficult to recognize students
wearing hats
PLAY 네가 지금 말하는 것이 틀려 = (the thing that) What you are saying now is incorrect
PLAY 친구가 머리를 깎은 것을 알아보지 못했어요 = I couldn’t recognize that my friend cut
his hair
PLAY 복도에서 달리는 것은 위험해요 = It is dangerous to run in the hallway
PLAY 병원에서 넘어져서 팔을 다친 아줌마가 약을 무료로 받았어요 = The woman who fell
in the hospital and broke her arm received free medicine

————————-

Just one more quick note specifically about translating from English to Korean or vice-
versa. Translations are often ambiguous from English to Korean, so you don’t need to
worry about this too much.

When you use ~는 것 to describe an upcoming noun, the translation is often “who,” “that,”
or “where.” For example:

걷는 여자
= The girl who walks
= The girl that walks

내가 간 곳
= The place where I went
= The place that I went

This type of translation is also appropriate when describing a “thing.” For example:
PLAY 내가 먹는 것은 밥이야
= The thing that I (am) eat(ing) is rice

PLAY 내가 가장 원하는 것은 차야
= The thing that I want most is a car

However, when using ~는 것 to change a clause into a noun so that you can do something
with that noun in a sentence, the translation of “to” or “~ing” is usually more appropriate.
For example:

PLAY 저는 친구가 사과를 가져오는 것을 원해요

= I want my friend to bring apples

PLAY 나의 꿈은 선생님이 되는 것이다

= My dream is becoming a teacher
= My dream is to become a teacher

PLAY 저는 영화를 보는 것을 좋아해요

= I like watching movies
= I like to watch movies

In terms of Korean grammar, the purpose of ~는 것 in all of these types of sentences (i.e.
whether it is being used to describe a noun or used to turn a clause into a noun) is the
same. However, in English these look like entirely different sentences. Again, translations
are often confusing and ambiguous. You don’t necessarily need to worry about the
different types of English translations. What is more important is that you understand the
Korean grammar presented here.

————————-

That’s it for this lesson, but in the next 3 – 4 lessons I will be going deeper and deeper into
the ~는 것 grammar concept. This first lesson should give you a good first step.

Lesson 27: Using ~던/었던 to Describe Past Tense

Vocabulary
Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You will
probably be able to understand most of the grammar in these example sentences, but
some of the sentences might use grammar from later lessons. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 이유 = reason

PLAY 방법 = way, method

PLAY 예술 = art, the arts

PLAY 예술가 = artist

PLAY 내용 = contents

PLAY 종업원 = employee, server, worker

PLAY 기술 = technology, skill

PLAY 공책 = notebook

PLAY 달력 = calendar

PLAY 주스 = juice

PLAY 우체국 = post office

PLAY 대사관 = embassy

PLAY 휴지 = toilet paper

PLAY 햄버거 = hamburger

PLAY 비누 = soap

PLAY 숟가락 = spoon
PLAY 간호사 = nurse

PLAY 약국 = pharmacy

PLAY 사회 = community, society

PLAY 충격 = shock, impact

PLAY 법 = law

PLAY 시민 = citizen

PLAY 땀 = sweat

PLAY 보험 = insurance

PLAY 차이 = difference

PLAY 손님 = guest, visitor

PLAY 승객 = passenger

PLAY 대통령 = president (of country)

PLAY 회원 = member

PLAY 오렌지 = an orange

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 담다 = to put something in/on/onto/into

CONJUGATE PLAY 서명하다 = to sign

CONJUGATE PLAY 그리다 = to draw

CONJUGATE PLAY 밝히다 =  to lighten something, to reveal

CONJUGATE PLAY 발음하다 = to pronounce

CONJUGATE PLAY 포기하다 = to give up

CONJUGATE PLAY 지나다 = for something to pass by

CONJUGATEPLAY 실패하다 = to fail

CONJUGATE PLAY 근무하다 = to be employed

CONJUGATE PLAY 환승하다 = to transfer on a bus, subway

CONJUGATE PLAY 멈추다 = to stop

Passive verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 담기다 = to be put in/on/onto/into

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 외롭다 = to be lonely

CONJUGATE PLAY 소중하다 = to be significant, precious

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 따로 = separately, privately

PLAY 영원히 = forever

PLAY 한때 = once, at one time

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In the previous lesson, you learned how ~는 것 can:

 Turn clauses/sentences into nouns to make sentences like this:

저는 친구가 사과를 가져오는 것을 원해요 = I want my friend to bring apples

 Use verbs to describe nouns to make sentences like this:

저는 과학을 좋아하는 여자들을 좋아해요 = I like girls who like Science
Now, let’s build on what you learned and apply the ~는 것 principle in other ways.
 

Describe Past Tense with ~던 and ~았/었던

Before I even begin this lesson, I want to point out that I will be describing things that
most Korean people can’t distinguish. When learning about subtle differences in a foreign
language, it is often difficult to fully grasp because native speakers of that language can
intuitively feel the difference, but not express it. I will do my best to describe this feeling,
but keep in mind that most Korean people would probably have difficulty expressing what
I will attempt to describe in this lesson.

For a long time now, you have been able to describe upcoming nouns with adjectives. For
example:

예쁜 여자 = pretty girl
똑똑한 학생 = smart student
나쁜 선생님 = bad teacher

In the previous lesson, you learned to describe upcoming nouns with verbs.  For example,
in the present tense:

영어를 공부하는 학생 = the student that/who studies English

한국어를 가르치는 선생님 = the teacher that/who teaches Korean

… the future tense:

영어를 공부할 학생 = the student that/who will study English

한국어를 가르칠 선생님 = the teacher that/who will teach Korean

… and the past tense:

영어를 공부한 학생 = the student that/who studied English

한국어를 가르친 선생님 = the teacher that/who taught Korean

As you learned in the previous lesson (and as you can see in the two example sentences
immediately above), you can attach ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of a verb to describe an upcoming
noun in the past tense.
In addition to ~ㄴ/은, there are other ways that you can describe upcoming nouns in the
past tense. The two additional ways to describe an upcoming noun in the past tense
include the grammatical principle ~더~. Notice that there is a “~” both before and after
the syllable “더.” I include ~ both before and after to “더” to indicate that not only is ~더~
attached to things, but things are also attached to it.

~더~ is a fairly advanced grammatical principle and has multiple applications. I discuss ~
더~ and introduce the various ways that it can be used in the later lessons of Unit 5; where
I introduce ~던가 (Lesson 117), ~더라 (Lesson 118) and ~더니 (Lesson 119). For now, I will
concentrate on the nuance that ~더~ adds by showing you how it can be used to describe
an upcoming noun.

When you see ~더~ used as part of a grammatical principle, it signifies that the speaker is
recalling/remembering some fact from the past that was experienced. ~더~ can be
attached to the stem of a verb, and ~ㄴ/은 (the same ~ㄴ/은 that describes upcoming
nouns in the past tense as learned in the previous lesson) can be attached to ~더~.

Simply put, one use is: Verb stem + ~더~ + ~ㄴ/은

What comes out is Verb stem + ~던 – and this can be used to describe an upcoming noun
in the past tense. For example:

내가 입던 옷

Now, the difficult part of this lesson is trying to understand the difference between the
following:

I’m not going to make full sentences yet because I’m still in the process of explaining the
subtle difference between various ways to describe a noun in the past tense. Once we get all
the grammar under our belt, I’ll start making real sentences.

 내가 입은 옷 = The clothes I wore

 내가 입던 옷 = The clothes I wore

Despite their similar (/identical) translations, there is a difference between the two
constructions above.

First of all, remember that the function of ~더~ is to indicate that the speaker is
recalling/remembering some fact that was experienced. In the second example, the
speaker is explicitly expressing that this thought is coming from memory – something that
the person remembers doing or experiencing.

The first example is just a simple fact, and this additional “memory” feeling isn’t present.
This doesn’t mean that the first example above isn’t being “recalled/remembered,” it just
isn’t being explicitly expressed.

I realize that this sounds ambiguous. I’ve talked about this with Korean people for years.
When I try to get Korean people to explain the image they have in their brain when
hearing ~더~ (and specifically ~던 compared to ~ㄴ/은) they move their hands in a way
that shows that something is popping or exploding out of their head.

In theory, you could translate the usage of ~던 in a sentence differently. For example, you
could say:

내가 입던 옷 = The clothes I recall wearing

However, I would never translate that sentence this way. The “recalling” feeling of ~더~ in
these cases is very subtle – more of a feeling – and unless the context indicates otherwise,
the focus is most likely on the clothes than on the recollection.

In addition to having this “memory from experience” feeling, the use of ~던 in the
construction above indicates that an action occurred repeatedly in the past. I specifically
chose the construction “내가 입던 옷” because it is an excellent example to describe this
usage. The clothes that are being described are clothes that the speaker wore on multiple
occasions (this makes sense, because they are clothes).

When you say “내가 입은 옷,” again, you are just stating a simple fact, and there is no
additional information regarding “memory” or if you wore the clothes once, or many
times. All that is being stated is that – at some time in the past, you wore those clothes –
and no additional information is given. ~ㄴ/은 is a very simply way to express that you
wore these clothes in the past.

So, now we know that adding ~던 gives the meaning of personal experience/memory and
that the action occurred repeatedly. Knowing this, look at the following examples and
think about which one would be correct:

 내가 입던 옷

 내가 사던 옷
In the first example, the act of “wearing” an article of clothing can happen repeatedly over
time. Therefore, this construction is possible.
In the second example, the act of “buying” an article of clothing does not happen
repeatedly. Once you buy one piece of clothing, you don’t buy it again. Therefore, this
construction would be unacceptable (or at the very least, very uncommon).

The difference between the two constructions above clearly illustrate this “repeated”
meaning of ~던. In the constructions above, I attached ~던 to two different verbs to
illustrate this difference. Below, I have used the same verb, but this time have attached ~던
to the first one, and ~ㄴ/은 to the second one. Look at the following examples and think
about which one would be correct:

 내가 태어난 도시

 내가 태어나던 도시
In the first example, ~ㄴ/은 indicates a simple past-tense fact, and there is no additional
meaning attached unless implied within the sentence. Here, the speaker is describing the
city as “the city that I was born in.”
In the second example, the act of “being born” cannot happen repeatedly. Therefore, I
can’t imagine a situation where this would be appropriate.

I realize that I just keep piling on the meanings hidden behind ~던, but there is another
subtlety that you should be aware of. When ~던 is used, we know that the speaker is
recalling something from memory, and that the action occurred repeatedly in the past. It is
also possible that this “repeated” action is still reoccurring into the present (or whatever
current time is being described in the sentence). Unless otherwise specified in other parts
of the sentence, this repeated action hasn’t been stopped and is still re-occurring.

Let’s look at our classic “clothes” example and outline this specifically:

내가 입은 옷
The speaker is describing the clothes that he wore. There is no deep/hidden/subtle
meaning to it. All we know is that at some point in the past, he wore the clothes. Did he
wear it often/repeatedly? Did he wear it once? Does he still wear it? Has he stopped
wearing it? The answer to all of these questions is ambiguous – and rightfully so. A lot of
the time in conversation you don’t need to specifically describe the noun you are talking
about. Simply saying “the clothes I wore” can be sufficient. In this English sentence (“the
clothes I wore”) is equally ambiguous to the sentence above.
내가 입던 옷
The speaker is describing the clothes that he recalls/remembers wearing (as is the function
of ~더~). The clothes being described were worn repeatedly in the past, and are likely still
presently being worn – not necessarily at this moment, but “these days” (or at whatever
time is being described in the sentence). There is no specific information about whether he
stopped wearing the clothes – and unless otherwise stated, he probably still wears the
clothes from time to time.

With the constructions I have shown so far, there is no additional context given. In real
situations with full sentences, you will most likely have additional information that will
allow you to distinguish the sentence better. For example, I can put the construction above
into a sentence:

PLAY 내가 지금까지 입던 옷을 내일 버릴 거야 = Tomorrow, I am going to throw out the

clothes that I have been wearing until now

The use of ~던 in the sentence can tell us the following:

 You have a recollection of wearing the clothes

 You wore the clothes repeatedly in the past

 The clothes haven’t “stopped” being worn – and they are still being worn
“until now.” Of course, you won’t be wearing them after today because you’ll
be throwing them out.
Here are many more examples:

PLAY 내가 읽던 책은 재미없었어 = The book I was reading wasn’t funny

PLAY 이 빵은 내가 자주 먹던 빵이야 = This bread is bread that I ate often
PLAY 제가 매일 마시던 주스를 샀어요 = I bought the juice that I drink everyday
PLAY 여기가 내가 근무하던 곳이야 = This place (here) is the place that I worked

PLAY2015 년에 쓰던 달력을 내일 버릴 거예요

= Tomorrow, I am going to throw out the calendar that I used to use in 2015

PLAY 제가 자주 가던 약국이 오늘부터 문을 닫을 거예요

= The pharmacy that I had been going to often will close its doors from today

In the examples above, the object is being described by some action that “I” did. I
mentioned earlier that one of the subtleties of ~던 is the feeling of
“remembering/recalling.” In the examples above, of course I am remembering them,
because “I” am the person who performed the action. This subtle meaning of
“remembering/recalling,” although present, seems irrelevant. Nonetheless, you should
remember that ~더~ contains this meaning.

In situations where the object is being described by some action that another person did,
the subtleties of ~던 seem more apparent. For example, I could say these sentences:

PLAY 이 빵은 슬기가 자주 먹던 빵이야 = This bread is bread that Seulgi eats often

PLAY 이곳에 근무하던 우체국 직원이 삶을 영원히 포기했어요

= The worker/employee who used to work at this post-office gave up on his life forever

PLAY 길을 밝히던 불이 꺼지고 나서 길이 어두워졌어요

= The street became dark after the light that used to brighten the street went out

PLAY 방금 들어온 사람은 우리 가게에 자주 오던 손님이야

= The person who just came in is a customer who comes to the store often

I use the present tense “come” in the English translation above. You could argue than
“came” or “used to come” would be more appropriate because we are describing the person
as a customer who came in the past. However, because of the context of the sentence – they
also “just came in” and are probably still there now – indicating that it could be used in the
present tense. Again, it is difficult to translate these sentences in English. Pay more attention
to the Korean sentence and use the English translation as a reference.

Because ~던 (through the usage of ~더~) indicates that one is “remembering/recalling”

something, the bread is not only “bread that Seulgi eats often” but more specifically
“bread that I specifically remember/recall/experienced Seulgi eating often.”

Again, these types of translations are nonsense. I would never write a translation of these
types of sentences to include “remember/recall/experienced.” It’s always better to just
understand the subtle meanings that they can have and forget about English translations. I
can’t really think of a great translation for ~던. If you think about it, with all you know
about ~던, how would you translate the following:

내가 입던 옷

Would you translate it to:

The clothes I wore
The clothes I used to wear
The clothes often wore

These sentences could all be possible in English to describe ~던 in this case, but in my
mind don’t accurately describe the subtleties that exist within ~던. To add to the
confusion, there is another way to describe an upcoming noun that looks similar to ~던
and has a similar meaning. Let’s talk about this next.

———————————–

So far, you have seen how ~던 can be used to describe an upcoming noun and have
compared it to ~ㄴ/은. For example:

내가 입은 옷 = The clothes I wore – (Simple description of the clothes in the past tense)
내가 입던 옷 = The clothes I wore – (Recalling/remembering the clothes that were worn
repeatedly in the past and continued to the point in time being described)

It is also possible to add ~았/었~ between the verb stem and ~던. For example:

내가 입었던 옷 = The clothes I wore

Alright, now it’s time to explain the difference between ~았/었던 and ~던 or ~ㄴ/은.

When ~았/었던 is added to a verb to describe an upcoming noun, the speaker is

indicating that the action has completely finished and is not currently occurring. For
example, if we go back to our tried and tested example:

내가 입었던 옷
The speaker is describing the clothes that he wore in the past. Because ~더~ is included
within this, the speaker is describing the clothes that he recalls/remembers. The clothes
being described were worn at some time in the past (this could be indicated elsewhere in
the sentence), and are not pants that the speaker wears anymore.

The meaning and feeling of ~았/었던 is similar to the meaning and feeling of ~ㄴ/은.
Most Korean people would tell you at first glance that they are the same. I will do my best
to distinguish them for you.

As I mentioned before, when you say “내가 입은 옷,” you are stating a simple fact, and
there is no additional information regarding “memory” or if you wore the clothes once, or
many times, or if you still wear those clothes these days too. All that is being stated is that
– at some time in the past, you wore those clothes – and no additional information is
given. ~ㄴ/은 is a very simple way to express that you wore these clothes in the past.

Saying “내가 입었던 옷” is similar, but the usage of ~더~ describes that the speaker is
“remembering/recalling” this from memory/experience. Saying “내가 입었던 옷” is also
specifically indicating that the action of “wearing the clothes” is finished and doesn’t
happen anymore. It is possible that ~ㄴ/은 can be used to express this, but its meaning is
more broad and doesn’t state this explicitly.

Korean people often incorrectly assume that the use of ~았/었던 indicates that a lot  of
time has passed since the last action. Many Korean people have described this to me, so it
is hard to call it “incorrect” because if Korean people feel that way about their own
language, than in a way, it is correct. However, the time interval from when the action
stopped happening to the present time is irrelevant. For example, you could say:

오늘 아침에 입었던 바지

The use of ~았/었던 is not used to show that the pants were worn a long time ago (of
course, “this morning” was not a long time ago). Rather, it is used to show that the pants
were worn, and are currently not being worn anymore. If you were to say the sentence
above, at some point since the morning, you would have had to change or take off the
pants being described because the use of ~았/었던 indicates that you are no longer
wearing them. Compare the construction above to the following:

오늘 아침에 입은 바지

Because the pants were worn (or put on) in the morning, it’s likely that you are still
wearing these pants. This sentence does not explicitly state if you have taken them off or if
you are still wearing them.

Below are examples of ~았/었던 in use. Notice that it is difficult to translate the nuance of
~았/었던 to English. Using the past perfect “had” is a common way to express this feeling
in English, but depending on the context this doesn’t always need to be the case. When
reading the sentences below, try not to pay attention to the English translations and try to
remember the purpose of ~았/었던:

PLAY 그 컴퓨터는 작년에 썼던 거예요 = That is the computer I had used last year
PLAY 저는 애기가 썼던 휴지를 다 버렸어요 = I threw out all the tissue paper that the baby
had used
PLAY 한때 포기했던 시험을 다시 공부했어요 = I again studied for the exam that I once
gave up on
PLAY 우리가 지난 번에 먹었던 곳에서 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat at the place that we ate
at last time
PLAY 대통령이 여기에 살았던 시민들에게 돈을 줬어요 = The president gave money to
those who once lived here

PLAY 우리가 지난 주에 배웠던 내용을 다시 공부할 거예요

= I will study the contents that we had learned last week again

PLAY 작년에 사업에 실패했던 남자가 새로운 기술을 발견했어요

= The man who had failed at (starting his own) business last year discovered a new
technology

PLAY 한때 저의 손님이었던 사람이 이제는 유명한 예술가가 되었다

= The person who had been my customer at one time has now become a famous artist

PLAY 고장으로 계속 멈추는 버스를 탔던 승객들이 다른 버스를 탔어요

= The passengers who had been riding the bus that kept stopping because it is/was
broken got on another bus

Let’s organize everything that has been presented so far:

~ㄴ/은: Attached to a verb to describe a noun where the action occurred sometime in the
past. There is no additional meaning given to it. All we know is that at some point in the
past, the action happened.

~던: Attached to a verb to describe a noun where the action is recalled to have occurred
repeatedly in the past, and is continually repeating to the present (or to the time described
in the sentence).

~았/었던: Attached to a verb to describe a noun where the action is recalled to have
occurred in the past, but has finished occurring and currently does not occur.

I don’t like distinguishing these grammatical principles based on their English translations.
Given the number of possible situations that could come up, there is no perfect way to
accurately translate any of them. However, the examples below show common translations
for each of these grammatical principles in use:
내가 입은 바지 = the pants I wore
내가 입던 바지 = the pants I used to wear (I find this translation particularly insufficient)
내가 입었던 바지 = the pants I had worn

Here is an image that I drew to show the picture I have in my head of each one placed
along a timeline. I also included other additions that you learned in Lesson 26:

I deliberately didn’t include English translations because using words to describe when the
pants are worn in either language heavily depends on the context of the sentence. Also
notice that I included an exclamation mark “!” for the last two to depict that there is a
feeling that those actions are being recalled from experience.

Describing Past Tense with ~던 and ~았/었던 (Adjectives)

I think you might be comfortable with this now. Unfortunately, we need to discuss how ~
던 and ~았/었던 can be added to adjectives.

As you know, adding ~ㄴ/은 to an adjective allows you to describe a noun. For example:
예쁜 여자 = (a) pretty girl

Although “예쁜” is indicating that the girl is currently pretty, we can infer that she also was
pretty in the past. Most of the time, if a noun is described a certain way by an adjective in
the present, the same could be true of that noun in the past.

Earlier in the lesson you learned about adding ~았/었던 to verbs. ~았/었던 can also be
added to adjectives, and it has a similar function as when used with verbs. When used with
a verb, the speaker is indicating that the action happened in the past, but has since
finished and does not occur anymore.

If you attach ~았/었던 to an adjective to describe a noun, you are indicating that the
noun was  that way in the past, but is no longer that way anymore. For example, think
about how unfortunate of a situation this would be:

예뻤던 여자

This would indicate that this girl was (or “had been”)  pretty. However her being “pretty”
has finished and she is no longer pretty anymore. The use of ~더~ also carries this
“remembering/recalling” from experience subtlety. As you know, I hate translating these
types of constructions; but if I were to translate the construction above:

예뻤던 여자 = The girl who I recall being pretty, but is not pretty anymore

Up until now, I have been able to describe the subtle difference in nuance between ~ㄴ/
은, ~던 and ~았/었던 when added to verbs.

I have also been able to describe the subtle difference in nuance between ~ㄴ/은 and ~았/
었던 when added to adjectives.

Adding ~던 to an adjective is possible but is very  confusing.

I had a lengthy discussion with a Korean grammar teacher recently. After writing
everything you see above (i.e. this whole lesson until now) I discussed every point with her
to hear her opinion about my observations. We discussed the differences between ~ㄴ/은,
~던 and ~았/었던 when added to verbs. We then talked about ~ㄴ/은 and ~았/었던 when
added to adjectives.

All of this led me to this question:

“If ~던 is added to verbs to indicate that one ‘remembers/recalls’ an action occurring
repeatedly in the past and continuing to the present, how can this meaning be transferred
to adjectives?”

I figured this would not make sense, but I showed her this construction:

예쁘던 여자

She said that this would not be used. She then said that it would be incorrect to add “~던”
directly to adjectives because an adjective can’t “occur” repeatedly in the past. Puzzled, I
looked at her and said “absolutely, ~던 can be added to adjectives.” She challenged me
and said “okay, come up with a situation where ~던 can be added to an adjective.”

Remember, this conversation happened between a Korean person who, as her profession,
teaches Korean language to Korean high school students and a dude from Canada.

The example is a little bit above your level, but I started singing the song “나에게 넌” in
front of her:

소중했던 우리 푸르던 날을 기억하며

우~~후회없이 그림처럼 남아주기를
나에게 넌 내 외롭던 지난 시간을

Notice that ~던 is added directly to two adjectives in the short lyrics above. It is attached
to 푸르다 in the first line and to 외롭다 in the third line. The first word, 소중하다 has ~았/
었던 attached.

After she heard my amazing singing, she realized she was wrong. She then thought about
it more and said that adding ~던 to an adjective has the same meaning as when adding ~
았/었던, but the latter would be much more common.

I figured that explanation was nonsense. There is no way that ~았/었던 and ~던 could
have identical meaning. The only reason why I’m sharing this story with you is so you can
realize that even Korean people, including those you would call “experts” in their own
language, have a hard time distinguishing these things.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on ~던 being attached to adjectives and how I can
present it to you. It’s not that simple because when used separated from a sentence just
shown with one noun, it often sounds very unnatural. For example:
예쁜 여자 = the pretty girl
예뻤던 여자 = the girl who I recall being pretty, but is not pretty anymore
예쁘던 여자 – Grammatically this is correct, but Korean people would tell you that this
would never be said

However, there are cases where the adjective and noun being used could make it
appropriate. For example:

시끄러운 교실 = the noisy classroom

시끄러웠던 교실 = the classroom that I recall being noisy, but is not noisy anymore

시끄럽던 교실 – This construction is possible. Although the “repeated” function of ~던

can’t really be applied, the function of indicating that something occurs to the present
tense can be applied. If you said “시끄럽던 교실” to a Korean person, they would assume
that the classroom was loud up until the present, but it just  stopped being loud. If we
compare this to “시끄러웠던 교실,” Korean people would say that the classroom was loud
further in the past, and there is a gap between when it stopped being loud until the
present.

This could explain why a construction like “예쁘던 여자” would be unnatural. It’s not really
possible for you to recognize that a girl was pretty in the past, and notice that this
continues all the way until present and for her to all of a sudden not be pretty anymore.
However, it could be possible (however unfortunate) for a girl to have been pretty in the
past, and for some time to pass, and then (presumably during that time period) for the girl
to stop being pretty.

Because of this, I can use some adjectives to describe some nouns using ~던, but it
wouldn’t be appropriate with others. For example:

Again, please don’t pay too much attention to the English translations:

조용하던 길 = The street that I recall being quiet until now

따뜻하던 날씨 = The weather that I recall being warm until now
맑던 하늘 = The sky that I recall being clear until now

For example:

PLAY 맑던 하늘이 갑자기 어두워졌어요

= The sky that I recall being clear until now suddenly became dark
PLAY 따뜻하던 날씨가 비가 오고 나서 추워졌어요
= The weather that I remember being warm until now got cold after it rained

PLAY 조용하던 길이 사람들이 집에서 나오기 시작하고 나서  시끄러워졌어요

= The street that I recall being quiet until now got loud after people started coming out of
their houses

———————————

There is something that I want to discuss in the midst of all of this confusion. In most cases –
in both English or in Korean (or in any language, I guess), these subtle differences don’t need
to be distinguished. For example, if I said:

“The clear sky became dark”

Was the sky clear until the present and then became dark?
Was the sky clear sometime in the past and then became dark sometime in the past?
Was the sky clear sometime in the past and then became dark in the present?
Was the sky clear every day (habitually) before becoming dark?
Will the sky become clear again after becoming dark?

The answer to all of these questions – and any other questions you can think of – is
irrelevant. As learners of Korean, we often find ourselves overthinking things and getting
worked up over the meaning of something away from context. In reality, context will usually
explain everything for you. For example, look at the ambiguous way that I describe “the sky”
(하늘) in the following example:

맑? 하늘이 갑자기 어두워졌어요

Regardless of what replaces the “?” in the example above, the context from the rest of the
sentence would be able to clarify the meaning and result of the sentence for you. Much like
how the English sentences below, in effect, have the same result:

The sky that was clear all of a sudden became dark

The sky that had been clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that used to be clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that is habitually clear all of a sudden became dark
The sky that I recall being clear all of a sudden became dark

———————————–
That’s as far as I’m going to go. As I said at the beginning of this lesson – the difference
between ~던 and ~았/었던 (compared with other grammatical principles that you learned
in the previous lesson) is very confusing. If you have reached this point and think to
yourself “I am still a little bit unclear of the difference” – Congratulations! You’re just like a
typical Korean person.

As I have discussed, Korean people – including those who you would consider “experts” in
their own language – can’t describe the difference precisely. I hope that you have enjoyed
my discussion about these, and I hope that you are able to distinguish them a little bit.

Above all, I hope that this lesson hasn’t completely turned you off of Korean forever!

That’s it!

Lesson 28: Anomalies with ~는 것

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You will
probably be able to understand most of the grammar in these example sentences, but
some of the sentences might use grammar from later lessons. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 어른 = adult

PLAY 어린이 = child, children

PLAY 공주 = princess

PLAY 영향 = influence

PLAY 글 = some sort of writing

PLAY 문학 = literature

PLAY 지방 = district, local area

PLAY 이웃사람 = neighbor

PLAY 환경 = environment

PLAY 농장 = farm

PLAY 부분 = part, section

PLAY 광고 = advertisement

PLAY 농구 = basketball

PLAY 배구 = volleyball

PLAY 지구 = earth

PLAY 방귀 = fart

PLAY 고개 = head

PLAY 방향 = direction

PLAY 해외 = abroad, overseas

PLAY 자체 = itself, its own

PLAY 시대 = times, period

PLAY 주의 = caution

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 연구하다 = to research

CONJUGATE PLAY 집중하다 = to concentrate

CONJUGATE PLAY 나누다 = to divide

CONJUGATE PLAY 이용하다 = to use

CONJUGATE PLAY 등록하다 = to register

CONJUGATE PLAY 메다 = to carry on one's shoulder

CONJUGATE PLAY 세우다 = to stand something up, to line something up

CONJUGATE PLAY 움직이다 = to move

CONJUGATE PLAY 정리하다 = to arrange

CONJUGATE PLAY 취소하다 = to cancel

CONJUGATE PLAY 지키다 = to protect, to defend

CONJUGATE PLAY 놓치다 = to miss (a train/bus/opportunity)

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 적다 = to be few

CONJUGATE PLAY 강하다 = to be strong

CONJUGATE PLAY 불편하다 = to be uncomfortable

CONJUGATE PLAY 충분하다 = to be enough, to be sufficient

CONJUGATE PLAY 졸리다 = to be sleepy

CONJUGATE PLAY 솔직하다 = to be honest/frank

CONJUGATE PLAY 정확하다 = to be exact

CONJUGATE PLAY 친하다 = to be familiar with, to be close with

CONJUGATE PLAY 급하다 = to be urgent

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 결국 = eventually

PLAY 내내 = throughout a time

PLAY 드디어 = finally, at last

PLAY 그냥 = only, just

PLAY 약간 = slightly/a little bit

PLAY 철저히 = thoroughly

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Irregulars with ~는 것

Present Tense

In Lesson 7 you learned all about Korean irregulars. In that Lesson, I wrote:

 As with all languages, there are some irregular conjugations that you
need to know. The irregulars apply at times when you add ~아/어/여 (or
another vowel/consonant) to a verb/adjective stem (aside from
conjugating, you have yet to learn other times when you must add a vowel to a
word. You will learn about these later).
Irregulars can act differently depending on what vowel/consonant you are adding to them.
Up to now, you have learned a lot about adding ~아/어 to verbs/adjectives and how
irregulars change as a result of this addition. For example:

걷다 + 어/아 = 걸어
부르다 + 어/아 = 불러

However, adding ~는 것 to the stem of 걷다 or 부르다 does not change them.

The only irregular that comes into play when adding ~는 것 in the present tense is the ㄹ
irregular.

The ㄹ irregular from Lesson 7 stated:

 If the final letter of a stem is ㄹ AND you add ~ㄴ/~ㅂ to that stem, the
ㄹ is removed and the ㄴ /ㅂ get added on directly to the stem. However, if
you are adding ‘는’ or something starting with ㅅ to the stem – the ㄹ is
removed and ~는/~ㅅ is added directly after the stem.
Here is a table showing how ~는 것 should be added to the stem of a verb from each
respective irregular. Notice that the ㄹ irregular is the only case where the stem changes as
a result of ~는 것.

Present Tense Addition of ~는 것

Irregular Word Application

ㅅ 짓다 짓는 것

ㄷ 걷다 걷는 것

ㅂ 돕다 돕는 것

ㅡ 잠그다 잠그는 것

르 부르다 부르는 것

ㄹ 열다 여는 것

Here are some example sentences:

PLAY 저는 친구가 문을 여는 것을 봤어요 = I saw my friend opening the door
PLAY 마음에 드는 부분이 있나요? = Do you have a part/section that you like?
PLAY 저는 아는 것만 하고 싶어요 = I only want to do things that I know
PLAY 옆에 사는 이웃사람이 너무 시끄러워요 = The neighbor who lives next to me is too
loud
PLAY 우리가 사는 지역이 조금 위험해요 = The area we live in is a little bit dangerous
PLAY 농장에서 사는 게 싫어요 = I don’t like living on a farm
PLAY 옆 집에서 사는 사람과 친해지고 있어요 = I am getting close to the person who lives
next door

Past and Future Tense

Four irregulars come into play when adding ~ㄴ/은 것 and ~ㄹ/을 것:

ㅅ irregular
If a word stem ends in  ㅅ, the  ㅅ gets removed when adding a vowel.

ㄷ irregular
If a word stem ends in  ㄷ, the  ㄷ gets changed to  ㄹ when adding a vowel.

ㅂ irregular
If a word stem ends in  ㅂ, the  ㅂ gets changed to  우 when adding a vowel.

ㄹ irregular
When adding  ~ㄴ/은 or  ~ㄹ/을 to the stem of a verb or adjective where the stem ends in 
ㄹ, ~ㄴ or  ~ㄹ replaces the  ㄹ in the stem.

The first two follow essentially the same rule. In each case, the stem of the word originally
ends with a consonant. For example:

짓다
걷다

Therefore, when we have to decide if we add ~ㄴ or ~은, we much choose ~은:

짓은
걷은

However, each of the respective rules indicates that the placement of a vowel immediately
following the stem causes it to change. The above should be changed to:

지은
걸은
When adding ~ㄴ/은 to a verb that ends in ㅂ, the same rule applies as if you were adding
it to an adjective. For example:

쉽다 + ~ㄴ/은 = 쉬운
돕다 + ~ㄴ/은 = 도운
Remember that the  ㅂ in  돕다 changes to  오 only when  ~아/어 (or one of its derivatives) is
added to it. When any other vowel is added,  ㅂ changes to  우.

When adding ~ㄴ/은 to a verb that ends in ㄹ, the same rule applies as if you were adding
it to an adjective. For example:

길다 + ~ㄴ/은 = 긴
열다 + ~ㄴ/은 = 연

Here is a table showing how ~ㄴ/은 것 should be added to the stem of a verb from each
respective irregular. Notice that this applies to the ㅅ, ㄷ, ㅂ and ㄹ irregulars:

Past Tense Addition of ~ㄴ/은 것

Irregular Verb Application

ㅅ 짓다 지은 것

ㄷ 걷다 걸은 것

ㅂ 돕다 도운 것

ㅡ 잠그다 잠근 것
 르 부르다 부른 것

ㄹ 열다 연것

The exact same thing is done for each respective future tense conjugation but with, ~ㄴ/은
replaced with ~ㄹ/을.

Here is a table showing how ~ㄹ/을 것 should be added to the stem of a verb from each
respective irregular. Notice that this applies to the ㅅ, ㄷ, ㅂ and ㄹ irregulars and is exactly
the same as the table above except for that ~ㄹ/을 is used instead of ~ㄴ/은:

Future Tense Addition of ~ㄹ/을 것

Irregular Word Application

ㅅ 짓다 지을 것

ㄷ 걷다 걸을 것

ㅂ 돕다 도울 것

ㅡ 잠그다 잠글 것

르 부르다 부를 것
 ㄹ 열다 열것

Here are some example sentences:

ㅅ irregular:
PLAY 그 집을 지은 사람은 누구예요? = Who is the person that built that house?
PLAY 저는 집을 지을 거예요 = I will build a house
Remember that the future tense conjugation of  ~ㄹ/을 것이다 is actually just the future  ~는
것.

ㄷ irregular:
PLAY 그 사람은 서울에서 부산까지 걸은 첫 번째 사람이었다 = That person was the first
person who walked from Seoul to Busan

ㅂ irregular
PLAY 제가 도울 게 있나요? = Is there something I can help you with?
것이 is often contracted to  게 in speech.

ㄹ irregular:
PLAY 그는 문을 열 사람이에요 = He is the person who will open the doors
PLAY 저는 내일 시장에서 사과를 팔 거예요 = I will sell apples at the market tomorrow
PLAY 그 광고를 만든 사람이 진짜 잘 만들었어요 = The person who made this
advertisement did a really good job

My Favorite Thing: 가장 좋아하는 것

Saying “My favorite…” is one of the first things that people want to learn whenever
learning a new language. In Korean, the grammar within this sentence is a little bit difficult
(you only just learned it), so that is why you are just learning about it now.
There is no word in Korean for “favorite.” Instead, they use a combination of 좋아하다 (to
like) and “제일/가장” (which you learned in Lesson 19). You have known how to use 제일/
가장 with 좋아하다 for a long time now. Here are some simple sentences:

저는 우리 학교를 좋아해요 = I like our school

저는 우리 학교를 가장 좋아해요 = I like our school most

But you haven’t yet learned how to specifically say “My favorite ____ is…”

Let’s look at adjectives first. These should all be easy to you:

가장 큰 것 = the biggest thing

가장 작은 것 = the smallest thing
가장 어려운 것 = the most difficult thing

However, in those sentences, only adjectives are describing the noun. Now that you have
learned how to describe nouns with verbs, you can now say:

내가 가장 좋아하는 것 = the thing that I like most (which is also – my favorite thing)

Notice that it is not “나의 가장 좋아하는 것.” Really, you are not saying “my favorite thing”
– you are saying “the thing that I like most.” So even though in English we say “my,” in
Korean you shouldn’t use 나의/저의 in place of 내가/제가 in these sentences.

You could take 가장 out to simply mean “the thing that I like”

내가 좋아하는 것 = the thing that I like

Or change the subject:

저의 친구가 가장 좋아하는 것 = The thing that my friend likes most

Now that you have created the noun of “the thing that I like most” you can place it in
sentences:

PLAY 제가 가장 좋아하는 것은 음식이에요 = My favorite thing is food

PLAY 음식은 제가 가장 좋아하는 것이에요 = Food is my favorite thing

You can also replace “것” with any other noun:

PLAY 제가 가장 좋아하는 음식은 김치예요 = My favorite food is kimchi
PLAY 제가 가장 좋아하는 날은 금요일이에요 = My favorite day is Friday

As I said before, people often don’t realize the power of the ~는 것 principle. Now that you
can describe nouns with verbs, you can say much more complicated (and natural)
sentences. Look at the following example:

내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 영화야 = My favorite thing is movies

This sentence is natural, but you could more precisely describe what you like if you used ~
는 것. For example, you could say that your favorite thing is “watching movies” or
“making movies.” You learned in Lesson 26 how to make these nouns:

영화를 보는 것 = watching movies

영화를 만드는 것 = making movies

PLAY 내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 영화를 보는 것이다 = My favorite thing is watching movies

The easiest mistake to make in that sentence is (incorrectly) not changing the latter part of
the sentence to a noun. Many learners of Korean would just say the following:

내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 영화를 봐…

But that just translates to “My favorite thing watches movies.” You need to say “My
favorite thing is watching movies” which requires you to change the second clause of the
sentence to a noun and then add 이다 (is).

친구는 선생님이다 = My friend is a teacher

PLAY 내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 영화를 보는 것이다= My favorite thing is watching movies

… heh, complicated. That’s why I waited until this lesson to teach it to you.

If you specifically want to say that your “favorite thing about  X is Y” you can attach “~에
있어서” to a noun in the sentence. ~에 있어서 typically translates to “when it comes to…”
in English. For example:

PLAY 한국에 있어서 내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 한식이야 = My favorite thing about Korea is

Korean food
(or, “When it comes to Korea, my favorite thing is Korean food”)
Not only can you do that, but now that you have learned about the ~는 것 principle, you
can create more complex nouns throughout the sentence. For example, instead of saying
the sentence above, you could say:

PLAY 한국에서 사는 것에 있어서 내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 한식이야

= My favorite part about living in Korea is Korean food

PLAY 한국에서 사는 것에 있어서 내가 가장 좋아하는 것은 한식을 매일 먹는 것이야

= My favorite part about  living in Korea is eating Korean food every day

~는 With 싶다, 있다 and 없다

There are a few words that seem a lot like verbs but are actually adjectives.

In Lesson 17, you learned about 싶다 and how it can be used to say that one “wants” to do
an action. For example:

PLAY 저는 한국어를 배우고 싶어요 = I want to study Korean

PLAY 저는 캐나다에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go to Canada

In that lesson, I told you that 싶다 is an adjective. As such, you must treat it as any other
adjective when describing a noun. This means that if you want to describe nouns in the
present tense using 싶다 you must add ~ㄴ/은:

예쁜 사람 = beautiful person
똑똑한 사람 = smart person
내가 만나고 싶은 사람 = the person (who/that) I want to meet

Below are many examples:

PLAY 제가 가장 만나고 싶은 사람은 유재석이에요 = The person who I want to meet most
is 유재석
PLAY 배구를 하고 싶은 사람이 없어요 = There isn’t anybody who wants to play volleyball
PLAY 이 수업을 등록하고 싶은 사람이 적어요 = There aren’t many people who want to
register for this class
PLAY 이 수업을 등록하고 싶은 사람이 충분하지 않아요 = There aren’t enough people who
want to register for this class
PLAY 먹고 싶은 것이 있어요? = Do you want something to eat? (literally – do you have
something that you want to eat?)
PLAY 체육수업시간에 농구를 하고 싶은 사람이 있어요?  = Is there anybody who wants to
play basketball during PE class?

~았/었던, which you learned in the previous lesson, can be added to 싶다 to carry the
meaning that it creates. Essentially, the speaker can indicate that there was something
he/she “wanted” to do in the past but currently doesn’t want to do anymore. For example:

PLAY 그것은 제가 말하고 싶었던 것이었어요 = That was what I wanted to say

—————————————-

In Lesson 5, you learned how to use 있다 to indicate that one “has” something. I explained
that this usage of 있다 is an adjective. For example:

나는 펜이 있다 = I have a pen
나는 차가 있다 = I have a car

When using adjectives to describe nouns in the present tense, you know that you should
add ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of the adjective. For example:

예쁜 사람 = beautiful person
똑똑한 사람 = smart person

Grammatically it should be correct to do this with 있다 as well:

펜이 있은 사람

But this is incorrect. Even though this usage of 있다 is an adjective, you must treat it as a
verb when describing an upcoming noun. For example, the following is correct:

펜이 있는 사람

The same rule applies to 없다. For example:

펜이 없는 사람
Actually, when speaking to a large group of people (for example, a teacher speaking to a
group of students), it is common to ask “is there anybody who has (or doesn’t have) x?” by
using this form without a predicating word. That is, it is common to say:

PLAY 펜이 있는 사람!? = Does anybody have a pen? (Is there anybody who has a pen)?
PLAY 펜이 없는 사람!? = Does anybody not have a pen? (Does everybody have a pen)?

This is why ~는 (instead of ~은) is added to words like “재미있다 or 재미없다” and “맛있다
or 맛없다” when describing an upcoming noun. The inclusion of “to have” or “to not have”
with 있다 and 없다 requires them to describe upcoming nouns by using ~는 instead of ~
은. For example:

저는 재미있는 영화를 봤어요 = I watched a fun/funny movie

저는 맛있는 밥을 먹었어요 = I ate delicious rice/food

관심 translates to “interest” and is commonly used to indicate that one “is interested” (or
not interested) in something. To indicate that one has (or does not have) interest in a
topic, 있다 or 없다 can be used. For example:

PLAY 저는 과학에 관심이 없어요 = I am not interested in Science

PLAY 저는 과학에 관심이 있어요 = I have interest in Science
(When saying that one is interested in something, it is also common to replace 있다 with 
많다 to indicate that one is really interested in a topic)

We can attach ~는 to 있다 and 없다 here to describe somebody who is interested. For

example:

PLAY 과학에 관심이 있는 사람이 없었어요 = There was nobody who was/is interested in
Science

When using 있다 to indicate that something is in the “state” of an action using ~아/어
있다 (introduced in Lesson 18) or to indicate that one is progressively doing something
using ~고 있다 (also introduced in Lesson 18), 있다 is seen as a verb. Therefore, as a verb
~는 should be attached, but this isn’t seen as “strange” because in this form it is a verb
anyways. It is only “strange” when adding ~는 to 있다/없다 when it is an adjective.

Below are many examples of ~는 것 being used with 있다:

PLAY 수업에 집중하고 있는 학생이 없어요 = There aren’t any students who are
concentrating on the class
PLAY 주문을 취소하고 있는 사람이 많아요 = There are a lot of people who are cancelling
their order
PLAY 이렇게 앉아 있는 것이 불편해요 = It is uncomfortable to sit like this
PLAY 열쇠를 가지고 있는 사람이 드디어 왔어요 = The person who has the key eventually
came
PLAY 정부가 그 병을 연구하고 있는 회사에게 돈을 줄 것이다 = The government will give
money to the company researching that disease

~았/었던, which you learned in the previous lesson, can be added to 있다 to carry the
meaning that it creates. Essentially, the speaker can indicate that something “was” in a
place in the past, but is currently not in the place anymore. For example:

PLAY 그곳에 있었던 사람들은 다 죽었다 = All the people that were there died
PLAY 그 자리에 앉아 있었던 사람이 다른 데로 갔어요 = The person who had been sitting
there went to another place

———————-

Only in a few grammatical principles is it appropriate to add ~은 to 있다 or 없다 to create

있은 or 없은. When a grammatical principle creates a meaning that specifies that an action
was done in the past and we are looking at the time since that action, ~은 can be used.
Two practical examples where you can see this is when adding ~ㄴ/은 후 to a word
(Lesson 24) and adding ~ㄴ/은 지 to a word (Lesson 30)

Using 그 (and other smaller words) in ~는 것 sentences

One thing that I want to mention before this lesson ends is how to include words like 이/
그/나의/저의 in 는 것 sentences. It’s hard to describe what I mean without examples (it’s
not really a “concept” so I better show you some examples.)

In English, we could say:

The person who I met. That would be easy to translate to Korean: 내가 만난 사람
However, in English, we could also say something like “that person I met.” Almost the
same meaning, but not exactly the same. If you were to translate that directly, it would
come out like this:

그 내가 만난 사람

But in Korean, they always place those small words that can go before nouns (이/그/저/
나의/저의) immediately before nouns. So, instead of saying:

그 내가 만난 사람 you should say:

내가 만난 그 사람

It’s hard to translate some of these sentences into Korean. Look at next example. You will
probably be able to understand it completely, but translating it to English is very difficult:

선생님이 본 나의 영화

It would translate to something like “my movie that the teacher watched” but that sounds
a little bit unnatural in English. When these sentences come up, you should realize that the
noun being described (영화 – movie) is being described by two different things:

나의 영화 = my movie, and
선생님이 본 영화 = the movie that the teacher watched

Even though it is unnatural to say the full sentence in English (my movie that the teacher
watched), you should be able to understand the meaning without needing to translate it
directly.

Lesson 29: Changing Verbs to Nouns with ~기 and 음/ㅁ

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You will
probably be able to understand most of the grammar in these example sentences, but
some of the sentences might use grammar from later lessons. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.
Nouns:
PLAY 싸움 = a fight

PLAY 기쁨 = happiness, gladness

PLAY 도움 = help

PLAY 걸음 = step

PLAY 죽음 = death

PLAY 느낌 = a feeling

PLAY 행정 = administration

PLAY 구역 = zone, area

PLAY 보행자 = pedestrian

PLAY 좌석 = seat

PLAY 사전 = dictionary

PLAY 언어 = language

PLAY 국어 = the Korean language

PLAY 노동자 = laborer

PLAY 음악가 = musician

PLAY 능력 = capabilities

PLAY 자료 = data

PLAY 제품 = products

PLAY 사업 = business

PLAY 감정 = emotion
PLAY 쌀 = uncooked rice

PLAY 방송 = broadcast

PLAY 접시 = plate

PLAY 역할 = role

PLAY 정보 = information

PLAY 모양 = shape

PLAY 마을 = village/town

PLAY 합법 = legal

PLAY 불법 = illegal

PLAY 효과 = effects

PLAY 순간 = moment, second

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 확대하다 = to expand, to enlarge

CONJUGATEPLAY 검색하다 = to search for, to surf the internet

CONJUGATEPLAY 훔치다 = to steal

CONJUGATEPLAY 즐기다 = to enjoy oneself

CONJUGATE PLAY 변하다 = to have changed

CONJUGATE PLAY 붙이다 = to stick/stamp/label/attach

CONJUGATE PLAY 쳐다보다 = to stare

CONJUGATE PLAY 모이다 = to gather, to congregate

CONJUGATE PLAY 낳다 = to give birth

CONJUGATE PLAY 넘다 = to cross over, to climb over

CONJUGATE PLAY 주차하다 = to park a car

CONJUGATE PLAY 보호하다 = to protect

CONJUGATE PLAY 표현하다 = to express

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 붙다 = to be stuck

Adverbs and Other words:

PLAY 현대 = modern times

PLAY 직접 = directly

PLAY 스스로 = for oneself/by oneself

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In the past few lessons, you have learned a lot about adding ~는 (or ㄴ/은 for past tense
and ㄹ/을 for future tense) to verb stems to turn them into descriptive words that can
describe nouns. One more time, for example:

밥을 먹다 = to eat rice
밥을 먹는 사람 = the person who eats rice

빨리 가다 = to go fast
내가 빨리 가는 곳 = the place I am going to fast

A lot of times, the noun following the descriptive verb is 것, which allows an entire
sentence to be turned into a noun:

나는 사과를 가져온다 = I bring apples – is a sentence

내가 사과를 가져오는 것 – is the same sentence as above, but in noun form. This noun can
now be placed in other sentences just like other nouns:
나의 여자 친구는 내가 사과를 가져오는 것을 원했다 = My girlfriend wanted me to bring
apples

So that’s what you already know. What you don’t know is that in addition to the ~는 것
principle, there are other ways that you can modify verbs to change them into nouns. We
will look at this today.

Changing Verbs to Nouns ~기

Adding ~기 to the stem of a verb changes that verb into a noun. The noun can technically
be used like any other noun:

가다 = to go
가기 = the noun form of “to go”

읽다 = to read
읽기 = the noun form of “to read”

먹다 = to eat
먹기 = the noun form of “to eat”

So… the million dollar question is, “what is the difference between ‘~는 것’ and ‘~기’?”

Well, first, notice exactly what ~는 것 is. Adding ~는 to a verb stem allows you to describe
nouns (것, 사람, 음식, etc…). Adding ~기 to a verb stem does not allow you to describe
anything. It just turns verbs into nouns.

But, turning verbs into nouns is one of the functions of ~는 것. Remember, there are two
main functions of ~는 것:

1) To change verbs into things that can describe nouns:

밥을 먹고 있는 사람 = the person who is eating rice

2) To change a clause into a noun

사과를 가져오는 것 = the noun form of “to bring apples” – “bringing apples”
Adding ~기 is essentially the same as the second function described above. That is, you
can use ~기 to turn a clause into a noun – but you cannot use ~기 to describe nouns. So
this:

내가 사과를 가져오는 것 and 내가 사과를 가져오기 essentially have the same meaning,
being “the noun form of “to bring apples.”

Which means you can use ~기 in sentences like:

PLAY 나의 여자 친구는 내가 사과를 가져오기를 원해 = My girlfriend wants me to bring

apples

Technically you can say it that way, but I very rarely hear verbs turned into nouns using ~
기 in that way. If you ask a Korean person, they will say that sentence sounds fine, but
somebody like me who analyzes grammar will notice that it is not used as much as “나의
여자 친구는 내가 사과를 가져오는 것을 원해.”

However, there are certain cases where using ~기 is more natural than using ~는 것. In
later lessons, you will see ~기 used in various grammatical principles. For example:

~기 때문에 (Lesson 38)

~기도 하고 (Lesson 51)
~기 바라다 (Lesson 61)
~기로 하다 (Lesson 87)

Before you see ~기 being applied in those grammatical principles, I would like to
introduce some simple, practical uses of ~기 that you can use right away.

~기 시작하다

When one “starts” an action, you can attach ~기 to the verb that starts to occur followed
by 시작하다. For example:

가다 = to go
가기 시작하다 = to start to go

먹다 = to eat
먹기 시작하다 = to start to eat

These types of constructions can then be placed in sentences. For example:

PLAY 나는 밥을 벌써 먹기 시작했어 = I already started to eat
PLAY 다음 달에 한국어를 배우기 시작할 거야 = I will start learning Korean next month

PLAY 어제부터 사람들이 거기서 모이기 시작했어요

= People started gathering there from yesterday

PLAY 쌀을 물에 넣은 후에 쌀의 색깔이 변하기 시작했어요

= After I put the rice in the water, the color of the rice started to change

PLAY 이상한 행동을 한 다음에 사람들이 저를 쳐다보기 시작했어요

= After acting strangely, people started staring at me

When you want to say that you stop something, it is more common to use the ~는 것
form:

PLAY 다음 달에 한국어를 배우기 시작할 거야 = I will start learning Korean next month
PLAY 다음 달에 한국어를 배우는 것을 그만할 거야 = I will stop learning Korean next month

~기 싫다

It is also very common to put verbs before ~기 싫다 to indicate that you don’t want to do
something. Literally, this translates to “I don’t like _____”

PLAY 밥을 먹기 싫어 = I don’t want to eat

PLAY 가기 싫어 = I don’t want to go
PLAY 쌀을 씻기 싫어요 = I don’t want to wash the rice

It is possible to use this with the word 좋다 (the opposite of 싫다), however, it is not that
common in Korean. Instead, it sounds more natural to use ~고 싶다.

Actual Words

There are also a handful of words where it is common to use the ~기 form as an actual
word.
For example, if you are going for a run, I could use the word “달리기”
PLAY 저는 달리기를 할 거예요 = I will go for a run

The word for skipping (jump-rope skipping) is the word 줄 (rope) combined with the word
넘다 (going over) with ~기:
PLAY 저는 줄넘기를 못해요 = I’m bad at skipping

When writing a language test, there will often be many sections. For example, there might
be a “writing” section, a “reading” section and a “listening” section:

Writing = 쓰기
Reading = 읽기
Listening = 듣기

Here’s an example of these actually being used in a sentence:

Person 1: PLAY 시험은 어땠어?

Person 2: PLAY 쓰기랑 듣기는 너무 어려웠어. 하지만 읽기는 너무 쉬웠어.

Person 1: How was the exam?

Person 2: The writing and listening (parts) were really hard. But the reading (part) was
really easy.

Making Lists
When making a list of things that you are going to do, it is also common to end the
phrase by using ~기. This essentially makes the entire phrase a noun, which is similar to
what we do in English. For example, if I made a to-do list, I could write:

커피를 만들기 = Make coffee

책상을 정리하기 = Organize my desk
방 청소하기 = Clean my room
쌀을 사기 = Buy rice
인터넷에 자료를 검색하기 = Look for data on the internet
Another example; if I made a list of goals for myself for the year, I could write:

매일매일을 즐기기 = Enjoy every day

집 청소를 매일 하기 = Clean the house every day
숙제를 매일 하기 = Do my homework every day
감정을 표현하기 = Show my emotions
책을 매일 읽기 = Read books every day
운동을 등록하기 = Register at a gym (to exercise)

Here’s a list that appears on a Korean street sign. You can see that ~ 기 is used. Watch me
break this down, along with all of the other grammar and vocabulary in the sign.

Buttons
On a computer, if you wanted to “zoom” in on a picture, you would press the “zoom”
button. In Korean, the verb “zoom” is “확대하다.” On Korean computers, they usually don’t
put verbs on buttons on the screen – instead they put the noun form of the verb. For ~
하다 verbs, the noun form is easy to find. The noun form of 확대하다 is 확대. Simple.

But, what is the noun form of 보다? (to see)

What about 열다? (to open)

If you wanted to see something on a Korean screen, or click on the “view” button at the
top of every screen, you would have to press “보기.”

If you wanted to open something, you could press the “열기” button.

Want to close something? Press “닫기.”

Want to search? You might see a “찾기” button or “검색” – which is the noun form of
검색하다 also meaning “search/find.”

Want to send an e-mail? You would have to press “보내기.”

There are a lot of applications for ~기, they just might not seem apparent at the moment.
As you learn more and more Korean grammar, you will see that there will be more
applications where you can use ~기. In later lessons, you will see ~기 paired up with other
grammatical principals.

Up to now, the applications you should be aware of are:

1) Turning any verb into a noun: 사과를 가져오기, 달리기

2) Put before 시작하다: 먹기 시작했다
3) Put before 싫다: 먹기 싫어
4) Making Lists: 쌀을 사기
5) On buttons: 보내기

Before we go any further, let’s look at another way you can turn verbs (or even adjectives)
into nouns.

Changing Verbs/Adjectives to Nouns ~ㅁ/음

Adding ㅁ/음 to verbs or adjectives to turn them into nouns. ㅁ gets added to stems
ending in a vowel, and 음 gets added after stems that end in a consonant.

This form can  be used to change entire sentences into noun forms, just like with ~는 것:

PLAY 나는 네가 먹고 있는 것을 알았어 = I knew you were eating

나는 네가 먹고 있기를 알았어 – sounds wrong to a Korean person, but would look correct
to a foreign learner of Korean
PLAY 나는 네가 먹고 있음을 알았어 = I knew you were eating

Like I said earlier. You can use ㅁ/음 to turn entire sentences into nouns, but this is rarely
done in speech. It is done much more commonly in books/poems (for whatever reason).

The main usage of ㅁ/음 is to turn single words (verbs or adjectives) into nouns, and not
full sentences. Some of these you may have already come across:

싸우다 = to fight
싸움 = a fight
꾸다 = to dream
꿈 = a dream

아프다 = to be sore/sick
아픔 = pain

기쁘다 = to be happy/glad
기쁨 = happiness/gladness

돕다 = to help
도움 = help

죽다 = to die
죽음 = death

걷다 = to walk
걸음 = a step

느끼다 = to feel
느낌 = a feeling

Adding ㅁ/음 to verbs/adjectives is usually done to words that don’t end in 하다. The
reason for this is because there is already a very simple way to make a 하다 verb/adjective
a noun – by removing the 하다 from the rest of the word (설명하다 = to explain – 설명 =
an explanation).

These noun form words can then be added to sentences as usual:

PLAY 나는 형이랑 싸움에서 이겼어 = I won in a fight with my brother
PLAY 나는 아빠의 죽음을 잊지 않았어 = I didn’t forget the death of my father

——————

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different
additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~ㅁ/음. Let’s look at
how irregulars change as a result of adding this grammatical principle.

 The ㅅ irregular, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules
that were introduced in Lesson 7. The addition of the vowel causes a change (or
elimination) of the last letter of the stem.
  The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition.

 Adding ~ㅁ/음 to a word that follows the ㄹ irregular brings about a

change you are not familiar with. Normally, you would add ~ㅁ to the stem of a
word ending in a vowel, and ~음 to the stem of a word ending in a consonant.
For example:

 싸우다 + ~ㅁ/음 = 싸움

 죽다 + ~ㅁ/음 = 죽음

 However, when you add ~ㅁ/음 to a stem of a word that ends in ㄹ, ㅁ is

added beside the ㄹ and a double consonant is created. Korean people often
don’t even know this rule.In fact, this is how some common nouns are created
in Korean. The verb 살다 means “to live.” The addition of ㅁ to the stem of the
verb creates the noun “삶,” meaning “life” or “living.”

 Adding ~ㅁ/음 causes a change to ㅎ irregular words. The ㅎ is removed,

and ~ㅁ is added to the stem. For example:

 그렇다 + ~ㅁ/음 = 그럼
Below is a table showing the changes that result from adding ~ㅁ/음 to a word.

Irregular Word + ~ㅁ/음

ㅅ Irregular PLAY 짓다 (to build) 지음

ㄷ Irregular PLAY 걷다 (to walk) 걸음

ㅂ Irregular PLAY 쉽다 (to be easy) 쉬움

ㅂ Irregular PLAY 돕다 (to help) 도움

 ㅡ Irregular PLAY 잠그다 (to lock) 잠금

르 Irregular PLAY 다르다 (to be different) 다름

ㄹ Irregular PLAY 살다 (to live) 삶

ㅎ Irregular PLAY 그렇다 (to be like that) 그럼

Notice that I also included the word 돕다. As you learned in Lesson 7 – ㅂ changes to 오
when ~아/어 (or any derivative) is added. When any other vowel is added, ㅂ changes to
우 as you can see above.

You will see these same changes to irregulars anytime you add something that begins in ~
ㅁ/음. For example:

~ㅁ/음에도 (Lesson 74)

——————

In Lesson 23, you learned about the word 그렇다. ~ㅁ/음 is commonly added to this word
when somebody asks a question and you just say “yeah, of course.” This is basically the
same as saying “yes,” but it would be more like “Yes, it is like that.” For example:

PLAY 운동을 매일 해요? = Do you exercise every day?

PLAY 그럼요 = Yes (it is like that)

PLAY 차를 스스로 주차했어요? = Did you park the car by yourself?

PLAY 그럼요 = Yes (it is like that)

Notice that you can add  “요” to make the response formal. In informal situations, this can
be removed.
This is one of the usages of 그럼. 그럼 actually has other usages, but these are actually a
contraction of a grammatical principal that you haven’t learned yet, so I will not introduce
you to these here.

Here’s a Korean sign that uses ~ㅁ/음. Watch me break this down, along with all of the
other grammar and vocabulary in the sign.

Lesson 30: An uncertain clause with ~는지, I have been

doing X for…: ~ㄴ/은 지 X 됐다

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 택배 = delivery

PLAY 가격 = price

PLAY 용돈 = allowance

PLAY 아르바이트 = part-time job

PLAY 빛 = a light

PLAY 시인 = poet

PLAY 주제 = subject

PLAY 그룹 = group
PLAY 요금 = fare, price

PLAY 위치 = position, location

PLAY 해안 = the coast

PLAY 가정 = family

PLAY 재료 = materials, ingredients

PLAY 자유 = freedom

PLAY 책임 = responsibility

PLAY 입구 = entrance, way in

PLAY 출구 = exit , way out

PLAY 출입 = enter and exit

PLAY 수술 = surgery, operation

PLAY 훈련 = training

PLAY 비상 = emergency

PLAY 계단 = steps, stairs, staircase

PLAY 전통 = tradition, culture, heritage

PLAY 호선 = a subway line

PLAY 기간 = a period of time

PLAY 구체적 = detailed, specific

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 꺼내다 = to take out, to remove something

CONJUGATE PLAY 전하다 = to convey, to deliver

CONJUGATE PLAY 정하다 = to set

CONJUGATE PLAY 줄이다 = to reduce, to decrease

CONJUGATE PLAY 데려오다 = to bring a person (coming)

CONJUGATE PLAY 데려가다 = to bring a person (going)

CONJUGATE PLAY 막다 = to obstruct, to block

CONJUGATE PLAY 허락하다 = to allow, to permit

CONJUGATE PLAY 버리다 = to throw away

CONJUGATE PLAY 잊어버리다 = to forget

CONJUGATE PLAY 벌다 = to earn

CONJUGATE PLAY 기르다 = to raise (a child, pet), to cultivate (a plant)

CONJUGATE PLAY 조심하다 = to act carefully

CONJUGATE PLAY 관리하다 = to manage, to administer

CONJUGATE PLAY 치료하다 = to treat, to cure

CONJUGATE PLAY 헤어지다 = to break up with a person

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 줄다 = to be reduced, to be decreased

CONJUGATE PLAY 깨지다 = to be broken, cracked, smashed

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 쌀쌀하다 = to be chilly

CONJUGATE PLAY 밝다 = to be bright

CONJUGATE PLAY 목마르다 = to be thirsty

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

Up to now, you have learned a lot (probably too much!) about using ~는 것 (or one of its
derivatives) with a clause to describe an upcoming noun. For example:

내가 가고 있는 곳 = the place I am going

내가 만난 사람 = the person I met
내가 먹을 음식 = the food I will eat

In this lesson, you will learn about adding ~는지 to indicate that the preceding clause is a
guess or something uncertain. Let’s get started.

A Clause of Uncertainty: ~는지

I didn’t know what title to give to “~는지,” but I came up with the “clause of uncertainty”
which I feel describes it well. By placing ~는지 at the end of a clause, you can indicate that
the clause is some sort of guess, question or uncertainty.

A common situation where there is uncertainty is when there is a question word in a

sentence. For example:

저는 친구가 어디 가는 것을 몰라요

If we break that sentence down into more simple pieces, we get:

저는 (—) 몰라요 = I don’t know (—-)

What don’t you know? You don’t know the noun within the brackets:

저는 (친구가 어디 가는 것을) 몰라요

So the sentence reads:

저는 친구가 어디 가는 것을 몰라요 = I don’t know where my friend is going

However, because “친구가 어디 가는 것” is uncertain, ~는지 should be added to the clause

instead of ~는 것. For example:

PLAY 저는 친구가 어디 가는지 몰라요 = I don’t know where my friend is going

It is also worth pointing out here that the future tense ~겠다 is commonly added to 
모르다 in these types of sentences. When  모르다 is used like this (as  “모르겠다”), it does not
have a future tense meaning. Rather, it is just a common (and slightly more polite) way to
say that one “does not know something.” Therefore, it would be more common to see the
sentence above written/spoken as:

PLAY 저는 친구가 어디 가는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know where my friend is going

You will continue to see “모르겠다” used instead of a present tense conjugation of  모르다 in
the rest of this lesson and throughout your Korean studies.

By default, if a clause contains a question word (누구, 뭐, 언제, 어디, 왜, etc…) ~는지 is
usually added due to the uncertainty that it contains. For example:

PLAY 엄마가 누구랑 먹는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know who mom is eating with

PLAY 엄마가 뭐 먹는지 모르겠어요= I don’t know what mom is eating
PLAY 엄마가 어디서 먹는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know where mom is eating
PLAY 엄마가 왜 먹는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know why mom is eating

However, a question word does not need to be included in order to use ~는지. All that is
needed is that there is uncertainty in the sentence. When there is no question word in a
sentence that includes “~는지” the English word “if” is usually used. For example:

PLAY 엄마가 지금 먹고 있는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if mom is eating now

Below are more examples. Also notice that the final word of the sentence does not need to
be “모르다.” Any verb or adjective that makes sense along with the preceding uncertain
clause can be used. For example:

PLAY 그 사람을 왜 데려오는지 물어봤어요

= I asked him why he is bringing that person
PLAY 비상출입구가 어디 있는지 찾았어요
= We found where the emergency exit is

PLAY 해안까지 어떻게 가는지 물어봤어요

= I asked how to get to the beach/coast

PLAY 엄마가 무슨 재료를 쓰고 있는지 모르겠어요

= I don’t know what ingredients mom is using

PLAY 정부가 외국인 선생님 예산을 왜 줄이는지 모르겠어요

= I don’t know why the government is decreasing the budget for foreign teachers

PLAY 학생들은 선생님들이 돈을 얼마나 버는지 몰라요

= Students don’t know how much money teachers earn

PLAY 저는 그 학생이 어느 대학교를 다니는지 기억(이) 안 나요

= I don’t remember which university that student attends

Past tense:
The same concept can be used to indicate a guess, question or uncertainty in the past
tense. In order to express this, ~았/었 should be added to the verb at the end of the
uncertain clause, followed by ~는지. For example:

PLAY 저는 엄마가 왜 먹었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know why mom ate

PLAY 저는 엄마가 뭐 먹었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know what mom ate
PLAY 저는 엄마가 언제 먹었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know when mom ate
PLAY 저는 엄마가 어디서 먹었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know where mom ate
PLAY 저는 엄마가 밥을 먹었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if mom ate

The form above (using ~았/었는지) is officially correct in Korean. However, in speech, it is
very common to hear ~ㄴ/은지 being used instead. For example:

저는 엄마가 왜 먹은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know why mom ate

저는 엄마가 뭐 먹은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know what mom ate
저는 엄마가 언제 먹은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know when mom ate
저는 엄마가 어디서 먹은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know where mom ate
저는 엄마가 밥을 먹은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if mom ate
There really isn’t any difference between the two sets of sentences, especially in speech.
Both sets of sentences sound natural to a Korean speaker. However, the correct
grammatical form is to use ~았/었는지, and the use of ~ㄴ/은지 is more used in spoken
Korean.

Other examples:
PLAY 그 셔츠를 언제 버렸는지 기억이 안 나요 = I don’t remember when I threw away that
shirt
PLAY 열쇠를 어디 두었는지 잊어버렸어요 = I forget where I put my keys
PLAY 우리가 이것을 언제 정했는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know when we set it
PLAY 그가 저에게 무슨 말을 전했는지 기억이 안 나요 = I don’t remember what that person
told me (conveyed to me)

Future tense:
The same concept can be used to indicate a guess, question or uncertainty in the future
tense. In order to express this, ~ㄹ/을 should be added to the verb at the end of the
uncertain clause, followed by ~지. For example:

PLAY 택배가 언제 올지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know when the delivery will come
PLAY 용돈을 얼마나 줄지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know how much allowance I should give
PLAY 오후에 비가 올지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if it will rain in the afternoon
PLAY 수술을 받을지 확실하지 않아요 = It is not certain if I will get surgery
PLAY 내일 공원에 갈지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if I will go to the park tomorrow
PLAY 내일 영화를 볼지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if I will see a movie tomorrow

When the uncertain clause doesn’t have a question word in it, it is common to use the
word “might” in the English translation. For example

PLAY 오후에 비가 올지 모르겠어요 = It might rain in the afternoon tomorrow

PLAY 수술을 받을지 모르겠어요 = I might get surgery
PLAY 내일 공원에 갈지 모르겠어요 = I might go to the park tomorrow
PLAY 내일 영화를 볼지 모르겠어요 = I might see a movie tomorrow

English speakers are often confused about how the same Korean sentence can seemingly
translate to different things in English. My answer is: They don’t translate to different
things. The Korean usage of “~ㄹ/을지 몰라요” just indicates that something may or may
not happen. Both translations above (“I don’t know if” and “might…”) indicate that
something may or may not happen. Remember that sometimes it is difficult to translate a
Korean sentence perfectly into English. As such, I always suggest that you understand the
general meaning of the Korean  sentence, and try to focus less on the given English
translations. The nuance of using “~ㄹ/을지 몰라요” can translate to many things in
English, all which (as a result of being a completely different language) cannot perfectly
describe this nuance.

Using ~는지 with Adjectives

It is also possible to attach ~는지 to an uncertain clause that is predicated by an adjective.

However, instead of adding ~는지, ~ㄴ/은지 should be added. Notice that the difference
in ~는지 and ~ㄴ/은지 is the same as the difference when attaching ~는 or ~ㄴ/은 to
verbs and adjectives to describe an upcoming noun. For example:

먹는 것
가는 것

행복한 것
밝은 것

Below are some examples of ~ㄴ/은지 being used with adjectives:

PLAY 제가 준 것이 괜찮은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if the thing that I gave is good
PLAY 이 빛이 충분히 밝은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if this light is bright enough
PLAY 제가 구한 아르바이트가 좋은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if the job I found is good
PLAY 제가 가져온 자료가 충분한지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if I brought enough
materials
PLAY 제가 강아지를 기르고 싶은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if I want to raise a puppy
PLAY 그 책이 얼마나 긴지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know how long that book is
To use this form with adjectives in the past or future tenses, you can add the same thing as
with verbs. For example:

PLAY 그 시대가 그렇게 길었는지 깨닫지 못했어요 = I didn’t realize that era was so long
PLAY 그 일이 힘들지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if that work will be difficult
PLAY 내일 날씨가 쌀쌀할지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if tomorrow’s weather will be chilly

If… or not…

In all of the above examples, only one situation is indicated in the sentence. It is possible
to indicate more than one situation by using more than one verb or adjective connected
to ~는지 in the sentence. The simplest way to do this is to include the opposite situation,
followed by ~는지. For example:

PLAY 내일 영화를 볼지 안 볼지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if I will see a movie tomorrow or

not
PLAY 수술을 받을지 안 받을지 확실하지 않아요 = It is not certain if I will get surgery or not
PLAY 그가 제 말을 들었는지 안 들었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if he was listening to
me or not
PLAY 저는 엄마가 밥을 먹었는지 안 먹었는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if mom ate or not
PLAY 제가 구한 아르바이트가 좋은지 안 좋은지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if the job I
found is good or not

When you are dealing with non-하다 verbs (like 먹다), you need to write out the verb
again to indicate “I don’t know if mom ate or not.” However, when dealing with 하다
verbs, the sentence can usually be shortened by eliminating the word before ~하다 when
you say the verb the second time. For example, instead of saying:

저는 엄마가 공부했는지 안 공부했는지 모르겠어요

You could just say:

PLAY 저는 엄마가 공부했는지 안 했는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if mom studied or not

Remember that Korean people love shortening their sentences, and taking out the
redundant “공부” the second time around is more natural in Korean.

In all of the above examples, two possibilities are listed, and the speaker is indicating that
he/she doesn’t know which one will happen amongst the two. The examples above simply
use the positive and negative outcomes of the same situation. It is also possible to list two
(or more) outcomes that are unrelated to each other. For example:

PLAY 내일 공원에 갈지 영화를 볼지 모르겠어요

= I don’t know if I will see a movie or go to the park tomorrow

PLAY 제가 구한 아르바이트가 좋은지 나쁜지 모르겠어요

= I don’t know if the (part-time) job I found is good or bad

PLAY 수술을 받을지 그냥 약으로 치료할지 확실하지 않아요

= It is not certain if I will get surgery or just treat it with medicine

You can also use “~지” to form a question. For example, if you are asking somebody if
they know how to do something. The most common word that finishes the sentence
would be “알다.” For example, you can say:

PLAY 서울에 어떻게 가는지 알아요? = Do you know how to get to Seoul?
PLAY 그 단어를 어떻게 발음하는지 알아요? = Do you know how to pronounce that word?
PLAY 그 학생이 책을 왜 버렸는지 알아요? = Do you know why that student threw out his
book?
PLAY 물을 어떻게 막는지 알아요? = Do you know how to block the water?

I call clauses with ~지 “clauses of uncertainty”, but that is just a name I gave it because it
describes it well in most situations. There are times when “지” represents something
certain. For example, the answers to those questions would be:

PLAY 서울에 어떻게 가는지 알아요 = I know how to get to Seoul

PLAY 그 단어를 어떻게 발음하는지 알아요 = I know how to pronounce that word
PLAY 그 학생이 책을 왜 버렸는지 알아요 = I know why that student threw out his book

In those examples, “지” technically doesn’t represent something uncertain…. so why do we

use “지?” In these cases, the use of the question word in the sentence makes it more
natural to use “지” as the noun instead of “것.”
Also note that there is another way to say that one “knows how to do something” (which is
more based on ability than knowing something). This other way is discussed in Lesson 85.

Attaching ~도 to ~지

It is common to find ~도 attached to ~지. Adding ~도 to ~지 can have two meanings:

1) To have the “too” or “also” or “either” meaning that ~도 usually has. For example:

저는 밥도 먹었어요 = I ate rice too

저도 밥을 먹었어요 = I also ate rice
저는 밥도 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat rice either

This first meaning of ~도 will be discussed in a later lesson. This usage is more about the
use of ~도 and not really related to the usage of ~지. I will just show you one example
sentence so you can understand what I mean:

문을 열지도 몰라요 = You don’t even know how to open the door

Let’s focus on the more ambiguous meaning of ~도, which will be talked about in #2:

2) To have very little meaning or purpose in a sentence. Look at the two sentences below:

PLAY 내일 비가 올지 모르겠어요 = It might rain tomorrow

PLAY 내일 비가 올지도 모르겠어요 = It might rain tomorrow

Assuming ~도 isn’t being added to have the meaning described in #1 above (which is
possible), the use of ~도 does not really change the sentence. Same goes for these two
sentences:

PLAY 내일 공원에 갈지 모르겠어요 = I might go to the park tomorrow

PLAY 내일 공원에 갈지도 모르겠어요 = I might go to the park tomorrow
For seven years, I’ve been curious about the specific nuance that ~도 adds to these types
of sentences (again, assuming that ~도 is not the ~도 from #1 above). All of my research,
all of my studying, and all of my exposure to the language has lead me to believe that they
are essentially the same. I’ve always thought to myself – “they can’t be exactly  the same…
the ~도 must have some purpose… right?”

Recently, I had discussions with many people to try to better understand this nuance. I
want to show you conversations I had with two people because I think it will not only help
you understand how subtle this difference is, but it will also show you that even Korean
people don’t really know what the difference is.

My first conversation was with a Korean person who is a fluent English speaker. Below is
how our conversation went.

—————————————————————————————————————-

Me: Explain the difference in nuance that you feel between these two sentences:
PLAY 내일 비가 올지 모르겠어요 = It might rain tomorrow
PLAY 내일 비가 올지도 모르겠어요 = It might rain tomorrow

Her: The use of ~도 makes it seem like you don’t know if it will happen or not.  It’s possible
that it will happen, but it is also possible that it won’t happen.

Me: But isn’t that sort of implied in the first sentence as well?

Her: Technically yes, but it’s just two different ways to say the same meaning. It would be
like saying “I don’t know if it will rain tomorrow or not” and “It might rain tomorrow.”

Me: I feel like that first sentence that you just said would be better written as
PLAY“내일 비가 올지 안 올지 모르겠어요.”

Her: Ah, yes. I feel like these two sentences mean exactly the same thing:
PLAY 내일 비가 올지도 모르겠어요
PLAY 내일 비가 올지 안 올지 모르겠어요.
I feel like the use of ~도 adds that extra nuance that something might happen or not.
—————————————————————————————————————-

After speaking with that person, I discussed this problem with a teacher who teaches
Korean grammar to Korean high school students. I can only assume that her
understanding of Korean grammar is excellent, although sometimes it is hard for
somebody to understand the grammar of their own language. Either way, she cannot
speak English and our entire conversation was in Korean. This is how it went:

—————————————————————————————————————-

Me: Explain the difference in nuance that you feel between these three sentences:
PLAY 내일 비가 올지 모르겠어요
PLAY 내일 비가 올지도 모르겠어요
PLAY 내일 비가 올지 안 올지 모르겠어요

Her: The first two sentences are identical. In the third one, you are indicating the two
possibilities of “it might rain” or “it might not rain.”

Me: I just talked with another Korean person, and she said that the use of “~도” in the
second sentence sort of implies those two possibilities as well. She said that the second
and third sentences had the same meaning. What do you think about that?

Her: I don’t feel that way when I hear it. I feel the first two are the same, and the third one
is listing more possibilities.

——————————

So here I had two Korean people – one with excellent English and the other with a lot of
Korean grammar knowledge, and they gave me opposing answers. My conclusion from
this and all of my studying, researching and exposure to the language is:

~ㄹ/을지 모르다 and

~ㄹ/을지도 모르다

Have the same, or effectively the same meaning.

Let me take a minute to explain when you would use ~도 in this case.

~도 is added to uncertain clauses that are conjugated in the future tense to express one’s
uncertainty of if something will happen in the future (or not). You will typically not see ~도
added to an uncertain clause in the past or present tense unless  it is being used to have
the meaning as discussed in #1 above.

~도 is not added to uncertain clauses where there is a question word in the clause. For
example, it would be unnatural to say something like this:
비가 언제 올지도 모르겠어요
This “rule” leads me to believe that the purpose of ~도 is somewhat closer to having the “if
or not” meaning as it was described by the English speaking Korean person in our
conversation. Just like how adding “or not” would be unnatural to add to the following
English sentence, it would be unnatural to add “~도” to its Korean translation:
비가 언제 올지도 모르겠어요 = I don’t know when it will rain or not

Again, this usage is not the usage of ~도 from #1 above. In that usage, ~도 can be added
to ~는지, ~았/었는지 or ~ㄹ/을지 to have the meaning that ~도 usually possesses when it
is added to nouns. It can also be added to uncertain clauses that have question words. I
will discuss this meaning in a future lesson.

Wow. All of that work to understand one syllable.

We’re not done yet. That syllable (지) has another meaning… one that is easier to dissect.

I have been doing X for Y – 지

Up to this point, this lesson has explained the meaning of ~는지 as a grammatical
principle that is attached to its previous clause. For example:

PLAY 저는 친구가 어디 가는지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know where my friend is going

When ~는지 is added to 가다, notice that there is no space between 가다, ~는 or 지. In
this usage, ~지 is not a noun but instead just a part of a larger grammatical principle that
can be attached to verbs or adjectives.

지 has another meaning, and it is completely unrelated to the meaning of ~지 that was
described earlier in this lesson. I would like to talk about this other meaning in this lesson
as well.

In this other meaning, you will see ~지 used after a verb with ~ㄴ/은 attached to the verb.

Notice that  ~ㄴ/은 is the same addition that is added to verbs in the past tense of  ~는 것
For example, you will see:

사귀다 + ㄴ/은 지 = 사귄 지
먹다 + ㄴ/은 지 먹은 지

I want to take a moment to explain what you are seeing here.

Remember that ~ㄴ/은 (just like ~는 in the present tense and ~ㄹ/을 in the future tense) is
added to verbs when they will describe an upcoming noun.  For example:

우리가 먹은 밥 = The food we ate

우리가 먹는 밥 = The food we eat
우리가 먹을 밥 = The food we will eat

In this same respect, 지 is also a noun. However, this is the type of noun that I like to call a
“pseudo-noun.” These are nouns that can be described by a verb (using ~는 것) or by an
adjective (just like any other noun), but they can’t be used on their own.

You will eventually learn more of these nouns in your Korean studies. Below are some of
the pseudo-nouns that you will come across shortly:

적 in ~ㄴ/은 적이 없다 | Introduced in Lesson 32

(For example: 그것을 한 적이 없어요 = I haven’t done that)

수 in ~ㄹ/을 수 있다 | Introduced in Lesson 45

(For example: 그것을 할 수 있어요 = I can do that)

줄 in ~ㄹ/을 줄 알다 | Introduced in Lesson 85

(For example: 그것을 할 줄 알아요 = I know how to do that)

Let me explain the situation where you can use the pseudo-noun “지.”

Again, when placed after a verb with ~ㄴ/은 attached:

사귄 지
먹은 지

… and when followed by an indication of time:

사귄 지 6 개월
먹은 지 5 분

… and then followed by 되다 conjugated to the past tense:

사귄 지 6 개월 됐다
먹은 지 5 분 됐다

Remember, 지 is officially a noun. Nouns have meaning. The meaning of “지” is the
representation of the period of time that has passed since the action took place until the
present. To English speakers, it is hard to imagine that a noun represents a figurative
period of time like this. This is the image I have in my head that represents the meaning of
“지” in the construction “사귄 지 6 개월 됐다:

Let’s put this construction into a sentence and look at how this could be translated.

PLAY 여자 친구랑 사귄 지 6 개월 됐어

Possible translations for this could be:

= I have been going out with my girlfriend for six months
= It has been six months since I started/have been going out with my girlfriend

Let’s look at another example – specifically one that illustrates the importance of context
when understanding these sentences:

PLAY 밥을 먹은 지 5 분 됐다

Imagine you are eating, and your friend walks into the room and witnesses you eating. If
your friend asks “how long have you been eating?” you could respond with:
PLAY 밥을 먹은 지 5 분 됐다
= I have been eating for five minutes
= It has been five minutes since I started/have been eating

However, imagine you are not  eating, and your friend walks into the room and witnesses
you not eating. If your friend asks “how long has it been since you last ate? (How long has
it been since you have not been eating?)” you could respond with the same sentence used
above. Remember, “지” represents the time period from when the action took place until
the present. It’s possible that the action is still occurring, but it’s also possible that the
action has stopped. In the context where the action has stopped, and where one wants to
indicate how long it has been since something last occurred, the Korean sentence can be
the same as the context where the action is continuing. The Korean sentence may be the
same, but the English translation would be different because of this context. For example,
in response to your friend asking “how long has it been since you last ate?” you could
respond:

PLAY 밥을 먹은 지 5 분 됐다
= I haven’t eaten for five minutes
= It has been five minutes since I last ate

That’s the explanation for 지. Before I get into some deeper discussion, let’s look at some
examples to get you familiar with these types of sentences.

In the example sentences below, the translations are assuming that the action is still
occurring, and thus, the speaker is referring to how long it has been since the action started.

PLAY 한국에서 산 지 25 년 됐어요

= I have been living in Korea for 25 years
= It has been 25 years since I started living in Korea

PLAY 강아지를 기른 지 10 년 됐어요

= I have been raising a dog for 10 years
= It has been 10 years since I started raising a dog

PLAY 그 그룹이 훈련을 받은 지 다섯 시간 됐어요

= That group has been receiving training for 5 hours
= It has been 5 hours since that group started receiving training
PLAY 이 아르바이트를 한 지 2 주일 됐어요
= I’ve had this part-time job for 2 weeks
= It has been 2 weeks since I started this part-time job

PLAY 한국에 온 지 2 년 됐어요

= I have been in Korea for 2 years
= It has been 2 years since I came to Korea

————————-

Let’s discuss some things.

I already discussed the idea that “지” in the sentence “PLAY 밥을 먹은 지 5 분 됐다” can be
used to refer to the amount of time that has passed (to the present) since one started
eating, or since one finished eating. You would have to rely on context to know specifically
which translation would work best.

This possibility of two meanings can only be applied to certain verbs. For example:

PLAY 밥을 먹은 지 5 분 됐다

This can be used to mean:

= I have been eating for five minutes (in the case that you are currently eating), or
= It has been five minutes since I last ate (in the case that you are currently not eating)

However, let’s go back to the first sentence we created using 지:

PLAY 여자 친구랑 사귄 지 6 개월 됐어

As you have seen, this sentence can be used to have the following meaning:

= It has been six months since I started/have been going out with my girlfriend

For the translation above to work, you would have to still be going out with your girlfriend.
However, if you are currently not  going out with your girlfriend, you would not be able to
use this sentence. That is, the sentence above could not translate to “It has been six
months since I was going out with my girlfriend.” In order to create that sentence, you
would have to use the opposite verb, for example:
PLAY 여자 친구랑 헤어진 지 6 개월 됐어 = It has been six months since I broke up with my
girlfriend

Likewise, look at the following sentence with the translations provided:

PLAY 이제 결혼한 지 1 년 됐어요

= I have been married for one year
= It has been a year since I got married

The sentence above would be used if you are currently married, but not  if you are not
currently married.

In trying to understand which verbs can hold this dual meaning – my brain keeps trying to
tell me that it is related to whether or not the verb is able to repeat or continue itself. For
example, when you eat, the act of eating is not one instant, and the action continues to
progress.

When you exercise, the act of exercising is not one instant, and the action continues to
progress. If you are exercising hard and look very sweaty, your friend might ask you “how
long has it been since you started exercising?” In response, you could say:

PLAY 운동한 지 한 시간 됐어요

= I have been exercising for one hour
= It has been one hour since I started exercising

However, if you just came home and threw your exercise bag on the couch, your friend
might ask you “how long has it been since you last exercised (or stopped exercising)?” In
response, you could again say:

PLAY 운동한 지 한 시간 됐어요

= I haven’t exercised in an hour
= It has been an hour since I stopped exercising

When you shower the act of showering is not one instant, and the action continues to
progress. If you are in the shower, your friend might ask you “how long it has been since
you started showering?” In response, you could say:
PLAY 샤워한 지 10 분 됐어요
= I have been showering for 10 minutes
= It has been 10 minutes since I started showering

However, if your friend gets a whiff of your armpit and finds it to be very stinky, your
friend might ask you “how long has it been since you last showered?” In response, you
could again say:

PLAY 샤워한 지 10 분 됐어요

= I haven’t showered in 10 minutes
= It has been 10 minutes since I stopped showering

However, some words don’t continue to progress. For example, 결혼하다 refers to the act
of getting married, not the state of being married. It doesn’t start or stop – it just happens.
As such, if I were to say:

PLAY 이제 결혼한 지 1 년 됐어요

You would have to still be married to say that sentence. You never “started” getting
married. You never “stopped” getting married. You just got married, and “지” represents
the time from that point until the present.

This can also be applied to the word “오다,” which you already saw in an example sentence
earlier:

PLAY 한국에 온 지 2 년 됐어요

= I have been in Korea for 2 years
= It has been 2 years since I came to Korea

In this case, 오다 refers to the (completed) action of arriving in Korea. It doesn’t start, and
it doesn’t finish. It just happens, and “지” represents the time from that point to the
present. Thus, you would have to still be in Korea to say that sentence.

Another example would be the word “졸업하다” (to graduate):

PLAY 고등학교를 졸업한 지 1 년 됐어요

= I graduated one year ago
= It has been a year since I graduated
You would have had to have graduated to say that sentence. You never “started”
graduating. You never “stopped” graduating. You just graduated, and “지” represents the
time from that point until the present.

The good news is – it is never this complicated in real conversations. The only reason why
this is getting so complicated is because the sentences I’m providing don’t have any
context. In everyday conversations, it is much easier to pick up the meaning using other
information. In addition, it is also possible to specifically indicate that it has been a certain
amount of time since an action finished. In order to do this, you can describe “지” with a
negative sentence. For example:

PLAY 우리가 안 만난 지 2 주일 됐어요 = We haven’t met in 2 weeks

PLAY 밥을 안 먹은 지 아홉 시간 됐어요 = I haven’t eaten in nine hours
PLAY 용돈을 안 받은 지 1 년 됐어요 = I haven’t received (an) allowance in a year

————————-

지 refers to the period of time from when an action occurs until the present. You cannot
use 지 to refer to a time that completed some other time in the past. If you want to
indicate the period of time that an action occurred in the past, you can use sentences like
this:

저는 두 시간 동안 먹었어요 = I ate for two hours

English speakers will quickly point out that “I ate for two hours” and “I had eaten for two
hours” do not have exactly the same meanings. Korean people usually don’t distinguish
between these two meanings in their sentences and instead rely on context to make the
specific meaning clear.

————————-

You can also use this same type of sentence to ask questions about how long one has
been doing something by using 얼마나 or words like 오래. For example:

PLAY 한국어를 공부한 지 얼마나 되었어요? = How long have you been studying Korean?
PLAY 운동한 지 오래 됐어? = Have you been exercising for a long time?

It is common to use the construction “얼마 안 되다” to indicate that you haven’t been
doing something for very long. For example
PLAY 제가 한국에서 산 지 얼마 안 됐어요 = I haven’t been living in Korea for very long
PLAY 제가 우리 학교에서 일한 지 얼마 안 됐어요 = I haven’t been working at our school
for very long

You also saw in Lesson 28 that this is one of the acceptable times where ~은 can be added
to 있다. For example:

여기에 있은 지 얼마나 되었어요? = How long have you been here for?

That’s it for this lesson!

Lesson 31: Using ~는 것 with 이다

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 미소 = smile

PLAY 배달 = delivery

PLAY 반지 = ring

PLAY 입술 = lips

PLAY 미술 = art

PLAY 목걸이 = necklace

PLAY 귀걸이 = earrings

PLAY 수영복 = bathing suit

PLAY 간식 = snacks

PLAY 목표 = goal

PLAY 숲 = forest

PLAY 주머니 = pocket

PLAY 칠판 = blackboard, chalkboard

PLAY 딸기 = strawberry

PLAY 상추 = lettuce

PLAY 공사 = construction

PLAY 교시 = class, period

PLAY 종교 = religion

PLAY 시청 = city hall

PLAY 동갑 = the same age

PLAY 긍정적 = positive

PLAY 부정적 = negative

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 어울리다= to get along with

CONJUGATE PLAY 알리다 = to tell, to inform

CONJUGATE PLAY 아끼다 = to cherish, to save

CONJUGATE PLAY 남기다 = to leave something

CONJUGATE PLAY 면도하다 = to shave

CONJUGATE PLAY 빌리다 = to borrow, to lend

CONJUGATE PLAY 샤워하다 = to shower

CONJUGATE PLAY 덮다 = to cover

CONJUGATE PLAY 없어지다 = to disappear

CONJUGATE PLAY 따라가다 = to follow

CONJUGATE PLAY 따라오다 = to be followed

CONJUGATE PLAY 지나가다 = to go and pass by

CONJUGATE PLAY 키우다 = to raise (children), to train (animals), to develop (skills)

CONJUGATE PLAY 참다 = to hold back, to endure

CONJUGATE PLAY 선택하다 = to choose

CONJUGATE PLAY 깨닫다 = to realize

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 쓰이다 = to be written on

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 부럽다 = to be envious

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 식 = a certain way/method

PLAY 아까 = earlier

PLAY 꽉 = tightly

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Introduction
I keep saying this, but you have learned a lot  about using the ~는 것 principle. Don’t think
that you’re out of the woods yet – because there is still a lot to know. In this lesson, you
will learn how to use ~는 것 with 이다.
Let’s get started.

Using ~는 것 with 이다

You’ve learned a lot about how to add ~는 것 to any verb (and technically adjectives as
well by using ~ㄴ/은 것), but you have yet to learn about how to add it to 이다.

You are probably asking yourself: When would I ever want to add ~는 것 to 이다?
(I just want to point out that this is actually the same thing as adding ~ㄴ to “~적이다”
words, which you learned in  Lesson 16.)

Let’s remember what ~는 것 does:

If you want to just say a noun, you can just say a noun. For example:
Person = 사람

If you want to describe that noun, you can use adjectives:

똑똑한 사람 = smart person

Or verbs:
먹고 있는 사람 = the person who is eating

But… now think about this for a second… what if you want to describe a noun with a noun?
Look at the difference (or similarities) between the three following sentences:

똑똑한 사람= the smart person (or – person who is smart)

먹고 있는 사람 = the person who is eating
_____________= the person who is a teacher

How would you do that? Remember that 이다 is conjugated as an adjective. Using the ~는
것 principle with 이다 is really no different than adding ~ㄴ/은 to an adjective to describe
an upcoming noun. Because 이다 is conjugated as an adjective, the following would not
be correct:
선생님이는 남자…

Instead, 이다 gets conjugated as ~인. For example:

PLAY[직업이] 선생님인 사람들은 인기가 많아요 = People who[se jobs] are teachers are
popular
(It sounds slightly more natural to say “직업이 선생님인 사람들” in this case instead of just
“선생님인 사람들.” Remember here that the entire clause before “~인” is describing the
upcoming noun. In this case, the clause is “직업이 선생님이다” which would unnaturally
translate to something like “the job is a teacher”. However, when put in the place of
describing an upcoming noun, it can translate to “직업이 선생님인 사람들 = people whose
jobs are teachers”. At any rate, try not to worry about the use of “직업” (as I realize it might
be difficult) in that sentence and focus more on the big picture of what adding “~ㄴ” to 
이다 accomplishes. 

The thing is, as you can see with my big blurb above, this may not be as simple as it
should be. Most of the time, there would be a better way – using another word or
something to accomplish the same sentence. For example, in the sentence above “직업이
선생님인 사람들은 인기가 많아요”, is the meaning not exactly the same (in English) if we
just say “Teachers are popular”? For example:

선생님들은 인기가 많아요 = Teachers are popular

Here, we are accomplishing the same thing but don’t need to use 이다 as a descriptor in
the sentence.

Another great example would be if you wanted to say something like:

“Students who are girls wear skirts”

That would translate to something like:

여자인 학생들은 치마를 입는다

But, that sentence sounds ridiculous (in both English and Korean). In Korean, it would
sound much better if you just used the word “여학생”, which literally means “female
students.” For example:

여학생들은 치마를 입는다 = female students wear skirts

(I would much rather say “female students  must  wear skirts,” but you haven’t learned how
to do that yet, and I try not to use examples that use a concept you haven’t learned)
Despite this, there will be some times where you will find the need for using ~는 것 with
이다. Some times this happens when you come across a noun that has the feeling of an
adjective. For example, the word “부자” literally means “rich person.” In English, if we
wanted to say “that person is rich,” the word “rich” acts as an adjective. However, in
Korean, they would say:

그 사람은 부자야 = That person is (a) rich (person)

Here, 부자 acts as a noun, and the whole sentence is predicated by 이다. In this case, you
might find it useful to use 이다 + ~ㄴ to describe an upcoming noun. For example:

PLAY 내 친구는 부자인 아버지를 자랑했어 = My friend boasted about/was showing off his
rich father

Another example using the word “불법” which, as a noun, translates to “illegal”:

PLAY 슬기는 불법인 일을 하고 있어요 = Seulgi is doing something illegal

It is also common to see this form attached to somebody’s job title to describe their name.
Sort of like saying “He is Rob, the CEO of Samsung”. For example:

PLAYTitanic 배우인 Leonardo Dicaprio 는 잘생겼어요 = Leonardo Dicaprio, who is an actor

in Titanic is handsome

At this point, you might be saying “all of this sounds really complicated and I can’t even
really understand when I would use this form.” I agree with you, this looks complicated.
The thing is, the foundation of many other (more complicated) grammatical principles
have ~는 것 incorporated within them. These grammatical principles, in addition to being
able to attach to verbs and adjectives, are able to attach to 이다 as well.

Here are some other sentences using other grammatical principles that you
have not learned yet. I’m including these just so you can see that attaching ~ㄴ to 이다 is
important to your Korean studies as you progress:

그 사람은 가난한 사람인 것처럼 행동했어요 = That person acted like a poor person
(처럼 is introduced in Lesson 67)

그는 축구선수인 만큼 달리기를 잘해요 = He runs as well as a soccer athlete/player

(만큼 is introduced in Lesson 72) 
그 사람이 너의 아버지인 줄 몰랐어요 = I didn’t know that person is your father
(줄 is introduced in Lesson 85)

In each case above, ~ㄴ is attached to 이다 to form “인”. You can see in each example that
“인” is used to describe an upcoming noun. There are many more examples of how 이다
can be used to describe an upcoming noun like this, but I don’t need to include them all
here, as you will learn about them as they become important.

~는지 is also added to 이다 in this same way. Again, because 이다 acts as an adjective ~ㄴ
/은 should be added to it (이다 + ㄴ/은지 will always be ~인지). For example:

PLAY 그 사람이 선생님인지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if that person is a teacher

PLAY 그 사람이 선생님인지 아닌지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know if that person is a teacher or
not
PLAY 우리가 동갑인지 몰랐어요 = I didn’t know that we were the same age
PLAY 이것이 저의 엄마의 목걸인지 어떻게 알아요? = How do you know that this is my
mother’s necklace?

Often times 이다 is attached to a question word to predicate a sentence. In this same

sense, you will often see ~인지 attached to question words. For example:

Note that the pairs of sentences below are not dialogues. I organized them this way to show
you the similar format that you can see between using ~인지 and using  이다 to predicate a
sentence.

비상출구가 어디예요? = Where is the emergency exit?

PLAY 비상출구가 어디인지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know where the emergency exit is

지금 몇 시예요? = What time is it now?

PLAY 지금 몇 시인지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know what time it is now

당신의 목표가 뭐예요? = What is your goal?

PLAY 저의 목표가 무엇인지 알아요? = Do you know what my goal is?

이 일의 관리자가 누구예요? = Who is the manager of this job?

PLAY 이 일의 관리자가 누구인지 알아요? = Do you know who the manager of this job is?

가격이 얼마예요? = How much is this?

PLAY 가격이 얼마인지 모르겠어요 = I don’t know how much the price is
 ——————-

It is also possible, as it is with attaching ~는 것 to a verb or ~ㄴ/은 것 to an adjective, to

turn an entire clause into a noun, and then predicate the sentence using a verb. Just like
how you learned how to write this sentence in Lesson 26:

I am only including the brackets below to show you that we are still using the same basic
sentences of subject – object – verb.

저는 (사과)를 원해요 = I want apples

PLAY 저는 (친구가 사과를 가져오는 것)을 원해요 = I want my friend to bring apples

You can do the same thing but with 이다 here:

내가 (열쇠를 안 가져온 것)을 깨달았어 = I realized that I didn’t bring my keys

PLAY 내 (행동은 실수인 것)을 깨달았어 = I realized that my actions (what I did) is/was a
mistake

That’s it for this lesson!

Lesson 32: ~(으)려고, ~(으)러 and ~아/어 보다 (with 적)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 기적 = miracle

PLAY 차량 = vehicle

PLAY 관객 = audience
PLAY 치과 = dentistry

PLAY 공연 = performance, show, concert

PLAY 업무 = administrative work

PLAY 탈의실 = change room

PLAY 표 = ticket

PLAY 표 = graph, table

PLAY 간장 = soy sauce

PLAY 고생 = some sort of hard time or hardship

PLAY 휴대폰 = cell phone

PLAY 뜻 = meaning

PLAY 세일 = sale

PLAY 이력서 = resume, curriculum vitae

PLAY 비서 = secretary

PLAY 연예인 = celebrity

PLAY 행사 = event, function

PLAY 일자리 = job position

PLAY 평일 = a weekday

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 명령하다 = to order, to command

CONJUGATE PLAY 빼다 = to pull out, to extract

CONJUGATE PLAY 지원하다 = to apply for

CONJUGATE PLAY 신다 = to put on shoes or socks

CONJUGATE PLAY 신기다 = to put shoes or socks on somebody

CONJUGATE PLAY 따르다 = to pour

CONJUGATE PLAY 채우다 = to fill

CONJUGATE PLAY 비우다 = to empty

CONJUGATE PLAY 끊다 = to cut off, to quit something

CONJUGATE PLAY 살리다 = to save (a life)

CONJUGATE PLAY 썰다 = to chop, to slice

CONJUGATE PLAY 예매하다 = to purchase in advance

CONJUGATE PLAY 판단하다 = to judge

CONJUGATE PLAY 해결하다 = to solve, to resolve

CONJUGATE PLAY 구하다 = to search for a worker, to search for a job, to get a job

CONJUGATE PLAY 통제하다 = to control

CONJUGATE PLAY 연락하다 = to contact

CONJUGATE PLAY 예약하다 = to reserve

CONJUGATE PLAY 평가하다 = to evaluate

CONJUGATE PLAY 갈아입다 = to change clothes

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 끊기다 = to be cut off

CONJUGATE PLAY 막히다 = to be congested

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 약하다 = to be weak

CONJUGATE PLAY 자세하다 = to be detailed

CONJUGATE PLAY 취하다 = to be drunk

CONJUGATE PLAY 심심하다 = to be bored

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will learn about how to use ~려고 and ~러 in sentences to have the
meaning of “for the purpose of/in order to.” You will also learn how to add ~어/아 보다 to
verbs to have the meaning of “attempt/try to,” which is often used with the noun ‘적’. Let’s
get started.

With the intention of doing…: ~(으)려고

Adding ~(으)려고 to the stem of the verb gives it the meaning of “with the intention of” or
“in order to.” ~려고 gets added to stems ending in a vowel and ~으려고 gets added to
stems ending in a consonant. For example:

밖에 나가려고… With the intention of going outside/in order to go outside…

그 사람을 살리려고… With the intention of saving that person/in order to save that
person…

The constructions we have created above are not full sentences – they are just clauses that
we can put into sentences. We can create full sentences by adding a clause to the end of
them. For example:

PLAY 밖에 일찍 나가려고 숙제를 빨리 했어요 = I did my homework fast in order to go out

early
PLAY 저는 신발을 신으려고 잠깐 앉았어요 = I sat down for a minute in order to put on my
shoe

The translation of “to”, “so that”, or “with the intention” are also usually appropriate, as
they all describe the same thing. For example:

PLAY 밖에 일찍 나가려고 숙제를 빨리 했어요 = I did my homework fast so that I could go

out early
PLAY 밖에 일찍 나가려고 숙제를 빨리 했어요 = I did my homework fast to go out early
PLAY 밖에 일찍 나가려고 숙제를 빨리 했어요 = I did my homework fast with the intention
of going out early

Here are many more examples:

PLAY 저는 그 사람을 살리려고 경찰관을 불렀어요 = I called the police officer in order to
save that person
PLAY 그 문제를 해결하려고 우리는 잠깐 만났어요 = In order to solve that problem, we met
for a little bit
PLAY 그 뜻을 이해하려고 책을 두 번 읽었어요 = In order to understand that meaning, I
read the book twice
PLAY 학생들을 평가하려고 내일 시험을 볼 거예요 = In order to evaluate the students, they
will do an exam tomorrow

PLAY 이렇게 많은 내용을 학생들에게 가르치려고 고생을 많이 했어요

= I worked hard/suffered in order to teach that much content to the students

PLAY 저는 일을 구하려고 그 회사에 이력서를 냈어요

= I submitted my resume to that company with the intention of getting a job

PLAY 저는 그 일에 지원하려고 그 회사에 이력서를 냈어요

= I submitted my resume to that company with the intention of applying for that job

You can specifically use ~(으)려고 at the end of a sentence when the remainder of that
sentence can be assumed. When used like this, it typically indicates what the speaker is
just about to do. It is usually used in response to a question. For example:

PLAY 마트에 갔어요?  = Have you gone to the store?/Did you go to the store?
PLAY 아니요~ 지금 가려고요 = No, but I’m going right now/I’m just about to go

PLAY 일을 다 했어? = Have you finished the work/Did you finish the work?
PLAY 지금 하려고 = I’m doing it right now/I’m just about to do it/finish it
Notice that these constructions look like incomplete sentences because ~(으)려고 is
usually used between clauses (as you can see in the examples provided earlier in the
lesson), and not to end a sentence. However, the language has evolved to allow the above
constructions to be correct. Also notice that you can add the honorific “요” to “(으)려고”
when used at the end of a sentence to make the sentence more formal. You will learn
many other grammatical principles throughout your Korean studies that typically connect
two clauses, but can be used at the end of a sentence like this if the context allows for it. In
most of these cases, it is acceptable to attach “요” to make it polite, even though it is not
an actual conjugated word.

The clauses that you can add after ~(으)려고 are, for all intents and purposes, endless as
long as the situation makes sense. However, one verb that is very commonly used after
~(으)려고 is “노력하다”, which means “to put effort into.” We will talk about this after our
discussion of irregulars.

—————

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different
additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~(으)려고. Let’s look at
how irregulars change as a result of adding this grammatical principle.

– The ㅅ irregular, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules that were
introduced in Lesson 7. The addition of the vowel causes a change (or elimination) of the
last letter of the stem.

– The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition. The final letter in both types of
stems is a vowel, so ~려고 is added instead of ~으려고.

– The purpose of adding ~으려고 to a stem that ends in a consonant, and ~려고 to a stem
that ends in a vowel is to make pronunciation easier. For example, it would be difficult to
pronounce 받다 (to receive) if ~려고 were attached to it. Therefore, instead of being “
받려고” the correct form is “받으려고.” However, grammatical principles that start with ㄹ
can be added directly to stems that end in ㄹ – and the optional vowel is not used.
Therefore, when adding ~(으)려고 to a stem that ends in ㄹ, ~려고 is added directly to the
stem. For example:

썰다 + ~(으)려고 = 썰려고

– Adding ~(으)려고 causes a change to ㅎ irregular words. The ㅎ is removed, and ~려고 is
added to the stem. Anytime you have the option of adding ~(으) as part of a grammatical
addition, the ㅎ will be removed from the stem and the grammatical addition without “으”
will be added to the remainder of the stem. For example:

그렇다 + ~(으)려고 = 그러려고

Below is a table showing the changes that result from adding ~(으)려고 to a word.

Irregular Word + ~(으)려고

ㅅ Irregular PLAY 짓다 (to build) 지으려고

ㄷ Irregular PLAY 걷다 (to walk) 걸으려고

ㅂ Irregular PLAY 돕다 (to help) 도우려고

ㅡ Irregular PLAY 잠그다 (to lock) 잠그려고

르 Irregular PLAY 자르다 (to cut) 자르려고

ㄹ Irregular PLAY 살다 (to live) 살려고

ㅎ Irregular PLAY 그렇다 (to be like that) 그러려고

You will see these same changes to irregulars anytime you add something that begins in
~(으)ㄹ…. For example:
~(으)라고 (Lesson 54)
~(으)려면 (Lesson 96)

—————

To try to: ~려고 노력하다

If you want to say “I try to ___” you can use the verb 노력하다 after ~(으)려고. For example:

PLAY 그 친구를 매 주말 만나려고 노력해요 = I try to meet that friend every weekend
PLAY 한국어를 배우려고 노력하고 있어요 = I am trying to learn Korean

노력하다 itself means to try/put effort into something. So literally, the sentences means

“In order to meet that friend every weekend, I try”, and

“In order to learn Korean, I am trying”

But neither of those sentences (in English) sound natural. It is more natural to just say “I
try…”

You could also add this to a long line of other words. It’s hard to explain, and you would
never really need to say something like this, but understanding it will help you with
grammar (a little bit). When I first started learning things like this, I always asked how I
would say “I think I want to start to try to learn Korean.” Perfect sentence, but nobody
would ever really say anything that ridiculous. You know everything in that sentence
except “I think,” so with what you learned today, you should know how to say “I want to
start to try to learn Korean:”

한국어를 배운다 = I learn Korean

한국어를 배우려고 노력한다 = I try to learn Korean
한국어를 배우려고 노력하기 시작한다 = I start to try to learn Korean
한국어를 배우려고 노력하기 시작하고 싶다 = I want to start to try to learn Korean

… Heh, like I said – saying something that complex is unnecessary, but understanding it is
always good grammar practice.

To Come/Go to… ~(으)러

The clause connector ~(으)러 is very similar to ~(으)려고, but is specifically used when one
is “going to” or “coming from” a place in order to do something. To distinguish it from the
sentences earlier, these two would not be appropriate:

밖에 일찍 나가러 숙제를 빨리 했어요 = I did my homework fast in order to go out early

저는 신발을 신으러 잠깐 앉았어요 = I sat down for a minute in order to put on my shoe

Instead, ~(으)러 should be used when one is going to or coming from a place in order to
do something. This usually means that the predicating verb of the whole sentence should
be either 가다 or 오다, but other variations of those verbs are also acceptable (for
example: 내려가다, to go down; 내려오다, to come down; 들어가다, to go in; 들어오다, to
come in). Here are some examples:

PLAY 친구를 만나러 왔어 = I came (here) to meet my friend

PLAY 공부하러 학교에 가고 있어 = I’m going to school to study
PLAY 표를 예매하러 극장에 가고 있어요 = I am going to the theater to buy the tickets (in
advance)
PLAY 그 연예인을 보러 행사에 갔어요 = I went to the event to see that celebrity
PLAY 일자리에 지원하러 왔어요 = I came to apply for that job
PLAY 옷을 갈아입으러 탈의실에 갔어요 = He went to the change-room to change his
clothes
PLAY 저는 영화를 보러 나가고 싶어요 = I want to go out to see a movie

As you saw before, you cannot use ~(으)러 instead of ~(으)려고. That is, while this
sentence is okay:
PLAY 밖에 일찍 나가려고 숙제를 빨리 했어요

The following sentence is not correct because it does not use 가다, 오다, or a similar
“come/go” verb:
밖에 일찍 나가러 숙제를 빨리 했어요

However, the opposite can  be done. That is, ~(으)려고 can be used instead of ~(으)러. For
example, all of the sentences below are okay:

표를 예매하려고 극장에 가고 있어요

그 연예인을 보려고 행사에 갔어요
일자리에 지원하려고 왔어요
옷을 갈아입으려고 탈의실에 갔어요
심심해서 저는 영화를 보려고 나가고 싶어요
In Lesson 13, you learned about adding ~을/를 위해 to nouns to have the meaning “for.”
For example:

나는 나의 여자 친구를 위해(서) 꽃을 샀어 = I bought flowers for my girlfriend

You can also use “위해” to say that you do something “for (the purpose of)” a verb. To do
this, you attach ~기 위해 to a verb, just like you did with ~(으)러 or ~(으)려고. For
example:

PLAY 친구를 만나기 위해 여기로 왔어 = I came here to meet a friend

PLAY 친구를 만나러 여기로 왔어 = I came here to meet a friend
PLAY 친구를 만나려고 여기로 왔어 = I came here to meet a friend

PLAY 공부하기 위해 학교에 가고 있어 = I’m going to school to study

PLAY 공부하러 학교에 가고 있어 = I’m going to school to study
PLAY 공부하려고 학교에 가고 있어 = I’m going to school to study

It is important to notice that in all of these cases the tense is indicated in the final clause of
the sentence. That is – no indication of tense is to be made before ~기 위해/~(으)러/~(으)
려고. For example, notice how the tense is indicated in the final clause of the following
sentences:

PLAY 친구를 만나러 학교에 갔어요 = I went to school to meet a friend

PLAY 친구를 만나러 학교에 가고 있어요 = I am going to school to meet a friend
PLAY 친구를 만나러 학교에 갈 거예요 = I will go to school to meet a friend

PLAY 공연을 보러 행사에 갔어요 = I went to the event to see the performance
PLAY 공연을 보러 행사에 가고 있어요 = I am going to the event to see the performance
PLAY 공연을 보러 행사에 갈 거예요 = I will go to the event to see the performance

Before we finish this lesson, let’s look at another grammatical principle that is often
translated similarly to the ones above.

To attempt: ~아/어 보다
Adding ~아/어 보다 to the stem of a verb gives it the meaning of “to attempt/try.” The
translations to English are very similar – if not identical to ~(으)려고/~(으)러/~기 위해 but
the meanings are very different. Notice the similarities in the English translations of the
following sentences:

나는 밥을 먹으려고 노력했다 = I tried to eat rice

나는 밥을 먹어 봤다 = I tried to eat (the) rice

I would like to describe the meaning of ~아/어 보다 by distinguishing it from the use of
“try” in the translation of ~(으)려고/(으)러/기 위해.

나는 밥을 먹으려고 노력했다
Means that you tried to eat rice in the sense that you put effort into eating. A less
ambiguous (but less natural) translation would be “I put effort into eating the rice.”

나는 밥을 먹어 봤어
Means that you tried rice, similar to the meaning that you “tried something out.” This
meaning is not related to the effort of eating the rice, but instead the experience of the
“test” or “trial” or “attempt” of trying the rice. Another good way to translate that sentence
would be to say “I gave the rice a try.”

It is a little bit confusing at first because the best translations of both sentences above is to
use “try,” which can be very ambiguous. In my examples below, I prefer to use the simple
translation of “try” when using “~아/어 보다” because it is usually the most natural way to
express that meaning. When reading the English translations below, keep in mind that the
usage of “try” is not related to effort, but instead related to a “trial/test/attempt.” Let’s look
at some examples:

PLAY 엄마가 요리한 음식을 먹어 봤어? = Did you try the food mom cooked?
PLAY 결혼하기 위해 남자들을 만나 봤어 = In order to get married, I tried meeting a lot of
men
PLAY 그 신발을 신어 봤어요 = I tried on the shoes
PLAY 옛날 친구를 연락해 봤어요 = I tried contacting an old friend
PLAY 그 셔츠를 탈의실에서 입어 봤어요 = I tried on that shirt in the change room
PLAY 비상출구를 찾아 볼 거예요 = I will look for the emergency exit
PLAY 그 업무를 처음으로 해 봤어요 = I tried that work for the first time
PLAY 그 회사에 지원해 볼 거예요 = I am going to try to apply to that company
PLAY 이력서를 회사에서 일하는 비서에게 줘 봤어요 = I tried giving my resume to the
secretary who works at that office
One of the most common usages of ~아/어 보다 is when you are telling somebody to do
something. In essence, telling somebody to “try/attempt” something. I have yet to teach
you about the imperative mood (this will be discussed in Lesson 40), so you won’t
understand these example sentences completely. Regardless, examine the following
example sentences to try to understand how ~아/어 보다 is being used.

PLAY 그것을 확인해 봐! = Check that! (Try checking that!)

PLAY 이것을 먹어 봐! = Eat this! (Try eating this!)
PLAY 여기 와 보세요 = Come here (Try coming here)
PLAY 지금 앉아 봐 = Sit down (Try sitting down)
PLAY 문을 열어 봐 = Open the door (Try opening the door)
PLAY 먼저 가 봐 = Go first (Try going first)
PLAY 이거를 봐 봐 = Look at this (Try looking at this)
PLAY 이것을 드셔 보세요 = Eat this (Try eating this)
PLAY 이 차를 마셔 보세요 = Drink this tea (Try drinking this tea)

Another common usage of the ~아/어 보다 grammatical form is used in conjunction with
the pseudo-noun 적, which we will talk about next.

The Noun of Experience: 적

In Lesson 30, you learned about the pseudo-noun ‘지.’ For example:

PLAY 밥을 먹은 지 5 분 됐다 = I have been eating for 5 minutes

In that lesson, you learned that 지 is one of a handful of nouns that have no meaning
when used on their own. However, when used in connection with a describing verb or
adjective, they have a special meaning.

“적” is another one of these nouns which cannot be used on its own. However, if you add
~ㄴ/은 to a verb stem and place 적 after ~ㄴ/은, “적” has the meaning of “experience.”
Notice that ~ㄴ/은 is the same addition that is added to verbs when the past-tense form
of ~는 것 is added.

So, let’s go through this step by step. First, you need a verb: 먹다

 Add ~ㄴ/은 to the verb stem. ~은 gets added to words ending in a

consonant, ~ㄴ gets added directly to words ending in a vowel: So we get: 먹은
  Add 적: 먹은 적
If I were to say:

김치를 먹은 적

It would mean “the experience of eating kimchi.” Remember that ‘적’ is a noun that means
‘experience’ when used this way.

But, you can’t end sentences with nouns, so you need to finish the sentence with 있다 or
없다 to mean “to have the experience of eating kimchi” or “to not have the experience of
eating kimchi.”

For example:
PLAY 김치를 먹은 적이 없어요 = I don’t have the experience of eating kimchi…
… which is translated naturally to “I have never eaten kimchi”

Here are many more examples:

PLAY 거기에 간 적이 없어요 = I have never gone/been there/I haven’t been there
PLAY 그 여자를 만난 적이 없어요 = I have never met that girl/I haven’t met that girl
PLAY 연예인을 만난 적이 없어요 = I have never met anybody famous
PLAY 이런 업무를 한 적이 없어요 = I have never done this type of work before
PLAY 이런 공연을 평일에 본 적이 없어요 = I have never seen a performance like this on a
weekday
PLAY 그 영화를 본 적이 있어요? = Have you seen that movie?

Because 적 refers to an experience, it is common to attach ~아/어 보다 to the preceding

verb to indicate that the particular experience was “tried/attempted.”

PLAY 거기에 가 본 적이 없어요 = I have never been there (tried going there)
PLAY 그 여자를 만나 본 적이 없어요 = I have never met that girl (tried meeting her)
PLAY 저는 치과에 가 본 적이 없어요 = I have never (tried going to) been to the dentist
PLAY 이력서를 만들어 본 적이 없어요 = I have never tried making a resume before
PLAY 그 영화를 봐 본 적이 있어요? = Have you tried seeing that that movie?

Notice that even in the final example, the word 보다 (to see/watch) is not the same as the
보다 in the ~아/어 보다 grammatical principle. Therefore, it is not unnatural to say 보다
twice in a row.

That’s it!
Lesson 33: ~중 (하는 중), (~중에)

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 장면 = movie scene

PLAY 냄비 = pot, pan

PLAY 모습 = one's figure, appearance

PLAY 수표 = cheque

PLAY 자 = ruler

PLAY 지우개 = eraser

PLAY 지리 = geography

PLAY 태극기 = the Korean flag

PLAY 국기 = flag

PLAY 가구 = furniture

PLAY 미팅 = a kind of group blind date

PLAY 강의 = lecture

PLAY 전원 = electricity, power

PLAY 프린터 = printer

PLAY 집값 = price of houses

PLAY 변명 = excuse

PLAY 규칙 = rule, regulation

PLAY 주름 = wrinkle

PLAY 마늘 = garlic

PLAY 교환학생 = exchange student

PLAY 상가  = a building with a bunch of stores in it

PLAY 계약 = contract

PLAY 웃음 = laughter, smile

PLAY 학기 = semester

PLAY 외모 = a person’s outside appearance

PLAY 제한 = limit, restriction

PLAY 무제한 = something without limit

PLAY 현금 = cash

PLAY 물고기 = fish

PLAY 오랫동안 = for a long time

PLAY 그중 = of those things

PLAY 감정적 = emotional

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 상담하다 = to consult
CONJUGATE PLAY 높이다 = to heighten, to increase

CONJUGATE PLAY 올리다 = to raise, to lift, to increase

CONJUGATE PLAY 편집하다 = to edit

CONJUGATE PLAY 촬영하다 = to film

CONJUGATE PLAY 보관하다 = to store

CONJUGATE PLAY 복구하다 = to restore, recover

CONJUGATE PLAY 보증하다 = to guarantee

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 민감하다 = to be sensitive

CONJUGATE PLAY 상하다 = to be hurt, to be damaged

CONJUGATE PLAY 옳다 = to be right, to be proper, to be correct

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 원래 = originally

PLAY 짜리 = the one worth...

PLAY 일부러 = on purpose

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will learn how to use 중, which is a very important word in Korean. By
itself, it has the meaning of “middle” but it is never really used on its own. Combined with
other words or grammatical principles, this one word can have a lot of meanings – most of
them similar to the meaning “middle.” The Chinese (Hanja) character for this word is one
of the easiest to know and recognize, as it is one of the few characters where the character
actually represents the meaning of the word: 中 (the strike down the “middle”). Let’s look
at how we can use 중 in Korean.

Present Progressive: ~는 중

중 is a noun, which means it can replace 것 in the ~는 것 principle. When this is done, it
gives the sentence the meaning of “I am …ing… (I am in the middle of).” For example:

나는 먹는 중
나는 공부하는 중

Notice however, that 중 is a noun – and you can’t just end a sentence with a noun like that.
Therefore, if you want to make those sentences perfect, you need to conjugate the noun
using 이다.

For example:

PLAY 나는 먹는 중이야 = I am eating

PLAY 나는 공부하는 중이야 = I am studying

Notice that these sentences would have the same meaning if ~고 있다 (which you learned
in Lesson 18) was used instead. For example:

나는 먹고 있어 = I am eating
나는 공부하고 있어 = I am studying

Below are many more examples:

PLAY 우리는 그 감정적인 장면을 촬영하는 중이에요 = We are filming that emotional scene
now
PLAY 아저씨가 프린터를 복구하는 중이에요 = The man is restoring the printer
PLAY 제 모습을 거울에서 보는 중이에요 = I’m looking at myself (my appearance) in the
mirror
PLAY 오빠가 미팅을 하는 중이에요 = My brother is on a “meeting” (a group blind date)
PLAY 저는 그 비디오를 지금 편집하는 중이에요 = I am editing that video now
PLAY 제 삶에서 옳은 길을 찾는 중이에요 = I’m looking for the right path in my life
PLAY 제가 아주 중요한 규칙을 설명하는 중이에요 = I am explaining a very important rule

Sometimes you will see “중” being used immediately after the noun form of a verb without
the use of ~는 것. The nouns used in these situations are usually ~하다 nouns (that is,
verbs that we can remove ~하다 from to form nouns). For example:

PLAY 나는 공부 중이야 = I am studying

PLAY 저는 생각 중이에요 = I am thinking

Many more examples:

PLAY 그 상가가 지금 공사 중이에요 = That building is under construction

PLAY 모든 선생님들은 회의 중이에요 = All the teachers are in a meeting
PLAY 그 선생님은 강의 중이에요 = That teacher is giving a lecture
PLAY 의사가 환자랑 상담 중이에요 = The doctor is having a consultation with a patient
PLAY 저는 가구를 다 보관 중이에요 = I’m storing all of my furniture (all of my furniture is in
storage)

It is common to see this usage of “중” on signs that inform people what is happening in a
certain place.

For example, outside of a construction site, you might see a sign that says:
공사 중 = Under construction

Outside of a classroom in a University, you might see a sign that says:

강의 중 = Class in progress, or
수업 중 = Class in progress

Outside of a doctor’s office or some other business office where people need “consulting”
you might see a sign that says:
상담 중 = Consultation in progress

Outside of an office meeting room, you might see a sign that says:
회의 중 = Meeting in progress

Outside a set for a TV show or movie, you might see a sign that says:
촬영 중 = Filming in progress
중 is used in a lot of street signs to indicate that something is currently ongoing, like:
– indicating that something is under construction
– indicating that they are cracking down on illegal parking

Before you learn more about how to use 중, let’s first look at how you can use ~는 동안.

While: ~는 동안

You learned in Lesson 11 that you can place 동안 after a unit of time to describe the
duration of that time. The usual translation for that usage is “for.” For example:

PLAY 저는 10 분 동안 걸었어요 = I walked for 10 minutes

PLAY 저는 30 분 동안 공부했어요 = I studied for 30 minutes

You can also place 동안 as the noun in ~는 것, similar to how you use 중 in this situation.
When used like this, the second action occurs “during” the duration of the first action. This
usually translates to “while …” For example:

PLAY 저는 집에 가는 동안 친구랑 얘기했어요 = I talked with a friend while I walked home

You typically won’t see verbs that happen instantly (and don’t continue) used before ~는
동안. For example, when you study, that action continues for a long time, and other
actions could happen “while” you are studying. However, you wouldn’t usually see
something like this:

내가 일어나는 동안… = While I was standing up…

The action of “standing up” occurs almost instantly and it is rare for other actions to occur
while “standing up” occurs.

Below are many more examples:

PLAY 저는 수학을 공부하는 동안 연필과 자와 지우개를 다 썼어요

= I used a pencil, eraser and a ruler while I was studying math
PLAY 아줌마가 말을 하는 동안 저는 그 아줌마의 주름을 쳐다봤어요
= I was staring at the older lady’s wrinkles while she was talking

PLAY 종업원이 보증 기간에 대해 설명을 하는 동안 저는 그 종업원의 말을 듣고 있지 않았어

요
= I wasn’t listening when the worker was explaining about the warranty period

PLAY 핸드폰에 전원이 꺼져 있는 동안 전화를 받지 못했어요

= While (the power on) my phone was turned off, I couldn’t answer my phone

PLAY 그 남자의 모습을 보는 동안 웃음을 참지 못했어요

= While looking at that man’s appearance I couldn’t keep from laughing

PLAY 내가 밥을 먹는 동안 열쇠를 잊어버린 것을 깨달았어

= While I was eating I realized that I forgot my keys

PLAY 영화를 보는 동안 다른 사람들이 너무 시끄러웠어요

= While I was watching the movie, the other people were really loud

Pretty simple grammatical principle that can be used in a lot of applications. Now that you
know that, let’s move on to learn more about 중.

Of all…: ~중

In this usage, 중 is placed after a list of two or more things. For example:

밥과 빵 중에

It could also be placed after one noun that represents two or more nouns. For example:

나의 남동생 세 명 중에…
나의 친구들 중에…
Placing 중에 after some representation of two or more things, you can create the meaning
of “of (those things)” or “among/between (those things).” For example:

밥과 빵 중에 = Between rice and bread…

나의 남동생 세 명 중에… = Among/of my three younger brothers
나의 친구들 중에… = Among/of my friends

Notice the meaning of these constructions. The examples above are not complete, but you
can fill in the latter part of the sentences as you please. The latter part of the sentence
usually describes something about one of those things. For example:

PLAY 밥과 빵 중에 밥이 더 맛있어요 = Between rice and bread, rice is more delicious

PLAY 나의 남동생 세 명 중에 그는 가장 똑똑해  = Of my three younger brothers, he is the
smartest
PLAY 나의 친구들 중에 나는 슬기를 가장 좋아해 = Of all my friends, I like Seulgi the most

It is slightly easier to grasp the meaning of this concept if you remember the meaning of
“중” is “middle.” Essentially, by making these sentences, you are saying “in the middle of all
my friends.” Heh, not sure if that helps you, but it helped me understand it.

Many more examples:

PLAY 수업 중에 지리 수업을 제일 좋아해요 = Of all classes, I like Geography the most

PLAY 남자와 여자 중에 여자들이 감정에 더 민감해요 = Between boys and girls, girls are
more sensitive
PLAY 이 두 계약 중에 이 계약이 나아요 = Between these two contracts, this one is better
PLAY 모든 프린터 중에 이것이 제일 싸요 = Among all the printers, this one is the cheapest
PLAY 우리 중에 누가 제일 잘생겼어요? = Who is the most handsome among us?
PLAY 부산과 서울 중에 어디 가고 싶어요? = Where do you want to go between Seoul and
Busan?
PLAY 제가 받은 요청 중에 그 요청이 제일 이상해요 = Of all the requests that I’ve received,
that one is the strangest

(Notice in the first example that the noun “수업” is singular. When followed by “중에,” it can
be assumed that you are talking about more than one thing because “중에” always refers to
more than one thing.)

The structure of sentences where “중에” is placed after a simple noun (as shown in the
examples above) is very easy. However, “중에” can also be placed after nouns that have
been created through the use of ~는 것. For example:
모든 영화 중에.. would mean “of all the movies…”

But if you wanted to specifically say “of all the movies (that) I have seen,” you need to use
the ~는 것 principle to describe 영화. For example:

내가 본 영화 = The movie I saw/The movies I have seen

내가 본 영화 중에… of all the movies I have seen

With people, as was described earlier, you use a simple noun, like this:

나의 친구들 중에 = Of all my friends…

You could also use the ~는 것 principle to express “Of all my friends (that) I have…”

In these cases, you shouldn’t use 있다 to talk about people – because you can’t really
“possess” friends. When you want to express “Of all my friends (that) I have…” you should
use 만나다 to change the meaning to “Of all the friends (that) I have met…”

내가 있는 친구들 중에 – incorrect
내가 만난 친구들 중에 = Of all the friends I have met (of all the friends I have)
PLAY 내가 만난 친구들 중에 너는 내가 가장 좋아하는 친구야  = Of all of my friends (that I
have met), you are my favorite

When talking about places you have gone, or things you have eaten or tried, ~아/어 보다
(which you learned about in Lesson 32) is usually attached to the verb before 중에.

For example:

내가 먹어 본 음식 중에… = Of all the food I have eaten…

내가 가 본 곳 중에… = Of all the places I have been…

Below are many examples:

PLAY 내가 가지고 있는 펜 중에 이것은 가장 좋아  = Of all the pens I have, this one is the
best
PLAY 내가 가 본 곳 중에 미국은 가장 무서웠어 = Of all the places I’ve been, the US was the
scariest
PLAY 내가 한국에서 먹어 본 것 중에 제일 맛있는 것은 떡볶이였어 = Of all the things that I
have (tried) eating in in Korea, the most delicious thing was 떡볶이
Often times the choices/options are given in a previous sentence and they are being
referred to in a different sentence or clause. When this is the case, you can use “그중에” to
mean “among/between those things previously mentioned.” For example:

PLAY 바나나와 사과를 샀어요. 그중에 어떤 것을 먹고 싶어요?

= I bought bananas and apples. Between those two, which one do you want to eat?

In Lesson 22 you learned how to ask questions using 어떤 and 어느. Specifically, you
learned that these words are often used when the listener has a list of options to choose
from when answering. For example:

PLAY 어떤 치마를 샀어요? = Which skirt did you buy?

PLAY 어느 치마를 샀어요? = Which skirt did you buy?

PLAY 어떤 것을 먹고 싶어요? = Which (thing) do you want to eat?

PLAY 어느 것을 먹고 싶어요? = Which (thing) do you want to eat?

In the examples above, the options that the listener has would have to be assumed from
context. However, we can use 중에 to give the listener options. For example:

PLAY 이 치마와 저 치마 중에 어떤 치마를 샀어요?

PLAY 이 치마와 저 치마 중에 어느 치마를 샀어요?
= Between this skirt and that skirt, which one did you buy?

PLAY 빵과 밥 중에 어떤 것을 먹고 싶어요?
PLAY 빵과 밥 중에 어느 것을 먹고 싶어요?
= Between bread and rice, which one do you want to eat?

Other examples:

PLAY 캐나다 국기와 태극기 중에 어떤 국기가 더 예뻐요?

PLAY 캐나다 국기와 태극기 중에 어느 국기가 더 예뻐요?
= Between the Canadian flag and the Korean flag, which flag is more pretty?
(Which one is prettier? The Canadian or Korean flag?)

PLAY 지리와 수학 중에 어떤 수업이 더 힘들어요?

PLAY 지리와 수학 중에 어느 수업이 더 힘들어요?
= Between Geography and Math, which class is more difficult?
(Which is more difficult? Geography or Math class?)
PLAY 현금과 수표 중에 어떤 것이 나아요?
PLAY 현금과 수표 중에 어느 것이 나아요?
Between cash and a cheque, which one is better?
(Which is better? Cash or cheque?)

PLAY 천만 원짜리 차와 천오백만 원짜리 차 중에 어떤 것을 더 좋아했어요?

PLAY 천만 원짜리 차와 천오백만 원짜리 차 중에 어느 것을 더 좋아했어요?
= Between the 15,000,000 won car and 10,000,000 won cars, which one did you like more?

(Which did you like more? The 15,000,000 won car or the 10,000,000 won car?)

By sometime: 중

중 can also be used to indicate a limit of time for when some action will be done by. This is
probably the most advanced usages of 중, but it is still good to know at this point. It is
typically placed after an indication of time with “으로” attached to 중. For example:

PLAY 저는 그것을 내일 중으로 다 할 거예요 = I will do all of it by tomorrow

When used like this, the exact time that the action will be done is ambiguous, so it is
common to use the word “sometime” in the translation:

PLAY 저는 그것을 내일 중으로 다 할 거예요 = I will do all of it by sometime tomorrow

Other examples:

PLAY 그 장면 촬영을 내일 중으로 끝낼 거예요 = We will finish the filming of that scene by
sometime tomorrow
PLAY 보증 기간은 다음 달 중으로 끝날 거예요 = The warranty period will finish by
sometime next month
PLAY 우리가 편집을 원래 내일 중으로 다 하고 싶었어요 = We originally wanted to do all of
the editing by sometime tomorrow
That’s it!

Lessons 26 – 33 Mini-Test
1) In which example is ~는 것 being used incorrectly:

a) 한국에서 사는 것을 좋아해요
b) 아이가 슬프는 것을 보고 있어요
c) 아빠가 사과를 사는 것을 원해요
d) 영화를 보는 것을 좋아해요

2) Which of the following nouns is being described as a noun in the future tense?

a) 먹을 음식
b) 먹은 음식
c) 먹는 음식
d) 먹던 음식

3) Which irregular is being used correctly?

a) 이 집을 짓은 사람은 똑똑해요
b) 어제 팔은 것은 뭐예요?
c) 문을 열을 거예요
d) 이것을 만든 사람은 누구에요?

4) Which of the following describes that you have been living in Korea for 4 months?

a) 한국에서 작년에 사 개월 동안 살았어요

b) 한국에 산 지 네 달 됐어요
c) 한국에 사 개월 후에 갈지 몰라요
d) 한국에 4 달 안에 갈 거예요

5) Which of the following would be incorrect:

a) 그것은 옛날에 신었던 신발이에요

b) 그 신발을 신어 보고 싶어요
c) 그 신발을 신는 적이 없어요
d) 지금 신발을 신으려고요

6) Which of the following describes that you went to school yesterday to meet a teacher?

a) 어제 선생님을 만나러 학교에 갔어요

b) 선생님에게 책을 주러 학교에 갔어요
c) 선생님을 만나려고 식당에 갔어요
d) 공부하러 학교에 갔어요

7) Which have you never tried before?

김치를 먹은 적이 없어
떡뽁이를 먹어 본 적이 있어

a) 김치
b) 떡복이
c) 김치랑 떡복이
d) 다 먹은 적이 있다

 
8) Which of the following has the same meaning of

‘공부하러 학교에 가고 있다’

a) 공부를 해 본 적이 있는 것 중에 이것은 가장 어려워요

b) 학교에서 공부하는 중이에요
c) 공부를 학교에서 할 것이다
d) 공부를 하려고 학교에 가는 중이다

The answers are just a little bit lower!

1) B
2) A
3) D
4) B
5) C
6) A
7) A
8) D

Lesson 34: Explanations for Difficult Words

Einführung

This lesson is focused entirely on difficult vocabulary. I will teach you about some words
that need to be explained before we can move on to more complex grammar. Specifically,
you will learn how to to use: 자기/자신, 훨씬, 관하다/관련하다, 주위, 일단, 전혀/별로,
words dealing with weight, and words ending in ~거리다. Let’s get started.

Below is the list of words I want to introduce.

Click on the English word to see “hidden” information and many examples of that word in
use. This lesson is focused on introducing each specific word anyways, so a lot of this
“hidden” information is already presented in the lesson itself. However, the sentences
hidden behind each word also include example sentences from later lessons. Use these
sentences to give yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to
expose yourself to the grammar that you will be learning shortly.
A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

CONJUGATE PLAY 흔들다 = to shake

CONJUGATE PLAY 흔들거리다 = to be shaking

CONJUGATE PLAY 머뭇거리다 = to hesitate

CONJUGATE PLAY 반짝거리다 = to be shiny

CONJUGATE PLAY 두리번거리다 = to look around

CONJUGATE PLAY 끈적거리다 = to be sticky

CONJUGATE PLAY 출렁거리다 = to be sloshing, to be rocking

PLAY 자기 = him or her

PLAY 자신 = oneself

PLAY 아직 = still, yet

PLAY 여전히 = still

PLAY 별로 = not very

PLAY 전혀 = not at all

PLAY 훨씬 = much more

CONJUGATE PLAY 관하다 = related to, regarding

CONJUGATE PLAY 관련하다 = related to, regarding

PLAY 주위 = around the circumference

PLAY 일단 = once, first, for now

PLAY 무게 = weight

PLAY 몸무게 = body weight

PLAY 살 = flesh, weight

CONJUGATE PLAY 찌다 = to gain weight

CONJUGATE PLAY 빠지다 = to lose weight

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Let’s look at each word (or groups of words) individually.

~거리다

You will sometimes see “~거리다” at the end of words. For example:

PLAY 흔들거리다 = to be shaking

PLAY 머뭇거리다 = to hesitate
PLAY 반짝거리다 = to be shiny
PLAY 두리번거리다 = to look around
PLAY 끈적거리다 = to be sticky
PLAY 출렁거리다 = to be sloshing

Some of these words have meaning without ~거리다 attached, or can be used in another
form. For example, 흔들다 means “to shake/swing/wave.” What meaning could ~거리다
have?

When a word ends in ~거리다, it means that whatever is being done, it is being done
repeatedly – in a stopping and starting fashion. For example:

PLAY 흔들다 = to shake

PLAY 흔들거리다 = to be shaking

Note that you can’t just add ~거리다 to every word to give it the meaning of ‘being
repeated.’ Only certain words can use this ending, so I don’t recommend adding ~거리다
to random words if you haven’t learned that it can specifically be used like that.
In addition, some words only end in ~거리다. That is, other than their ~거리다 form, there
is no other way that they can be used. For example:

PLAY 머뭇거리다 = to repeatedly hesitate

PLAY 두리번거리다 = to repeatedly look around.

While 머뭇거리다 and 두리번거리다 are words, “머뭇다” and “두리번다” are not  words.

The idea of ~거리다 adding the feeling of a “repeated action” doesn’t always work in my
brain. I feel that it doesn’t do the translation or feeling of ~거리다 justice sometimes. I’ve
noticed that ~거리다 is often added to words that indicates one’s perception or feeling
and where expressing this exact feeling is difficult. For example, if you touched something
gooey and it was all gross and “sticky,” you could use the word “끈적거리다” to express
this feeling. The stickiness is not really repeating – it’s more of a weird feeling that I can’t
describe. Sometimes you will come across words ending in ~거리다 where the translation
is more about a strange feeling or perception than an action that repeats itself. In times
like these, I like adding the English word “all” to the sentence to express this strange
feeling. For example:

“I touched that goo and it was all sticky.”

Below are some example sentences with words using ~거리다. Note that there are other
words that end in ~거리다 that are not included in the vocabulary list above. Most words
using ~거리다 are quite difficult, and the purpose of this lesson is not to introduce you to
every word where you can see ~거리다. Rather, the purpose of this lesson is to introduce
you to the general meaning/feeling of ~거리다 to allow you to understand its usage when
you see it used on words during your studies.

It is also important to note that all words ending in ~거리다 are verbs and therefore must
be conjugated as such. Many of these words inherently feel like adjectives, so it is strange
at first to consider them verbs. For example, “끈적거리다” is a verb, but it typically
translates to the adjective “to be sticky” in English.

PLAY 우리는 흔들거리는 다리를 건넜어요

= We crossed the wobbly bridge (the bridge that keeps shaking, the shaky bridge)

PLAY 남자가 여자와 얘기하는 것을 머뭇거렸어요

= The man kept hesitating to talk with the girl
PLAY 사고가 난 후에 차를 다시 운전하는 것을 머뭇거렸어요
= I (continually) hesitated about driving again after the accident

PLAY 반짝거리는 목걸이를 하고 있었어요

= She was wearing a necklace that was all sparkly/shiny

PLAY 별이 밤에 하늘에서 반짝거려요

= The stars in the night sky are all sparkly/shiny

PLAY 열쇠를 찾으려고 방을 두리번거렸어요

= I looked around the room to find my keys

PLAY 땀이 나고 나서 몸이 아주 끈적거려요
= After sweating, my body is all sticky

PLAY 바다에서 물이 출렁거렸어요

= The water rocked back and forth in the ocean

It is common to see words with ~거리다 used in literature where the author wants to
describe a certain feeling through language. For example, the sentence immediately above
could be translated to “the water rocked back and forth.” However, it could also be
translated to “the water sloshed back and forth in the ocean.” The word “slosh” gives me a
more descriptive feeling and image of the water. In Korean, these ~거리다 words often
give sentences a more descriptive feeling and image.

자기 and 자신

When referring to somebody in the third person, you can use words like “he,” “she,” or
“that person.” For example:

그는 한국을 좋아해요 = He likes Korea

그녀는 한국을 좋아해요 = She likes Korea
그 사람은 한국을 좋아해요 = That person likes Korea

자기 is usually used in sentences when a person has already been mentioned, and is being
mentioned again. For example, in the sentence:

“He likes his appearance.”

You could write that sentence like this:

그는 그의 외모를 좋아해요

However, it could also be written like this:

PLAY 그는 자기(의) 외모를 좋아해요 = He likes his appearance

Here, you can use 자기 to replace the person you are talking about the second  time you
mention that person. Below are many more examples. I have bolded the word “자기” and
its translation to make it clear what “자기” translates to.

PLAY 우리 아들은 자기(의) 일을 항상 혼자 하고 싶어요

= Our son always wants to do his work alone

PLAY 저의 아내는 자기가 요리한 것을 보통 안 먹어요

= My wife usually doesn’t eat the food she cooks

PLAY 우리 아들은 자기 건강에 대해 의사와 상담을 했어요

= Our son consulted with a doctor about his health

PLAY 여자가 변한 자기 모습을 보고 실망했어요

= The girl looked at her changed appearance and was disappointed

————————

In the example sentences above using “자기,” some person is being referred to twice in
the same sentence. Although this person is mentioned twice, the person is not the
subject and the object of the sentence. For example:

PLAY 우리 아들은 자기(의) 일을 항상 혼자 하고 싶어요

The subject is “our son.” The object is “his work.”

PLAY 저의 아내는 자기가 요리한 것을 보통 안 먹어요

The subject is “my wife.” The object is “the food (she cooks).”

When one person is both the subject and  the object of a sentence, the word “자신” is used
as the object. The translation of 자신 to English depends on who the person is, but the
basic form you will see is “oneself.” Depending on the person, the translation would be:
Myself
Yourself
Himself
Herself
Themselves

For example:

PLAY 저는 자신을 안 믿어요 = I don’t trust myself

PLAY 너는 자신을 안 믿어? = You don’t trust yourself?
PLAY 그는 자신을 안 믿어요 = He doesn’t trust himself
PLAY 그녀는 자신을 안 믿어요 = She doesn’t trust herself
PLAY 그들은 자신을 안 믿어요 = They don’t trust themselves

It is common to place the following words before 자신:

나/내/저/제 if the subject is “I”

너/네 if the subject is “you”
그/그녀/자기 if the subject is “him” or “her”
그들 if the subject is “they”

For example:

PLAY 저는 제 자신을 안 믿어요 = I don’t trust myself

PLAY 너는 네 자신을 안 믿어? = You don’t trust yourself?
PLAY 그는 자기 자신을 안 믿어요 = He doesn’t trust himself
PLAY 그녀는 자기 자신을 안 믿어요 = She doesn’t trust herself
PLAY 그들은 그들 자신을 안 믿어요 = They don’t trust themselves

We also see these translations when the person is the subject and also placed before ~에
대해 or ~에게 in a sentence. For example:

자신에 대해 = about oneself

자신에게 = to oneself

Below are many examples showing the use of 자신:

PLAY 청소년들은 그들 자신을 사랑하지 않아요

= Young people don’t love themselves
PLAY 그 학생은 자기 자신에게 자꾸 변명을 해요
= That student always makes excuses to/for himself

PLAY 저도 제 자신을 몰라요

= Even I don’t know myself

PLAY 저는 제 자신에게 그런 말을 많이 했어요

= I said that (type of thing) to myself many times

PLAY 그 남자가 수업 시간 동안 자기 자신에게 말을 해요

= That boy talks to himself during class

PLAY 저는 한국에서 제 자신에 대해 많이 배웠어요

= I learned a lot about myself in Korea

PLAY 그는 자기 자신에 대해 아무 것도 알고 있지 않아요

= He doesn’t know anything about himself

Still – 아직

When used in the present tense, 아직 translates to “still.” For example:

PLAY 저는 아직 기다리고 있어요 = I am still waiting

PLAY 학생들은 그 선생님을 아직 좋아해요? = Do students still like that teacher?
PLAY 불이 아직 켜져 있어요 = The light is still on
PLAY 그 상가가 그 길에 아직 있어요 = That building is still on that street
PLAY 저는 주름이 아직 많아요 = I still have a lot of wrinkles
PLAY 저는 한국에 아직 간 적이 없어요 = I still haven’t been to Korea

When used in the past tense, it is typically used in negative sentences to indicate that
something still hasn’t happened. For example:

PLAY 보증 기간이 아직 안 지났어요 = The warranty period still hasn’t passed

PLAY 수표를 아직 안 받았어요 = I still haven’t received the cheque
PLAY 우리는 그 문제를 아직 해결하지 못했어요 = We still haven’t resolved that problem
PLAY 새로운 휴대폰을 아직 안 샀어요 = I still haven’t bought a new phone
PLAY 우리는 4 번출구를 아직 찾지 못했어요 = We still haven’t found exit 4

When used like this, the word “yet” can also be used in the translation. For example:

PLAY 보증 기간이 아직 안 지났어요 = The warranty period hasn’t passed yet

PLAY 수표를 아직 안 받았어요 = I haven’t received the cheque yet
PLAY 우리는 그 문제를 아직 해결하지 못했어요 = We haven’t resolved that problem yet
PLAY 새로운 휴대폰을 아직 안 샀어요 = I haven’t bought a new phone yet
PLAY 우리는 4 번출구를 아직 찾지 못했어요 = We haven’t found exit 4 yet

If somebody asks you if you have done something, you can respond with “아직…. 안
했어요.” For example:

Person 1: PLAY 일을 다 했어요? = Have you done all the work yet?
Person 2: PLAY 아직 안 했어요 = I haven’t done it yet/I still haven’t done it

In these cases, it is common to simplify the sentence and just use “아직” as the answer (~
요 can be added in formal situations). For example:

Person 1: PLAY 일을 다 했어요? = Have you done all the work yet?
Person 2: PLAY 아직요… = Not yet

——————-

Above, notice how only  “아직” is being used (which translates to “yet”) and how the
English translation includes both “yet” and “not.” This difference often causes Korean
people to make mistakes when saying this type of sentence in English. For example, a
conversation with a Korean person (in English) might go like this:

English speaker: Did you do the work yet?

Korean speaker: Yet

——————-

Particles ~도 and ~은 can be attached to 아직 to create a more complex meaning of the

word “still.” The word 여전히 also translates to “still.” The following can be very confusing:
아직도 = still
아직은 = still
여전히 = still

I’ll explain the subtle nuisances between each one:

아직도 is used when you are emphasizing that something is still the case – but it shouldn’t
be. For example:

PLAY 저는 운동을 아직도 하지 않았어요 = I still haven’t exercised

(Putting emphasis on “still” meaning that you still haven’t exercised – but should have by
now)

PLAY 머리가 아직도 아파요 = My head still  hurts

(Putting emphasis on “still” meaning that your head still  hurts, but shouldn’t anymore)

아직은 is used when you are saying that something hasn’t happened yet, but it will
happen soon (or vice-versa). Here, the comparison function of ~은 is used to compare the
present (where something has or hasn’t happened) with the future (where the opposite
will happen). For example:

PLAY 저는 운동을 아직은 하지 않았어요 = I still haven’t exercised

(Indicating that I haven’t exercised, but I will exercise shortly)

PLAY 저는 아직은 공부를 하고 있어요 = I am still studying

(Indicating that I am studying, but I will finish [and therefore won’t be studying] shortly)

여전히 is used when the action that is still being done/still hasn’t been done will continue
into the foreseeable future. For example:

PLAY 저는 운동을 여전히 하지 않았어요 = I still haven’t exercised

(Indicating that you haven’t exercised, and you have no plans to exercise soon)

PLAY 저는 그 여자를 여전히 좋아해요 = I still like that girl

(Indicating that you still like that girl, and will continue to like her)

Honestly, this is more confusing than it needs to be. In most situations, simply using “
아직” is sufficient. However, if you ever wanted to be more specific, you could use 아직도,
아직은 or 여전히. It helps if you understand the meanings of ~도 and ~은 on their own to
extrapolate how they can be applied to 아직.
 

Words that need negative endings

In Lesson 25, you learned about using 아무도, 아무 것도, 아무 데도 and 아무 때도. In that
lesson, you learned that sentences containing those words should have a negative
conjugation. For example, instead of saying:

아무도 나를 좋아해 (incorrect)

You would have to write:

아무도 나를 좋아하지 않아 or 아무도 나를 안 좋아해 = Nobody likes me

There are a handful of other words that require this negative ending. I would like to
introduce you to 별로 and 전혀.

별로 and 전혀 both have very similar meanings – but 전혀 is more extreme. 별로 has the
meaning of “really” or “that” in these types of sentences:

I’m not really/that hungry
I don’t really want to go
He’s not that handsome

To say those sentences in Korean, you can use 별로 as an adverb within the sentence, and
then finish the sentence with a negative conjugation.

For example:

PLAY 나는 별로 배고프지 않아 = I’m not really hungry

PLAY 나는 밖에 별로 나가고 싶지 않아 = I don’t really want to go outside
PLAY 그는 별로 잘생기지 않았다 = He’s not that handsome

You should know by now that 이다 usually does not attach to adverbs. 별로 is an
exception, as it is very common for Korean people to use this construction to describe
their indifference towards something. The most common way you would hear this is in
response to a question. For example:
A: PLAY 밥은 맛있어? = Is the food delicious?
B: PLAY 별로야 = Meh, not really

A: PLAY 이 바지는 마음에 들어? = Do you like these pants?

B: PLAY 별로야 = Meh, not really

If it is being used in a formal setting, it is more common to just attach “요” to it:

A: PLAY 홍콩에 가고 싶어요? = Do you want to go to Hong Kong?

B: PLAY 별로요 = Meh, not really

It can also be used in the past tense. In these cases, the past tense conjugation of 이다 is
used for both formal and informal situations. For example:

A: PLAY 점심을 먹었어요? 어땠어요? = Did you have lunch? How was it?
B: PLAY 별로였어요 = Meh, it wasn’t that good

A: PLAY 그 남자를 만났어? 잘생겼어? = Did you meet that man? Was he handsome?
B: PLAY 아니. 별로였어 = Nah, not really.

It can also be used immediately after a noun, almost as if it were an adjective. This allows it
to be used by a speaker even if there was not a soliciting question. For example:

PLAY 우리가 먹었던 피자가 별로였어 = The pizza we ate wasn’t that good

This sentence is essentially the same as:

PLAY 우리가 먹었던 피자가 별로 맛있지 않았어 = The pizza we ate wasn’t that delicious

The only difference is that using “별로이다” in these cases is very colloquial and more
common in speech.

전혀 has a similar meaning, but it is more extreme. 전혀 has the meaning of “at all” in the
following sentences:

I’m not hungry at all

I don’t want to go outside at all
He’s not handsome at all

For example:
PLAY 나는 전혀 배고프지 않아 = I’m not hungry at all
PLAY 나는 밖에 전혀 나가고 싶지 않아 = I don’t want to go outside at all
PLAY 그는 전혀 잘생기지 않았다 = He’s not handsome at all

Another way to express a similar meaning to 전혀 is to attach ~도 to 하나. Like 별로 and

전혀, this is commonly used in negative sentences. Technically, this would translate to
something like “not even one,” for example:

PLAY 저는 친구가 하나도 없어요 = I don’t even have one friend

PLAY 저는 사진을 하나도 안 찍었어요 = I didn’t even take one picture
PLAY 그 할아버지는 주름이 하나도 없어요 = That grandfather doesn’t even have one
wrinkle

However, even though the word “하나” is used, it can be used even in situations where
nothing is countable. In this case, it is better translated to something like “not at all” like
전혀. For example:

PLAY 저는 밥을 하나도 안 먹었어요 = I didn’t eat at all

PLAY 학교가 하나도 재미없어요 = School isn’t fun at all
PLAY 그 여자가 하나도 안 웃었어요 = That girl didn’t laugh at all

훨씬 = much more

훨씬 can be used in sentences just like 더 (which you learned about in Lesson 19), but the
meaning is stronger than 더. For example:

PLAY 나는 나의 남동생보다 훨씬 똑똑해 = I am way/much smarter than my brother

PLAY 한국어는 영어보다 훨씬 어렵다 = Korean is much more difficult than English

You can also put 더 in the sentence after 훨씬 with no difference in meaning:

PLAY 나는 나의 남동생보다 훨씬 더 똑똑해 = I am way/much smarter than my brother

PLAY 한국어는 영어보다 훨씬 더 어렵다 = Korean is much more difficult than English
 

관하다 and 관련하다

You learned how to use ~에 대하다 in Lesson 13. The typical translation for ~에 대하다 is
“about.” For example:

PLAY 나는 너에 대해 생각했어 = I thought about you

PLAY 나는 한국역사에 대한 영화를 봤어 = I saw a movie about Korean history

You can use ~에 관하다 instead of ~에 대하다. For example:

PLAY 나는 한국역사에 대한 영화를 봤어 = I saw a movie about Korean history, and
PLAY 나는 한국역사에 관한 영화를 봤어 = I saw a movie about Korean history

관하다 indicates some form of “relation.” A literal translation would be “to have relation
with.” Therefore, the sentence above could also be translated to:

PLAY 나는 한국역사에 대한 영화를 봤어 = I saw a movie about Korean history, and
PLAY 나는 한국역사에 관한 영화를 봤어 = I saw a movie related to Korean history

Although 관하다 and 대하다 can be used to create a similar meaning in some situations, it
is awkward to use 관하다 when “thinking” about something/somebody. For example, the
following sentence:

나는 너에 관해 많이 생각했어

Would be better off said as:

PLAY 나는 너에 대해 생각했어 = I thought about you

A word that is similar in form is ~에 관련하다. It is often used in the same way as ~에
대하다 and ~에 관하다. Notice the difference in meanings:

환경에 대해 = About the environment

환경에 대한 것 = A thing about the environment
환경에 관해 = About/regarding the environment
환경에 관한 것 = A thing about/regarding the environment

환경에 관련해 = About/regarding the environment

환경에 관련한 것 = A thing about/regarding the environment
(관련한 is also often used as 관련돼 and 관련된)

~에 관련해 is usually written/spoken as 관련하여 (or 관련되어). Remember that 해 is

actually the shortened form of 하여, and is much more common. In some formal
situations, instructions, and signs you might find 하여 used more often than “해,” but other
than that, “하여” is less commonly used. However, 관련하여 is quite common.

Some examples:

PLAY 환경에 관련된 영화가 많아요

PLAY 환경에 관련한 영화가 많아요
PLAY 환경에 관한 영화가 많아요
= There are a lot of movies relating to the environment

PLAY 이 문제에 관련되어 회의가 있을 것이다

PLAY 이 문제에 관련하여 회의가 있을 것이다
PLAY 이 문제에 관해 회의가 있을 것이다
= There will be a meeting relating to this problem

PLAY 태극기에 관련된 이야기를 했어요

PLAY 태극기에 관련한 이야기를 했어요
PLAY 태극기에 관한 이야기를 했어요
= We had a discussion relating to the Korean flag

주위– Around the circumference

주위 is also a fairly simple word, but a little bit of explanation will probably help you
understand it better. In Lesson 2, you learned various words of position, like ‘inside,’
‘outside,’ ‘beside,’ etc… For example:
학교 앞에 = in-front of the school
학교 뒤에 = behind the school
학교 안에 = inside the school

You can use 주위 in the same way, but to mean “around.” For example:

PLAY 나는 학교 주위를 걷는 것을 좋아해 = I like walking around the school

PLAY 달은 지구 주위를 돌아요 = The moon spins around the earth
PLAY 학생들이 넘어진 친구 주위에 서 있었어요 = The students stood around their friend
who had fallen

It can also be used to refer to the general surroundings of a place. For example:

PLAY 그가 주위를 두리번거렸어요 = He looked around at his surroundings

PLAY 주위가 안전하지 않아요 = This area/surrounding area isn’t safe

Finally, you will also see 주위 used to refer to the people who one often comes in contact
with. This is often translated to the people “around” a person – but not in a physical sense.
Rather, it refers to ones friends, family, coworkers, etc. For example:

PLAY 그는 주위 사람들을 안 믿어요 = He doesn’t trust those around him

PLAY 주위 사람 중에 그를 좋아하는 사람은 하나도 없어요 = There isn’t even one person
around him that likes him

일단 = Once, First, For Now

Throughout your studies, you will learn a variety of adverbs that can be placed in
sentences that have no real meaning. The purpose they serve is more to add feeling to a
sentence rather than to change the meaning in any drastic way. This is hard to describe in
English because (to my knowledge) we don’t have anything similar. The most common of
these words is “만약” which you have yet to learn about at this point (you will learn about
it in Lesson 43).

The purpose of these words (or the feeling that they give off) is to allow the listener/reader
to expect the type of sentence that is about to be said. For example, when somebody says
“일단”, one can expect that the speaker will be mentioning that one action will happen
before another.

You will usually see the translation of “once” for 일단, although it is hard to correctly
decide on a translation for a word whose meaning is more about feeling.

In Lesson 24 you learned about how to use ~ㄴ/은 후에 to say sentences like this:
제가 밥을 먹은 후에 밖에 나갈 거예요 = After I eat, I will go outside

In this sentence, one action (eating) happens before another (going outside). You can use
“일단” in sentences like this. For example:

PLAY 일단 제가 밥을 먹은 후에 밖에 나갈 거예요 = Once I eat, I will go outside

Notice that the two sentences essentially have the same meaning. The only reason I
translated them differently is to try to account for the fact that “일단” was used in the
second example.

Other examples:

PLAY 일단 일을 다 한 후에 아빠에게 전화할 거예요

= Once I do all the work, I will call my dad

PLAY 일단 재료를 산 후에 샐러드를 만들 거예요

= Once I buy the ingredients, I will make a salad

PLAY 일단 한국어를 배운 후에 중국어를 배우고 싶어요

= Once I learn Korean, I want to learn Chinese

The word “이상” is often used in sentences with 일단 similar to how “후에” is used. You
learned about “후에” in Lesson 24. For example:

PLAY 밥을 먹은 후에 친구를 만났어요 = After I ate I met a friend

PLAY 밥을 먹은 후에 친구를 만날 거예요 = After I eat, I will meet a friend

이상 is similar to 후에, but when 이상 is used the speaker is specifically indicating that the
clause prior to 이상 has already completed, and that he/she will now complete the clause
after 이상. The translation of “now that one has…” is usually appropriate. For example:
PLAY 일단 제가 시작한 이상 멈추지 않을 거예요 = Now that I’ve started, I won’t stop
PLAY 일단 일을 다 한 이상 아빠에게 전화할 거예요 = Now that I’m done all my work, I will
call my dad
PLAY 일단 재료를 산 이상 샐러드를 만들 거예요 = Now that I have bought all the
ingredients, I will make a salad
PLAY 일단 한국어를 배운 이상 중국어를 배우고 싶어요 = Now that I have learned Korean, I
want to learn Chinese

In addition to this, you will often see 일단 placed at the beginning of a sentence that has
the particle “~부터” attached to the object in the clause that happens first, followed by a
verb with ~고 attached. For example:

일단 밥부터 먹고…

You learned about the particle “~부터” in Lesson 12. Although the translation of ~부터 is
slightly different, the usage shown above is essentially the same as the usage introduced
in that earlier lesson.

When added to a noun like this (as in the example above) preceded by “일단” one is
indicating that one action should happen before another action. The construction above
(which is not a complete sentence yet) means that the speaker wants to eat first, and then,
after finishing eating, another action can take place. For example:

PLAY 나는 일단 밥부터 먹고 나갈 거야

Again, this sentence implies that the speaker wants to eat, and then after finishing eating,
wants to go out(side). This sentence could translate to many different things in English:

PLAY 나는 일단 밥부터 먹고 나갈 거야 = I will eat first, and then go outside

PLAY 나는 일단 밥부터 먹고 나갈 거야 = I will start by (from) eating, and then go outside
PLAY 나는 일단 밥부터 먹고 나갈 거야 = After I eat, I will go outside
PLAY 나는 일단 밥부터 먹고 나갈 거야 = Once I am finished eating, I will go outside

Notice that it doesn’t matter what you translate the sentence to. In the end, the result is
the same in each translation, and the purpose of 일단 is merely there to give feeling to the
sentence. More examples:

PLAY 일단 숙제를 끝내고 친구를 만날 거예요

= Once I finish my homework, I will meet a friend
PLAY 일단 피자부터 먹고 과자를 먹을 거예요
= Once I finish eating the pizza, I will eat candy/snacks

PLAY 일단 빵에 땅콩버터부터 바르고 딸기를 놓을 거예요

= Once I spread peanut butter on the bread, I will put strawberries onto it

PLAY 일단 한국어부터 배우고 중국어를 배우고 싶어요

= Once I learn Korean, I want to learn Chinese

Weight Words

There are a lot of words that relate to weight/body weight that aren’t very easy to
understand. I want to take some time to explain these words to you.

The word for “weight” is “무게”

You already know that the word for body is “몸.” If you are talking about one’s body
weight, you can say “몸무게.”

Korea, like most of the world, uses the metric system. People probably wouldn’t
understand if you expressed your weight using pounds.

The first way to indicate how much you weigh is like this:
PLAY 나는 (몸무게가) 70 kg 야 = I weigh 70 kilograms
“kg” is pronounced as “킬로” or “킬로그램” in Korean. You are more likely to see “kg”
written instead of “킬로” or “킬로그램.”

It is also possible to use “나가다” as the predicating word of the sentence. For example:
PLAY 나는 (몸무게가) 70 kg 나가 = I weigh 70 kilograms

In both situations, “몸무게” can be omitted from the sentence as the context makes it clear
that the speaker is referring to his/her weight. The sentences above could be shortened to:
PLAY 나는 70 kg 야 = I weigh 70 kilograms
PLAY 나는 70 kg 나가 = I weigh 70 kilograms
If you want to ask how much somebody weighs, you can turn those two sentences into
questions using 몇 (which you learned about in Lesson 22). For example:

PLAY(몸무게가) 몇 kg 야? = How much do you weigh?

PLAY(몸무게가) 몇 kg(가) 나가? = How much do you weigh?

When talking about weight, it is common to talk about losing or gaining weight. When
doing this, the word “살” is typically used instead of “몸무게.” 살 literally refers to one’s
soft tissues (like muscle, fat or flesh) and can also be applied to the meat/flesh of other
animals. For example:

PLAY 그 물고기에 살이 없어요 = There is no meat on that fish

Weight is typically lost and gained in soft tissue, so 살 is used instead of 몸무게. Common
verbs you will hear with “살” are:

살이 찌다 = to gain weight
살이 빠지다 = to lose weight (typically used when weight is lost inadvertently)
살을 빼다 = to lose weight (typically used when weight is lost on purpose)

These verbs have other uses than these situations related to weight. For example:

빠지다 is a verb used when something falls, sinks, drops or is deflated

빼다 is a verb used when somebody removes something from somewhere (as in, to
remove weight from one’s body).
(찌다 doesn’t have much use outside of this situation)

찌다 and 빠지다 are passive verbs, so they cannot act on objects. In practice, all this means
is that you cannot put ~을/를 in a sentence/clause that ends in 찌다/빠지다. The best way
to use these words in situations of gaining and losing weight is:

PLAY 나는 작년에 살이 많이 쪘어 = I gained a lot of weight last year

PLAY 나는 살이 많이 빠졌어 = I lost a lot of weight

빼다 is an active verb, and therefore can act on an object. For example:

PLAY 저는 살을 빼고 싶어요 = I want to lose weight

This lesson was a little bit different than our usual lessons, but I felt that before going any
further, you needed to know how to use these important words in Korean. In the next
lesson, we will go back to our usual format of teaching you a lot of Korean grammar. In
the mean time, make sure you are comfortable with what was taught in this lesson.

Lesson 35: It seems to be/might be: 것 같다

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 수영장 = swimming pool

PLAY 보건 = preservation of health

PLAY 소나무 = pine tree

PLAY 바닥 = floor

PLAY 변태 = pervert

PLAY 홍수= flood

PLAY 새우 = shrimp

PLAY 왕따 = outcast

PLAY 낚시 = fishing

PLAY 후배 = one’s junior

PLAY 꿀 = honey

PLAY 허벅지 = inner thigh

PLAY 말 = horse

PLAY 휴가 = holiday, vacation

PLAY 휴식 = break

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 넘치다 = to overflow

CONJUGATE PLAY 피하다 = to avoid

CONJUGATE PLAY 펴다 = to unfold, to unroll

CONJUGATE PLAY 답장하다 = to respond to a message

CONJUGATE PLAY 봉사하다 = to volunteer

CONJUGATE PLAY 시도하다 = to try, to attempt

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 펴지다 = to be unfolded, to be unrolled

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 답답하다 = to be stuffy, to be frustrated

CONJUGATE PLAY 평화롭다 = to be peaceful

CONJUGATE PLAY 신기하다 = to be amazing, to be cool

CONJUGATE PLAY 멋있다 = to be stylish

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 오히려 = on the contrary

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

 
 Einführung

Over the past 10 lessons, you have been learning a lot about how to use ~는 것 and things
related to ~는 것 in Korean. We have just about reached the extent of what you need to
know about ~는 것 and how to use it. In this lesson (as well as in Lesson 36), you will learn
a variety of grammatical forms that can be used to say “to seem like” or “to look like.”

To seem like/to be likely to: ~ㄹ/을 것 같다

In Lesson 15, you learned how to use ‘같다’ in sentences by placing it after a noun
connected with ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고. For example:

PLAY 저 식당은 이 식당과 같아요 = That restaurant is the same as this one
PLAY 그 나무가 소나무와 같아요 = That tree is like a pine tree

Since then, you have been learning a lot about ~는 것 and how to use it. Here, you will
learn about how to use this ~는 것 principle with the word 같다.

If you conjugate a sentence in the future tense (using ~ㄹ/을 것이다), you end up with a
sentence like this:

나는 밥을 먹을 것이다 = I will eat rice

Remember again what the ending of this sentence is made up of. The ending is actually
made up of ‘~는 것’ in the future tense (~ㄹ 것) followed by 이다.

If we remove the ‘이다’ we are left with “…~ㄹ/을 것. For example:

나는 밥을 먹을 것

This is an incomplete sentence, so it is hard to translate, but it loosely translates to “the

thing of me eating rice.” Remember again that “것” is a noun (meaning “thing”). If we
place 같다 after that noun, it gives the sentence a special meaning:
PLAY 나는 밥을 먹을 것 같다

Whenever you finish a sentence using ~ㄹ/을 것 같다, the meaning changes to something
that might happen. This meaning is quite similar to ~ㄹ/을지 모르다, which you learned
in Lesson 30. For example:

나는 밥을 먹을 것이다 = I will eat rice

나는 밥을 먹을 것 같다 = I will probably eat rice/I might eat rice
나는 밥을 먹을지 모르겠다 = I don’t know if I will eat rice

Here are many more examples:

It is very common for Korean people to pronounce  같아(요)  as “같애(요).” This is not only
true just when using  같다 as it is presented in this lesson, but also in other grammatical
forms that you learned about in  Lesson 15, and that you will learn about in the next lesson.

PLAY 저는 친구들이랑 내일 낚시를 할 것 같아요 = I will probably go fishing with my

friends tomorrow
PLAY 우리 아빠는 저것을 싫어할 것 같아 = Dad will probably not like that
PLAY 선생님이 그 수업을 하지 않을 것 같아요 = The teacher probably won’t do (teach) that
lesson
PLAY 남자 친구가 답장하지 않을 것 같아요 = My boyfriend probably won’t respond
PLAY 우리는 휴가를 중국에서 보낼 것 같아요 = We will probably spend our holiday in
China
PLAY 모두는 왕따와 밥을 먹는 것을 피할 것 같아요 = Everybody will probably avoid eating
with the outcast

Although the previous examples used a person as the subject, the subject of the sentence
can be anything. For example:

PLAY 비가 올 것 같아 = It will probably rain/it seems like it will rain

PLAY 문이 열려 있을 것 같아요 = The door will probably be open
PLAY 내일 홍수가 날 것 같아요 = There will probably be a flood tomorrow

You can also use this same form on adjectives:

PLAY 우리는 늦을 것 같아 = We will probably be late
PLAY 새우가 너무 비쌀 것 같아요 = The shrimp will probably be too expensive
PLAY 그 교실이 아주 답답할 것 같아요 = That classroom will probably be very stuffy
When describing “것 같다” in the future tense these situations are guesses from the
speaker. It is possible to change the conjugation of the word before “것 같다” to express
that something may have happened in past or might be happening in the present. When
doing this, instead of using the future conjugation of ~ㄹ/을 것, you can use the past (~ㄴ
/은 것) or present (~는 것) additions of ~는 것. (If you forget the purpose of these
additions, I suggest that you review Lesson 26). For example:

PLAY 엄마는 기다리고 있는 것 같아요

PLAY 선생님이 열심히 공부한 것 같아요

When using these past and present conjugations before 것 같다, there is a slight nuance
that the speaker has received some information to make him/her express this possibility.

For example, if I am talking with my teacher and he is telling me how difficult it was to get
accepted into University back in his day, I could say something like:

PLAY 선생님이 열심히 공부한 것 같아요 = You (teacher) probably studied hard (when you
were younger)
Here, you have  heard the evidence of him getting accepted into University, which must have
been difficult. Therefore, this evidence leads you to believe that “he studied hard” when he
was younger.

In order to describe this nuance, when ~ㄴ/은 or ~는 is used before 것 같다 I prefer the
translation of “it seems that” or “it seems as though.” Below are examples of this being
done in the past tense (using ~ㄴ/은 것 같다):

PLAY 부장님이 그 일을 이미 다 한 것 같아요 = It seems that the boss already did all that
work
In this situation, you could be looking at a pile of papers on your boss’s desk that looks like
the completed work.

PLAY 그 사람이 아직 답장을 하지 않은 것 같아요 = It seems that that person still hasn’t
responded
In this situation, you could be looking at your phone and noticing that you have no new
notifications – which would lead you to believe that the person hasn’t responded.

PLAY 옆 집에서 사는 사람은 그 소나무를 자른 것 같아요 = It seems that the person who
lives in the house next door cut that pine tree
In this situation, you could be looking outside to your yard and noticing that the tree is
missing.
Below are examples that show this being done in the present tense (using ~는 것 같다)

PLAY 엄마는 기다리고 있는 것 같아요 = It seems as though mom is waiting now

In this situation, your mother may have called you and told you that she would have been
finished 10 minutes ago.

PLAY 그는 휴식을 하는 것 같아요 = It seems as though he is taking a break now

In this situation, the worker may have been very loud a few minutes ago. However, now it
seems like he is not making a sound, so he probably taking a break now.

PLAY 학생들이 요즘에 운동을 하지 않는 것 같아요 = It seems like students don’t like
exercising these days
In this situation, you could be looking at some students playing on their phones during lunch
time instead of playing outside.

PLAY 후배들이 봉사하는 것을 싫어하는 것 같아요 = It seems like our juniors don’t like
volunteering
In this situation, you could be looking at your juniors and noticing that they are not enjoying
themselves.

———————–

When describing 것 같다 in the past tense, it is possible to do so in two ways:

~ㄴ/은 것 같다 (for example:  한 것 같다)

~았/었을 것 같다 (for example:  했을 것 같다)

This next little section is a discussion about the difference in nuance between these two
usages. Understanding this nuance is not critical at this point. This nuance is very hard to
describe and your understanding of it will develop with your understanding of Korean in
general. I never studied this specifically in all of my Korean studies, but my experience with
Korean has led me to feel a difference between the two.  Simply being aware of this nuance
can be helpful for later, but it is not critical to your understanding of this grammatical
principle.

Notice the use of ~ㄴ/은 in the sentence below:

PLAY 아빠가 돈을 이미 낸 것 같아요 = It seems like dad already paid

Here, the speaker probably saw his/her family get up and leave a restaurant (or some
similar evidence). This evidence would lead the speaker to believe that the father already
paid, and they are ready to leave.

However, by using ~았/었을 것 같다, the speaker is indicating that this sentence is more of
a blind guess and hasn’t received any evidence that would lead him/her to think this way.
For example:

PLAY 아빠가 돈을 이미 냈을 것 같아요 = Dad probably already paid

Notice the way I translate these sentences to express this nuance.

More examples:
PLAY 선생님이 살이 찐 것 같아요 = It seems like the teacher gained weight
You would say this if you are looking at the teacher and noticed that (for example) his face
looks a little bit fatter than usual. Of course, you can’t be sure if the teacher gained weight
or not, but the evidence in-front of you leads you to believe that he/she did gain weight.

PLAY 선생님이 살이 쪘을 것 같아요 = The teacher probably gained weight

You would say this if you are talking about the teacher and how he went on vacation
recently. You haven’t seen him since he left, but you are guessing that – because he went on
vacation, he “probably gained weight.”

We see a similar phenomenon with 것 같다 used in the present tense. Even if “것 같다” is
being described in the future tense, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the meaning of the
sentence is based in the future. For example, look at the following sentence:

PLAY 후배들이 봉사하는 것을 싫어할 것 같아요

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the speaker thinks the juniors “will not like”
volunteering. It is possible that the juniors are volunteering right now, and the speaker is
not with them. Therefore, the speaker has no real way of knowing if the juniors are
enjoying themselves or not – and this is merely a guess. However, if the present tense was
used:

PLAY 후배들이 봉사하는 것을 싫어하는 것 같아요

In this situation, the speaker is most likely with the juniors and can directly see (receiving
evidence) that the juniors are not enjoying themselves.
PLAY 후배들이 봉사하는 것을 싫어할 것 같아요
= The juniors probably won’t like volunteering, or, depending on the situation:
= The juniors probably don’t like volunteering

PLAY 후배들이 봉사하는 것을 싫어하는 것 같아요

= It seems like the juniors don’t like volunteering

————————

Here’s an example of how I used this grammatical form in my real life.

A few days ago, I was waiting in line to get into a restaurant. There were a lot of people
waiting, and some people were getting fed up with the ridiculous wait time. The wait was
so long, that some people just got up and left, which would have bumped us up on the
wait list. One couple got up and left, and my girlfriend said:

PLAY 저 사람들이 그냥 가? = Are those people just leaving?

My response was:

PLAY 응… 가는 것 같아 = Yes, they are probably leaving/it seems like they are leaving

Notice here that the evidence of the people leaving the restaurant leads me to believe that
“they are just leaving.”

————————

Remember that the way to describe a noun in the present tense is to use ~ㄴ/은.
Therefore, when you want to use an adjective to describe “것 같다,” ~ㄴ/은 것 같다 should
be used. For example:

PLAY 친구가 아픈 것 같아요 = It seems like my friend is hurt

PLAY 엄마는 저랑 얘기하기 싫은 것 같아요 = It seems like mom doesn’t want to talk with
me
PLAY 그 음식은 건강에 나쁜 것 같아요 = It seems like this food is unhealthy
PLAY 시골에서 사는 것이 아주 평화로운 것 같아요 = It seems like living in the country is
very peaceful
PLAY 이 문제는 시민보건에 아주 중요한 것 같아요 = It seems like this problem is very
important to the health of the citizens

You can attach ~았/었던 (which you learned in Lesson 27) to an adjective (or verb for that
matter) to describe a noun that was (probably) like something in the past, but currently is
not like that. For example:

PLAY 너의 아빠가 너무 행복했던 것 같아 = Your dad was probably very happy

Also remember that 이다 is conjugated as an adjective. Therefore, the ~ㄴ/은 것 같다 form

should be added to it. For example:

PLAY 그 학생이 학교에서 왕따인 것 같아 = It seems like that student is an outcast at
school
PLAY 그 사람은 변태인 것 같아요 = It seems like that person is a pervert
PLAY 우리가 받은 것은 그 사람의 답장인 것 같아요 = It seems like that thing we received is
probably that person’s response

그렇다 + 것 같다

Also, in Lesson 23 you learned a lot about the word 그렇다, and how it’s meaning is similar
to ‘like that.’ You can treat 그렇다 like a regular verb/adjective, but remember that when
conjugating this word you need to remove the ㅎ. So, by adding ~ㄹ/을 것 같다 to 그렇다
you get 그럴 것 같다.

Literally ‘그럴 것 같다’ means “it is probably like that.” It is used very often in Korean to
indicate that something “might be the case” or “is probably true.” For example:

PLAY 엄마가 어디에 있어요? 병원에 갔어요? = Where is mom? Did she go to the hospital?
PLAY 그럴 것 같아요 = Probably/I think so/It seems as such
PLAY 다음 주 목요일은 휴가인가? = Is next Thursday a holiday?
PLAY 그럴 것 같아 = Probably/I think so/It seems as such

Here as well, you should consider the tense and apply the appropriate conjugation to
그렇다. Also remember that 그렇다 is an adjective, so the present tense conjugation in this
case is 그런 것 같다, and not  그렇는 것 같다. For example:

PLAY 아빠는 낚시하러 갔어요? = Did dad go fishing?

PLAY 그런 것 같아요 = Probably/I think so/It seems as such

PLAY 수영장물이 다 넘쳤어요? = Did all the water overflow out of the pool?
PLAY 그런 것 같아요 = Probably/I think so/It seems as such

PLAY 그 사람이 말을 잘 타요? = Can that person ride horses (well)?

PLAY 그런 것 같아요 = Probably/It looks like/It seems as such

Expressing Possibility with ~겠다

It is also very common to hear ~겠다 (which you learned as a future conjugation way back
in Lesson 5) used in a way that is similar to expressing possibility. You’ll most commonly
hear this used with some simple adjectives; the most common of all being:

PLAY 맛있겠다!

It is hard to translate that directly into English. People don’t usually say this when
they’re eating food – instead, they say it when they’re looking at (or hearing about) food
and want to express that it “would be delicious” if they ate it. You could argue that this is
technically the future tense conjugation, but it’s not really about expressing an idea that is
occurring in the future.
A better way to describe this is to look at another example.

Imagine you were talking with your friend and he was telling you how he hasn’t eaten in
12 hours. In English, you would respond by saying:

“You must be hungry!” or “You are probably hungry!” In Korean, you could say either of
these:

PLAY 배고플 것 같아! = You are probably hungry!

PLAY 배고프겠다! = You are probably hungry!

Here, you can see that the speaker is not saying “you will be hungry”, as your friend is
definitely hungry in the present. Here, we can see how ~겠다 can take on this function of
possibility in the present. I’ve noticed (and you can see from the examples above) that this
form is most commonly used when you see something or hear some fact, and are stating
that something “must be the case” based on that evidence you saw or heard. Other good
words that this is commonly used with:

PLAY 아프겠다! = That must hurt!

PLAY 배부르겠다! = You must be full!
PLAY 힘들겠다! = That must be difficult!

Below are some examples along with my explanation of the situation that would cause a
Korean person to say such a sentence:

PLAY 힘들겠다! = That must be difficult!

You would most likely say this if you are looking at somebody do some difficult task.

PLAY 나는 캐나다에 못 가겠다! = (I guess) I can’t go to Canada

You would most likely say this if you just found out (evidence that shows you) how difficult it
would be to get to Canada – for example, because the price is too high or because it was too
far or something like that.

PLAY 돈이 부족하겠다! = (I guess) there won’t be enough money

You would most likely say this if you were trying to figure out how much money you need,
and you just found out (evidence that shows you) that you probably won’t have enough
money. 

PLAY 허벅지가 아프겠다! = Your inner thigh must hurt!

You would most likely say this if you were looking at your friend do some sort of inner thigh
exercise. Like that machine at most gyms where you have to squeeze your legs together
against resistance.

That’s it!

Lesson 36: To look like: 보이다 / ~아/어 보이다

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 소방서 = fire station

PLAY 무릎 = knee

PLAY 얼음 = ice

PLAY 흡연 = smoking

PLAY 종아리 = calf

PLAY 관리비 = management fees

PLAY 치료비 = medical fees

PLAY 보관료 = storage fees

PLAY 땅값 = land prices

PLAY 입장료 = entrance fees

PLAY 등록금 = tuition/registration fee

PLAY 교통비 = transportation fees

PLAY 원룸 = one room (studio) apartment

PLAY 화장 = makeup

PLAY 소방 = firefighting

PLAY 초등학교 = elementary school

PLAY 첫차 = first bus, first car

PLAY 가격표 = price tag

PLAY 여우 = fox

PLAY 의욕 = drive, motivation

PLAY 일방적 = one sided

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 이사하다 = to move to a new house

CONJUGATE PLAY 귀국하다 = to return to one's home country

CONJUGATE PLAY 터지다 = to explode

CONJUGATE PLAY 기대다 = to lean against

CONJUGATE PLAY 얻다 = to gain, to get, to obtain

CONJUGATE PLAY 임신하다 = to get pregnant

Passive verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 보이다 = to be seen

CONJUGATE PLAY 들리다 = to be heard

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 짜다 = to be salty
For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will learn how to use 보이다 to say that something can/cannot be seen
and to say that something/somebody looks like something. For example, “You look like a
monkey!” The same pattern can be used to say that something smells/tastes like
something. For example, “You smell like a monkey!” or “You taste like a monkey!” In
addition, you will learn how to use ~아/어 보이다 to say that somebody looks like an
adjective – for example “You look happy!”

To Look Like: ~ 같이 보이다

One of the most common words in Korean is 보다 which means “to see.” In Lesson 14, you
learned the difference between passive and active verbs in Korean (and English). The word
보이다 is the passive form of 보다 and is used to indicate that something can or
cannot be  seen. For example:

PLAYTV 가 안 보여 = The TV can’t be seen

PLAY 소방서가 보여요 = The fire station is seen

That being said, the above sentences could also be translated to:

PLAYTV 가 안 보여 = I can’t see the TV

PLAY 소방서가 보여요 = I can see the fire station

A note for grammar nerds: Notice that the Korean sentences above are predicated by an
intransitive verb (보이다), which means they cannot act on an object. The English
translations directly above are predicated by a transitive verb (to see), which means they can
act on an object. This is a great example that outlines the difficulty of translating sentences
from Korean to English (or vice-versa). Literally, the first sentence above would translate “the
TV can’t be seen,” but it is often used to mean “I can’t see the TV.”
A person is often placed in these sentences to specifically indicate the person who can or
cannot see something. These sentences follow the same Subject – Object – Adjective (or
Passive Verb) structure that you learned about in Lesson 15. For example:

PLAY 나는 TV 가 안 보여 = I can’t see the TV

PLAY 저는 소방서가 보여요 = I can see the fire station

This same idea can be applied to 듣다 (to hear) and 들리다 (to be heard). For example:

PLAY 저는 소리가 안 들려요 = I can’t hear anything

PLAY 나는 네 목소리가 안 들려 = I can’t hear your voice
PLAY 목소리가 잘 들려 = I hear you (your voice) well

Below are many other examples:

PLAY 입장료가 얼마인지 안 보여요 = I can’t see how much the admission cost is
PLAY 나는 여기서 산이 안 보여 = I can’t see the mountains from here
PLAY 초등학교가 보여요? = Can you see the elementary school?
PLAY 가격표가 안 보여요 = I can’t see the price tags
PLAY 흡연 구역이 안 보여요 = I can’t see the smoking area
PLAY 첫차가 출발하는 소리가 들렸어요 = I heard the sound of the first car/bus departing
PLAY 뭔가 터지는 소리가 들렸어요 = I heard something explode

You can also use 보이다 in sentences to indicate that something looks like something. By
placing 같이 (which is the adverb form of the word 같다) after a noun and predicating the
whole sentence with 보이다, you can create this meaning. For example:

PLAY 너는 원숭이 같이 보여 = You look like a monkey

PLAY 저의 남자친구는 교수님 같이 보여요 = My boyfriend looks like the professor
PLAY 너는 고등학생 같이 보여 = You look like a high school student

The noun before 같이 can also be a more complex noun that is being described by ~는 것.
For example:

PLAY 네가 새로운 집으로 이사하고 싶은 것 같이 보여 = It looks like you want to move to a
new house
PLAY 그가 공연에 가고 싶지 않는 것 같이 보여 = It looks like he doesn’t want to go to the
performance
PLAY 경기를 이긴 것 같이 보여 = It looks like you won the game
PLAY 그녀가 오늘 화장을 안 한 것 같이 보여요 = It looks like she didn’t do her makeup
today

The sentences above explain how you can say that one “looks like” something, but in
practice, it is often more common to say that something is just “like” something. For
example:

You are like a monkey, instead of:

You look like a monkey

Within the meaning of “you are like a monkey” is the inherent meaning that that person
(along with other traits like acting like a monkey, smelling like a monkey) would also look
like a monkey.

You actually learned how to do this in Lesson 15, where you first learned how to use words
like 같다, 다르다, and 비슷하다. In that lesson, you were presented with this sentence:

이 학교는 우리 학교와 같아요 = This school is the same as our school

I mentioned in that lesson that even though the word “같다” means “same”, when you
want to indicate that something is the same as something else in Korean, it is more
common to use the word “똑같다” (which typically translates to “exactly the same). The
sentence above is better written as:

PLAY 이 학교는 우리 학교와 똑같아요 = This school is the same as our school

When you want to express that one thing is “like” another thing, it is more natural to use
the following form:

PLAY 너는 여자 같아 = You’re like a girl

Notice that the particle 와/과/(이)랑/하고 is not added in this sentence. Below are many
more examples:

PLAY 그는 여우 같아요 = He is like a fox

PLAY 그는 원숭이 같아요 = He is like a monkey
PLAY 캐나다는 미국 같아요 = Canada is like the US
PLAY 초등학생 같아요 = You’re like an elementary school student
PLAY 진짜 의사 같아 = You’re really like a doctor
Next, let’s talk about how you can say something tastes  or smells like something.

To Smell/Taste Like: 맛/냄새

The word 맛 is a noun which means “taste.” You often see this word as “맛있다,” which
means “delicious,” but literally translates to “to have taste.” The word “냄새” is a noun
which means “smell.” In the previous section you learned how to say:

“___ looks like ____.”

In this section, you will learn how to say

“___ tastes like ____.” and

“___ smells like ____.”

The grammar within these principles is similar to what you were learning previously. What
you need to do is place a noun (that has a taste or smell) before 맛 or 냄새, followed by
“같다.” For example:

____ 맛 같다 = tastes like ____

____ 냄새 같다 = smells like ____

For example:

PLAY 김치 맛 같아 = Tastes like Kimchi

PLAY 김치 찌개 냄새 같아 = It smells like Kimchi Jjigae

Throw in a subject and you’ve got a full sentence:

PLAY 이 떡은 쓰레기 맛 같아 = This 떡 tastes like garbage

PLAY 삼겹살은 베이컨 맛 같아요 = 삼겹살 tastes like bacon

Pretty simple, but I thought you should know because I always wanted to know how to say
these sentences when I was learning Korean.

 
 

To Look (Adjective): ~아/어 보이다

Earlier in this lesson, you learned how to express that something looks like a noun.
However, there are many times when you would want to say somebody looks like
an adjective. For example:

You look happy

You look sad
You look strong

In order to do this, you need to add ~아/어 to an adjective, and then place 보이다 after it.
For example:

행복해 보이다 = to look happy

슬퍼 보이다 = to look sad
강해 보이다 = to look strong

Many examples:

PLAY 왜 그렇게 행복해 보여요? = Why do you look so happy?

PLAY 저의 여자친구는 어제 너무 슬퍼 보였어요 = My girlfriend looked really sad yesterday
PLAY 그 남자 종아리가 아주 강해 보여요 = That man’s calf looks very strong
PLAY 이 원룸은 깨끗해 보여요 = This (studio) apartment looks clean
PLAY 화장이 예뻐 보여요 = Your makeup looks pretty
PLAY 소방 훈련이 힘들어 보여요 = Firefighting training looks difficult
PLAY 무릎이 아파 보여요 = Your knee looks sore
PLAY 그 남자가 의욕이 많아 보여요 = It looks like that man has a lot of willpower/drive

That’s it! Another simple lesson, but we will get to something big in our next lesson!

Lesson 37: Because: ~아/어서

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 도로 = road

PLAY 고속도로 = highway

PLAY 스님 = Buddhist monk

PLAY 당국 = authorities

PLAY 도시락 = lunch box

PLAY 여행자 = traveler

PLAY 피해 = damage

PLAY 성형 = plastic surgery

PLAY 연휴 = continuous holidays

PLAY 최신 = the latest

PLAY 진심 = sincerity, truth

PLAY 한편 = on the other hand

PLAY 반면 = on the other hand

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 점프하다 = to jump

CONJUGATE PLAY 깜빡하다 = to forget

CONJUGATE PLAY 빨다 = to suck

CONJUGATE PLAY 뜨다 = to open one’s eyes

CONJUGATE PLAY 감다 = to close one’s eyes

CONJUGATE PLAY 다투다 = to fight verbally

CONJUGATE PLAY 겨루다 = to compete, to fight, to vie for

CONJUGATE PLAY 개설하다 = to establish, to open

CONJUGATE PLAY 설레다 = for one's heart to be beating fast in excitement

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 떠지다 = to have one’s eyes open

CONJUGATE PLAY 감기다 = to have one’s eyes closed

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 왜냐하면 = because

PLAY 그래서 = therefore

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

Okay, now it is time to get really serious. Up until now, you have not been taught how to
say one of the most common words in the English language: because. It’s not that I didn’t
want to teach you this word, but rather that you didn’t have the knowledge to fully
understand this word up until this point. In Korean, because  is not generally said as a word.
Okay, that is slightly untrue. There is a word in Korean for “because”: 왜냐하면. However,
“왜냐하면” is not nearly used as much as the grammatical principle that has the meaning
of “because” in Korean. For example, Korean people would never say something like this:

나는 밥을 먹는다 왜냐하면 배고팠어

In fact, that sentence makes no sense (I was trying to write it in a way that didn’t make any
sense).
You could  technically write something like this:

나는 밥을 먹었어. 왜냐하면 나는 배고팠어 = I ate. Because I was hungry.

However, that wouldn’t sound natural at all in Korean. Instead, Korean people use ~아/
어서 to connect two clauses to have the meaning of “because.” We will look at how this is
done in Korean. Let’s get started.

Because/Therefore: V/A + ~아/어서

~아/어서 is added to the stem of a verb or adjective in a clause to connect it with the
upcoming clause. First, let’s look at how “because” sentences are formed in English. When
saying a sentence with “because,” there are two clauses:

I want to eat
I am hungry

Both are independent clauses that can be sentences on their own. However, if we insert
“because” between the two, we can create a sentence with two clauses:

I want to eat because I am hungry

The hardest part about saying these sentences in Korean is that the order is reversed. So,
instead of saying:

I want to eat because I am hungry

I want to go to the park because I am bored

In Korean, we say:

Because I am hungry, I want to eat

Because I am bored, I want to go to the park

Now let’s look at these simple sentences in Korean. We have our two clauses again:
저는 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat
저는 배고파요 = I am hungry

Same as in English; both are independent clauses and can be sentences on their own.
However, by inserting ~아/어서 between the two, we can create the meaning of “because.”
For example:

저는 배고프(+~아/어서) 저는 밥을 먹고 싶어요

Remember from Lesson 24 that ~이/가 should be added to the subject of any clause that
is not the main clause of a sentence. ~는/은 or ~이/가 can be added to the subject of the
main clause of the sentence, depending on the specific meaning you are trying to create
(although they both essentially have the same meaning). I encourage you to re-
read Lesson 2 and Lesson 24 to remind yourself how changing these particles can slightly
change the feeling of a sentence. Therefore, the sentence above could be written as:

제가 배고파서 저는 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = Because I am hungry, I want to eat

제가 배고파서 제가 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = Because I am hungry, I want to eat

However, remember in Korean that when the subject of both (or multiple) clauses in a
sentence is the same, you only need to include the subject once. Therefore, the sentences
above sound more natural as:

PLAY 저는 배고파서 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = Because I am hungry, I want to eat

I always found it easier to remember the meaning of “~아/어서” as “Therefore.” This way,
the order of the clauses is the same in English and Korean. For example:

PLAY 저는 배고파서 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I am hungry, therefore I want to eat

Remember that this same addition (~아/어서) can also be added to 가다 and 오다 to
express that one does something “after” going/coming from/to a place. This concept was
taught in Lesson 17, and examples from that lesson were:

PLAY 저는 학교에 가서 공부할 거예요 = I will go to school and then study

PLAY 우리는 집에 와서 바로 잤어요 = We came home and went to sleep immediately

Note that those sentences technically could  mean “Because I go/went to school, I will
study” and “Because I came home, I went to sleep immediately”. However, 99.9% of the
time the meaning you will want to express using “가서” and “와서” will be the meaning
talked about in Lesson 17. Think about how often you would want to say: “The reason I
went to sleep immediately is because I came home” or “The reason I will study is because I
came to school.” I had this same question when I first learned of these two identical
looking grammatical principles. At the time, I asked Koreans why these sentences couldn’t
mean “because…” and they all looked at me with a weird face and said “because nobody
would ever say something like that.”

Here are many more examples:

PLAY 그 여자가 너무 예뻐서 저는 그녀를 만나고 싶어요

= That girl is very pretty, therefore, I want to meet her (because that girl is very pretty, I
want to meet her)

PLAY 저는 심심해서 공원에 가고 싶어요

= I am bored, therefore, I want to go to the park (because I am bored, I want to go to the
park)

PLAY 우리 집이 홍수로 피해를 입어서 집에 못 들어가요

= We can’t go into our house because it was damaged by the flood

PLAY 저는 너무 못생겨서 성형수술을 받고 싶어요

= I want to get plastic surgery because I am so ugly

PLAY 고속도로가 막혀서 일반 길로 갈 거예요

= I will take the normal road because the highway is blocked up

PLAY 저는 우리 딸을 진심으로 사랑해서 그녀를 위해 모든 것을 할 거예요

= I will do everything for my daughter because I (truly love her/) love her from the bottom
of my heart

PLAY 우리가 어제 다퉈서 저는 그랑 얘기하고 싶지 않아요

= I don’t want to talk with him because we had an argument (we argued) yesterday

PLAY 슬기가 임신해서 회사에 오는 것이 힘들겠어요

= It must be difficult for Seulgi to come to the office because she is pregnant

PLAY 배가 곧 터질 것 같아서 더 못 먹겠어요

= I can’t eat anymore because my stomach is (like it is) about to explode
PLAY 여기에 여행자가 너무 많아서 다른 곳으로 갈 거예요
= I’m going to go to a different place because there are too many travelers here

PLAY 오늘 너무 피곤해서 눈이 자꾸 감겨요

= My eyes keep shutting because I’m so tired

So far, we have only looked at using ~아/어서 in the present tense. In the next few
sections, we will look at how to use it in the past and future tenses.

~아/어서 in the Past Tense

You cannot conjugate a word into the past tense and then use ~아/어서. For example, the
following is incorrect:

저는 배고팠아서 밥을 먹었어요

Instead, the tense of the first clause is inferred from the context of the sentence. For
example:

PLAY 저는 배고파서 밥을 먹었어요 = I was hungry, so I ate

Notice that this sentence wouldn’t make sense if it were “I am hungry, so I ate.”

The final clause of the sentence doesn’t necessarily need to be in the past tense in order to
suggest that the first clause is in the past. For example, notice how the final clause below is
in the present tense, but the first clause is in the past tense:

PLAY 점심을 안 먹어서 지금 먹고 있어요 = I didn’t eat lunch, so I’m eating now
Notice that this sentence wouldn’t make sense if it were “I’m not eating lunch so I’m eating
now.”

Also, it is possible that the final clause of the sentence be in the future tense to suggest
that the first clause is in the past tense. For example:

PLAY 거기에 안 가 봐서 내일 갈 거예요 = I haven’t been there yet, so I will go tomorrow

Notice that this sentence wouldn’t make sense if it were “I’m not going there yet so I’ll go
tomorrow.”
To somebody who has just learned this, it seems rather confusing and difficult to have to
guess whether the first clause is in the past or present tense. As I said – you’re not
guessing. The context makes this clear. A lot of meaning in Korean is derived from context.
As you progress through your studies, this will become easier.

Other examples:

PLAY 학생들이 너무 시끄러워서 저는 교수님의 말을 못 들었어요

= The students were too loud, so I couldn’t hear the professor

PLAY 저는 공부하지 않아서 시험을 못 봤어요

= I didn’t study, therefore, I didn’t do well on the exam

PLAY 제가 눈을 감고 있어서 그것을 못 봤어요

= I didn’t see that because my eyes were closed

PLAY 저는 화장을 하지 않아서 못생겨 보여요

= I look ugly because I didn’t do my makeup

PLAY 도시락을 안 가져와서 점심을 못 먹을 거예요

= I won’t be able to eat lunch because I didn’t bring my lunch box

PLAY 공원에 스님이 있어서 우리는 술을 다른 곳에서 마셨어요

= There was a monk in the park, so we drank our alcohol in another place

PLAY 오늘이 무슨 날인지 깜빡해서 선물을 안 준비했어요

= I forgot what today is (what day it is today) so I didn’t prepare a present

PLAY 애기가 손가락을 계속 빨아서 지금 손가락이 끈적거려요

= The baby kept sucking his fingers, so now they are all sticky

PLAY 그 남자가 불법 행동을 하는 것을 봐서 저는 당국에 바로 말할 거예요

= I saw that man do something illegal (an illegal act) so I will tell the authorities
immediately

PLAY 일반 도로가 피해를 입어서 고속도로가 막힐 것 같아요

= The regular road was damaged so the highway will probably be blocked up

PLAY 이상한 소리를 들어서 눈을 뜨고 밖을 보러 일어났어요

= I heard a weird sound, so I opened my eyes and got up to look outside
Before you learn how to add ~아/어서 to verbs/adjectives in the future tense, you need to
learn how to add it to 이다.

Adding ~아/어서 to 이다

When adding ~아/어서 to 이다, the same principle as before applies. Again, let’s look at
two clauses:

I want to go to the park = 저는 공원에 가고 싶어요

It is Sunday = 일요일이다

Again, both are independent clauses that can be sentences on their own. However, if we
insert “because” between the two clauses, we can make:

I want to go to the park because it is Sunday

Which, in Korean, would be written as:
일요일이다 (+ ~아/어서) 저는 공원에 가고 싶어요

Which is done like this:

PLAY 일요일이어서 저는 공원에 가고 싶어요 = It is Sunday, so I want to go to the park

~어서 is always added to 이다 and never ~아서 because the last vowel of the stem of 이다
will always be “이.” So, for example:

일요일이어서
건물이어서
공원이어서

의사이어서
여자이어서
남자이어서

When the word 이다 is attached to ends in a vowel (like in 의사, 여자 and 남자) 이 and 어
can merge to form 여. For example:
의사여서
여자여서
남자여서

There is a difference simply because of ease of pronunciation. If you were to say “

일요일여서” it is hard to pronounce because your tongue has to move from the ㄹ sound
to the 여 sound right away.

Adding ~이라(서) or ~라(서) has the exact same meaning of ~이어서 and ~여서
respectively. That is, you can add ~이라(서) to nouns ending in a consonant and 라(서) to
nouns ending in a vowel. Both are possible, but I find that ~(이)라(서) is used more often
in speech (not to say that it is not used in writing – but when speaking, ~(이)라서 is more
common than ~이어서 or ~여서). To me, ~(이)라서 just flows off my tongue better.

For example:

PLAY 일요일이어서 공원에 가고 싶어요 = It is Sunday, so I want to go to the park

PLAY 일요일이라서 공원에 가고 싶어요 = It is Sunday, so I want to go to the park

PLAY 예쁜 여자여서 똑똑하지 않을 것 같아 = She is a pretty girl, so she is probably not
smart
PLAY 예쁜 여자라서 똑똑하지 않을 것 같아 = She is a pretty girl, so she is probably not
smart

PLAY 이번 주말이 연휴라서 우리 엄마 집에 갈 거예요

= This weekend is a long weekend, so I will go to our mom’s house

PLAY 이 방은 원룸이라서 너무 작아요

= This is a studio apartment, so it is too small

PLAY 이 학교는 초등학교라서 이 동네에 어린이들이 많아요

= This school is an elementary school, so there are a lot of children in the neighborhood

PLAY 그것이 최신 정보여서 맞는 것 같아요

= That is the latest (most up-to-date) information, so it is probably right

When adding ~아/어서 to 아니다, you can either add ~어서 or ~라(서). For example:
PLAY 최신 핸드폰이 아니어서 이 앱이 아주 느려요
PLAY 최신 핸드폰이 아니라서 이 앱이 아주 느려요
= This isn’t the latest cell phone, so the app is really slow

Now that you can add ~아/어서 to 이다, you can learn about adding ~아/어서 to clauses
in the future tense.

~아/어서 in the Future Tense

When adding ~아/어서 to a verb or adjective in the future tense, it is the same as adding
~아/어서 to 이다. Again, let’s look at two clauses:

My friend will come here = 저의 친구는 여기에 올 것이다

I won’t leave/I won’t go outside = 밖에 안 나갈 것이다

Again, both are independent clauses that can be sentences on their own. However, if we
insert “because” between the two clauses, we can make:

저의 친구가 여기에 올 것이다 (~아/어서) 밖에 안 나갈 거예요

Remember that this future tense conjugation is actually just ~ㄹ/을 것 + 이다. Because of
this, adding ~아/어서 to clauses in the future tense is done exactly the same as adding ~
아/어서 to 이다. Any of the following would work:

저의 친구가 여기에 올 것이어서…

저의 친구가 여기에 올 거여서…
저의 친구가 여기에 올 것이라서…
저의 친구가 여기에 올 거라서

Remember that 것 can be shortened to 거. So you can choose if you would rather use “
것이어서,” “거여서,” “것이라서” or “거라서.”
More examples:
PLAY 나중에 밥이 없을 거라서 저는 지금 먹고 싶어요
= There will not be any food later, therefore, I want to eat now

PLAY 친구가 거기에 많을 거라서 그 파티에 가고 싶어요

= Many of my friends will be there, so/therefore I want to go to that party

PLAY 입장료가 너무 비쌀 거라서 저는 안 갈 거예요

= The price of admission will be so expensive, so I am not going to go

All very confusing, but you really only need to know how to say one  of the future ~아/어서
conjugations (and then just be aware of the other ones). I personally only ever say ~이라
(서) or ~라(서) and never say ~이어서 or ~여서.

그래서

In Lesson 23, you learned that the meaning of the word ‘그렇다’ is close to the meaning of
‘like that.’ By adding ~아/어서 to 그렇다 you can create “그래서.”

When some situation is being talked about, you can use “그래서” to say “Because of (that
situation)…”. The common translation of 그래서 is simply “therefore” or “that’s why.” For
example:

Person 1: PLAY 비가 왔어요? = Did it rain?

Person 2: PLAY 응, 그래서 나가기 싫어요 = Yeah, that’s why/therefore I don’t want to go
out

Person 1: PLAY 우리 학교가 영어회화 수업이 없어요? = Our school doesn’t have an English
Conversation class?
Person 2: PLAY 네, 없어요. 그래서 제가 다음 학기부터 개설할 거예요 = Right, there isn’t
any. That’s why I’m going to start one beginning next semester

That’s it for this lesson. In the following lesson, you will continue to learn about how to
give the meaning of “because” using the word 때문.
Lesson 38: Because: ~기 때문에
Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 투자자 = investor

PLAY 주식 = stocks

PLAY 주식시장 = stock market

PLAY 교복 = school uniform

PLAY 여신 = goddess

PLAY 별명 = nickname

PLAY 기업 = enterprise

PLAY 현실 = reality

PLAY 폼 = posture

PLAY 제사 = praying to ancestors on a holiday

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 떨어뜨리다 = to drop

CONJUGATE PLAY 제안하다 = to propose, to suggest

CONJUGATE PLAY 투자하다 = to invest

CONJUGATE PLAY 부정하다 = to deny

CONJUGATE PLAY 되짚다 = to look back (in the past), to go back

CONJUGATE PLAY 망설이다 = to hesitate

CONJUGATE PLAY 세수하다 = to clean one’s face

CONJUGATE PLAY 통화하다 = to talk on the phone

Passive Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 떨어지다 = to be dropped

CONJUGATE PLAY 북적거리다 = to be crowded, to be packed, to be busy

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 귀찮다 = to be annoying

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 고르게 = evenly, flatly

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In the previous lesson, you learned about how to use ~아/어서 to create the meaning of
“because” in Korean sentences. There are actually many ways you can create the meaning
of ‘because’ in Korean – the most common of those being by connecting two clauses with
~아/어서.

In this lesson however, you will learn another very common way to say “because” in
Korean, which is pretty much interchangeable with ~아/어서. Let’s get started.

Because of: 때문
By placing ‘때문’ after a noun, you can create the meaning of “because of (that noun).” For
example:

일 때문에 = Because of work

남자 친구 때문에 = Because of (my) boyfriend

The rest of the clause will indicate some event/action that occurred as a result of the noun
preceding 때문에. For example:

PLAY 일 때문에 나는 너를 못 만날 것 같아
= Because of work, I probably won’t be able to meet you

PLAY 남자 친구 때문에 새로운 남자를 못 만나

= Because of my boyfriend, I can’t meet another(/new) man

Notice that this is not  the same as adding ~아/어서 to 이다, which you learned about in
the previous lesson. For example, these constructions:

일이라서… = Because it is  work

남자 친구라서… Because he is  my boyfriend

When these constructions are created ~아/어서 is added to 이다. The inclusion of 이다 in
these constructions/sentences means that their meanings/translations will have the word
am/is/are. When using 때문에 you are simply saying “because of that noun” and are not
mentioning the word “to be.” For example, notice the difference between these two
sentences:

PLAY 남자 친구 때문에 새로운 남자를 못 만나

= Because of my boyfriend, I can’t meet another(/new) man

남자 친구라서 새로운 남자를 못 만나

= Because he is my boyfriend, I can’t meet another(/new) man
(I can’t think of any situation where this sentence in English or Korean would be appropriate)

That being said, sometimes this difference is irrelevant. Notice how both of these
sentences effectively have the same meaning:

PLAY 우리는 제사 때문에 할아버지 집에 갔어요

= We went to our grandfather’s house because of 제사
PLAY 우리는 제사라서 할아버지 집에 갔어요
= We went to our grandfather’s house because it is 제사

Many other examples:

PLAY 별명 때문에 너의 진짜 이름을 깜빡했어

= I forgot your real name because of your nickname

PLAY 등록금 때문에 저는 그 대학교에 못 가요

= I won’t be able to go to university because of the admission/registration fees

PLAY 교복 때문에 아주 더워요

= I’m really hot because of my school uniform

PLAY 주식시장 때문에 요즘에 스트레스를 많이 받아요

= I am very stressed these days because of the stock market

Because/Therefore: ~기 때문에

It is also possible to place an entire clause before 때문에 instead of just a noun to indicate
that some event/action occurred as a result of the clause preceding 때문에. The clause
before 때문에 must be in the form of a noun, and this is done by adding ~기 to the stem
of the word immediately preceding 때문에. For example:

PLAY 저는 배고프기 때문에 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat because I am hungry

Note that this is identical to adding ~아/어서 to the same word (which you learned about
in the previous lesson). For example:

저는 배고파서 밥을 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat because I am hungry

Just like ~아/어서, you can add ~기 때문에 to verbs, adjectives and 이다. Below are many
examples:

PLAY 저는 행복하기 때문에 죽고 싶지 않아요

= I don’t want to die because I am happy
PLAY 지금 공부를 하고 있기 때문에 너랑 통화하고 싶지 않아
= I don’t want to talk with you on the phone because I’m studying now

PLAY 투자자가 없기 때문에 우리는 다른 방법으로 할 거예요

= We will do it another way because there are no investors

PLAY 무릎이 아프기 때문에 저는 걸어가기 싫어요

= I don’t want to walk because my knee is sore

PLAY 이 셔츠에 가격표가 없기 때문에 얼마인지 몰라요

= I don’t know how much this shirt costs because there is no price tag

PLAY 학생들이 교복을 입기 때문에 다 똑같은 옷을 입었어요

= All the students wore exactly the same clothes because they wear uniforms

PLAY 내가 남자이기 때문에 그런 영화를 좋아해

= I like those kinds of movies because I am a man

PLAY 입구가 멀기 때문에 다른 곳으로 갈 거예요

= I’m going to go to another place because the entrance is too far

PLAY 그 여자가 여신 같기 때문에 남자들은 그녀를 다 좋아해요

= She’s like a goddess, so all the boys like her

PLAY 거리가 아주 북적거리기 때문에 우리는 밖에 나가고 싶지 않아요

= We don’t want to go out because the streets are very crowded

PLAY 세수를 하는 것이 귀찮기 때문에 안 했어요

= I didn’t wash my face because it is annoying

PLAY2 월이기 때문에 비행기표 가격이 떨어졌어요

= The prices of flights dropped because it is February

PLAY 엄마가 현실을 그냥 부정할 것 같기 때문에 말을 안 할 거예요

= I’m not going to say anything (to mom) because she’s probably just going to deny the
reality

Let’s look at how this can be added to clauses conjugated in the past and future tenses.

 
 

Past Tense: ~았/었기 때문에

When connecting two clauses with ~아/어서, you should always remember that you
do not conjugate the verb/adjective that ~아/어서 is being added to in the past tense. For
example, you should never do this:

내가 밥을 벌써 먹었어서 지금 먹고 싶지 않아

Instead, you know that you should say this:

PLAY 내가 밥을 벌써 먹어서 지금 먹고 싶지 않아 = Because I already ate, I don’t want to

eat now

However, the clause before ~기 때문에 can be conjugated to the past tense. In these
cases, ~기 should be added directly to the addition of ~았/었. For example:

PLAY 내가 밥을 벌써 먹었기 때문에 지금 먹고 싶지 않아

= Because I already ate, I don’t want to eat now

Many more examples:

PLAY 저는 시험을 못 봤기 때문에 대학교에 못 가요

= Because I did bad on the test, I won’t be able to go to university

PLAY 주식을 많이 샀기 때문에 돈이 없어요

= I don’t have any money because I bought a lot of stocks

PLAY 대학교에 갈지 안 갈지 많이 망설였기 때문에 대학교에 갈 기회를 놓쳤어요

= Because I hesitated a lot about going to university or not, I missed the opportunity to go
to university

PLAY 제가 처음부터 그 기업에 투자하지 않았기 때문에 돈을 많이 못 벌어요

= I don’t earn that much money because I didn’t invest in that company from the
beginning
PLAY 애기들에게 과자를 고르게 안 줬기 때문에 많이 받지 못한 애기들은 울었어요
= I didn’t give the candy to the babies evenly, so the babies that didn’t get a lot cried

PLAY 세수를 아직 못 했기 때문에 잠깐 화장실에 갈 거예요

= I haven’t washed my face yet, so I’m going to go to the washroom for a second

PLAY 오늘 공원에 가고 싶지 않았기 때문에 저는 다른 것을 제안했어요

= I didn’t want to go to the park today so I suggested something different (a different
thing)

PLAY 핸드폰이 없었기 때문에 연락하지 못했어요

= Because I didn’t have my phone, I couldn’t contact you

Now let’s look at how you can add ~기 때문에 to the future tense.

 Future Tense: ~ㄹ 것이기 때문에

As you know, you can conjugate a word into the future by connecting ~ㄹ/을 것이다 to it.
For example:

내가 나중에 먹을 것이다 = I will eat later

Adding ~기 때문에 to a word conjugated in the future tense is simply a matter of

attaching ~기 때문에 to the 이다 at the end of this future tense conjugation. For example:

PLAY 내가 나중에 먹을 것이기 때문에 지금 먹고 싶지 않아

= Because I am going to eat later, I don’t want to eat now
Notice how there is a noun (것) followed by  이다 followed by  ~기 때문에

More examples:

Also notice how  것 can be shortened to  거. In these cases, “이” can merge with “거” and
you can see the construction ~ㄹ/을 거기 때문에.
PLAY 나는 내년에 대학교에 갈 것이기 때문에 지금 열심히 공부하고 있어
= Because I will be going to university next year, I am studying hard now

PLAY 그녀가 그 셔츠가 거기에 없는 것을 깨닫지 못할 거기 때문에 저는 그냥 가져갈 거예요

= She won’t notice that shirt is gone (not here) so I’m just going to take it

PLAY 우리가 과거를 되짚어 볼 것이기 때문에 사진을 가져왔어요

= We are going to be looking back at old times, so I brought some pictures

Other Uses of 때문

In Lesson 23, you learned that the meaning of the word ‘그렇다’ is close to the meaning of
‘like that.’ By adding ~기 때문에 to 그렇다 you can create “그렇기 때문에.” The common
translation for “그렇기 때문에” is “therefore” or “because of that.” For example:

Person 1: 요즘에 사람들은 그 제품을 안 사요 = These days, people aren’t buying that
product
Person 2: 네, 그렇기 때문에 그 회사의 주식이 떨어지고 있어요 = Yes, because of that, that
company’s stocks are falling

Another good usage of the word 때문 is putting it at the end  of a sentence as a noun. If I

were to write this:

사람들이 너무 많이 있기 때문…

You would think that would mean “because there are too many people…”… but that is an
incomplete sentence because you cannot end a sentence with a noun like that.

Instead, you must add 이다 to 때문 to make it a full sentence. For example:

사람들이 너무 많이 있기 때문이야 = Because there are too many people

The best part about that sentence (and this is where this lesson starts to get really
hard/confusing) is that “때문” turns into a noun of “[because there are too many people].”
I put that “noun” into [brackets] because I’m going to show you what you can do with it.
Look at the following example:

내가 방에 들어가지 않은 이유 = translates to “the reason I didn’t go in the room”

Because “이유” is a noun (being described by 내가 방에 들어가지 않은) we can make this
the subject of our sentence:

내가 방에 들어가지 않은 이유는 = The reason I didn’t go into the room…

Now if I wanted to say what the reason is, I would need to say:

The reason I didn’t go into the room is …:

내가 방에 들어가지 않은 이유는 ______ 이다

(Notice that I purposely colored the words “is” and “이다” red)

What could I put in the place of that blank? I need to put a noun in there. How about the
noun we made before:  “[because there are too many people]”:

The reason I didn’t go into the room is [because there are too many people].

In Korean:

내가 방에 들어가지 않은 이유는 [사람들이 너무 많이 있기 때문]이야

Without the brackets:

내가 방에 들어가지 않은 이유는 사람들이 너무 많이 있기 때문이야
= The reason I didn’t go into the room is because there are too many people

You could also say that there were too many people in the room by adding ~았/었~
before 기. For example:

PLAY 내가 방에 들어가지 않은 이유는 사람들이 너무 많이 있었기 때문이었어

= The reason I didn’t go into the room was because there were too many people

More examples:

PLAY 내가 한국에 간 이유는 한국어를 배우고 싶기 때문이었어

= The reason I went to Korea was because I wanted to learn Korean
PLAY 내가 여기서 일하고 싶은 이유는 새로운 경험을 하고 싶기 때문이야
= The reason I want to work here is because I want to have a new experience

All of which are technically the same as these:

PLAY 사람들이 너무 많이 있어서 나는 방에 들어가지 않았어

= Because there were too many people, I didn’t go into the room

PLAY 한국어를 배우고 싶어서 한국에 갔어

= Because I wanted to learn Korean, I went to Korea

PLAY 새로운 경험을 하고 싶어서 여기서 일하고 싶어

= Because I want to have a new experience, I want to work here

You might be comfortable using ~기 때문에 in sentences by now, but you are probably
still a little bit confused about how to use “~하는 이유는 ____~기 때문이다” right now.
Don’t worry about that. When you become more and more comfortable not only with
때문에 but also with Korean grammar in general, using sentences like that will become
more and more natural. In the meantime, keep studying and get ready for our next lesson!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to make a post on our Forum!

Lesson 39: Honorific ‘시’ ending, Honorific words

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 자네 = you

PLAY 또래 = age, peer group

PLAY 세제 = laundry detergent

PLAY 뒷모습 = one's appearance from behind

PLAY 봉지 = paper bag, plastic bag

PLAY 국립 = national

PLAY 산소 = oxygen

PLAY 종 = bell

PLAY 주방 = kitchen

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 드시다 = to eat (formal)

CONJUGATE PLAY 잡수시다 = to eat (formal)

CONJUGATE PLAY 주무시다 = to sleep (formal)

CONJUGATE PLAY 계시다 = to be in/at a location (formal)

CONJUGATE PLAY 말씀하다 = to speak (formal)

CONJUGATE PLAY 드리다 = to give (formal)

CONJUGATE PLAY 소변을 보다 = to urinate

CONJUGATE PLAY 대답하다 = to answer, to reply

CONJUGATE PLAY 치다 = to tap

CONJUGATE PLAY 망치다 = to spoil, to ruin, to screw up

CONJUGATE PLAY 다가가다 = to approach, to go near

CONJUGATE PLAY 다가오다 = to approach, to come near

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 가파르다 = to be steep
Adverbs and Other Words:
PLAY 그저께 = the day before yesterday

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you are going to learn something that we haven’t specifically looked at in a
very long time. Way back in Lesson 6, you learned how to apply Korean honorifics to the
endings of verbs and adjectives. In addition to what you learned in that lesson, there is still
more that you must know in terms of adding respect to Korean sentences. We will cover
more of that here, starting with the use of ‘~(으)시’ in sentences.

Honorific Addition: ~(으)시

This one is hard for English speakers to understand. Before you learn specifically when to
add ‘~(으)시’ to your sentences, let’s remember when you should use honorifics in the first
place. Remember, if you are talking to somebody who deserves a high level of respect, you
should use honorifics. These types of people can be: bosses, parents, people older than
you, guests, customers, etc… If you are talking to your boss, you should say:

저는 열심히 일했어요/일했습니다 = I worked really hard

But, if you are talking to your friend (for example) you can use the lower form:

나는 열심히 일했어 = I worked really hard

Therefore, the use of those honorifics solely depends on the person you are speaking to.

The use of ‘~(으)시’ is a little bit tricky at first. You should add ‘~(으)시’ to verbs/adjectives
in which the acting person deserves respect, regardless of who you are speaking to. You
can add ‘~시’ to word stems ending in a vowel and ‘~으시’ to stems ending in a
consonant.
 ————

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different
additions. This is the first time you have been introduced to adding ~(으)시. Let’s look at
how irregulars change as a result of adding this grammatical principle.

 The ㅅ irregular, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules
that were introduced in Lesson 7. The addition of the vowel causes a change (or
elimination) of the last letter of the stem.

 The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition. The final letter
in both types of stems is a vowel, so “시” is added instead of “으시.”

 Adding ~(으)시 causes a change to stems ending in ㄹ. The ㄹ is

removed, and ~시 is added to the remaining portion of the stem.

 Adding ~(으)시 causes a change to ㅎ irregular words. The ㅎ is

removed, and ~시 is added to the remaining portion of the stem. For this
addition, the ㅎ irregular and ㄹ irregular follow the same rule. Anytime you
have the option of adding ~(으) as part of a grammatical addition, the ㅎ will
be removed from the stem and the grammatical addition without “으” will be
added to the remainder of the stem. For example:그렇다 + ~(으)시 = 그러시
Below is a table showing the changes that result from adding ~(으)시 to a word.

Irregular Word + ~(으)시

ㅅ Irregular PLAY 짓다 (to 지으시

build)

ㄷ Irregular PLAY 걷다 (to 걸으시

walk)

ㅂ Irregular PLAY 돕다 (to 도우시

help)
 ㅡ Irregular PLAY 잠그다 (to 잠그시
lock)

르 Irregular PLAY 자르다 (to 자르시

cut)

ㄹ Irregular PLAY 살다 (to 사시

live)

ㅎ Irregular PLAY 그렇다 (to 그러시

be like that)

You will see these same changes to irregulars anytime you add something that begins in
~(으)ㅅ…. For example:

~(으)세요 (Lesson 40)

~(으)십시오 (Lesson 40)

Adding ~(으)시 creates an unconjugated word. You cannot just attach ~(으)시 to a word
and use it in a sentence. Rather, a conjugation must be added to it. Once ‘~(으)시’ is
added, the verb/adjective gets conjugated as usual as if the stem ended in ‘~(으)시.’

The following table shows how ~(으)시다 can be added to words, and then how other
conjugations can be added on top of it:

Original + ~(으)시 + ~아/어요 + ~ㅂ/ + ~았/었다

Word 습니다

PLAY 짓다 지으시 지으셔요 지으십니다 지으셨다

 PLAY 걷다 걸으시 걸으셔요 걸으십니다 걸으셨다

PLAY 돕다 도우시 도우셔요 도우십니다 도우셨다

PLAY 잠그다 잠그시 잠그셔요 잠그십니다 잠그셨다

PLAY 자르다 자르시 자르셔요 자르십니다 자르셨다

PLAY 살다 사시 사셔요 사십니다 사셨다

PLAY 그렇다 그러시 그러셔요 그러십니다 그러셨다

You can see ~(으)시 attached to the word 알다 on a Korean sign in this YouTube video.

You can see ~(으)시 attached to the word 말다 on a Korean sign in this YouTube video.

Let’s look at an example of when you would use this ~(으)시 addition.

If I am talking to my friend and the person I am talking about is that friend’s mother – the
mother deserves respect. Therefore, I should not say this:

어머님은 너에게 돈을 줬어? = Did your mother give you money?

Remember, the mother (who deserves respect) is the person acting in that sentence.
Therefore, ~(으)시 should be added to the verb. This would be more correct:

PLAY 어머님은 너에게 돈을 주셨어? = Did your mother give you money?
You should always keep the information you learned in Lesson 6 in mind as well – because
depending on who you are speaking to, the form can change based on what you learned
in that lesson. If I were to say a sentence where I was talking to somebody who deserves
respect (my boss, for example) about  somebody who deserves respect, I should say:

PLAY 어머님은 미용실에 가셨습니까? = Did your mother go to the beauty salon?

Again, notice the situation of this sentence. You are talking to somebody of high respect,
about somebody of high respect. Notice all of the situations that can take place:

PLAY 어머님은 미용실에 가셨어? = Did your mother go to the beauty salon?
Situation: To somebody of low respect, about somebody of high respect

PLAY 친구는 미용실에 갔어? = Did your friend go to the beauty salon?
Situation: To somebody of low respect, about somebody of low respect

PLAY 친구는 미용실에 갔습니까? = Did your friend go to the beauty salon?
Situation: To somebody of high respect, about somebody of low respect

PLAY 어머님은 미용실에 가셨습니까? = Did your mother go to the beauty salon?
Situation: To somebody of high respect, about somebody of high respect

Many more examples:

PLAY 선생님은 우리를 너무 잘 가르치셨어 = Our teacher taught us really well

PLAY 부장님은 그 집을 나무로만 만드시고 싶었어 = Our boss wanted to make that house
using only wood
PLAY 선생님이 대답을 빨리 하셨어요 = The teacher responded quickly
PLAY 그 선생님은 국립고등학교에서 일하셔요 = That teacher works at a public school
PLAY 자네 할아버지가 주방에 들어가셨어 = Your grandfather went into the kitchen
PLAY 종이 칠 때까지 선생님이 수업을 하실 거예요 = The teacher will do the class until the
bell rings
PLAY 할아버지가 아파서 소변을 못 보셔요 = Our grandfather can’t urinate because he is
sick
PLAY 교장선생님이 아직 대답하시지 않았어요 = The principal hasn’t responded yet
PLAY 내 부장님은 내 나이 또래 사람들을 좋아하시지 않아 = My boss doesn’t like people
my age
PLAY 어떤 할아버지가 저에게 다가오시고 있어요 = Some old man is approaching me
Now that you’ve got all that under your belt, there are certain words that change
completely when the acting person in the sentence deserves respect. We will look at those
one by one:

To give: 드리다 and ~께

You should use the word 드리다 in place of the word 주다 when one gives something to
somebody who deserves high respect. Also, remember the formal version of ~에게/한테 is
~께. Therefore,~께 should be attached to the person that you are giving something. Let’s
look at an example:

PLAY 할아버지께 선물을 드리고 싶어 = I want to give my grandfather a present

If you are also saying this sentence to somebody who deserves respect, you can also end
the sentence using honorifics as well:

PLAY 할아버지께 선물을 드리고 싶어요 = I want to give my grandfather a present

Korean people don’t say “드리시다.” One might think that this would be used when
talking about somebody of high respect giving something to somebody of high respect.
However, it appears that 드리다 is formal enough to cover both the person acting and the
person receiving in these situations.

More examples:

PLAY 저는 항상 손님들께 봉지를 드려요 = I always gives bags to the customers

PLAY 저는 스님께 돈을 드렸어요 = I gave money to the monk
PLAY 아버지가 매일 쓰실 수건을 드리고 싶어요 = I want to give dad a towel that he will
use everyday

Want to see how ~드리다 would be used in a Korean street sign? Watch me breakdown the
usage in a YouTube video.

To speak: 말씀하다
You should use 말씀하다 in place of 말하다 when the person speaking deserves high
respect. The ~하다 portion of the word is usually connected with ~(으)시다 to form
말씀하시다. Also, if 말씀 and ~하다 are separated, 말씀 is the honorific form of the noun
“말.” For example:

PLAY 모든 사람들은 교수님이 말씀하시기 시작하는 것을 기다렸다

= Everybody was waiting for the professor to start talking

PLAY 부장님이 그 일을 망쳐서 부장님이 말씀하시는 것을 듣는 사람이 별로 없어요

= There aren’t really that many people who listen to the boss because he ruined that job

PLAY 선생님이 하시는 말씀을 잘 들었어요?

= Did you listen (well/carefully) to what your teacher said?

PLAY 회의가 끝나기 전에 교감선생님이 말씀하실 거예요

= Before the meeting finishes, the vice principal will speak

PLAY 그저께 회의 시간 동안 무슨 말씀을 하셨어요?

= What did you say during the meeting two days ago?

말씀 is also used as the noun when you  are speaking to a person who deserves high
respect. I find this strange because in the examples/explanation above, 말씀 is used when
the acting person of the sentence deserves high respect. However, in cases when you are
saying something (some words) to a person of high respect (and therefore, you  are the
acting person) 말씀 is used instead of 말. When used like this, the formal word “드리다” is
commonly used to indicate that “some words” are given to a person. For example:

PLAY 제가 드리고 싶은 말씀이 있습니다

= I have something that I want to say
You would say this when you will speaking to a person (or people) who deserves high
respect.

To eat: 드시다/잡수시다

When a person who deserves high respect is eating, it is common to use the word 들다
combined with ~(으)시다 to form 드시다. For example:
PLAY 아버지! 다 드셨어요? = Dad! Have you finished eating?
PLAY 점심을 드셨어요? = Did you have lunch?
PLAY 뭐 드시고 싶어요? = What do you want to eat?

Another possible word is 잡수시다. Using 잡수시다 shows a ridiculous amount of respect,

and saying it to anybody other than people who deserve that amount of respect will most
likely just make people laugh. When I first met my girlfriend’s parents, I used ‘잡수시다’
and they both thought it was funny. I only reserve that word for the rare times that I have
dinner with my girlfriend’s grandparents – in which case, after the meal, I ask them:

PLAY 잘 잡수셨어요? = Did you have a good meal?

To be at/in: 계시다

계시다 is the formal equivalent of the word “있다” when it is used to indicate that a person
of high respect is in/at a location, or is staying in a location. For example:

PLAY 아버지가 집에 계셔요 = Dad is (at) home

계시다 can also replace 있다 in the ~아/어 있다 (Lesson 14) and ~고 있다 (Lesson 18)
grammatical forms. For example:

PLAY 아버지가 아직 서 계셔요 = Dad is still standing

PLAY 아버지가 아직 드시고 계셔요 = Dad is still eating

However, when 있다 it is used to indicate that one “has” a noun, the formal equivalent is
있으시다. For example:

할아버지! 지금 시간이 있으셔요? = Grandpa! Do you have time now?

You will learn more about 계시다 in the following lesson. Until then, let’s look at some
more example sentences with 계시다:

PLAY 할아버지가 여기에 계신지 몰랐어요 = I didn’t know you were here, grandpa
PLAY 교장선생님이 학교에 안 계셔요 = The principal isn’t in the school
PLAY 거기에 언제까지 계실 거예요? = Until when will you be there?
PLAY 사람들이 대통령이 그 건물에 계시는 것을 알아서 그 건물 입구에 다가갔어요
= People knew that the president was in that building, so they approached the entrance

PLAY 선생님이 안 계셔서 학생들은 다 자고 있어요

= The teacher isn’t here, so all the students are sleeping

To sleep: 주무시다

주무시다 is the formal equivalent of the word “자다” (to sleep). For example:

PLAY 잘 주무셨어요? = Did you sleep well?

PLAY 아버지가 지금 주무시고 있어요 = Dad is sleeping now

That’s it!

Lesson 40: The Imperative Mood: ~아/어(요), ~(으)세요, ~아/

어라, (으)십시오, ~지 말다
Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 오줌 = urine

PLAY 권력 = power, authority

PLAY 수준 = level, standard

PLAY 학력 = level of education

PLAY 직원 = employee, staff member

PLAY 허가 = permission
PLAY 보안 = security

PLAY 시선 = one's eyes, one's eye-line

PLAY 물체 = object

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 수고하다  = to work hard

CONJUGATE PLAY 말다 = to not do

CONJUGATE PLAY 직진하다 = to go straight

CONJUGATE PLAY 올라가다 = to go up

CONJUGATE PLAY 올라오다 = to come up

CONJUGATE PLAY 올려다보다 = to look up

CONJUGATE PLAY 후들거리다 = to shake, to tremble

CONJUGATE PLAY 남용하다 = to abuse

CONJUGATE PLAY 감시하다 = to monitor, to watch

Adjectives:
CONJUGATE PLAY 부끄러워하다 = to be shy

CONJUGATE PLAY 슬퍼하다 = to be sad

CONJUGATE PLAY 동등하다 = to be equal

CONJUGATE PLAY 유쾌하다 = to be pleasant, to be delightful, to be enjoyable

CONJUGATE PLAY 온순하다 = to be gentle

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 먼저 = first, in advance

PLAY 오른 = right
PLAY 왼 = left

PLAY 줄곧= continuously/constantly/all the time

PLAY 가만히 = to be still, to be motionless

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In this lesson, you will learn how to tell people to do things. If you are a grammar buff, you
know this as the Imperative Mood. If you’re not so into grammar, this “mood” is used when
giving people commands/telling people what to do. You will learn how to do this in
Korean, often in conjunction with the word ‘주다,’ which we will talk about in the next
lesson.

The Imperative Mood

There are many (many!) ways to end a sentence. Depending on who you are speaking to
(and a whole bunch of other factors) the way you end a sentence can vary tremendously. If
you just wanted to say “I will eat rice,” some of the ways you can say this are:

나는 밥을 먹겠다
나는 밥을 먹겠어
저는 밥을 먹겠어요
저는 밥을 먹겠습니다
나는 밥을 먹을 것이다
나는 밥을 먹을 거다
나는 밥을 먹을 것이야
나는 밥을 먹을 거야
저는 밥을 먹을 것입니다
저는 밥을 먹을 겁니다
저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요
저는 밥을 먹을 거예요
All of those mean exactly the same thing. In the imperative mood as well, there are many
different ways you can give a command to somebody. Let’s cover these from the least
formal, to the most formal.

Imperative mood: Verb stem + ~아/어(요)

The easiest (and least formal) way to give a command in Korean is simply by adding ~아/
어 to a verb stem. For example:

PLAY 밥을 천천히 먹어 = Eat your food slowly

PLAY 열심히 공부해! = Study hard!

Notice that in both English and Korean, the subject isn’t usually used in a sentence when
giving a command. This is because the person you are giving the command to is usually the
subject, so it is omitted.

You can use this form when you are giving a command to somebody who is younger than
you or the same age as you, or somebody who you are close with. Saying something like
“빨리 가!” to your superior would most likely warrant a slap in the face.

As you probably guessed, adding “~요” to the ends of the sentences above make them
more formal. For example, more polite versions of the sentences above would be:

PLAY 밥을 천천히 먹어요 = Eat your food slowly

PLAY 열심히 공부해요! = Study hard!

In that same respect, the formal addition of ~(으)시 could be added to the construction as
well. In these cases, ~아/어(요) is added to ~(으)시다. For example:

Original Word + ~(으)시다 + ~(으)시 +~아/어요

가다 가시다 가셔요

공부하다 공부하시다 공부하셔요

 알다 아시다 아셔요

찾다 찾으시다 찾으셔요

걷다 걸으시다 걸으셔요

눕다 누우시다 누우셔요

Notice that these imperative conjugations are no different than any regular present tense
conjugation. For example, the following two sentences are simply conjugated into the
present tense, but the addition to the verb is exactly the same as an imperative
conjugation:

PLAY 저는 월요일마다 운동해요 = I exercise every Monday

PLAY 저의 할머니가 여기에 자주 안 오셔요 = My grandmother doesn’t come here often

In these cases, distinguishing between a regular sentence and an imperative sentence is

done through context. When you first learn this, you think it would be impossible to do,
but trust me; it is easy to distinguish by considering the situation.

Here are some examples using everything presented so far:

PLAY 이것을 봐 = Look at this

PLAY 이것을 봐요 = Look at this
PLAY 이것을 보셔요 = Look at this

PLAY 빨리 올라와 = Come up quick

PLAY 빨리 올라와요 = Come up quick
PLAY 빨리 올라오셔요 = Come up quick
PLAY 먼저 올라가 = Go up first (you can go up first)
PLAY 먼저 올라가요 = Go up first (you can go up first)
PLAY 먼저 올라가셔요 = Go up first (you can go up first)

PLAY 이 길에서 직진해 = Go straight on this road

PLAY 이 길에서 직진해요 = Go straight on this road
PLAY 이 길에서 직진하셔요 = Go straight on this road

Although they differ in their respective levels of politeness, all of the above are acceptable
ways to make a command. That being said, each of the last examples (the one using ~(으)
셔요) is less common. Instead, the construction of ~(으)셔요 is often pronounced and
written as ~(으)세요, which we will discuss next.

Imperative Mood: Verb stem + ~(으)세요

If you have been studying Korean for a while (and if you are here on Lesson 40 you
probably have been), you are probably already quite familiar with the ~(으)세요 form. This
is one of the first things people learn when they study Korean, but I waited until Lesson 40
to teach it to you. Trust me, there is a method to my madness.

In the previous section, you learned how to use ~(으)셔요 as a formal way to make a
command. These days, especially in speech but also in basically all forms of Korean, it is
much more common to pronounce and write ~(으)셔요 as ~(으)세요. This can only  be
done when you see ~(으)셔요 and not with any other form that ~(으)시다 can create. For
example, each of the following are the same:

가셔요 = 가세요
공부하셔요 = 공부하세요

However,

가셨어요 can not be said as “가셨으세요”

가셔 cannot be said as”가세”
가시다 can not be said as “가세다”

I will say it again: Only when you see “~(으)셔요” can you use “~(으)세요.
As you learned previously, one of the reasons why you would add “~(으)셔요” to a word is
if you were making a command. For example:

PLAY 이것을 보셔요 = Look at this

PLAY 빨리 올라오셔요 = Come up quick
PLAY 이 길에서 직진하셔요 = Go straight on this road

This means that ~(으)세요 can replace ~(으)셔요 in each of the examples above. For
example:

PLAY 이것을 보세요 = Look at this

PLAY 빨리 올라오세요 = Come up quick
PLAY 이 길에서 직진하세요 = Go straight on this road

More examples:

PLAY 수고하세요! = Work hard! (A common greeting when people leave a place of
business)
PLAY 열심히 운동하세요! = Work out hard!
PLAY 먼저 가세요! = Go first
PLAY 칠판을 올려다보세요 = Look up to the board
PLAY 시선을 돌리세요 = Turn away your eyes
PLAY 보안을 위해 대통령을 내일까지 감시하세요 = For security, watch/guard the president
until tomorrow

Imperative endings are often added to 있다 to command somebody to “stay” in a place or

in a state. As you know, 있다 is often an adjective, but there are times when it is
considered a verb. When telling somebody to “stay” like this, 있다 is seen as a verb.  The
fact that it is a verb doesn’t really matter. However, it’s always good to know what types of
words you are dealing with. Below are some examples:

PLAY 집에 있어! = Stay at home (be at home!)

PLAY 잠깐 여기 있어 = Stay here for a second
PLAY 그냥 집에 있어 = Just stay at home

The adverb 가만히 (to stay still or to not move) is often used in sentences like this to tell
somebody to “stay” still. For example:

PLAY 가만히 있어! = Stay still!/Don’t move!

As you learned in the previous lesson, 계시다 is the formal equivalent of this usage of
있다. When ~아/어요 is added to 계시다 to create a command, the construction 계셔요 is
formed which you now know can be presented as “계세요.” This is where the expression
“안녕히 계세요” (which translates to “stay in peace”) comes from.

The majority of Korean learners don’t know that ~(으)셔요 and ~(으)세요 are equivalent
ways to end a sentence. To be honest, you don’t really need to know this. The use of ~(으)
세요 in Korean is much more common when making a command so as an early learner of
Korean it isn’t immediately important. For now, I would suggest using the ~(으)세요 form
when giving a command to a person who deserves respect, but at the same time be aware
of the ~(으)셔요 form in case it comes up.

Now… this brings us to another problem.

~(으)셔요 can be added to make a command.

~(으)셔요 is also a regular present tense conjugation. For example, these sentences are
acceptable:

PLAY 나의 엄마는 매일 운동해 = My mother exercises every day

PLAY 저의 엄마는 매일 운동해요 = My mother exercises every day

But by adding ~(으)시다, the following is also acceptable:

PLAY 저의 엄마는 매일 운동하셔요 = My mother exercises every day

I will say it again: when you see “~(으)셔요” can you use “~(으)세요.”

Therefore, the sentence above could also be used as:

PLAY 저의 엄마는 매일 운동하세요 = My mother exercises every day

This can be applied to any situation. For example:

PLAY 네, 가능하셔요 = Yes, that is possible

PLAY 네, 가능하세요 = Yes, that is possible
(The above sentences are often heard when you ask if you can do something [like use a
particular card or combine multiple coupons] at a store/restaurant)

PLAY 이분은 저의 엄마이셔요 = This person is my mother

PLAY 이분은 저의 엄마이세요 = This person is my mother
PLAY 선생님, 어디 가셔요? = Teacher, where are you going?
PLAY 선생님, 어디 가세요? = Teacher, where are you going?

PLAY 그 사람이 언제 오셔요? = When is that person coming?

PLAY 그 사람이 언제 오세요? = When is that person coming?

Adding ~(으)세요 (or ~(으)시다 for that matter) to a stem can create irregulars. If it is
added to a word that follows the ㄷ irregular, the following occurs:

걷다 = to walk
걷다 + ~(으)세요 = 걷 + 으 + 세요
걷 + 으 + 세요 = 걸으세요
걸으세요 = walk!

If ~(으)세요 is added to a word that follows the ㅅ irregular, the following occurs::

짓다 = to build
짓다 + ~(으)세요 = 짓 + 으 + 세요
짓 + 으 + 세요 = 지으세요
지으세요 = build!

Refer back to Lesson 7 on irregulars to review these concepts.

One weird thing is that people rarely (if ever) say ~(으)세요 connected to 먹다 (to eat).
Instead, it is much more natural to add ~(으)세요 to 들다 (which is a more formal way to
say “eat”). Another change occurs when adding ~(으)세요 to verbs that follow the ㄹ
irregular:

들다 = to eat (formal)
들다 + ~(으)세요 = 들 + 세요
들 + 세요 = 드세요
드세요 = Eat!

I love tables! Let’s look at another table that shows how words change when ~(으)세요 is
added to them. I specifically chose irregular words:

Irregular Verb + ~아/어 +~(으)세요

 짓다 (build) 지어 지으세요

걷다 (walk) 걸어 걸으세요

듣다 (listen) 들어 들으세요

잠그다 (lock) 잠가 잠그세요

고르다 (choose) 골라 고르세요

만들다 (make) 만들어 만드세요

열다 (open) 열어 여세요

팔다 (sell) 팔아 파세요

눕다 (lay down) 누워 누우세요

Let’s look at another ending you can use to make a command.

Imperative mood: Verb stem + ~아/어라

Another way to give a command in Korean is by adding ~아/어라 to a verb stem. The
formality is similar to the ~아/어 form you learned previously. Some examples:

PLAY 빨리 가라! = Go fast!

PLAY 그렇게 해라! = Do it like that
PLAY 내 말을 들어라 = Listen to what I say
PLAY 밥을 먼저 먹어라 = Eat (rice) first (you can eat first)

However, the ~아/어라 form is generally used by much older people (parents or
grandparents) when they are giving orders to younger people. As I said, the formality is
very similar (if not the same) as using ~아/어, but I would much prefer to use ~아/어 over
~아/어라.  One time I said something to my girlfriend like “가라” and she just laughed and
said “Who are you? My grandfather?”

If you want to give a command to somebody in a formal way, check out the next section.

Imperative Mood: Verb stem + ~(으)십시오

Adding ~(으)십시오 to a verb stem is done in the same manner as when adding ~(으)세요.
That is, the same irregulars come in to play. However, adding ~(으)십시오 to a verb stem
allows you to give a command very  formally. You will most likely only use this form in a
few circumstances, as it is usually reserved for times when speaking to people who deserve
a ridiculous amount of respect. If you were to meet your
girlfriend/boyfriend’s grandparents for the very first time, you might use this ending. You
will also see it sometimes in government buildings/stores/restaurants on signs telling you
to “come again” or stuff like that.

For example:
PLAY 여기서 내리십시오 = Get off here (I think this is the message that is broadcasted in
the Seoul subway at every stop, telling you to “get off”)

Now that you know how to say “do this,” it is time to learn how to say “don’t  do this”

 
 Negative Imperative Mood: ~지 말다

You can also use the imperative mood to make a negative command. In these sentences,
you can tell somebody not  do something. These sentences require the use of the word “
말다.” 말다 can be used in other situations as well, but I will present those to you as they
become important (for example, you will see 말다  used to eliminate a choice in Lesson
73 and used with ~든지 in Lesson 106).

When used to make a negative command, ~지 말다 should be added to the stem of a

word. For example:

공부하지 말다
가지 말다
먹지 말다

In order to make those constructions a command, you should use one of the imperative
conjugations that I taught you earlier in the lesson.

Let’s look at how this is done with a simple word first. If you want to tell somebody to
“go,” you should add one of the many ‘imperative mood’ conjugations to the word “가다.”
For example (in order of formality):

가다 + ~아/어 = 가!
가다 + ~아/어라 = 가라!
가다 + ~아/어요 = 가요!
가다 + ~(으)세요 = 가세요! (가셔요)
가다 + ~(으)십시오 = 가십시오!

The same is done when telling somebody not  to do something. If you want to tell
somebody to “not go,” you should add ~지 말다 and conjugate it using one of the many
‘imperative mood’ conjugations. For example:

1) 가지 말다 + ~아/어 = 가지 말아! 가지 마!
2) 가지 말다 + ~아/어라 = 가지 말아라! 가지 마라
3) 가지 말다 + ~아/어요 = 가지 말요! 가지 마요!
4) 가지 말다 + ~(으)세요 = 가지 마세요!
5) 가지 말다 + ~(으)십시오 = 가지 마십시오!

Notice that numbers 1, 2 and 3 go against the normal grammatical rules of Korean. 말다 is
an irregular verb in this respect and to my knowledge no other verb follows this pattern.
(These irregular conjugations only apply when specifically attaching the additions shown
above. In all other situations,  말다 follows the  ㄹ irregular like a normal verb ending in  ㄹ.)

All five of those conjugations are possible. However, the two most common conjugations
that you will hear are number 1 and number 4. If you are speaking to somebody
informally, you will most likely hear “가지 마.” If you are speaking to somebody formally,
you will most likely hear “가지 마세요.”

Some examples of this negative imperative mood being used:

PLAY 너무 빨리 먹지 마세요 = Don’t eat your food too fast!

PLAY 부끄러워하지 마세요 = Don’t be shy!
PLAY 그렇게 하지 마! = Don’t do it like that!
PLAY 집에 가지 마! = Don’t go home!
PLAY 앉지 마! = Don’t sit down!
PLAY 여기에 오줌을 싸지 마세요 = Don’t pee here
PLAY 권력을 남용하지 마세요 = Don’t abuse your power/authority
PLAY 오늘이 유쾌한 날이라서 슬퍼하지 마세요 = Today is a delightful day, so don’t be sad
PLAY 사람들을 학력 수준으로 평가하지 마세요 = Don’t judge people on the basis of
education level
PLAY 그 학생들에게 허가를 해 주지 마세요 = Don’t give those students permission

You can see ~지 말다 attached to 내려가다 on a Korean sign in this YouTube video.

Before we finish this lesson, let’s talk about some specific ways these imperative sentences
can be used.

~지 말고

In Lesson 17, you learned the purpose of adding ~고 to connect two clauses or ideas. For
example:

PLAY 저는 밥을 먹고 갈 거예요 = I will eat then go

PLAY 저는 자고 한국어를 공부했어요 = I slept then studied Korean

You can also add ~고 to 말다 to connect the negative command with another clause. The
clause after ~지 말고 is typically a positive command. This type of sentence is used when
you want to tell somebody what not  to do, and then also tell them what they should do.
For example:

PLAY 매일 같은 운동을 하지 말고 많이 쉬세요 = Don’t do the same exercise every day, and
get lots of rest
PLAY 그렇게 하지 말고 내 말을 들어봐 = Don’t do it like that, and listen to what I have to
say
PLAY 한 사람에게 다 주지 말고 사람들과 동등하게 나누세요 = Don’t give them all to one
person, hand/divide them out evenly

Giving Directions

Now that you know how to give people commands, you are able to give people directions.
Check out the following list for commonly used direction-like sentences:

PLAY 오른 쪽으로 가세요 = Go right

PLAY 왼 쪽으로 가세요 = Go left
PLAY 직진하세요 = Go straight

PLAY 건물을 지나가서 오른 쪽으로 가세요 = Go past the building, then go right
PLAY 건물을 지나가서 오른 쪽으로 가지 말고 계속 직진하세요 = Go past the building, then
don’t turn right, but keep going straight

The Imperative Mood with ~아/어 보다

In Lesson 32, you learned how to add ~아/어 보다 to words to create a meaning that is
similar to ““attempt/try.” For example, you learned these sentences:

PLAY 엄마가 요리한 음식을 먹어 봤어? = Did you try the food mom cooked?
PLAY 결혼하기 위해 남자들을 만나 봤어 = In order to get married, I tried meeting a lot of
men
Just because of the meaning of “attempt,” it is very common to see an imperative ending
attached to ~아/어 보다. For example:

PLAY 그것을 확인해 봐! = Try checking that

PLAY 이것을 먹어 봐! = Try eating this!

Although the typical translation of “~아/어 보다” in these cases is “try…” it is often
eliminated. For example, this sentence:

PLAY 이것을 먹어 봐! Could be translated as: “Try eating this!” or just “Eat this!”

Especially when used in the least formal imperative form (~아/어 봐), it is very common to
see this used simply as a command without any meaning of “try/attempt.” Nonetheless,
the meaning of “try/attempt” is often very subtle and doesn’t really change the meaning of
much in the sentence.

Here are some more examples:

PLAY 여기 와 보세요 = Come here (Try coming here)

PLAY 지금 앉아 봐 = Sit down (Try sitting down)
PLAY 문을 열어 봐 = Open the door (Try opening the door)
PLAY 먼저 가 봐 = Go first (Try going first)
PLAY 이거를 봐 봐 = Look at this (Try looking at this)
PLAY 이것을 드셔 보세요 = Eat this (Try eating this)
PLAY 이 차를 마셔 보세요 = Drink this tea (Try drinking this tea)
PLAY 이 제품 수준을 높여 보세요 = Try to raise the level/standard of this product
PLAY 그 강아지가 온순해 보여서 한 번 만져 보세요 = That dog looks calm/gentle, so try
touching it
PLAY 직원이랑 잠깐 얘기해 봐 = Try talking with a staff member
PLAY 이 물체가 무엇인지 생각해 보세요 = Try thinking about what this object is

That’s it!

Lesson 41: To Give: 주다, ~아/어 주다

Vocabulary

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You might
not be able to understand all of the grammar within the example sentences, but most of
the grammar used will be introduced by the end of Unit 2. Use these sentences to give
yourself a feel for how each word can be used, and maybe even to expose yourself to the
grammar that you will be learning shortly.

A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here.

Nouns:
PLAY 동료 = colleague, peer

PLAY 사거리 = intersection

PLAY 어린이집 = day care

PLAY 유치원 = kindergarten

PLAY 뿌리 = roots

PLAY 무역 = trade

PLAY 턱 = chin

PLAY 왼발 = left foot

PLAY 왼손 = left hand

PLAY 오른발 = right foot

PLAY 오른손 = right hand

PLAY 손바닥 = palm

PLAY 음성 = voice

PLAY 이마 = forehead

PLAY 발가락 = toe

PLAY 발목 = ankle

PLAY 엉덩이 = butt
PLAY 신체 = body

PLAY 감옥 = prison

PLAY 볼 = cheek

PLAY 제자리 = in the right place

Verbs:
CONJUGATE PLAY 상대하다 = to deal with people

CONJUGATE PLAY 미치다 = to go crazy

Adverbs and Other Words:

PLAY 멀리 = far, far away

PLAY 너무나 = extremely

PLAY 최초 = the first time in history something is done or occurs

PLAY 초 = beginning of a time period

PLAY 말 = end of a time period

PLAY 결코 = put with negative sentences to stress

For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.

Einführung

In the previous lesson, you learned how to give commands using the imperative voice. In
this lesson, you will learn how to use 주다 and how it can be used with the imperative
voice. In addition, you will learn how to use ~아/어 주다 when an action is done for you.
Let’s get started.

주다 = to give
주다 means “to give” and you already know how to use it in a wide variety of sentences
when an object is being given. For example:

저는 저의 친구에게 돈을 줬어요 = I gave my friend money

아빠는 나에게 음식을 줬어 = Dad gave me food

When asking/telling/commanding another person to give something to you, you can

attach an imperative ending that you learned in the previous lesson. For example, if you
want somebody to give you a book, you can attach any imperative form:

PLAY 그 책을 (나에게) 줘 = Give me that book

PLAY 그 책을 (나에게) 줘라 = Give me that book (usually pronounced as 주라)
PLAY 그 책을 (저에게) 주세요 = Give me that book

Other examples:
PLAY 맥주 한 병을 주세요 = Give me one bottle of beer (please)
PLAY 저 숟가락을 주세요 = Give me that spoon (please)
PLAY 밥을 많이 주세요 = Give me lots of rice
PLAY 왼손만 주세요 = Give me only your left hand
PLAY6 월 말에 돈을 주세요 = Give me the money at the end of June

The sentences above only involve objects being given. It is also possible to use 주다 when
an action is being done for a person. Let’s talk about this next.

Verb stem + ~아/어 주다

By adding ~아/어 주다 to the stem of a word, you can imply that the action is somehow
beneficial to you (or whoever the action is being done for); almost as if it were a favor that
another person completed. In these cases, not only is the action completed, but it is
completed for  you (or whoever). For example:

그 선생님은 한국어를 저에게 가르쳤어요 = That teacher taught me Korean

PLAY 그 선생님은 한국어를 저에게 가르쳐 줬어요 = That teacher taught me Korean
Those sentences essentially have the same meaning, but by adding “~아/어 주다” the
speaker is emphasizing that the teacher provided some sort of service/favor by teaching
you.

Many more examples:

Notice that  ~(으)시 can be added to ~아/어 주다 if the person acting deserves high respect.

PLAY 엄마가 과자를 내 손바닥에 놓아 주었어

= Mom put some candy into my hands (on my palms) for me

PLAY 내년 초에 오빠가 돈을 보내 줄 거예요

= My brother will send the money early next year

PLAY 동료가 그 일을 저에게 설명해 줬어요

= A colleague explained that work to me

PLAY 할머니가 오늘 멀리에서 와 주셨어요

= Grandma came from far away (for me/us) today

PLAY 경찰관은 밖에 있는 미친 사람과 상대해 줬어요

= The policeman dealt with the crazy person outside (for me)

PLAY 제가 외국 사람이라서 이 회사에서 저를 상대해 주고 싶은 사람이 없어요

= Nobody wants to deal with me at this company because I’m a foreigner

PLAY 선생님은 밤에 우리를 위해 어린이집을 잠깐 열어 줬어요

= The teacher opened the daycare for us at night for a little bit (for us/me)

You learned in the previous lesson how to add imperative endings to words. If you want a
person to do something for  you, you can first add ~아/어 주다 to the stem of the word
and add an imperative ending to 주다.

Notice the difference between the following sentences:

PLAY 빨리 오세요 = Come quick

PLAY 빨리 와 주세요 = Come quick (for me)

Notice that both sentences essentially have the same meaning. The first sentence is simply
a command, but the second sentence (because of the nature of the word “주다”) implies
that the desired action is beneficial to the speaker. Almost as if the action is a favor that
the speaker would like to happen.

Therefore, adding ~아/어 주다 to a stem gives the sentence the meaning of “do __ for me.”
This often translates more simply to “Please, …..” For example:

PLAY 점심을 요리해 주세요! = Please, make me lunch

PLAY 이것을 만들어 주세요 = Please, make this for me

The two sentences above have essentially the same meaning, but a slightly different feel
than the following sentences:

PLAY 점심을 요리하세요 = Make lunch

PLAY 이것을 만드세요 = Make this

The only difference being that when using ‘주다’ you are specifically asking for some sort
of ‘service.’ When you do not include ‘주다,’ you are just telling somebody to do
something. However, by saying 주다, you are indicating that the person is doing
something for you.

Many more examples:

PLAY 그 책을 제자리에 둬 주세요 = Please put that book back in its place
PLAY 볼에 이 로션을 발라 주세요 = Please put this lotion on my cheeks
PLAY 이것을 이마에 붙여 주세요 = Please stick this on my forehead
PLAY 음성 메시지를 남겨 주세요 = Please leave me a voice message
PLAY 우리 아이를 이 유치원에 받아 주세요 = Please accept our child into this kindergarten
PLAY 발목이 아파서 잠깐 봐 주세요 = My ankle is sore, so please look at it for a second
PLAY 이 양말을 오른발에 신겨 주세요 = Please put this sock on my right foot
PLAY 정답을 모르는 사람은 오른손을 올려 주세요 = The people who don’t know the
answer, please raise your right hand

In Lesson 36 you learned about the word 보이다 and how it can be used to indicate that
one can see something. ~아/어 주다 is often added to 보이다 to ask for something to “be
shown” to somebody. 보여주다 and 보여 주다 (with and without the space) are acceptable.
For example:

PLAY 얼굴을 보여주세요 = Please show (me) your face

PLAY 발가락을 보여 주세요 = Please show me your toe
PLAY 해외무역건물이 어디 있는지 보여주세요 = Please show me where the international
trade building is

————————–

좀 is an interesting word that is commonly used in Korean – especially in speech. One way
that it is used is as a shortened version of “조금.” As such, it can replace “조금” in
sentences where appropriate, but this is usually reserved for speaking or dialogue in print.
For example:

PLAY 날씨가 좀 추워졌어요 = The weather got a little bit cold

PLAY 저는 좀 더 올라갈 거예요 = I’m going to go a little bit higher
PLAY 이마가 좀 아파요 = My forehead is a little bit sore
PLAY 제가 산 주식은 좀 비쌌어요 = The stocks I bought were a bit expensive

It is also common to find “좀” used in imperative sentences. When asking somebody to do
something for you, using “좀” makes the request sound a little bit softer. This is almost
impossible to translate to English, as its addition simply adds a feel to the sentence. For
example:

PLAY 밥을 좀 많이 주세요 = Give me lots of rice

PLAY 이것을 좀 만들어 주세요 = Please, make this for me
PLAY 그 책을 제자리에 좀 둬 주세요 = Please put that book back in its place (for me)

There are other ways to ask for something in Korean that don’t need the imperative mood.
For example, you could also say “Can you do this for me?” It would also be appropriate to
use “좀” in sentences like this as well. This grammar has not been introduced yet, so I do
not want to talk about it here. It will be talked about in Lesson 45.

————————–

Using 주다 with Negative Imperative Sentences

Just like you learned in the previous lesson, you can tell a person not to do something by
adding ~지 말다 to the stem of a word. You can also add ~아/어 주다 after ~지 말다 to
have the same effect as described previously. That is, you are asking for somebody to not
do something for  you. For example:

그것을 말하지 마세요 = Don’t say that

PLAY 그것을 말하지 말아 주세요 = Please don’t say that

Those sentences essentially have the same meaning, but by adding “주다” the speaker is
emphasizing that the listener provided some sort of service/favor by not doing the action.
Below are many more examples:

PLAY 수업 시간 동안 자지 말아 주세요 = Please don’t sleep in class

PLAY 저를 쳐다보지 말아 주세요 = Please don’t stare at me
PLAY 제 엉덩이를 만지지 말아 주세요 = Please don’t touch my bum
PLAY 저를 감옥에 넣지 말아 주세요! = Please don’t put me in prison!
PLAY 자기의 뿌리를 잊지 말아 주세요 = Please don’t forget your roots

Thank You For…

This is where everything starts to come together. You can use the concepts you learned in
this lesson, the previous lesson, and in Lesson 37 to say “thank you for….”

If you wanted to say, “thank you for listening,” you would have to use multiple concepts.

First off, a word: 들어보다 (to listen)

By adding ~아/어 주다 to 들어보다, we get: 들어봐 주다, which can be used many ways:

PLAY 그는 제 말을 들어봐 줬어요 = He listened to me

PLAY 제 말을 들어봐 주세요 = Listen to me, please

If you add ~아/어서 (because) to 들어봐 주다, you get:

들어봐 줘서…
which means something like “because you listen(ed).”

If you add “감사하다” (thank you) after ~아/어서, you get:

PLAY 들어봐 줘서 감사합니다 = Because you listened, thank you (thank you for listening)

Okay, one more time.

1) Take a verb: 요리하다 (to cook)

2) Add ~아/어 주다: 요리해 주다
3) Add ~아/어서: 요리해 줘서
4) Add 감사하다 = 요리해 줘서 감사합니다 = thanks for cooking

It seems really confusing because there are so many concepts wrapped in one sentence.
More examples will help you get the hang of it:

PLAY 열심히 공부해 줘서 감사합니다 = Thanks for studying hard

PLAY 이것을 가르쳐 줘서 감사합니다 = Thanks for teaching that to me
PLAY 문을 열어 줘서 감사합니다 = Thanks for opening the door for me

To make it even more confusing, often times ~(으)시 is added to ~아/어 주다 (because,

usually when you are thanking somebody, you are trying to be formal). For example:

PLAY 이것을 가르쳐 주셔서 감사합니다 = Thanks for teaching that to me

(가르치다 + ~아/어 주다 + ~(으)시 + ~아/어서 + 감사합니다)

And that  is why I waited until Lesson 41 to teach you about this concept. There would
have been no way that you would have been able to grasp everything I taught in this
lesson if I had taught it earlier. It took us so long to get to the point where I was
comfortable teaching concepts like ~아/어서 and ‘~(으)시,’ and now we are using both of
those concepts together  in addition to what you learned in this lesson.

Tough stuff, but hopefully you understood everything correctly.

Now that you have reached the end of Lesson 41, why not try taking our Mini-Test where
you can test yourself on what you’ve learned in the past 8 lessons.
Need a review before you do the test? Why not look back on the past 8 lessons?