Learning Korean from English
Created: 2017-01-05
Streak Extended: 2023-10-24
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Welcome to the Korean for English speakers course!
We're very excited to have the chance to share this unique language with you! Along the way we will be sure to provide some helpful notes to explain some grammar and give you a glimpse into Korean culture. Let's start by discussing the Korean alphabet.
The Korean alphabet, Hangeul, was developed in 1443 in the court of King Sejong the Great.
For many generations Korean scholars had been using complicated Chinese characters to write in Korean, made more complicated by the fact that characters are ill-suited to Korean grammar. The new alphabet solved this problem and made it possible for a much larger population to read and write.
The Korean alphabet developed at a time when many scholars knew how to read and write in Chinese, which doesn't have a true alphabet, but rather characters that form whole syllables.
In part inspired by the Korean tradition of writing in Chinese, and in part because many Chinese characters were still used in Korean writing at the time, the new Korean alphabet is also written in syllable blocks. At least two and sometimes up to five letters can fit into one block. The Korean word for 'hello,' 안녕하세요, is made of five blocks - five syllables. Annyeonghaseyo!
The general rule is that you read each syllable from top left to bottom right. The consonant goes first, followed by a vowel. Vowels with a more vertical shape (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅣ) go to the right of the consonant while vowels with a more horizontal shape (ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ) go beneath the vowel. A final consonant always goes on the bottom.
What happens if you have a vowel by itself? There are a lot of syllables in Korean that only contain the vowel, so how can there be two letters? In order to make each syllable into a syllable block there is a letter called ieung ㅇ that goes before a vowel and does not make a sound. At the end of a syllable an ieung sounds like "ng."
The Korean alphabet has 6 basic vowels, 아, 어, 오, 우, 으, and 이. There are several additional vowels that are created using a combination of these six. Adding ㅜ or ㅗ creates a w sound and adding a ㅣ creates a y sound. In combination, we get 와, 워, 웨, 위, 외, 왜, 의 and 야, 여, 에, 애, 예, 얘. Listen carefully and match the sounds to the written words
Although they originally were more distinct, some vowels now sound almost the same, depending on the dialect or accent. However, even when pronounced the same, these syllables are still written as they were historically. 애 and 에 often sound the same while 웨, 왜, and 외 do as well.
개미 · 노래 · 도넛 · 도쿄 · 뽀뽀 · 씨
6 words
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅁ | m | /m/ |
| ㄴ | n | /n/ |
| ㅇ | ng | /ŋ/ (no sound at start of syllable) |
| ㄱ | g | /g/ or /k/ |
| ㅂ | b | /b/ or /p/ |
| ㄷ | d | /d/ or /t/ |
| ㄹ | l/r | /ɾ/or /l/ |
| ㅈ | j | /ʨ/ jam |
| ㅅ | s | /s/ or /ɕ/ |
ㄱ, ㅂ, and ㄷ represent both voiced and unvoiced sounds (g/k, b/p, and d/t), depending on the surrounding sounds. With these sounds, there should be no air coming from your mouth.
ㄹ is like Spanish r, where the tip of the tongue strikes the palate very briefly. When it is a final consonant introduced below, it is pronounced like an l.
ㅅ in most situations sounds like an s, but before ㅣ or "iotized" vowels it sounds more like "sh".
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅋ | k | /kʰ/ |
| ㅍ | p | /pʰ/ |
| ㅌ | t | /tʰ/ |
| ㅊ | ch | /tɕʰ/ |
| ㅎ | h | /h/ |
Aspirants are consonants followed by a puff of air. Hold a small sheet of paper in front of your mouth. Notice that the paper moves when you pronounce the English words ‘pen’ and touch’ due to the aspiration.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㄲ | kk | /k͈/ |
| ㅃ | pp | /p͈/ |
| ㄸ | tt | /t͈/ |
| ㅉ | jj | /t͈ɕ/ |
| ㅆ | ss | /s͈/ |
Tense consonants are pronounced with extra emphasis. Sometimes regular ㄱ, ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, and ㄷ sound become tense in the middle of words, especially for younger speakers.
Korean only have a few possible sounds at the end of a syllable, so many consonants' pronunciations change.
| Final Sound | Letters |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ |
| ㄷ | ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ |
| ㅂ | ㅂ ㅍ |
| ㄴ | ㄴ |
| ㅁ | ㅁ |
| ㅇ | ㅇ |
| ㄹ | ㄹ |
When two consonants appear in the final position, only one of them is pronounced:
| Final Sound | Letter Pairs |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄳ ㄺ |
| ㄴ | ㄵ ㄶ |
| ㄹ | ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㅀ |
| ㅁ | ㄻ |
| ㅂ | ㄿ ㅄ |
When followed by a vowel, final consonants (except ㅇ and ㅎ) move to the start of the next syllable. Consonants revert back to their original pronunciations and pairs are split, allowing both to be pronounced. ㅇ does not move, and ㅎ disappears before a vowel. Tense consonants (ㄲ, ㅆ) are not pairs.
| Written | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 독일 | 도길 |
| 웃음 | 우슴 |
| 영어 | 영어 |
| 관용어 | 과뇽어 |
| 놓이다 | 노이다 |
| 닭이 | 달기 |
| 많이 | 마니 |
| 엮음 | 여끔 |
Many consonants change their pronunciations when a consonant at the end of one syllable influences or is influenced by the consonant at the start of the next.
| Situation | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+nasal | ㅇ+nasal | 국물 [궁물] |
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+ㄹ | ㅇ+ㄴ | 낙뢰 [낭뇌] |
| ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ+nasal | ㄴ+nasal | 꽃말 [꼰말] |
| ㅂ ㅍ+nasal | ㅁ+nasal | 입니다 [임니다], 없는 [엄는] |
| ㅂ+ㄹ | ㅁ+ㄴ | 법률 [범뉼] |
| ㄹ+ㄴ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 실내 [실래] |
| ㄴ+ㄹ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 신라 [실라], 물난리[물랄리] |
| nasal (except ㄴ)+ㄹ | nasal+ㄴ | 성립 [성닙] |
Nasal sounds: ㄴ, ㅁ, final ㅇ
Now that we've learned some basic Consonant-Vowel syllables, let's look at more complicated combinations.
Korean only has a few possible sounds at the end of a syllable, so many consonants change their pronunciation.
| Final Sound | Letters |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ |
| ㄷ | ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ |
| ㅂ | ㅂ ㅍ |
| ㄴ | ㄴ |
| ㅁ | ㅁ |
| ㅇ | ㅇ |
| ㄹ | ㄹ |
When two consonants appear in the final position, only one of them is pronounced:
| Final Sound | Letter Pairs |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄳ ㄺ |
| ㄴ | ㄵ ㄶ |
| ㄹ | ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㅀ |
| ㅁ | ㄻ |
| ㅂ | ㄿ ㅄ |
When followed by a vowel, final consonants (except ㅇ and ㅎ) move to the start of the next syllable. Consonants revert back to their original pronunciations and pairs are split, allowing both to be pronounced. ㅇ does not move, and ㅎ disappears before a vowel. Tense consonants (ㄲ, ㅆ) are not pairs.
| Written | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 독일 | 도길 |
| 웃음 | 우슴 |
| 영어 | 영어 |
| 관용어 | 과뇽어 |
| 놓이다 | 노이다 |
| 닭이 | 달기 |
| 많이 | 마니 |
| 엮음 | 여끔 |
Many consonants change their pronunciations when a consonant at the end of one syllable influences or is influenced by the consonant at the start of the next.
| Situation | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+nasal | ㅇ+nasal | 국물 [궁물] |
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+ㄹ | ㅇ+ㄴ | 낙뢰 [낭뇌] |
| ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ+nasal | ㄴ+nasal | 꽃말 [꼰말] |
| ㅂ ㅍ+nasal | ㅁ+nasal | 입니다 [임니다], 없는 [엄는] |
| ㅂ+ㄹ | ㅁ+ㄴ | 법률 [범뉼] |
| ㄹ+ㄴ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 실내 [실래] |
| ㄴ+ㄹ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 신라 [실라], 물난리[물랄리] |
| nasal (except ㄴ)+ㄹ | nasal+ㄴ | 성립 [성닙] |
Nasal sounds: ㄴ, ㅁ, final ㅇ
Belongings
The syllable block "의" can appear in many Korean words. As the possessive particle (Like 's in English) it is often pronounced closer to 에.
뉴욕 · 도쿄 · 듀오링고 · 드래곤즈 · 런던 · 맥도날드 · 모터스 · 배스킨라빈스 · 베를린 · 부산 · 블루윙즈 · 삼성 · 서울 · 스타벅스 · 아이스크림 · 아파트 · 워싱턴 · 유나이티드 · 커피 · 콜라 · 파리 · 파티 · 현대
23 words
Before we wade into Korean grammar and vocabulary, let's get some more alphabet practice with some words you should already know.
We introduce two of the most famous Korean companies, Samsung and Hyundai. Don't be surprised that some companies and given names don't fit the romanization we're using.
Korean has had several standard systems of romanization over the years, with Revised Romanization currently the official system in use by South Korea and in this course. It came about in the 90s, so proper nouns and words that had previously entered English often make use of one of the older systems.
This gives us Samsung and Hyundai rather than "samseong" and "hyeondae".
Transliteration into Korean is based on Korean approximation of English pronunciation.
Sometimes sentence final 'r' is dropped, subsumed into the vowel, like in British pronunciation.
Sometimes single syllables become split since Korean doesn't really do consonant clusters, so 3 syllable United becomes 5 syllable 유나이티드.
Of course, non-English words may be transliterated based on native language pronunciation, as in 파리 for Paris.
Hello! It's nice to meet you!
In this lesson we'll learn some basic Korean pleasantries and get our first look at how to form a Korean sentence.
We introduce some common Korean names here in Lesson 1.
In general, full Korean names have three syllables - a one syllable family name and a two syllable given name. The name is written family name first and given name second, without any space in between.
For example, 이선화 would be Lee Seonhwa, or in the usual English name order Seonhwa Lee.
We try to be generous with the alternate translations, since names generally have a lot of different spellings as some people still continue to use older forms of romanization. However, we do NOT want you to "translate." 가람 is not the English name Graham, and we will not accept that as a valid translation.
A lot of surnames do have "standard" translations, such as Lee for 이. As in the case of Lee, this may not reflect current spelling or pronunciation, but at one point in time, Lee did indeed start with a ㄹ.
Korean nouns do not decline for number, case, or gender. The noun is the noun. Period. Simpler than English.
However, Korean is an agglutinating or agglutinative language. Rather than changing the base noun depending on its use in a sentences, extra pieces called particles are added to introduce more meaning. In general these pieces are added to the end of the word.
While that may seem scary, agglutinating languages usually have very clear rules so that people don't get confused when a basic word becomes buried inside a larger piece. The same is true for Korean. This means that you don't have to worry about memorizing exceptions to the rules, like we do in English!
We'll talk more about particles as you move through the course. Our first particle here is 은/는
은/는
은 occurs after a consonant and 는 after a vowel. This marks the topic of the sentence. When several sentences in a row have the same topic, only the first sentence needs to have 은/는 since it will be understood that the topic is continuing. When a new topic is introduced or when contrasting (as for X) you add a new 은/는.
When the subject (or any other sentence component) is well implied in the context, you may freely drop it in Korean, though you will mostly see and be asked to submit full sentences here since translation exercises do not come with any context. If you come across an incomplete sentence in this course, then the dropped component is probably people in general (often translated to one or you) or something very obvious even without context. Otherwise we accept every possible pronoun for the omitted components.
The verb ~이다 is the only verb that is agglutinative.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is X. | X입니다.* |
| Y is X. | Y가/는 X입니다. |
In the speech level (more about that later) we're using at this point in the course, this verb will always be realized as ~입니다 for a statement.
A short note on the liaison in ~입니다. Although written as ip-ni-da, a ㅂ plus a nasal (ㄴ/ㅁ/ㅇ), often results in the ㅂ being pronounced as ㅁ. So, here it sounds like "임니다" despite the spelling.
We'll talk about speech level in more detail as we go on, but for now, just know that every sentence ends in a verb and every verb has an ending that shows the speech level.
Here we have ㅂ니다/습니다 for statements and ㅂ니까/습니까 for questions.
ㅂ니다/ㅂ니까 come after vowels, so we get ~입니다 and 합니까.
습니다/습니까 come after consonants, so we get 반삽습니다.
Most pleasantries (hello, thank you, excuse me, etc) in Korean are a single word. You don't need to form a whole sentence when the listener knows what you mean, and so often just the verb is used.
There are two words for thank you, 고맙다 and 감사하다.
In most cases, the two are interchangeable. However, 감사하다, a Sino-Korean word, has a more formal connotation and is used more in public speaking (with notable exceptions including the news) while 고맙다, a native Korean word, is less formal.
In the speech level we're using now that's not an issue, but when you drop to a lower level 고맙다 often takes precedence.
감사하다 literally means "to thank," while 고맙다 is "to be thankful," so that can also lead to some differences in usage.
죄송하다 is a more formal form of apology.
실례하다 is the word you'd use if you're trying to get past someone on a crowded subway or if you bump into someone. 실례합니다 literally means "I am being rude."
Nice to meet you, 만나서 반갑습니다, is a set phrase that literally means "Glad to have met."
The Interrogative is used to ask questions. In 합쇼체, this mood is formed by adding -(스)ㅂ니까 to the verb stem. Word order remains the same.
가 · 개 · 고양이 · 과 · 남자 · 남자아이 · 네 · 는 · 동물 · 들 · 또는 · 물건 · 빵 · 사과 · 사람 · 아니요 · 아니요, · 아닙니다 · 아이 · 여자 · 여자아이 · 연필 · 예 · 와 · 은 · 음식 · 의 · 이 · 입니다 · 장소 · 저 · 제 · 집 · 책 · 하고 · 학교
36 words
Now that we've learned how to say hello and introduce ourselves, let's dive deeper into verbs. Let's get started!
In 합쇼체, all verbs end with -ㅂ니다/-습니다 in the declarative mood. (As you might have already noticed, you can get the stem by dropping -다, or -다 is the ending for the base form of any verb.)
| Infinitive Verb | 합쇼체 | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 자다 | 잡니다 | Verb stem ending in a vowel + -ㅂ니다 |
| 좋다 | 좋습니다 | Verb stem ending in a consonant + -습니다 |
Verbs are more dominant in Korean than they are in English. In fact, for the most part adjectives don't really exist in Korean. Instead, there are descriptive verbs. In the most common speech levels, including the one that we're using now, these verbs act the same as all other verbs.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 갑니다 | goes |
| 나쁩니다 | is bad |
| 먹습니다 | eats |
| 좋습니다 | is good |
As you can see, unlike in English, where we have to add other words in order to form a full thought using an adjective, Korean descriptive verbs are already fully loaded with "is."
Korean has a set of verbs that indicate existence. Two of the most common verbs, they form a class of their own and are used in many compound verbs and phrases.
The two verbs are 있다 and 없다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵이 있습니다. | There is bread. |
| 빵이 없습니다. | There is no bread. |
| 제가 공원에 있습니다 | I am in the park |
| 제가 공원에 없습니다 | I am not in the park |
있다 and 없다 are the most common verbs used to translate "to have" and "not to have" into Korean, respectively. There are other verbs with similar meanings, but those are usually more formal and less frequently used.
The basic sentence is similar to the ones above, with the item marked with 이/가, the owner marked with 은/는.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 저는 차가 있습니다. | I have a car. |
| 저는 차가 없습니다. | I do not have a car. |
있다 and 없다 can be used to create a wide range of compound adjectives in Korean. This is similar to adjectives ending in -ful or -less in English.
These compound adjectives can be broken down into their respective parts and still function the same way.
| Korean | English | Split |
|---|---|---|
| 맛있다 | delicious, tasty (flavorful) | 맛이 있다 |
| 맛없다 | not delicious, disgusting (flavorless) | 맛이 없다 |
As we've mentioned, Korean has many particles. The most common, and trickiest, particles represent the topic and the subject of a sentences. These two particles represent two different, but overlapping, ideas.
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~이 | 소년이 | After a consonant |
| ~가 | 남자가 | After a vowel |
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~은 | 소년은 | After a consonant |
| ~는 | 남자는 | After a vowel |
Note: 는 is sometimes contracted to ㄴ in informal spoken language. (남자는 → 남잔)
The topic marker adds emphasis, contrast, or limits what is being talked about.
Note: The pronouns 저, 너, and 나 are altered before the subject particle 가, becoming 제, 네, and 내.
| Usage | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Limited topic | 저는 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | Irrelevant of anyone else, I am a woman. (May imply that someone else might be as well.) |
| Contrasting topic | 저는 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | Unlike the others, I am a woman. |
| Subject | 제가 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | I am a woman. (May imply that out of the given options, I am the one who is a woman.) |
은/는 can be used with general statements as well because you only want to talk about the notion as a group, and nothing else.
| Usage | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| General topic | 빵은 음식입니다. (Bread is food.) | Bread, for one, is food. |
| General subject | 빵이 음식입니다. (Bread is food.) | Out of the given choices, it is bread that is food. |
A sentence may have several topics. Why a topic is not considered as a special case of a subject will be explained later.
There is a plural suffix, 들, but using 들 is often optional. It can be omitted if plurality is implied within the sentence, and is otherwise necessary for animate nouns/people but uncommon with inanimate nouns.
들 is not usually used when making a generic statement.
As we go through the course we'll point out some of the common word roots, which will hopefully help you reach a deeper understanding of the vocabulary. Many of these roots are Sino-Korean, so we'll sometimes include the characters.
Note some of us learn this way, but if this isn't for you, go ahead and ignore the Roots sections :)
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 여/녀 | woman | 女 |
| 남 | man | 男 |
| 식 | food | 食 |
Let's introduce ourselves a little more deeply here, focusing on nationality and occupation. We'll also discuss Korean grammar a bit here too.
Korean has a separate verb, 아니다, which means "not to be." This verb is not agglutinative, and it comes after the thing that the subject is not, or the complement. The complement particle is also 이/가. At this point in the course, this verb will always be realized as 아닙니다.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is not X. | X가 아닙니다. |
| Y is not X. | Y는 X가 아닙니다. |
Korean has 7 speech levels.
Don't let it scare you away!
Now that that fact has sunk in a little, let me alleviate your fears. Only 4 of the levels are common in daily speech today. You only hear some of the others among the older generation or in historical movies/dramas.
Unlike in some languages where different speech levels use different words, Korean speech levels mainly just affect the endings of the verbs and the pronouns that go along with them.
We'll introduce more levels in due time. For now we're using 합쇼체, one of the most common levels. This is what you'd use talking to a stranger, when doing public speaking, among coworkers, to a teacher, and to customers/clients. In some dialects, including some popular in North Korea, this form is even common in more casual conversation, especially among men.
Throughout these Tips&Notes, we usually talk about verbs in the infinitive, which always ends with ~다. Everything that comes before ~다 is the verb stem.
Korean, like most languages in East Asia, has a lot of loanwords from Chinese.
Chinese loanwords, Sino-Korean, are very pervasive. They make up about half of Korean vocabulary. However, similar to the overwhelming amount of Latin/French based vocabulary in English, many of these words are uniquely Korean, either because of a change in meaning or because two Chinese roots were put together to make a new Korean word.
Unlike in Japanese, where one Chinese character (한자) may have multiple pronunciations, in Korean it is more standardized. Each 한자 usually has one pronunciation and the conversions between Chinese and Korean follow a logical system. If you speak some Chinese, you may soon be able to guess the meanings of some Korean words.
안녕 for example, comes from ānníng, with 안녕하세요 meaning "be safe!" 안 has kept the Chinese pronunciation while 녕 has slightly changed. Most borrowings that include pinyin -ing have become 영.
It should be noted that most of these words were initially borrowed hundreds of years ago, so they don't match Mandarin pronunciation 100%. Sometimes the Korean is closer to Cantonese or Shanghainese.
Korean has two words that roughly mean "person."
Firstly is 사람, the Native Korean word. It the main word when you want to say "that person" or "the person who," but it can also follow the name of a country to mean "a person from country X."
Second is 인, the Sino-Korean word. It is not a standalone word, but instead is agglutinative, and attaches to the word that it modifies.
Therefore both 한국 사람 and 한국인 mean "Korean person."
The particle ~도 is affixed after a noun to mean "also" or "too." It can attach to the topic, subject, or object in the sentence, and usually takes the place of the other particles.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 인 | person | 人 |
| 국 | country | 國 |
| 한 | Korea | 韓 |
| 영 | United Kingdom | 英 |
| 미 | United States | 美 |
| 일 | Japan | 日 |
| 원 | employee/member | 員 |
In this skill we introduce some verbs of motion along with the particles that go with them.
In general the word order with these sentences is Subject-From-To-Verb.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| ~에 | to (implies destination) |
| ~에서 | from |
| ~으로 (after a consonant except ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~로 (after a vowel or ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~까지 | up to (implies some sort of boundary/limit) |
There are actually several ways to say "and" in Korean. The particles 와* and 과** both mean "and" and attach directly onto a noun. (For connecting verbs, we'll learn more about that in another lesson.)
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~와 | 남자와 | Common in writing, after a vowel |
| ~과 | 소년과 | Common in writing, after a consonant |
In this skill we also learn how to negate a verb.
않다 is an auxiliary verb that comes after the main verb in the sentence, and conjugates just like any other verb in Korean.
않다 is connected to the preceding verb using ~지 after the verb stem. As a result, if we wanted to say "not to go" we would get this:
가다 (infinitive) - 가 (verb stem) - 가지 (verb stem + 지) - 가지 않다 (negated verb, in the infinitive) - 가지 않습니다 (fully conjugated verb)
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 학 | school/study | 學 |
| 식 | food/eating | 食 |
| 실 | room | 室 |
| 방 | room | 房 |
| 운동 | exercise | 運動 |
| 장 | field/location/place | 場 |
| 병 | sickness | 病 |
| 원 | institution | 院 |
Grammatically, Korean differentiates between three main types of verbs - active, stative, and descriptive. In this lesson we will look more at stative verbs, which are those verbs which indicate that the subject is in a fixed, unchanging state.
Since English doesn't do this, it may be tricky for English speakers to understanding. But let's think about it together.
Compare "to stand up" with "to be standing." Which one is an action and which one is a state? When you "stand up" you physically rise to your feet. You move. But when you "are standing?" You are not taking an action, you are simply in a position that is unchanging. This, in Korean, would be described using a stative verb.
Common stative verbs can be:
We recently learned that the particle ~에 can be used with a verb of motion to indicate motion towards. Well, when used with a stative verb it can also be used to indicate location.
This is different from the particle where an action takes place, which would be the also familiar ~에서, but more on that when the time comes.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에 | location where something static is happening |
| ~에서 | location where an action happening |
If you are interested, you can read Ash-Fred's comment here for further explanation about the two:
Since Korean has so many particles, it can have relatively free word order. However, there is a general order that is often observed, especially in casual speech when particles may be dropped.
For a stative sentence, the order is usually
Subject - Location - Verb
For example:
We will continue to revisit word order as we learn new particles and see longer and longer sentences.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 공 | public | 公 |
| 산 | mountain | 山 |
| 관 | institute | 館 |
| 서 | book | 書 |
| 교 | education | 敎 |
| 실 | room | 室 |
감자 · 계란 · 고기 · 고추 · 과일 · 과자 · 귤 · 그릇 · 기름 · 김 · 김밥 · 김치 · 달걀 · 닭고기 · 돼지고기 · 딸기 · 라면 · 만 · 맥주 · 목 · 바나나 · 반찬 · 밥 · 배 · 불고기 · 샌드위치 · 생선 · 설탕 · 소고기 · 수프 · 식사 · 아이스크림 · 아침 · 야채 · 오렌지 · 옥수수 · 와인 · 우유 · 저녁 · 점심 · 접시 · 주스 · 초콜릿 · 치맥 · 치즈 · 치킨 · 커피 · 케이크 · 토마토 · 파스타 · 피자 · 햄버거 · 후추
53 words
Time to learn a little bit about the very important topic of Food!
In Korean the names of meals mirror the times of day. 아침 식사 is literally the "morning meal." However, in everyday speech people drop the 식사.
In Korea, meals are usually served family style in the middle of the table. Also in the center are smaller dishes of 반찬, side dishes. Kimchi is the most famous 반찬, and comes in dozens of varieties. But, side dishes can also include things like potato salad, Korean pancakes, and steamed egg.
Rice, 밥, is a staple in Korean cuisine. In fact, it isn't uncommon to say 밥을 먹어요 to mean simply "to eat" rather than "to eat rice." Rice has been so important that Korean has multiple words for rice where English has only one. 밥 means specifically cooked rice.
Most of the fruits and vegetables popular in Korea are popular around the world. One specialty in Korea that we couldn't fail to mention here is 귤, which can be satsuma, tangerine, or mandarin, depending on the translation. In any case, they are small, juicy oranges. In Korea you can find 귤 on many menus, as juice, as candy, in chocolate, or just fresh as dessert.
Unlike in English, Korean terms for meat are pretty simple. Simply take the animal name and add 고기, and you're done.
Fish is very popular in Korea, and Koreans can be very specific about what fish they are eating. In general, 물고기 is used to talk about fish as an animal and 생선 is the fish you'd find in the grocery store.
Koreans love eggs. Not just chicken eggs, but also quail eggs and fish eggs are popular in Korean dishes. Here we've taught two words, 달걀 and 계란. Both refer specifically to chicken eggs, being combinations of chicken and egg. 계란 is originally from Chinese, and there has been a push in some circles to prioritize native Korean 달걀.
We know that Korean food has become more internationally well known in recent years, so you'll want to know all you need to get by at your favorite Korean restaurant. This lesson serves only as the first step, so we have just introduced a few of the most common basics.
라면: ramen. You can easily find instant 라면 in any grocery store, but even better is to go to a restaurant where the chef expertly creates a delicious bowl full of noodles, meats, and vegetables with a savory broth.
치킨: chicken? Actually this is fried chicken, which Korea has made its own. Fried chicken in Korea is a treat to be experienced. Usually in a sauce, most commonly garlic, soy sauce, and a type of spicy bbq.
치맥: chicken and beer. A common pairing. You won't find this word in the dictionary because it is just a colloquial portmanteau of 치킨 and 맥주.
불고기: bulgogi, thinly sliced beef, seasoned, and often cooked at the table.
김치: kimchi, preserved vegetables. Most people think of spicy fermented cabbage, but that's just one type of kimchi. Some kimchi is cabbage, but there are also radish, scallion, and cucumber kimchis. Some are spicy, but some are salty or vinegary.
김: laver, dried seaweed sheets. In Korea you can get a small packet of 김 to eat on its own or with white rice.
김밥: kimbap/gimbap, white rice and fillings rolled up inside sheets of 김. Unlike sushi, 김밥 is usually cooked and rarely includes fish, aside from canned tuna. Common ingredients include egg, daikon, carrot, cucumber, crab stick, and ham. Some more inventive 김밥 includes bulgogi, tuna salad, and spicy chicken.
Note Since the Korean alphabet does not match one for one with the English alphabet, it is difficult to spell some Korean foods. When multiple spellings exist, we will accept all common spellings.
The particle 만 means only. The topic, subject, and object particles come after it.
In Korea, you do not say that you are hungry or thirsty, but 저는 배가 고파요 or 저는 목이 말라요. Literally, this means "My stomach is hungry" and "My throat is dry."
There is no exact translation for this word in English. Snacks are not necessarily 과자, and crackers are only a kind of 과자. So here's the definition.
과자
[명사] 밀가루나 쌀가루 등에 설탕, 우유 따위를 섞어 굽거나 기름에 튀겨서 만든 음식. 주로 간식으로 먹는다.
n. Baked or fried food made of wheat flour or rice flour mixed with sugar, milk, etc. Usually served as a snack.
Crackers will be the primary translation in this course.
As Korean generally does not have consonant clusters, English words with clusters have the vowel 으 added when needed. This also happens also when a word ends with a consonant, although ch and j sounds often wind up as 치 or 지 instead. See 샌드위치
Sometimes R's are simply dropped, more British style, as in 햄버거.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 주 | alcohol | 酒 |
| 우 | cow | 牛 |
| 계 | chicken | 鸡 |
| 면 | noodle | 面 |
낮습니다 · 넓습니다 · 높습니다 · 좁습니다 · 춥습니다 · 키
6 words
Verbs are more dominant in Korean than they are in English. In fact, for the most part adjectives don't really exist in Korean. Instead, Korean has descriptive verbs. In the most common speech levels, including the one that we're using now, these verbs act exactly the same as all other verbs.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 갑니다 | goes |
| 나쁩니다 | is bad |
| 먹습니다 | eats |
| 좋습니다 | is good |
As you can see, unlike in English, where we have to add other words in order to form a full thought using an adjective, Korean descriptive verbs are already fully loaded with "is."
But what about using adjectives without "to be?" Using the verbal roots, there is a way to transform all Korean verbs into modifiers, which we'll introduce in the Modifiers unit. Action verbs and description verbs can all undergo this process, but they do so in slightly different ways.
There is not really a direct translation of "tall" or "short" into Korean. However, there is an easy work around.
높다 means high and 낮다 means low. When talking about buildings, trees, mountains, and so on, it is possible to say that something is high/low rather than tall/short.
When talking about people, you reference their height directly along with big/small. This is usually done by referencing the person in question as the topic, following by 키 as the subject and then the descriptive verb, for something like this:
저는 키가 작습니다.- I am short. (Literally something like: "As for me, the height is small.")
When the meaning is understood, it is sometimes possible to drop the 키 and just say 저는 작습니다.
English has one word for hot and one for cold. Korean, on the other hand, makes a distinction between several different words.
Hot
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 뜨겁다 | a hot thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything hot to the touch |
| 덥다 | something that makes you feel hot, like a summer day, a sauna, or a fever |
Cold
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 차갑다 | a cold thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything cold to the touch |
| 춥다 | something that makes you feel cold, like a winter day or a freezer |
This word means to be vulgar and ignoble. For simplicity's sake, we will translate it as to be mean here, but keep in mind that it is only used in limited circumstances; you don't usually say it in a playful way.
In this lesson we will go more in depth with action verbs. Let's go!
Now we welcome back the particle 에서 as we learn its second meaning.
With action words ~에서 has the meaning of "at" or "in", similar to the particle ~에 with a stative verb.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에서 | where an action takes place |
| ~에 | where something static is happening |
With some words, you can use either particle, but it changes the meaning.
Although word order is not fixed, the usual word order for these sentences is Subject - Location - Object - Verb.
Education is important in Korea, and families spend a lot of money each year on their children's education. Even young children have ample extracurricular activities, including not only sports and instruments, but also additional academic classes. These classes are often at a 학원. Often these are private institutes, but they may also be connected to a school. English speakers in Korea refer to these as academy, institute, or hagwon.
While children spend a lot of time at the hagwon, older students and adults preparing to take college entrance exams or going through a professional or linguistic certification process spend their time at a 독서실. Literally a "reading-books-room" a 독서실 may be a simple "study room" or "reading room", similar to the quiet study space you would find in a library. You can also find a 독서실 with private rooms featuring advanced technology and complimentary refreshments.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 서 | book | 書 |
| 점 | store | 店 |
| 수 | water | 水 |
| 독 | reading | 讀 |
| 학 | study | 學 |
| 원 | institute | 院 |
In this lesson we're going to focus on Korean demonstratives, those words we use to specify whether we're talking about this one or that one.
Korean has a three way split in demonstratives while English only have two, which can be confusing at first, but is easy once you get the hang of it.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 | this, close to the speaker |
| 그 | that, close to the listener |
| 저 | that (over there), far from both speaker and listener |
저 roughly corresponds to yonder.
이, 그, and 저 are the basic demonstratives, used just like this and that in English.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 개 | this dog |
| 그 개 | that dog (close to the listener) |
| 저 개 | that dog (over there) |
Note
Since Korean has no corresponding word for the, it is sometimes (actually very often) impossible to tell whether it is an apple or the apple that they are talking about, from the context. Then chances are it is "an" apple, as it is normal to use 그 in lieu of "the" in such cases.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵 | bread/the bread |
| 그 빵 | that bread (close to the listener)/the bread |
| 저 빵 | that bread (over there) |
이, 그, and 저 are used in compound words to express other ideas. When combined with 것, this compound is a noun that corresponds to "this/that one" in English. It combines with particles just like any other noun.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이것 | this one |
| 그것 | that one |
| 저것 | that one (over there) |
For here/there, there is a slight change in the stems, but the basic meaning stays the same.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 여기 | here |
| 거기 | there (somewhere close to the listener) |
| 저기 | over there |
Note 여기, 거기, and 저기 are nouns. Most of the time, you need an adverbial particle 에 after them, but it is usually omitted. When they are used as nouns, they can be translated to this place, that place, and that place (over there), respectively.
Hot
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 뜨겁다 | a hot thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything hot to the touch |
| 덥다 | something that makes you feel hot, like a summer day, a sauna, or a fever |
Cold
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 차갑다 | a cold thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything cold to the touch |
| 춥다 | something that makes you feel cold, like a winter day or a freezer |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 건 | building | 建 |
| 물 | thing/object | 物 |
| 건 | thing/item | 件 |
This lesson teaches us how to talk about language, while focusing on the grammar to propose an action.
Korean has several verbal moods depending on how the verb is used in the sentence. While English would usually use extra words to get to the same meaning, Korean packs it all into the verb endings.
The propositive mood is used to make suggestions, similar to "Let's…" in English. In 하십시오체, this mood is formed by adding -(으)ㅂ시다 to the verb stem.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -ㅂ시다 | 가다 → 갑시다 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -ㅂ시다 | 만들다 → 만듭시다 |
| Ending in a consonant bar ㄹ | -읍시다 | 앉다 → 앉읍시다 |
| (negative) | -지 맙시다 | 가다 → 가지 맙시다 |
As we've seen before, some of the particles have a second usage depending on the situation. The same is true with 로/으로.
We've already learned that 로/으로 means "toward" when used with a verb of motion.
The second meaning of this particle is something akin to "through," "with," or "as." This is the instrumental particle.
For example:
저는 한국어로 말합니다. I speak in Korean.
In that example, you are speaking "through" or "using" the Korean language. Make sense?
When talking about speaking a language, there are two options, ~를 하다 and ~로 말하다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 한국어를 하다 | To speak Korean |
| 한국어로 말하다 | To speak in Korean |
Like so many other things in Korean, to form the name for a language, you follow a very regular pattern.
Usually, just take the name of a country and add ~어 or ~말.
한국 - 한국어/한국말
What's the difference between the two? For the most part, they are the same. But 한국말 sounds a bit more like the spoken language while 한국어 sounds bigger, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 언 | speech | 言 |
| 어 | words | 語 |
| 글 | writing | - |
| 매 | every | 每 |
| 일 | day | 日 |
개구리 · 개미 · 거미 · 거북이 · 게 · 고래 · 곰 · 까치 · 나비 · 너구리 · 농장 · 늑대 · 닭 · 돼지 · 말 · 못 · 물고기 · 뱀 · 부엉이 · 사슴 · 상어 · 새 · 소 · 숲 · 양 · 여우 · 오리 · 용 · 위험 · 쥐 · 코끼리 · 토끼 · 호랑이
33 words
Time to learn some animal related vocab.
타다 in Korean means "to ride." This is the same for an animal as it is for a vehicle. It can also be translated as "to take" as in "I take the bus to school."
찾다 can be both "to find" and "to search/to look for." Generally, it can be understood from context which of the two is meant. One hint that works some of the time is simple present vs present progressive (찾아요 vs 찾고 있어요) something like "to find" vs "to be finding."
We introduce two animals here that are not as well known as some of the others:까치 and 너구리.
까치 is a magpie, a type of black and white bird similar to a raven or a crow. They are fairly common throughout Korea, even in urban areas.
너구리 is a tanuki/mangut/raccoon dog, depending on the translation. They are small raccoon-like animal more closely related to the fox that can be found throughout East Asia. Sometimes 너구리 may also be used to mean simply raccoon.
There are many animals in Korean that end with ~이.
This happens in part because of another piece of Korean grammar. Nouns ending with ~이 are similar to nouns ending in -er in English, meaning "the one that does X." For example 개구리 comes from 개굴+이, which would be like if the word for "frog" was "ribbit-er."
An exception is 거북이, which was formed by the 이 as from 이/가 becoming permanently attached to the original form of the noun, possibly. Both 거북 and 거북 are still in common usage.
Languages group things differently. One example in Korean is 쥐, which can mean both rat and mouse. If you want to be more specific, 생쥐 means "mouse" only.
소 is a gender-neutral term for a single animal of the bovine species. Ox, cow, and bull are all accepted as a translation.
Just like rat/mouse in English, Korean has two words for owl. 부엉이 is an owl with ear tufts, like Duo. 올빼미 is an owl without tufted ears.
Unlike in English, where fish can be both the animal and the meat, Korean has two different words. However, it isn't as cut and dry as the difference between "cow" and "beef".
생선, which we've already learned, means "fish" in terms of food. This may be a piece of cooked fish, a whole fish, or even a live fish waiting to be sold from a tank at a fish market.
물고기 (literally "water" + "meat") refers to a fish as a living animal, usually not as something intended to be eaten.
The topic particle 은/는 can also come after an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 서울에는 사람이 많다. | There are many people in Seoul. |
은/는 still means regarding though it would be ungrammatical in English to say regarding in Seoul. Since regarding Seoul would also work fine, you may just say "서울은 사람이 많다."
The word 못 is another way to make a negative sentence, indicating the inability to do something.
운동을 안 하다/운동을 하지 않다= Not to exercise
운동을 못 하다=To be unable to exercise/cannot exercise
못 may imply that the inability is due to the person's own inferiority, that they are simply not up to the task of completing the verb.
Often 못 is used together with 잘, as in 저는 노래를 잘 못해요. "I cannot sing well"
There is another way to say "unable" that we will introduce later.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 개굴 | croak/ribbit | |
| 부엉 | hoot | |
| 코 | nose | |
| 용 | dragon | 龙 |
| 어 | fish | 鱼 |
| 농 | agriculture | 农 |
| 호 | tiger | 虎 |
| 양 | sheep | 羊 |
We've already covered questions in "Greetings," but let's go into more detail now.
The Interrogative mood is used to ask questions. In 합쇼체, this mood is formed by adding -(스)ㅂ니까 to the verb stem.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -ㅂ니까 | 가다 → 갑니까 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -ㅂ니까 | 만들다 → 만듭니까 |
| Ending in a consonant | -습니까 | 앉다 → 앉습니까 |
| (negative) | -지 않습니까 | 가다 → 가지 않습니까 |
The negative interrogative mood is not formed with -지 말다, but with -지 않다 like the negative declarative mood.
Note
While 않다 is simply the negation of a verb, 말다 means the speaker does not allow the listener(s) to do something. You may consider the propositive mood as the first person plural imperative mood here.
Unlike in English, word order does not have to change when asking a question. Question words can simply go into the sentence where the word they replace would have been. Just like declarative (or any other) sentences, it is possible to move the question words for emphasis.
| Korean | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 언제 | when | |
| 어디 | where | Unlike English, 어디 is not an adverb itself, but a pronoun. Thus it is often used with 에 or 에서. |
| 누구 | who | 누구 and 가 (subject particle) are usually contracted to 누가 in spoken language. |
| 무엇 | what (pronoun) | 무엇 is often contracted to 뭐 in spoken language. As 를 is also often contracted to ㄹ, you may say 뭘 for 무엇을. |
| 무슨 | what (determiner) | As in "what animal" or "what country"; 무슨 is sometimes contracted to 뭔 in spoken language. |
| 어떤 | what kind of | 어떤 replaces an adjective. |
| 어느 | which | |
| 어떻게 | how | Formed from 어떻다 meaning to be how |
| 왜 | why | |
| 얼마/얼마나 | how much | "얼마" on its own is usually used to asking prices, while "얼마나" is used to ask "how + adjective" |
A lot of verbs can be broken up into two pieces. For example, 노래 means a song, and 하다 means to do, and they form a new word "노래하다", "to sing." You can, of course, say 노래를 하다 (lit. to do a song).
Many of these nouns are borrowed from Chinese or English, as adding 하다 is the best way to adapt a foreign word to serve as a Korean verb.
There are some special verbs that are repetitive to the eye/ears of an English speaker.
These verbs often add the noun ahead of the verb, either as one word, or as two words with the noun marked with 을/를.
| Verb | (broken into) | English |
|---|---|---|
| 잠자다 | 잠을 자다 | to sleep (a sleep) |
| 춤추다 | 춤을 추다 | to dance (a dance) |
| 꿈꾸다 | 꿈을 꾸다 | to dream (a dream) |
자다 can stand alone without 잠, but 추다 or 꾸다 always needs an object.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| ~리 | ~ly | |
| ~히 | ~ly | |
| 인 | person | 人 |
| 사 | matter/affair | 事 |
찾다 can be both "to find" and "to search/to look for." Generally, it can be understood from context which of the two is meant. One hint that works some of the time is simple present vs present progressive (찾아요 vs 찾고 있어요) something like "to find" vs "to be finding."
너구리 is a tanuki/mangut/raccoon dog, depending on the translation. They are small raccoon-like animal more closely related to the fox that can be found throughout East Asia. Sometimes 너구리 may also be used to mean simply raccoon.
Just like rat/mouse in English, Korean has two words for owl. 부엉이 is an owl with ear tufts, like Duo. 올빼미 is an owl without tufted ears.
Quite a few Korean animals end with ~이. Why is that? It's because that ending can mean ~er. For example 개구리 comes from 개굴+이, which would be like if the word for "frog" was "ribbit-er." 부엉이 could also be translated to something like "hoot-er."
The word 못 is another way to make a negative sentence, indicating the inability to do something.
운동을 안 하다/운동을 하지 않다= Not to exercise
운동을 못 하다=To be unable to exercise/cannot exercise
못 may imply that the inability is due to the person's own inferiority, that they are simply not up to the task of completing the verb.
Often 못 is used together with 잘, as in 저는 노래를 잘 못해요. "I cannot sing well"
There is another way to say "unable" that we will introduce later.
| 부엉 | hoot | | | 개굴 | croak/ribbit | | | 용 | dragon | 龍 |
Korean has a complicated system for forms of address. You should not call a stranger, superior, or an elder only by their name. 당신 is commonly used in translations, but is not common in spoken Korean. People will usually use the title or status of the person as a form of address, followed by -님 (without a space). For example, in a store, customers are often referred to as 손님 (customer/guest + -님). When the person is much older than you, you could also say 선생님 (lit. teacher; not just in a store but at any time). When speaking to someone politely in a situation where their name must be used, such as in a store or airport calling someone by name over a loudspeaker, it is common to add 님 after their name (with a space).
In short, you can't really translate you into Korean; you could be mom, teacher, driver, pastor, or anything. Furthermore, some nouns, such as singer (가수), sound weird when followed by -님. As you may or may not imagine, there are really some times when we Koreans avoid talking just because we don't know how to address someone. Anyway, since it is practically impossible for us to add every single title or status as an accepted answer for you, only title-neutral pronouns such as 당신, 선생님, 너 (introduced later), etc. will be accepted in English-to-Korean exercises. (You will eventually have to get used to how to call someone outside Duolingo or any online materials.) In Korean-to-English exercises, if a title is used in lieu of the second person pronoun, translate it as you.
In this lesson we will introduce another speech level in Korean, 해요체.
해요체, which we'll translate as polite speech, is our second speech level. It's potentially the easiest. Many Korean textbooks focus on 해요체 for good reason. You can use this form in a wide variety of situations. It is less formal than 합쇼체, but still polite, so you can use it with strangers, especially those your age or younger. It is also used in conversations between classmates and coworkers, and sometimes between friends. Many travel phrasebooks use 해요체, so feel no fear using this level with taxi drivers, waiters, and tour guides.
With regular verbs, start with the stem and add -아요 or -어요, and that's it!
| Ending | Final Vowels |
|---|---|
| -아요 | ㅏ ㅑ ㅗ ㅘ ㅛ |
| -어요 | (the rest) |
Simply add the ending that matches the final vowel in the stem. Note that ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅗ, ㅘ, and ㅛ end in ㅏ or ㅗ pronunciation-wise. The other vowels (vowels that do not end in ㅏ or ㅗ) match with -어요. (No verb stem has ㅛ as its final vowel in contemporary Korean.) When the verb stem ends in a vowel, a further contraction may be needed. Final ㅏ or ㅓ does not repeat itself, and final ㅡ is dropped. When ㅡ is dropped, the second vowel from the right becomes the new final vowel and then -ㅏ요 or -ㅓ요 comes accordingly. (If the stem consists of only one syllable, -ㅓ요 is used.) Final ㅣ + -어요, final ㅗ + -아요, and final ㅜ + -어요 can be contracted to ㅕ요, ㅘ요, and ㅝ요, respectively. (오다 is always contracted to 와요.)
| Verb | Stem | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 to eat | 먹- | 먹어요 |
| 막다 to block | 막- | 막아요 |
| 가다 to go | 가- | 가요 |
| 잠그다 to lock | 잠그- | 잠가요 |
| 크다 to be big | 크- | 커요 |
| 내리다 to get off | 내리- | 내리어요/내려요 |
| 보다 to see | 보- | 보아요/봐요 |
| 오다 to come | 오- | 와요 |
| 주다 to give | 주- | 주어요/줘요 |
In Korean the names of meals mirror the times of day. 아침 식사 is literally the "morning meal." However, in everyday speech people drop the 식사.
In Korea, meals are usually served family style in the middle of the table. Also in the center are smaller dishes of 반찬, side dishes. Kimchi is the most famous 반찬, and comes in dozens of varieties. But, side dishes can also include things like potato salad, Korean pancakes, and steamed egg.
Most of the fruits and vegetables popular in Korea are popular around the world. One specialty in Korea that we couldn't fail to mention here is 귤, which can be satsuma, tangerine, or mandarin, depending on the translation. In any case, they are small, juicy oranges. In Korea you can find 귤 on many menus, as juice, as candy, in chocolate, or just fresh as dessert.
The particle 만 means only. The topic, subject, and object particles come after it.
In Korea, you do not say that you are hungry or thirsty, but 저는 배가 고파요 or 저는 목이 말라요. Literally, this means "My stomach is hungry" and "My throat is dry."
There is no exact translation for this word in English. Snacks are not necessarily 과자, and crackers are only a kind of 과자. So here's the definition.
치킨: chicken? Actually this is fried chicken, which Korea has made its own. Fried chicken in Korea is something you cannot miss! Usually in a sauce, most commonly garlic, soy sauce, and a type of spicy bbq.
치맥: chicken and beer. A common pairing. You probably won't find this word in the dictionary because it is just a combination of 치킨 and 맥주.
김치: kimchi, preserved vegetables. Most people think of spicy fermented cabbage, but that's just one type of kimchi. Some kimchi is cabbage, but there are also radish, scallion, and cucumber kimchis. Some are spicy, but some are salty or vinegary.
김: laver, dried seaweed sheets. In Korea you can get a small packet of 김 to eat on its own or with white rice.
There are a fair number of irregular verbs in this speech level, but they are each fairly regular.
르-Irregular Verbs
When a stem ends with 르, the 르 is replaced with ㄹㄹ and the first ㄹ is attached to the end of the previous syllable. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 다르다 to be different | 다르- | 달ㄹ- | 달라요 |
| 따르다 to follow | 따르- | (regular) | 따라요 |
The copula ~이다
~이다 to be is ~이에요 in 해요체. ~이에요 can be contracted further to ~예요 if it comes right after a vowel.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| is bread | 빵이에요 |
| is an apple | 사과예요 |
You can technically use ~이에요 after a vowel, but no one does.
Other verbs ending in ~이
Other verbs that end in ~이 or the vowel ~ㅣ following another consonant take a different form. Think of it as ~이 + 어, and you get ~여
The Korean word 원하다 is used specifically for wanting something, not wanting to do something. We'll teach how to say that you want to do something sooner than later.
| Verb | Stem | 해요체 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 먹이다 to feed | 먹이- | 먹여요 | |
| 사라지다 to disappear | 사자지- | 사라져요 |
갈 · 검은 · 검정 · 꽃 · 노란 · 노랑 · 녹 · 보라 · 분홍 · 빨간 · 빨강 · 색 · 색깔 · 인 · 주황 · 초록 · 파란 · 파랑 · 하얀 · 하양 · 회
21 words
Colors can be tricky in Korean, with a mixture of Native Korean and Sino-Korean color terms.
In Lesson 1 we introduce some Native Korean verbal modifiers.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Black | 검은 |
| White | 하얀 |
| Blue | 파란 |
| Red | 빨간 |
| Yellow | 노란 |
As you should be able to see, all of these are the Modifier forms of descriptive verbs.
Sometimes these adjectives are followed by 색 "color" with or without ~인, the Modifier form of ~이다.
So for "black cat" you may see:
In Lesson 2 we introduce some Sino-Korean colors. Like most borrowings from Chinese, these take the form of nouns in Korean.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Orange | 주황 |
| Green | 초록/녹 |
| Gray | 회 |
| Brown | 갈 |
| Purple | 보라 |
| Pink | 분홍 |
Usually these are used with 색/색인 to form modifiers in a sentence.
An "orange cat" gives us:
Most colors have a Sino-Korean equivalent, but normally Korean colors take precedence, with the Sino-Korean words used as roots in compound words.
Korean colors are a bit more nuanced than the ones we use in English. Many colors have multiple words that can be used to mean the same thing but with different connotations.
The one case where we do introduce both words here is "green." Both 초록 and 녹 mean green, so what's the different?
초록 means "grass green" and may have the connotation of being cleaner or sharper than 녹.
The same is true for 흰 (pure white) and 까만 (jet black). We'll may see some of these colors later in the course, but for know you can just put them out of your mind.
The Native Korean colors have noun forms based in part on their base verb forms.
| English | Modifier | Noun |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 검은 | 검정 |
| White | 하얀 | 하양 |
| Blue | 파란 | 파랑 |
| Red | 빨간 | 빨강 |
| Yellow | 노란 | 노랑 |
While these may sometimes be used to form modifiers, usually they are used in compound nouns or when talking about the color itself.
One compound we'll see here is 파랑새 (bluebird) compared to 파란 새 (blue bird).
In this skill we also introduce 색깔. 색깔 is used as "color" when standing alone, while 색 is most commonly used as a suffix attached to other words. One exception to this is when asking what color something is, which is usually realized as "X은 무슨 색이에요?"
The Native Korean colors have descriptive verbs that may used for "to be X-color."
| English | Modifier | Noun | Verb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 검은 | 검정 | 검다 |
| White | 하얀 | 하양 | 하얗다 |
| Blue | 파란 | 파랑 | 파랗다 |
| Red | 빨간 | 빨강 | 빨갛다 |
| Yellow | 노란 | 노랑 | 노랗다 |
~ㅎ다 verbs form a special case for conjugation, as we saw in Polite Moods with 이렇다. Drop the ㅎ and the 아 turns into 애. For 하얗다, 야 becomes 얘.
The cat is white=고양이가 하얘요.
When using Sino-Korean colors, or even the Native Korean modifiers, it is common to use ~색이다 to form the descriptive verb.
The cat is gray=고양이가 회색이에요.
There are two ways to say "but" in Korean. First we will discuss ~지만.
저는 먹지 않지만 마셔요.=>I do not eat, but I do drink.
Stand alone form: 하지만 (more colloquial)/그렇지만
더 means more as in smaller or more beautiful, but given context it can be dropped in Korean. For example, "제가 빨라요." could mean "I am faster (than my brother)." But please do not leave it out in this course unless a proper context is given.
Let's learn Korean prepositions!
English prepositions, words like on, in, and between form their own class of words. In Korean they are actually regular nouns, taking particles depending on their use in the sentence.
Generally speaking, "prepositions" in Korean act like postpositions, coming after the noun, usually with the particle 에 or 에서.
Strictly speaking, there should be an 의 after the first noun.
Grammatically, this means that a direct translation would actually be "at the house's inside" rather than "inside the house." In normal usage, the 의 dropped.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 안 | in/inside |
| 밖 | outside |
| 앞 | in front |
| 옆 | next to |
| 위 | over/on/above |
| 뒤 | behind |
| 아래 | under/beneath |
| 밑 | under/beneath |
| 속 | inside/among |
| 가운데 | in the middle |
| 사이 | between |
| 근처 | near |
| 건너편 | across from |
| 왼쪽 | left |
| 오른쪽 | right |
위 means both "on" and "above." In many cases, when the meaning of "on" would otherwise be understood, it is not necessary to use "위." Just the particle "에" would be enough.
"위" is not used for something "on" the wall, since 위 carries the connotation of behind "above" something.
When we want to specifically say "on" vs "over/above" we add 바로, which means directly. 바로 can be used with most of these position words.
While 아래 and 밑 can both be translated to "under", they are fairly different in meaning. 아래 refers to the whole space lower than a standard point which could be anything (e.g. sunshine, moonlight, the sky, the sea level, etc.), but 밑 means either 아래 or the bottom, of a tangible object. 자동차 밑 can mean either "under the car" (=자동차 아래) or "the bottom of the car" which might actually be the upper part if the car is turned over, depending on the context.
Both 속 and 안 are "in(side)" in English, but they are not the same in Korean. 속 means what is inside or surrounded whereas 안 just means the inner space as opposed to the outer space.
산속 is an exception and is considered as one word.
If you don't know which to use, probably they are interchangeable for the word. How you see the object in your mind may affect the choice.
We're already learned 와/과 for and, but that pair only works to link nouns. When you want to link verbs, Korean has the suffix ~고.
~고 is attached to the stem of the verb.
저는 먹고 마셔요=> I eat and drink.
Stand alone form: 그리고.
Korean has a few words for "table". We've already seen 탁자, and here we introduce 식탁. A 식탁 is a dining/kitchen table, composed of the words 식/food and 탁/table.
There are a fair number of irregular verbs in this speech level, but they are each fairly regular.
ㅂ-Irregular Verbs
When a verb stem ends with ㅂ, the ㅂ disappears and is replaced with 우. Apart from regular verbs, there are only two exceptions where ㅂ is replaced with 오, one of which is 돕다 to help. 우-/오- + -어요/-아요 is always contracted here.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 어둡다 to be dark | 어둡- | 어두우- | 어두워요 |
| 돕다 to help | 돕- | 도오- | 도와요 |
| 잡다 to hold | 잡- | (regular) | 잡아요 |
ㄷ-Irregular Verbs
Only found among action verbs. When a stem ends in ㄷ, the ㄷ is replaced with ㄹ. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 듣다 to hear | 듣- | 들- | 들어요 |
| 받다 to receive | 받- | (regular) | 받아요 |
ㅅ-Irregular Verbs
When a stem ends in ㅅ, the ㅅ is replaced with 으. Remember that when ㅡ is dropped, the second vowel from the right becomes the new final vowel. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions. No further contraction can be done.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 짓다 to build | 짓- | 지으- | 지어요 (Not 져요) |
| 낫다 to get well | 낫- | 나으- | 나아요 (Not 나요) |
| 웃다 to laugh | 웃- | (regular) | 웃어요 |
In English, you recover from a disease. In Soviet Korea, a disease recovers from you; the disease is the subject, and the patient is usually the topic. You can drop the subject if you don't have to specify what the disease is.
| Examples | Translation |
|---|---|
| 저는 병이 나아요. | I recover from the disease. |
| 저는 나아요. | I get well. |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 병 | disease | 病 |
개 · 권 · 다섯 · 대 · 마리 · 마흔 · 명 · 몇 · 번째 · 살 · 서른 · 쉰 · 아홉 · 아흔 · 여덟 · 여든 · 여섯 · 열 · 예순 · 일곱 · 일흔 · 자루 · 첫
23 words
Korean has two sets of numbers, Native Korean and Sino-Korean. Before that scares you away, let's take a closer look at Native Korean Numbers.
Native Korean numbers are used for numbering things, just as you would any number system. In contrast, Sino-Korean numbers are used in specific cases, such as dates, telephone numbers, addresses, and counting money.
Native Korean can be used for counting as well. When taking pictures, you may hear Koreans say "하나, 둘, 셋!" before snapping the photo.
Native Korean has the numbers 1-10, then 11-19 simply combine 10 and the small number, so 11 would be "ten-one." There are separate words for each of the tens, which are used to create compounds the same way that 10 is.
Some of the tens are derived from their "base" as in English, 여덟/eight=> 여든/eighty, but others have no obvious relationship.
Native Korean has five numbers that take a "short" form before a counter.
| Number | Base Form | Short Form |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 하나 | 한 |
| 2 | 둘 | 두 |
| 3 | 셋 | 세 |
| 4 | 넷 | 네 |
| 20 | 스물 | 스무 |
What are these counters we've mentioned? Think of words in English like paper or milk. Usually we cannot say "a paper" or "a milk," except in some limited circumstances. We have to be specific, "a sheet/piece/pack of paper" or "a cup/glass/carton/jug of milk." Now apply that to every noun in Korean.
The most common counter is 개 and can be used in most situations. As a non-native Korean speaker, you can often get away with using 개 in cases where Koreans would use a specific counter. Exceptions include 명 for people, 마리 for animals, and some food terms where more specificity is required.
The general usage is Noun+Number+Counter+Particle in a sentence.
Particles can sometimes be attached to the noun instead of the counter.
Usually in writing the number and counter are written separately, with a space, but without a space when using a numeral (두 명 vs 2명).
Other word orders are also possible in some circumstances, but less popular:
Number+Noun (한 사람)
Number+Counter+의+Noun (한 명의 사람)
Noun+Number (사람 하나)
| Counter | Nouns |
|---|---|
| 개 | General counter |
| 명 | People |
| 살 | Age |
| 마리 | Animals |
| 자루 | Long thing things |
| 대 | Machines/cars |
Age in Korean is marked with the counter 살. 저는 스무 살이에요=I am twenty
In Korea, age is calculated differently than in most other countries. It is based on the traditional Asian lunar cycle. A baby is one when it is born and turns two on New Year's Day. Depending on who you are talking to, this may be either January 1st or Lunar New Year. Therefore, most of us are 1 or 2 years older in Korea than we are at home.
Although Native Korean was the original number system, it now only goes up to 99 in regular language. Larger numbers are said in Sino-Korean except in some more academic cases, mostly poetry, as the large Native Korean numbers are fairly archaic.
For these numbers of 100, some people may mix the two forms. 150, for example, could be said with 100 in Sino-Korean and 50 in Native Korean. This is more common in speaking than in writing.
It is not uncommon for numbers over 19 to be said in Sino-Korean, especially by children who do not yet have the trickier Native Korean digits memorized.
| Number | Native Korean |
|---|---|
| 10 | 열 |
| 20 | 스물 |
| 30 | 서른 |
| 40 | 마흔 |
| 50 | 쉰 |
| 60 | 예순 |
| 70 | 일흔 |
| 80 | 여든 |
| 90 | 아흔 |
Ordinal Numbers (first, second, third) are created by combining the Native Korean number with 번째. This uses the short form for those numbers that have one, except for 1, which uses 첫 instead of 한, giving us 첫 번째 for "first."
Let's learn how to use verbs to create modifiers for nouns.
As we've mentioned before, verbs play a significant role in Korean. So far we've focused on sentences like "The man goes." or "The man is bad." In this skill we'll learn how to say "The man who goes" and "The bad man."
These verbal modifiers are created using the verb stem and usually go in front of the noun, like adjectives do in English.
The process is similar, though slightly different, for descriptive and action verbs. Action verbs have three different forms (past, present, and future) and descriptive verbs have two (future and present). Here we'll focus on the present tense.
First we'll tackle descriptive verbs. (있다, 없다, and verbs that end with 있다 or 없다 are exceptions. They conjugate like action verbs here; see below.)
작다 → 작은
나쁘다 → 나쁜
달다 → 단
쉽다 → 쉬운
Action verbs as well as 있다 and 없다 are much more straightforward to turn into modifiers than descriptive verbs. Simply take the verb stem and add -는.
가다 → 가는
먹다 → 먹는
있다 → 있는
맛없다 → 맛없는
A verb stem ending in ㄹ will drop the ㄹ.
This modifier can be translated in multiple ways in English, often as "doing" or "who/that/which is doing."
However, it could be literally anything. In English we have which, who, where, when, whose, with which, etc., but they all can be translated to -(으)ㄴ or -는. If a sentence in the present tense modifies a noun, you can use it.
제가 먹는 샌드위치: The sandwich which I am eating
음식이 맛있는 한국: Korea where food is delicious
손이 큰 남자: A man whose hand is big
밥을 먹는 그릇: A bowl with which (one) eats rice (or A bowl that eats rice (?))
n. having a higher or stronger degree than anything/anyone else
가장 is used to make the superlative form of a descriptive verb, and is usually translated to the most. However, there is a slight difference between English and Korean here. By definition, only one of the group can receive the honorable title "가장". If there are two tallest people in the world of the exactly same height, there is no 가장 tall person.
Moods in 해요체 are much simpler than in 합쇼체. Let's get started!
To form the imperative in 해요체 you need to start with the verb stem and add (으)세요.
As you may now be used to, how this works depends on whether the stem ends with a vowel or a consonant.
By dropping the ㄹ, verbs like 살다 and 사다 have the same imperative form, 사세요. The meaning is therefore derived from context.
Note: The usual declarative ending -아요/-어요 can be used in lieu of -(으)세요, but it is less formal.
The primary meaning of the verb 다니다 is "to go," but it implies the person goes to the place regularly or frequently and has something to do there. Figuratively you can say 다니다 for your workplace or school. "저는 학교에 다닙니다." would most likely mean you attend school (as opposed to you just go there frequently), and you can also say that when you are asked what your job is. This verb can be transitive and intransitive, and it takes 을(를) and 에 as a particle after the place, respectively.
Another suffix that can be translated as "and" is ~서. Unlike ~고, ~서 implies sequence of events. It can also be translated as "and so" or "and then."
To attach ~서, take the 해요 form of the verb, drop the 요 and attach ~서.
저는 먹어서 마셔요.=> I eat and drink/I eat and then I drink.
Note: This form is not attached to a verb conjugated for tense. The tense is indicated by the final verb.
Stand alone form: 그래서
남동생 · 남편 · 동생 · 배우자 · 부모 · 부부 · 사촌 · 삼촌 · 손녀 · 손자 · 아내 · 아빠 · 애인 · 엄마 · 여동생 · 여보 · 오빠 · 이모 · 자매 · 자식 · 형 · 형제
22 words
Family in Korean, like in many Asian languages, is a tricky subject. Depending on age and formality, many words exist where in English there would just be one. We'll try to make it fairly straightforward for you :)
As we saw in Honorifics with grandparent terms, many familial terms take the ending ~님 with a slight change of the root word to add extra respect for the family member.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 어머니 | 어머님 |
| 아버지 | 아버님 |
| 아들 | 아드님 |
| 딸 | 따님 |
| 누나 | 누님 |
Age is important in determining hierarchy and respect in Korean society.
One example is 우리 for "my." When talking about something important, usually shared in common by a community, like your country, president, or school, Koreans usually say 우리 to mean "my" as a sign of respect. The same is true with parents and older relatives, as well as sometimes children. When you want to emphasis "our" over "my" you just add 들 to erase the confusion.
Another example is siblings, which has 6 words where English would have only 2. The name you use for a sibling depends on your gender, their gender, and who's older.
| Speaker's Gender | Older Sister | Older Brother | Younger Sister | Younger Brother |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 누나 | 형 | (여)동생 | (남)동생 |
| Female | 언니 | 오빠 | (여)동생 | (남)동생 |
You would only ever call an older sibling 오빠 or 누나, and never their name. The same is true for older cousins and older friends. Which certainly takes some getting used to. If we knew your brother's name then we'd add his name as a translation for 형, but that's sadly impossible, so please write brother as a translation for 형 though in reality you never call your brother brother. The same goes for 누나, and so on.
"If" in Korean is marked by ~(으)면. This suffix is added to the base verb stem. ~면 follows stems ending in a vowel or a ㄹ. ~으면 follows stems ending in a consonant.
저는 먹으면 마셔요.=> If I eat, I drink.
"When," "while," or "as" is marked by ~(으)면서. ~(으)면서 is attached to the stem in the same way as ~(으)면 above.
In formal writing, ~(으)면서 may be written as ~(으)며.
저는 먹으면서 마셔요.=> I drink when/while/as I eat.
Every Korean sentence changes based on two factors: the listener and the subject.
The listener dictates the speech level, which we've already seen.
The subject dictates the use of honorifics.
These two are mutually exclusive. Honorifics can be used in any of the speech levels of Korean, creating a very, very wide variety of sentences.
The honorific is usually seen on the verb, just like speech levels, but there are also some special honorific nouns and particles.
Honorifics are usually used when talking about older relatives, people of higher social status, deities, and other respected entities, implying that the speaker is lower in status and therefore showing honor and respect for the subject.
It would be incredibly rude to use this form in any way to refer to yourself.
Usually the honorific is formed simply by adding ~시다 to the verb stem, after applying the special cases (ie 듣=>들, 덥=>더우, etc).
Form most verbs ending in a consonant, drop ~다 and add ~으시다. 얻다=>얻으시다
With a verb stem ending in a ㄹ, drop the ㄹ as well. 살다=>사시다
ㄷ special case verbs do not drop the ㄹ, but instead act like a regular consonant. 듣다=>들으시다
For a verb ending in a vowel, simply add ~시다. 하다=>하시다
~시다 is slightly irregular, but works similar to other verbs.
| 하다 | 하시다 |
|---|---|
| 합니다 | 하십니다 |
| 해요 | 하세요 |
| 해 | 하셔 |
| 한다 | 하신다 |
If some of this looks familiar, it's because you've already seen ~시다 in the imperative.
Rather than simply add ~시다, some verbs have their own honorific forms.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 먹다 | 드시다 |
| 마시다 | 드시다 |
| 있다 | 계시다* |
| 자다 | 주무시다 |
| 말하다 | 말씀하시다 |
In addition, the verb 드리다 replaces 주다 when giving something to an honored person.
*계시다 replaces 있다 only in the sense of "to be" or "to exist." The sense of "to have" can be formed using 있으시다. 계시다 is still used when forming the progressive (~ing) form of the verb.
Other words also have their own forms.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 밥 | 진지 |
| 이/가 | 께서 |
| 에게 | 께 |
| 집 | 댁 |
| 나이 (age) | 연세 |
| 이름 (name) | 성함 |
| 생일 (birthday) | 생신 |
| 명 (counter) | 분 |
Korean forms of address are a type of honorific.
~씨 is a lower level honorific usually added to somebody's name.
~님 is a higher level of addressed usually added to somebody's title or to a relationship term. With relationship terms, there is sometimes a slight change to the original when adding the stem.
As such a verb heavy language, Korean has a large number of adverbs. We've split them between several skills, here focusing on adverbs of degree.
Korean adverbs come before the verb.
When given the option between an adjective describing a noun or an adverb on the verb, Korean will use the adverb more often than we do in English. For example, to say "He reads many books" rather than the direct translation "그는 많은 책을 읽어요," the correct sentence would be "그는 책을 많이 읽어요"
The superlative form in Korean is formed using 가장 or 제일 plus the adjective/descriptive verb. Both can be used interchangeably, but 가장 means "the most," and 제일 means "number one."
Usually the phrase is 제일/가장 + Modifier form + Noun.
For example, 제일 맛있는 음식=the most delicious food
When forming a superlative in English, the noun is not always used, for example "This book is the best." In Korean, you would translate that as 이 책은 제일 좋은 책이에요 "This book is the best book" or 이 책은 제일 좋은 것이에요 "This book is the best one." Unlike in English where we actively seek to avoid repeating the noun, it is completely okay in Korean.
Comparative in Korean is introduced with the particle 보다. 보다 can be translated as "than" and attaches to the end of the noun to which the first noun is being compared and usually comes right before the descriptive verb.
이 사과는 바나나보다 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious than the banana.
Just using 보다 is enough to indicate the comparative form, but 더 is sometimes added before the descriptive verb for emphasis. Like English, the 보다 part can be omitted and simply adding 더 before the descriptive verb is enough.
이 사과가 더 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious.
Note: Of course, you can change the word order. Since the topic normally comes first, when 보다 comes first instead, the other noun is usually followed by 이(가) rather than 은(는). Whether the word order is changed or not, 이(가) emphasizes the noun before it.
There are some interesting adverbs that have a negative meaning in Korean that deserve special mention.
별로 안 좋아요.=It is not too good/It is not very good.
별로 없어요.=There is not much.
거의 없어요=There is almost nothing.
그녀는 그리 안 나빠요.=She is not [so/that] bad. 그게 그리 나빠요?=Is it that bad?
가면 · 구두 · 넥타이 · 모자 · 바지 · 반지 · 벌 · 벨트 · 선글라스 · 셔츠 · 손목시계 · 신발 · 아름다운 · 안경 · 양말 · 양복 · 옷 · 운동화 · 원피스 · 장갑 · 짝 · 치마 · 코트 · 한복 · 허리띠
25 words
In this lesson about clothing the grammar and vocabulary are fairly straightforward, though there are some verb issues to contend with. Here we go!
Korean has multiple words meaning "to put on," each with their own distinct though potentially overlapping meanings.
Depending on context, these words can mean "to put on," "to wear," or "to be wearing."
| Verb | Meaning | Types of Clothing |
|---|---|---|
| 입다 | To wear/to slip on | General clothing |
| 신다 | To wear footwear | Socks, shoes |
| 쓰다 | To wear on the head | Hat, glasses |
| 끼다 | To wear on the hand | Gloves, ring |
| 차다 | To wear/clasp | Belt, watch, earrings |
| 매다 | To wrap/tie | Tie, scarf, necklace, shoelaces |
Some other verbs may be used in very limited cases, so we will not introduce them here.
In the same way, there are multiple ways to say "to take off." although in a more limited way.
| Verb | Meaning | Types of Clothing |
|---|---|---|
| 벗다 | To take off/remove | General clothing, shoes, hats |
| 풀다 | To untie/unwrap | Scarf, tie, watch, belt |
| 빼다 | To pull off/out | Gloves, belt, ring, watch |
Another one or two verbs, such as 떼다 (to detach) may also be used in other limited cases.
By adding 갈아~ in front of 입다 we get 갈아입다 "to change clothes."
갈아~ also works this way for 갈아타다 "to transfer bus/train/plane"
Korean traditional clothing is the hanbok, which originated in the Joseon dynasty. Hanbok is more a style of clothing than an article, usually composed of several pieces with bright colors and simple lines. People today still wear hanbok, although usually on ceremonial occasions such as weddings and certain holidays.
So 구두 and 신발 both mean shoes, but while 신발 is a general term, 구두 is more for dress shoes.
In Korean belt can be either 허리띠 or 벨트, but while 허리띠 is only a piece of clothing, 벨트 can also be a piece of machinery.
The verb 되다 has many uses and meanings in Korean. It can serve as "to become", "to turn", or "to be."
In this lesson we see X면 안 돼요. This literally means "If you do X, it is not becoming." In plainer English, this would be "doing X is not okay." You can also say this in the positive, X면 돼요 "doing X is okay."
Sometimes we translate this as "it is okay/it is not okay" or "it is allowed/it is not allowed", but also "you should/you should not", "you can/you cannot", or "you may/you may not." This is not imperative, so it will not be translated as "Do not do X."
딱 · 미국 · 방금 · 번 · 병원 · 쓰레기 · 아직 · 연습 · 컴퓨터 · 휴대폰
10 words
Now that we've learned four different ways for form the present tense, here we go into the past.
All Korean speech levels are formed from the 아/어 form we learned in Casual. We then add ~ㅆ to the end of the syllable, giving us 았/었 as the basic past tense verb stem. Vowel harmony ends here, and the double ㅅ is followed by the vowel 어.
| Formal | Polite | Casual | Written | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statement | 했습니다 | 했어요 | 했어 | 했다 |
| Question | 했습니까 | 했어요 | 했어 | 했느냐/했니 |
There are a number of instances where in English we would use present but in Korean the past. Here we have 생기다 and 오래되다.
In both these cases, these verbs describe something that has already happened. With exact translation, rather than saying "someone is ugly" Korean translates as "someone was poorly formed" and instead of "something is old" Korean has "something has become old."
There are two ways to realize "but" in Korean. First we will discuss ~지만.
저는 먹지 않지만 마셔요.=>I do not eat, but I do drink.
Stand alone form: 하지만 (more colloquial)/그렇지만
~는데 is attached to action verb stems and ~은데 to descriptive verbs.
저는 먹는데 안 마셔요.=> I eat, but I do not drink.
저는 한국에 갔는데, 재미있었어요=> I went to Korea and it was fun.
Stand alone form: 그런데/근데 (spoken)
가벼운 · 게으른 · 무거운 · 생각하는 · 선생님 · 앉는 · 예쁜 · 지도 · 회사원
9 words
In this lesson we'll do some review of the verbs we already know while introducing the Continuous aspect of Korean verbs.
The use of this verbal aspect is more restrictive than in English, in the present tense focusing only on verbs currently in progress. Even then, in many cases it is used more for emphasis than the English equivalent, with the simple present tense usually taking precedence.
Let's start off with action verbs. Take the verb stem (root minus ~다) and add ~고 있다. ~고 있다 conjugates just like the 있다 we've already learned, and it's as simple as that!
먹다=>먹고 있다
저는 치킨을 먹고 있어요=I am eating fried chicken
Stative verbs like 앉다 or 서다 take the continuous differently. Of course, it is possible to say 앉고 있어요, although this would translate more closely to "I am being seated" than "I am sitting."
To truly say "I am sitting" you would say 저는 앉아 있어요.
The rule here s to take the Casual form and add 있어요. In grammar books this may be written as 아/어 있다.
We mentioned when introducing the possessive aspect of 있다 that there are other ways to indicate the possessive in Korean. Here we teach the verbs 가지다 (sometimes 갖다) and 들다, with 가지다 the more common of the two.
Both these verbs can be translated as "to hold" or "to carry." 들다 additionally can mean "to pick up" or "to take in hand."
In the continuous aspect, both these verbs become "to have." This is more specific, and restrictive, than using 있다.
While "A는 B가 있다" in general indicated that A possesses B, "A가 B를 가지고 있다" implies that A is carrying around B. This makes sense if it's something in your bag or your pocket, but it makes less sense when you're talking about your house or your friend.
선생님 means "teacher" in Korean, but is also a common term of respect. It is not uncommon for strangers to call each other 선생님 on the streets in polite conversation when they do not know which other term of address would be most appropriate. Additionally, it is sometimes added to the end of other titles, like doctor, to convey a deeper level of respect.
Students in school generally address their teachers solely as 선생님.
As the term is respectful, there is a more informal version that students use when they are talking to a favorite teacher, 쌤, which is a slang abbreviation of 선(ㅅ)생(새)님(ㅁ).
가을 · 겨울 · 계절 · 낙엽 · 난로 · 눈 · 바람 · 벚꽃 · 봄 · 불 · 새끼 · 수확물 · 스키 · 얼음 · 여름 · 푸른 · 풀 · 해 · 해수욕장 · 햇빛 · 호박 · 황사
22 words
Korea has four different seasons. Let's take a look at what those seasons are like.
벚꽃-Just like in Japan and Washington DC, cherry blossoms are a thing in Korea. They're beautiful.
새끼-This word is often used to describe baby animals. 새끼 곰 is bear cub, for example. A puppy, though, is 강아지. Don't combine dog+baby, just don't. You'll probably end up in the ER by 5 minutes.
푸른-Blue or green? In the past, the basic terms in Korean didn't differentiate between the two. Just one word, 푸르다, meant the both. Similar to how light blue and dark blue are both blue, but other languages might have separate words. This means that the sky, water, and grass can all be 푸른.
황사-Every year in summer clouds of yellow dust blow into Korea from the Gobi Desert in China. It creates a haze and leaves a film on many things. There are good days and bad days, and some with no 황사 at all.
해-We've already seen 해 in Time. The use of 해 as 'year' is based on its original meaning of 'sun'
해수욕장-This is a type of beach, specifically the one where you go to swim or sunbathe
낙엽-This comes from Chinese characters and means specifically fallen leaves.
긁다-It makes some sense, but the word for "rake" is also means "scratch." It may be combined with 모이다 to form 긁어모이다 "to rake up"
As explained earlier, 동안 means the time period of the preceded noun or phrase. With a phrase or a sentence, just like when qualifying any other nouns in the present tense, the ending of the verb becomes -는. Note that, while 동안 is usually translated to during or while, it is a noun in Korean. Unlike English, since Korean uses relative tense, the preceding verb is always in the present tense. Descriptive verbs except 있다 and 없다 cannot be used with 동안.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 여름 동안 | during the summer |
| 사과를 먹는 동안 | while eating an apple |
| 내가 여기에 있는 동안 | while I am here |
~(으)러 means "in order to" and is only used to connect an action with a verb of motion. It indicates that you are going somewhere in order to complete an action.
~으러 is attached to verb stems ending in consonants and ~러 to vowels.
저는 먹으러 식당에 가요.=> I go to the restaurant to eat.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 황 | yellow | 黄 |
| 사 | sand | 沙 |
| 해수 | seawater | 海水 |
| 낙엽 | fallen leave | 落叶 |
As we've already seen, Korean verbs have aspects of meaning absent from their English counterparts. Here we'll introduce another level of meaning to improve your Korean fluency.
First up is ~주다. 주다 (to give) attaches directly to the Casual form of the verb, sometimes called the 아/어 form in grammar books.
Taking it's meaning from "to give", V아/어주다 implies that the action is being done for the benefit of someone else. Sometimes this aspect of generosity is translated into English, but more often than not it isn't.
우리는 남자에게 읽어줍니다=We read to the man.
먹어주세요=Eat it (for me).
Next we have ~보다. 보다 (to see) attaches to the Casual 아/어 form as well.
Stemming from the meaning of "to see," V아/어보다 has the meaning of to try something out, to see how it is. Both 먹어보다 and 마셔보다 can mean "to try" or "to taste," literally "to see what it's like to eat" and "to see what it's like to drink"
읽어보세요=Read it/Take a look at it
해보세요=Give it a try
Now let's look at ~하다. While ~주다 and ~보다 can attach to most any word, ~하다 is more restricted. Usually this compound ending attaches to the 아/어 form of descriptive verbs.
In fact, we've already seen this a few times, with words like 좋아하다 and 싫어하다.
Adding V아/어하다 means to treat something a certain way. For example, 좋다 ="good" and 좋아하다="to like" (to treat something like it is good).
It can also mean "to act like..." For example, 슬프다="to be sad" while 슬퍼하다="to act sad." Usually this aspect of ~하다 compound verbs is only used when talking in the third person because it is something that you have observed. When talking about yourself, you would just say that you were sad, not that you were acting sad.
무섭다=to be scary
무서워하다=to fear
Finally we have ~가다 and ~오다, which you should recognize as "to go" and "to come."
Coming after V아/어, this pair of endings is usually used with verbs of motion to indicate direction. For example, 내리다="to move downward" so 내려오다="to come down" and 내려가다="to go down."
돌다=to return
돌아오다=to come back
돌아가다=to go back
We've already taught you 원하다 as "to want something" and now here we have ~고 싶다 "to want to do something."
~고 싶다 attaches to the verb stem (V minus 다), and is treated as a descriptive verb. When talking about a third person, you would only ever use the compound ~고 싶어하다.
저는 가고 싶어요=I want to go
그녀는 가고 싶어해요=She wants to go
괴 - ghost (怪)
공 · 구 · 달러 · 돈 · 만 · 백 · 번호 · 사 · 삼 · 억 · 오 · 원 · 이 · 일 · 조 · 천 · 칠 · 팔
18 words
Here we have the other half of the Korean number system, the Sino-Korean numbers.
Sino-Korean numbers are used for dates, money, phone numbers, addresses, and in math, as well as in large numbers.
The number 6 in Sino-Korean is 육, but is 륙 in North Korean. In South Korea the ㄹ pronunciation was lost and the ㄹ was replaced with ㅇ, but there is still a ghost of ㄹ left behind.
For the number 16, 십육, the deleted ㄹ reacts with the ㅂ and the word is pronounced 심뉵.
In Korean the dashes/spaces in a phone number are read as 에. So 010-723-6045 would be read 공일공에 칠이삼에 육공사오.
When Sino-Korean numbers are used with nouns, those nouns often double as counters. Two dollars is 이 달러 not 달러 이 개.
Once you reach 100, Sino-Korean takes over completely from Native Korean. Which is good, since Korean numbers are complicated.
Korean numbers follow the general East Asian number pattern. Instead of base 1000 like English, the base in Korean is 10 thousand.
This will take some getting used to, but 100 thousand is actually 10*10,000.
After 만, we have 억 (100 million) and 조 (1 trillion). Each number has four more zeroes than the number before.
가르치는 · 걷는 · 계획 · 기 · 닫는 · 벗는 · 쉬는 · 신는 · 싸우는 · 쓰는 · 여행 · 오는 · 입는 · 전 · 주는 · 차는 · 타는
17 words
Generally speaking, a gerund is the ~ing form of a verb, a verbal noun.
Korean has two ways of forming what would be a gerund in English, with overlapping but slightly different uses.
The most popular form is the present tense modifier (V는) plus 것.
This form is the more common in speaking.
하는 것 has a connotation of an ongoing action, not just "doing" but "the act of doing."
Just like in other circumstances, 것 can be abbreviated or contracted to 거, 건, 게, 걸.
The second form is made by taking the verb stem (V) plus 기.
This form may sometimes be more formal.
하기 has a more general connotation, "doing," and may be more abstract or impersonal.
To say "before doing X" we use this form, saying X하기 전에.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 전 | before | 前 |
| 계획 | plan | 计划 |
| 여행 | travel | 旅行 |
| 중요 | important | 重要 |
그저께 · 나흘 · 날 · 내년 · 년 · 다음 · 달 · 닷새 · 동안 · 마지막 · 매년 · 며칠 · 모레 · 밤 · 부터 · 분 · 사흘 · 새벽 · 시 · 시간 · 아흐레 · 어제 · 어젯밤 · 여드레 · 열흘 · 엿새 · 옛날 · 오전 · 오후 · 올해 · 이레 · 이번 · 이틀 · 일 · 작년 · 주 · 지난 · 초 · 하루 · 해
40 words
Here we talk about numbering hours, days, months, and years, but we won't get in to dates or days of the week until later.
Telling time requires a mixture of Sino-Korean and Native Korean numbers.
Native Korean is used with the hour, 1:00=한 시
Minutes and seconds take Sino-Korean, 2:30= 두 시 삼십 분
오후 (afternoon) or 오전 (before noon) can come before the time to indicate AM or PM
Similarly the period of the day comes before the time, 11 at night=밤 열한 시
When counting hours, use 시간 with Native Korean numbers
한 시=1:00 한 시간=1 hour
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 그저께 | Day before yesterday |
| 어제 | Yesterday |
| 오늘 | Today |
| 내일 | Tomorrow |
| 모레 | Day after tomorrow |
When asking for the date, instead of 몇일 it becomes 며칠.
"Last night" is 어젯밤. The ㅅ added to the end of 어제 is a common addition to compound words.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 지난 | Last |
| 이번 | This |
| 다음 | Next |
| 마지막 | Final |
These qualifiers come before the time period they describe
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 작년 | Last year |
| 올해 | This year |
| 내년 | Next year |
해 is the Native Korean word for "year" and is used in some limited situations, like 올해 (this year) and 그해 (that year)
년 is the Sino-Korean word for "year" and other than the examples above, can also be used in 금년 (this year), as well as the date with Sino-Korean numbers.
2017년=이천십칠 년
일 is the Sino-Korean word for "day" and is usually used in the date, together with Sino-Korean numbers.
날 is the Native Korean word for "day" and is used most often in the names of holidays, with ordinal numbers (둘째 날=2nd day), and when describing a day (좋은 날=good day)
Month has a similar pair, with 달 being Korean and 월 coming from Chinese. When counting months, use Native Korean with 달 or Sino-Korean with 개월.
Just to make things fun, Korean has two ways of counting days. The first is just Sino-Korean number+일, which is pretty easy.
The second way is based on the Native Korean numbers, but it's not so intuitive, so you'll have to memorize them. 하루 is very commonly used, but the higher the number gets the more likely it is to be in Sino-Korean.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| One day | 하루 |
| Two days | 이틀 |
| Three days | 사흘 |
| Four days | 나흘 |
| Five days | 닷새 |
| Six days | 엿새 |
| Seven days | 이레 |
| Eight days | 여드레 |
| Nine days | 아흐레 |
| Ten days | 열흘 |
~부터 is a particle that means 'from.' It is used with dates and times instead of ~에서.
동안 means the time period of the preceding noun or phrase. It is usually followed by 에, but also the 에 is usually dropped. 동안(에) can usually be translated to during. When used with a noun, simply put 동안 after the noun and a space. With a phrase will be explained later.
Note: Nouns that cannot stand alone such as 년, 일, 시, 분, etc. are called bound nouns. A space is required before a bound noun, but there are two exceptions where the space is optional.
| Correct | Incorrect | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 백 년, 백년, 100 년, 100년 | The year 100 | |
| 백 년, 100 년, 100년 | 백년 | 100 years |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 시 | hour | 时 |
| 분 | minute | 分 |
| 초 | second | 秒 |
| 주 | week | 周 |
| 년 | year | 年 |
| 일 | day | 日 |
간 · 꾼 · 던 · 마신 · 먹은 · 받은 · 본 · 생각 · 선 · 온 · 준 · 한 · 후
13 words
Here we go into how to form modifiers in the past tense.
Past tense modifiers are only used with action verbs, not descriptive ones.
We form the past tense modifier the same way we form the present modifier for a descriptive verb.
먹다=>먹은
하다=>한
돕다=>도운
살다=>산
Sometimes these past tense modifiers may be the exact same as descriptive present tense modifiers.
적다 (to be few)=>적은 (few)
vs
적다 (to write down)=>적은 (written)
This form can modifier either the subject or the object of the verb:
먹은 피자=the eaten pizza 먹은 사람=the person who ate
This past tense modifier is used in the grammar pattern to mean "after Xing"
Another form of the past tense modifier is -던. It implies the task was incomplete and is used when one looks back on the past.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 내가 먹은 빵 | The bread I ate (and it's all gone). |
| 내가 먹던 빵 | The bread I was eating (and part of it may be left). |
| 내가 다닌 학교 | The school I went to |
| 내가 다니던 학교 | The school I used to go to |
Of course, 내가 먹던 빵 may also refer to the kind of bread one used to eat when one was little.
-던 may even come after -았-/-었- implying the task was complete. There is no big difference between -던 and -았던/-었던.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 후 | after | 后 |
가르칠 · 갈 · 거 · 걸을 · 고향 · 들을 · 마실 · 만날 · 만들 · 먹을 · 보낼 · 볼 · 실 · 쓸 · 없을 · 예정 · 올 · 을 · 있을 · 줄 · 할
21 words
The time has finally come to learn the last of Korean's three verb tenses, the future tense.
Unlike present and past, the future tense in Korean is a compound tense, formed using more than one word.
The basic idea is that the future tense is formed by taking the future verbal modifier (explanation below) and then adding 것 and the copula ~이다.
As we've seen before, 것 has various forms and contractions. With the future tense, the two most common are 것 and 거. While 할 것입니다 (will do) might be more common in writing, 할 겁니다 is common in speaking without necessarily decreasing the politeness or formality of your sentence.
Future tense verbal modifiers have several forms, all of which end with ~ㄹ.
For verb stems ending with a vowel, simply add ㄹ to the final syllable. 하다=>할
For verb stems ending with a consonant, add 을. 먹다=>먹을
For verb stems ending with a ㄹ, do nothing, just use the stem. 만들다=>만들
For ㄷ special case verbs, those where the final ㄷ becomes a ㄹ, add 을 to the end of the stem. 듣다=>들을
It's as simple as that.
저는 한국어를 공부할 것입니다=I will study Korean.
If you're wondering where to add the honorific in the future tense, it is always on the future tense verbal modifier. You do not need to add the honorific ~시다 to the copula following 것.
There is a second form of the future, using 예정. This is formed much the same way as the main form of the future tense, although 것 is replaced with 예정.
This form of the future is for something you are planning to do, somewhere along the lines of "I'm going to..." in English.
저는 편의점에 갈 예정입니다=I'm going to go to the convenience store.
메뉴 · 빵집 · 수저 · 숟가락 · 술 · 술집 · 안주 · 양식 · 요리 · 요리사 · 인분 · 일식 · 저기요 · 점 · 젓가락 · 종업원 · 채식주의자 · 카페 · 칼 · 패스트푸드 · 포크 · 한식 · 후식
23 words
Korea has an amazing restaurant culture that any visitor has to try. Here we'll give you some of the basic vocab you'll need when going out to eat for a delicious meal.
In general, when talking about type of restaurant, you can simply say X 식당, like 파스타 식당 for 'pasta restaurant.' However, more popular is to add either 집 or 점.
집 is less common, with 술집 and 빵집 most common, as well as 찻집 for 'tea house.' Usually 집 follows a dish or type of food.
점 is more common, and is usually used with a type of cuisine (한식점), but may also be used with a dish. Sometimes this is X전문점, an "X specialty restaurant."
We often talk about types of cuisine by simply saying "미국 + 음식" or "미국 + 요리," respectively "American food" and "American cooking."
For types of cuisine common in Korea, there are shortened versions, 한식, 일식, and 양식. 한 and 일 represent Korea and Japan, while 양 means "Western"
*후식 is dessert, literally "after food"
When you want to get your waiter's attention at a restaurant, there may be a button on the table that let's them know you need something. If not, simply shout out "저기요!" and they'll come to you.
시키다 means "to order," and means as well to force someone to do something. When you order, you are asking them to make the food for you, so it's 시키다.
주문하다 also means "to order," and is more to request something.
주문하다 is a bit more humble, so might be used more when talking to the waiter, while 시키다 might be used more with your friend.
Many Korean restaurants specialize in one type of food and only have a few options on the menu. For foods like bbq, fried rice, and stir fries there might be a grill on the table, and the whole table will just order one main dish to share. Therefore, you use 인분 to specify how many portions. 인분 acts like a counter word and takes a Sino-Korean number.
불고기 일 인분=one portion of 불고기
Traditional table settings in Korea are metal chopsticks and a spoon with a long handle. There's even an abbreviation of 숟가락 and 젓가락, 수저.
Food is served family style, and each person will have their own small plate or bowl, plus their own rice. Side soups are usually eaten from a communal bowl and you will usually not take your full serving at once, but will take little bits of food throughout the meal.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 분 | part | 分 |
| 사 | -er | 师 |
| 채식 | vegetarian food | 采食 |
| 주의 | -ism | 主义 |
| 자 | -er | 者 |
| 주 | alcohol | 酒 |
| 가락 | stick of something |
거의 · 굉장히 · 그리 · 꽤 · 나쁜 · 뜨거운 · 매우 · 바쁜 · 별로 · 보다 · 비싼 · 상당히 · 싼 · 아주 · 엄청 · 정말 · 제일 · 좋은 · 차가운 · 참 · 특히 · 훨씬
22 words
As such a verb heavy language, Korean has a large number of adverbs. We've split them between several skills, here focusing on adverbs of degree.
Korean adverbs come before the verb.
When given the option between an adjective describing a noun or an adverb on the verb, Korean will use the adverb more often than we do in English. For example, to say "He reads many books" rather than the direct translation "그는 많은 책을 읽어요," the correct sentence would be "그는 책을 많이 읽어요"
There are various words used to give emphasis, like very in English. Here we are introducing a couple of them.
| Words | Translations |
|---|---|
| 매우, 아주, 굉장히 | very, so, greatly, highly, exceedingly |
| 정말(로), 진짜(로), 참(으로) | really, truly, indeed, (non-standard) very, so |
| 특히 | in particular, particularly, especially, specially |
| 상당히 | considerably, fairly, rather, quite |
| 꽤 | quite, fairly, rather, pretty |
| 엄청 | overly, too, excessively, awfully |
| 너무 | too, overly, excessively, awfully, so Read more |
There aren't really one-to-one translations for these, so here we accept what's listed above.
The superlative form in Korean is formed using 가장 or 제일 plus the adjective/descriptive verb. Both can be used interchangeably, but 가장 means "the most," and 제일 means "number one."
Usually the phrase is 제일/가장 + Modifier form + Noun.
For example, 제일 맛있는 음식=the most delicious food
When forming a superlative in English, the noun is not always used, for example "This book is the best." In Korean, you would translate that as 이 책은 제일 좋은 책이에요 "This book is the best book" or 이 책은 제일 좋은 것이에요 "This book is the best one." Unlike in English where we actively seek to avoid repeating the noun, it is completely okay in Korean.
Comparative in Korean is introduced with the particle 보다. 보다 can be translated as "than" and attaches to the end of the noun to which the first noun is being compared and usually comes right before the descriptive verb.
이 사과는 바나나보다 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious than the banana.
Just using 보다 is enough to indicate the comparative form, but 더 is sometimes added before the descriptive verb for emphasis. Like English, the 보다 part can be omitted and simply adding 더 before the descriptive verb is enough.
이 사과가 더 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious.
Note: Of course, you can change the word order. Since the topic normally comes first, when 보다 comes first instead, the other noun is usually followed by 이(가) rather than 은(는). Whether the word order is changed or not, 이(가) emphasizes the noun before it.
There are some interesting adverbs that have a negative meaning in Korean that deserve special mention.
별로 안 좋아요.=It is not too good/It is not very good.
별로 없어요.=There is not much.
거의 없어요=There is almost nothing.
그녀는 그리 안 나빠요.=She is not [so/that] bad. 그게 그리 나빠요?=Is it that bad?
건 · 걸 · 게 · 민지 · 서연 · 서준 · 시작 · 응 · 지금 · 지훈 · 창문 · 친한 · 파티
13 words
It's time to learn the third of the four most common Korean speech levels with Casual.
This speech level is commonly used to talk to close friends and family. It is also used when speaking to children, even when they are strangers.
If you use this to talk to strangers (other than small children) it is usually very rude. Sometimes people use this when they're angry to yell at strangers or other people that would usually be addressed more politely.
Casual speech, 해체 is very easy to form. In most cases, you simply take the Polite form and drop the -요.
먹어요=>먹어
Exceptions to this are the copula ~이다 and 하다.
개야=It is a dog. 집이야=It is a house.
하다 usually becomes simply 해, just by dropping the ~요 from the Polite form. In some cases, mostly in writing, 해 is replaced by 하여.
When using the Honorific, ~시다 becomes 셔, not 세.
해체 changes very little based on mood.
그것을 해 can be "(They) do it," "Do (they) do it?" or "Do it!"
To form the propositive, drop the ~다 from the infinitive and add ~자. So 하자 means "Let's do it!"
To form a negative imperative sentence, add "-지 마" (NOT "-지 말아") to the stem.
Korean names are usually three syllables total, with a one syllable family name and a two syllable given name. The family name comes first, and the whole name is written with no spaces. So first Korean president Syngman Rhee's name would be written 이승만.
In Casual speech it is not uncommon to use someone's actual name, especially when they are the same age or younger. When addressing someone, it is common to add ~아/야 after the name.
~아 follows a consonant ~야 follows a vowel
서연아!=Seoyeon! 민지야!=Minji!
Here we introduce two ways of making adjectives/adverbs out of nouns.
-적 is a suffix that is added after a noun, meaning "related to". It is usually used in the form of "-적인" (-related), "-적이다" (is …-related), or "-적으로" (in a …-related way).
| Korean Phrases | English Translations |
|---|---|
| 과학 | science |
| 과학적(인) 방법 | a science-related method, a scientific method |
| 방법이 과학적이다. | The method is scientific. |
| 과학적으로 | scientifically |
대하다 means to set as a target or an object and 관하다 means to set as an object of one's speech or idea. 대하다 is broader, but in practice there is little difference. These verbs usually function as adjectives (대한, 관한) or adverbs (대하여, 관하여). Note that 에 comes before them.
| Korean Phrases | English Translations |
|---|---|
| 경제 | economy |
| 경제에 대한/관한 책 | an economy-related book, a book about economy |
| 경제에 대하여/관하여 쓴 책 | a book that (one) wrote about economy, a book about economy |
그릴 · 낚시 · 때문 · 롤러스케이트 · 서핑 · 수 · 수수께끼 · 스케이트보드 · 야구 · 운전 · 줄 · 찰 · 취미 · 탈 · 퍼즐
15 words
가슴 · 감각 · 귀 · 눈 · 눈물 · 다리 · 등 · 머리 · 머리카락 · 몸 · 무릎 · 미각 · 바닥 · 발 · 발가락 · 발꿈치 · 배꼽 · 뼈 · 손가락 · 수염 · 시각 · 어깨 · 얼굴 · 이 · 입 · 청각 · 촉각 · 코 · 콧수염 · 톱 · 팔 · 팔꿈치 · 피부 · 허리 · 후각
35 words
In this lesson we'll learn some of the basic body parts. We'll get into more detail in the skill Medicine.
The Korean word for "hair" is 머리카락, with 머리 meaning "head." However, in everyday speech where it is clearly understood, people just say "머리." So 머리 깎았네! is "You've had a haircut" and not "You've trimmed your head."
The basic word for bone is 뼈. If you're talking about a bone you'd give a dog or a piece of meat on the bone, you'd probably use a different word, 뼈다귀.
Korean has 3 words for teeth. 이, 치아, and 이빨. 이 is the basic word, 치아 is more formal and sounds more medicinal, while 이빨 is less formal and may often be used when talking about animals.
English can get complicated when talking about hands and feet. Fingers vs toes. Palm vs sole. Korean has some compound words that make it a bit easier to know what you're talking about.
If you add 손 or 발 to the following words (and in one case 팔) you create compounds that are easy to understand.
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 가락 | A "stick". Fingers and toes |
| 바닥 | "floor". Palm and sole |
| 꿈치 | bony joint. 팔꿈치 "elbow" and 발꿈치 "heel" |
| 톱 | "nail." Toenail and fingernail |
| 목 | "neck" 손목 "wrist" and 발목 "ankle" |
Korean words sometimes change when used in a compound. When a word used as a prefix ends in a vowel it sometimes has an added ㅅ at the end. So 코 "nose" as a prefix becomes 콧.
In North Korean writing they don't add the ㅅ, but the sound is still there.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 피부 | skin | 皮肤 |
| 각 | sense | 覺 |
| 후 | smell | 嗅 |
| 감 | feeling | 感 |
| 미 | flavor | 味 |
| 청 | listen | 听 |
| 촉 | touch | 觸 |
| 시 | see | 视 |
건배 · 그냥 · 나중 · 대박 · 생일 · 아싸 · 아이고 · 안녕히 · 오랜만 · 우아 · 위하여 · 이따 · 인사 · 제발 · 진짜 · 처음 뵙겠습니다 · 천만에요 · 파이팅
18 words
In this lesson we'll learn a few more set phrases, some words common in conversations, and some exclamations.
As we've already seen, Korean doesn't need a separate word for please, you can just politely ask someone to do something using ~주세요. However, there is 제발, which is the literal translation of please. It's use is much more limited than the English, as it seems a bit like you're pleading.
There is also 부탁하다 which means to "request" or to "ask a favor."
There are two popular toasts in Korean.
건배: Cheers, the usual thing to say when clinking together your glasses.
위하여: "Here's to", more of a toast. It's common to just say 위하여, but you can add whatever you're toasting to before the 위하여. This comes from the verb 위하다 "to do for the sake of"
안녕 can mean "hi" or "bye", but if you want to say a more formal "goodbye" there are two different ways, depending on who's going and who's staying.
안녕히 가세요: Both are based on 안녕히 "safely." 안녕히 가세요 is said to someone who is leaving, literally "go safely"
안녕히 계세요: This is said to someone who is staying behind, literally "stay safely"
A common way of saying that you're glad to have met someone, this literally means something along the lines of "I saw you first."
뵈다 is a formal way of saying "to see" and can also be used in a formal "see you later" as 나중에 봬요.
We introduce here two ways of saying "later"
나중에: This is a more generic word for "later" and is used much the same as in English.
이따가: This could be "later" but also "in a little while." It cannot be used with past tense. It usually indicates something that will be done within the next few hours.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 아싸 | yeah! |
| 대박 | great! often said with the 대 extended |
| 아이고 | ah! I've heard little old ladies going down the stairs saying this with every step |
| 우아 | wow! |
| 그냥 | just because |
| 화이팅 | good luck! you can do it! literally "fighting" |
| 진짜 | really |
거리 · 경찰서 · 고층 · 교외 · 다리 · 도시 · 동네 · 마천루 · 백화점 · 소방서 · 수도 · 시 · 시내 · 시청 · 아파트 · 터널 · 편의점 · 횡단보도
18 words
Here we learn a little bit of the places you may find around the city.
Korean has a few words relating to "city" that are useful to know.
| Korean | English | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 도시 | city | |
| ~시 | City | this is a prefix that comes after the city's name |
| 수도 | capital | |
| 시내 | downtown | literally "city+inside", referring to the city center |
| 시외 | outside the city | literally "city+outside," referring to things outside the city. We'll see this more in a later skill |
The verbs 건너다 and 지나다 mean to "go across" and to "pass." Both can be used in combination with other verbs of motion to talk about "going across" or "coming across," "going past" or "coming past." 지나다 can be used sometimes as "to pass through."
지나가는 사람 means a "passerby", literally a "person who goes past"
The descriptive verb 복잡하다 literally means "complicated" but if often used to describe somewhere that is crowded. It really is complicated navigating a crowded place!
백화점 "department store", literally a "hundred things shop." Korea has a lot of department stores, in some cases with so many sections and so many stalls inside that they could just as easily be entire malls all on their own.
편의점 "convenience store" Every street corner in Korea has a convenience store, with a few more located in between for good measure. You can buy just about anything in a convenience store, including a full meal at decent quality.
마천루 is the literal work for skyscraper, a sky-high building
고층 means "high rise" and can be used with 건물 to be a "high-rise building" or 아파트 to be "high-rise apartment"
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 시 | city | 市 |
| 내 | inside | 内 |
| 외 | outside | 外 |
| 횡단 | cross | 横断 |
| 보도 | path | 步道 |
| 고 | high | 高 |
| 층 | floor | 層 |
| 백 | hundred | 百 |
| 화 | thing | 花 |
| 점 | store | 店 |
| 편의 | convenience | 便宜 |
| 서 | office | 暑 |
| 마천 | sky-high | 摩天 |
그러나 · 문 · 병 · 소리 · 쉬어라 · 쉬지 · 일어서라 · 전화 · 택시
9 words
Now we've come to the last of the four most common speech levels in Korean!
The speech level we're calling "written" is known in Korean as 해라체. This speech level is fairly formal, but not high on the politeness scale.
We call it "written" here because this speech level is often used in more formal writing, as it can carry an impersonal connotation lacking in the other levels. Other than in print, 해라체 is also used between friends, by adults to children, and sometimes when making an exclamation or talking to yourself.
In 해라체 indicative for action verbs ends with ~ㄴ/는다.
When a verb stem ends in a vowel, add ~ㄴ다. 가다=>간다
When a verb stem ends in a ㄹ, drop the ㄹ and add ~ㄴ다. 만들다=>만든다
When a verb stem ends in a consonant, add ~는다. 웃다=>웃는다
Descriptive verbs simply stay in the infinitive.
When asking a question in 해라체, simply add ~느냐 or ~니 to the verb stem.
For verb stems ending with an ㄹ, drop the ㄹ.
When giving a command, take the ~아/어 form we had in Casual and add ~라.
The propositive is just the same as in Casual. Just add ~자 to the verb stem.
We introduce here a few new conjunctions and interjections used most often in written Korean.
~(으)며 is just the same as ~(으)면서, meaning "while"
그러나 "however" is used much the same as 하지만 or 그래도
~(으)나 "although" is used similarly to ~지만
Talking about dates in Korean is a mixture of some pretty straightforward, easy vocabulary and some that will take some getting used to. It'll make more sense with practice, so don't worry
Korean dates start with the year, then the month, then the day. A good rule of thumb when telling time or giving an address in Korean is that start with the biggest and work your way down to the smallest unit.
For dates, it is common to add 년, 월, and 일 after the numbers:
2015년 10월 22일
Koreans often have a hard time memorizing the names of the months in English. Thankfully the Korean is much easier!
Simply use the Sino-Korean number plus 월 (month), and you're done! However, there are two exceptions.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| June | 6월 (유월) |
| October | 10월 (시월) |
Note that 6 and 10 in 6월 and 10월 are not pronounced as would be expected. Instead the final consonant, the 받침, is dropped.
Earlier, in the Time skill, we learned how to count days in native Korean words. They can also be used for dates, usually in the lunar calendar.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| First (of a month) | 초하루 |
| Second | 이틀 |
| Third | 사흘 |
| Fifteenth | 보름(날), 열닷새 |
| Twentieth | 스무날 |
| Twenty-first | 스무하루 |
| Thirtieth | 그믐(날) |
Note that the first day is 초하루 rather than 하루, being the only exception. Just for reference, 보름달 and 그믐달 mean the full moon and the old moon, respectively.
Earlier we learned that 다음 means the next. When paired with the copula ~이다 and following a noun, 다음 takes the meaning "comes after".
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 다음 주 | the next week |
| 화요일은 월요일 다음이에요. | Tuesday comes after Monday |
Korean days of the week can be a little tricky, but they make sense eventually.
Basically, all the days are formed as X요일. The 7 days are then composed of different elements or substances. Signs in Korean will drop the ~요일 so a store open Monday-Friday would say 월-금.
When asking "what day of the week" you would simply ask 무슨 요일 or "which 요일".
| English | Korean | Element |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 월요일 | Moon |
| Tuesday | 화요일 | Fire |
| Wednesday | 수요일 | Water |
| Thursday | 목요일 | Wood |
| Friday | 금요일 | Fire |
| Saturday | 토요일 | Ground |
| Sunday | 일요일 | Sun |
Do Monday and Sunday, moon and sun, look familiar? That's because both English and Korean names are originally descended from the Latin, named after the gods/heavenly bodies. The other 5 are also related to the names of planets in Korean. 화요일? dies Martis. 화성. Mars.
Korean has two ways of saying "each" or "every", although their uses are slightly different.
매 appears before a noun, usually a time related noun that comes from Sino-Korean. It fuse with some nouns as one word, such as 매일/every day , 매주/every week, 매월/every month, 매년/every year.
마다 appears after a noun, usually a time noun, but not necessarily. It always attaches to the noun it follows. Rather than 일 or 월, it prefers the native Korean 날 or 달. 마다 can also attach to a person, 학생마다/each student.
Both 매 and 마다 can be used with a number to indicate every X amount of time. 매 4주/4주마다 "every 4 weeks"
Sometimes both are used at once, as emphasis. 매 주마다 "every week"
Koreans have a lot of traditional celebrations based on time, which we'll briefly introduce here.
백일 The 100 days celebration is to commemorate the 100th day after a child's birth. This was a day to celebrate that a new baby had officially survived the most dangerous first 100 days of life. This often marked the time that a baby and its mother would rejoin society after recuperating following the birth.
돌 The 1st anniversary of a child's birth. Living in a time without modern medicine, infancy was difficult. The 1st anniversary of birth was a huge milestone, celebrated with a feast, prayers, and ritual.
환갑 Koreans traditionally used the same calendar as China, with a zodiac featuring 12 years. Everyone knows that. But there are also 5 elements, so every 12 years is a cycle under one element. It takes 60 years to go through all 12 cycles of the zodiac under all 5 elements, do you're 60th birthday is an important one, celebrating going full circle through the entire zodiac.
동갑 Age is important to Koreans. It can determine your social status and the speech level you use with someone. One aspect used to refer to age, that is unfamiliar to most English speakers, is 동갑. The best translation is "same age". People who are truly 동갑 are usually born in the same lunar year, so they are the same age under the Korean system of counting. As a reminder, you are one at birth and two at the next Lunar New Year. Koreans will often say that two people who are 동갑 are "friends" because of the ties this creates, even if they've never actually met.
간장 · 갈비 · 고구마 · 국 · 국자 · 도마 · 떡 · 뚜껑 · 맛 · 무 · 무침 · 배추 · 복숭아 · 소스 · 식용 · 야 · 양 · 양념 · 오븐 · 오이 · 요리법 · 요리책 · 유 · 재료 · 전자 · 정육 · 조리대 · 좀 · 찌개 · 찜 · 파 · 필요 · 휴지통
33 words
금요일 · 내기 · 달력 · 돌 · 동갑 · 마다 · 매 · 목요일 · 백일 · 수요일 · 요일 · 월 · 월요일 · 일요일 · 잔치 · 주말 · 토요일 · 평일 · 화요일 · 환갑
20 words
Talking about dates in Korean is a mixture of some pretty straightforward, easy vocabulary and some that will take some getting used to. It'll make more sense with practice, so don't worry
Korean dates start with the year, then the month, then the day. A good rule of thumb when telling time or giving an address in Korean is that start with the biggest and work your way down to the smallest unit.
For dates, it is common to add 년, 월, and 일 after the numbers:
2015년 10월 22일
Koreans often have a hard time memorizing the names of the months in English. Thankfully the Korean is much easier!
Simply use the Sino-Korean number plus 월 (month), and you're done! However, there are two exceptions.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| June | 6월 (유월) |
| October | 10월 (시월) |
Note that 6 and 10 in 6월 and 10월 are not pronounced as would be expected. Instead the final consonant, the 받침, is dropped.
Earlier, in the Time skill, we learned how to count days in native Korean words. They can also be used for dates, usually in the lunar calendar.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| First (of a month) | 초하루 |
| Second | 이틀 |
| Third | 사흘 |
| Fifteenth | 보름(날), 열닷새 |
| Twentieth | 스무날 |
| Twenty-first | 스무하루 |
| Thirtieth | 그믐(날) |
Note that the first day is 초하루 rather than 하루, being the only exception. Just for reference, 보름달 and 그믐달 mean the full moon and the old moon, respectively.
Earlier we learned that 다음 means the next. When paired with the copula ~이다 and following a noun, 다음 takes the meaning "comes after".
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 다음 주 | the next week |
| 화요일은 월요일 다음이에요. | Tuesday comes after Monday |
Korean days of the week can be a little tricky, but they make sense eventually.
Basically, all the days are formed as X요일. The 7 days are then composed of different elements or substances. Signs in Korean will drop the ~요일 so a store open Monday-Friday would say 월-금.
When asking "what day of the week" you would simply ask 무슨 요일 or "which 요일".
| English | Korean | Element |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 월요일 | Moon |
| Tuesday | 화요일 | Fire |
| Wednesday | 수요일 | Water |
| Thursday | 목요일 | Wood |
| Friday | 금요일 | Fire |
| Saturday | 토요일 | Ground |
| Sunday | 일요일 | Sun |
Do Monday and Sunday, moon and sun, look familiar? That's because both English and Korean names are originally descended from the Latin, named after the gods/heavenly bodies. The other 5 are also related to the names of planets in Korean. 화요일? dies Martis. 화성. Mars.
Korean has two ways of saying "each" or "every", although their uses are slightly different.
매 appears before a noun, usually a time related noun that comes from Sino-Korean. It fuse with some nouns as one word, such as 매일/every day , 매주/every week, 매월/every month, 매년/every year.
마다 appears after a noun, usually a time noun, but not necessarily. It always attaches to the noun it follows. Rather than 일 or 월, it prefers the native Korean 날 or 달. 마다 can also attach to a person, 학생마다/each student.
Both 매 and 마다 can be used with a number to indicate every X amount of time. 매 4주/4주마다 "every 4 weeks"
Sometimes both are used at once, as emphasis. 매 주마다 "every week"
Koreans have a lot of traditional celebrations based on time, which we'll briefly introduce here.
백일 The 100 days celebration is to commemorate the 100th day after a child's birth. This was a day to celebrate that a new baby had officially survived the most dangerous first 100 days of life. This often marked the time that a baby and its mother would rejoin society after recuperating following the birth.
돌 The 1st anniversary of a child's birth. Living in a time without modern medicine, infancy was difficult. The 1st anniversary of birth was a huge milestone, celebrated with a feast, prayers, and ritual.
환갑 Koreans traditionally used the same calendar as China, with a zodiac featuring 12 years. Everyone knows that. But there are also 5 elements, so every 12 years is a cycle under one element. It takes 60 years to go through all 12 cycles of the zodiac under all 5 elements, do you're 60th birthday is an important one, celebrating going full circle through the entire zodiac.
동갑 Age is important to Koreans. It can determine your social status and the speech level you use with someone. One aspect used to refer to age, that is unfamiliar to most English speakers, is 동갑. The best translation is "same age". People who are truly 동갑 are usually born in the same lunar year, so they are the same age under the Korean system of counting. As a reminder, you are one at birth and two at the next Lunar New Year. Koreans will often say that two people who are 동갑 are "friends" because of the ties this creates, even if they've never actually met.
가구 · 가스 · 거실 · 건조 · 기 · 꽂이 · 냉동고 · 냉장고 · 담요 · 레인지 · 마당 · 마루 · 베개 · 벽 · 벽장 · 보 · 세척 · 세탁 · 소파 · 식기 · 싱크대 · 에어컨 · 옷장 · 욕실 · 울타리 · 자물쇠 · 정원 · 주방 · 지붕 · 차고 · 찬장 · 청소 · 층 · 침실
34 words
We will translate 마루 as floor in the course, but it refers to a specific kind of wooden floor usually found in traditional Korean houses.
감독 · 건축가 · 경력 · 고용인 · 고용주 · 군인 · 노동자 · 대통령 · 모델 · 벌써 · 변호사 · 실업자 · 엔지니어 · 의사 · 이미 · 일 · 작가 · 적 · 제빵사 · 조종사 · 직업 · 직장 · 출장 · 퇴직 · 화가
25 words
Let's get to work!
Think about all the different meanings of "work" in English. It can be you job, the things you do at your job, or the place where you do your job.
Korean is a little more discrete. All of the below words could be "work" or "job" in English, but have more concrete meanings in Korean. Not all are taught in this lesson, but we include them in this list for completeness.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 일 | work, a thing to be done. also used in 집안 일 "housework" |
| 직업 | career/profession |
| 직장 | place of work |
| 업무 | task |
| 일자리 | position |
적 is a noun that doesn't translate well into English on its own, but is used in phrases to talk about having done something.
The phrase is constructed as follows:
Past modifier of verb + 적이 + 있다
or
Past modifier of verb + 적이 + 없다
For example:
저는 고래를 본 적이 있습니다=I have seen a whale.
저는 한국에 간 적이 없습니다=I have not been to Korea.
Korean has two words that both mean already, 이미 and 벌써.
What is the different between the two? 이미 is more generic, while 벌써 indicates an aspect of surprise.
We have three verbs here with the root 근.
출근하다 is to go in to work for the day
퇴근하다 is to finish work for the day
근무하다 is to work. This verb may be used with ~에 instead of ~에서 as it means more closely "to be on duty" than "to work." It is more formal, and therefore used most frequently in writing, but also in the military.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 직 | duty | 职 |
| 업 | profession | 业 |
| 노동 | labor | 劳动 |
| 가 | -er | 家 |
| 건축 | architecture | 建築 |
| 군 | soldier | 军 |
| 사 | master | 师 |
| 취 | undertake | 就 |
| 실 | lose | 失 |
| 근무 | service | 勤務 |
| 퇴 | withdraw | 退 |
| 화 | painting | 画 |
| 출 | leave | 出 |
감독 · 경기 · 경주 · 골 · 공격수 · 궁수 · 권투 · 네트 · 농구 · 단 · 도 · 득점 · 마라톤 · 바둑 · 배구 · 선수 · 수비수 · 수영 · 스포츠 · 승마 · 양궁 · 용품 · 응원 · 장 · 채 · 축구 · 코치 · 코트 · 탁구 · 태권도 · 테니스 · 팀 · 하키 · 화살 · 활 · 훈련
36 words
Sports! From the beautiful game of football/soccer to the European sport of tennis, this skill will cover many of the sports enjoyed by people around the world.
가게 · 가격 · 가치 · 계산대 · 계산서 · 교환 · 비밀 · 사이즈 · 상표 · 새 · 서점 · 쇼핑 · 시장 · 식료 · 신용 · 실 · 영수증 · 유로 · 장바구니 · 줄 · 중 · 지불 · 카드 · 카트 · 탈의 · 판매 · 품 · 할인 · 현금
29 words
가뭄 · 구름 · 그림자 · 기후 · 눈보라 · 도 · 무지개 · 번개 · 비 · 빛 · 서리 · 안개 · 열기 · 예보 · 예보관 · 온도 · 온도계 · 우박 · 일기 · 주의 · 천둥 · 추천 · 태풍 · 폭풍 · 한파 · 홍수
26 words
강당 · 고등학교 · 고등학생 · 교시 · 교실 · 교장 · 담임 · 명부 · 반 · 분필 · 성적표 · 수학여행 · 숙제 · 시험 · 운동장 · 유치원 · 자리 · 점 · 점수 · 졸업 · 중학교 · 중학생 · 체육관 · 초등학교 · 초등학생 · 칠판 · 학급 · 학년
28 words
School is in session!
In this skill we introduce some of the basic vocabulary needed to talk about school. The course currently doesn't include much about college, but we have some of that planned for our eventual Tree 2.0
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 유치원 | kindergarten/preschool |
| 초등학교 | elementary school |
| 중학교 | middle school |
| 고등학교 | high school |
We introduce here the names of four levels of school, with translations based (more or less) on the American school system. Different countries, and sometimes different school districts within a country, use different names for these, so please report missing translations.
To talk about the students going to one of these schools, replace ~교 with ~생. For kindergarteners, you can just add ~생 to the end of 유치원.
We've already seen 선생님, the general term for teacher, with the honorific ~님 built right in.
You can add the school, the subject, or other descriptors before 선생님 to specify type of teacher. For example, 초등학교 선생님 would be an elementary school teacher, while 영어 선생님 would be an English teacher.
Two common descriptors followed by 선생님 are 담임 and 교장.
담임 comes from 한자 that mean "to be in charge" and refers to the "homeroom" or "head teacher", often in contrast to administrators, aides, or special subject teachers that do not oversee a specific group of young learners.
교장 comes from 한자 that mean "school" and "leader", referring to the principal or headmaster.
English can be very vague when we use the word "class." Is it the space? the time period? the material being learned? or the people?
Korean is not vague. Let's take a look at some of the words that may be difficult to parse at first.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 학년 | grade/year in school |
| 반 | homeroom |
| 학급 | class/group of students |
| 교시 | class period |
| 교실 | classroom |
| 수업 | lesson |
Each school has several 학년, numbered 1학년 and up. (The numbers start over again from 1 in middle and high school). At anything other than a very small school, each 학년 will have several 반, numbered 1반 and up, of students in different homerooms with different 담임 선생님.
학급 is more abstract, but the best to describe it would be "collection of students."
For the other words, each day has several 교시, each 교시 you have a 수업 in a 교실.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 초 | early | 初 |
| 등 | level | 等 |
| 분 | dust | 粉 |
| 필 | pen | 筆 |
간호사 · 감기 · 건강 · 고통 · 내과 · 뇌 · 마비 · 메스 · 바이러스 · 복용 · 사망 · 소아과 · 수술 · 수술대 · 심장 · 아픈 · 아픔 · 약 · 약국 · 약사 · 외과 · 죽음 · 진단 · 치과 · 치료 · 피 · 학 · 환자
28 words
The doctor is in!
This lesson teaches some vocab related to getting sick and getting treated.
In this lessons we have two words for pain, 아픔 and 고통.
아픔 is a general native Korean word for "pain" or "soreness" or even "sickness"
고통 is a more specific Sino-Korean word, that means "pain" or "agony." It may be more formal or place more emphasis.
아픔 might look familiar. That's because it's related to the adjective 아프다 (to be sick/to be in pain). Many nouns may be formed from adding ~음 or ~ㅁ to the end of a verb or verbal adjective.
Another example is 죽음 "death", from the verb 죽다 "to die".
A lot of times, these form nouns that may be used independently. However, sometimes this forms part of a grammar pattern without an easy to translate noun. We won't see any of that here though now.
The ending ~과 serves a dual purpose when talking about medicine. Usually formed from Sino-Korean roots, much like Latin roots in English medical terms, much medical terminology ends with ~과.
This may be translated as a field of medicine, such as 치과 "dentistry". However, this may also be translated as "department of dentistry." All medical terms ending with ~과 function the same way.
We can also add ~학 at the end of one of these words. Usually adding ~학 doesn't change the English meaning, but it can be understood as "the study of X"
So a 내과의사 (doctor of internal medicine) works in the 내과 (department of internal medicine) and studied 내과학 (internal medicine).
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 심장 | heart | 心臟 |
| 마비 | paralysis | 痲痺 |
| 약 | medicine | 藥 |
| 내 | inside | 內 |
| 외 | outside | 外 |
| 과 | department | 科 |
| 치 | teeth | 齒 |
| 대 | table | 臺 |
거짓말 · 검사 · 관 · 교수 · 기자 · 냐고 · 다고 · 동급생 · 동료 · 동반자 · 동업자 · 라고 · 면접 · 방송 · 사 · 소개 · 연구 · 우체부 · 원 · 자 · 자고 · 조련 · 조사 · 주인 · 추측 · 형사 · 회사
27 words
In English indirect quotations are usually done with to-infinitives or that-clauses. When what you want to quote is a question, question words or whether(if)-clauses are also used. In Korean there are four way to quote indirectly.
| Quotation Endings | Usage | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -다고 | After a declarative sentence except 이다 | 철수가 선생님이 미국에 있다고 해요. *Cheolsu says the teacher is in the US. |
| -냐고 | After an interrogative sentence | 철수가 영희가 어디에 있냐고 해요. Cheolsu asks where Yeonghui is. |
| -자고 | After a propositive sentence | 철수가 미국에 가자고 해요. Cheolsu suggests that we go to the US. |
| -라고 | After 이다 in the declarative form | 저는 철수라고 해요. (They) say I am Cheolsu./My name is Cheolsu. |
가위 · 감습니다 · 깎아 · 깎았다 · 면도 · 목욕 · 변기 · 비누 · 빗 · 샤워 · 샴푸 · 수건 · 욕조 · 치약 · 칫솔 · 탕 · 틀 · 틀었어요
18 words
되다 literally means to be done. You can make the passive voice by replacing 하다 with 되다.
| Examples | Translations |
|---|---|
| 준비하다 | to prepare |
| 준비되다 | to be ready |
| 포함하다 | to include |
| 포함되다 | to be included |
경찰 · 구급 · 구급차 · 긴급 · 당했습니다 · 도난 · 도둑 · 도움 · 발생했어요 · 불러요 · 비상 · 사태 · 상태 · 소방관 · 소방차 · 소화기 · 신고 · 진압하 · 화재
19 words
(And a bit of active?)
We already covered 나다. (We really did!) In the literal sense it means to grow or to happen. This is often attached to nouns and turn them into verbs. You say it when the event happens on its own and it is not under your control. When it is under your control and you are making it happen, you say 내다.
| Examples | Translations |
|---|---|
| 끝 | end |
| 끝나다 | to end, to be over |
| 끝내다 | to end (it) |
| 기억 | memory |
| 기억나다 | to remember |
There are four passive suffixes in Korean. They are attached to stems of original verbs. These suffixes often have emphasis on the agent i.e. what caused it to happen.
| Suffixes | Notes | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -이 | Usually comes after vowels, ㅍ, ㅌ, ㅎ | 보이다 to come in sight |
| -히 | Usually comes after ㄱ, regular ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ | 닫히다 to close |
| -리 | Usually comes after irregular ㄷ, ㄹ | 열리다 to open |
| -기 | Usually comes after ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, ㅊ | 안기다 to be hugged |
In this skill, you will be given active voice sentences as well as passive voice sentences so that you can compare them.
Indefinite pronouns are words like someone, anyone, or no one, that take the place of a noun but do not refer to a specific person, place, or thing.
To express "every" we have three words. One is a noun, another is an adjective, and the third is an adverb.
우리 모두= We all
모든 사람=everyone
다 먹다=eat everything
아무 고기=any meat
아무 고기나=whichever meat
To say "at anytime" or "anywhere" you use 때 and 데, respectively.
아무 때나=at any time 아무 데나=anywhere
~(이)나 may also be attached to question words.
언제나 means "whenever" 무엇이나 means "whatever"
The differences between ~이나 and 이든지 are very subtle and even Koreans may have a hard time explaining the difference. However, one example is that 언제나 may have a little bit more of an "all the time" connotation, compared with 언제든지.
아무 고기도=no meat
When you want to talk about "something" you simply use the question words.
저는 무엇을 먹었습니다=I ate something.
You can also use 어떤 followed by a noun.
저는 어떤 것을 먹었습니다=I ate something.
각각 and 각자 both mean "each" and are used similarly to "each" in English. 각각 is more general, while 각자 is used more specifically with people.
대부분 means "most" or "most of" and usually comes after a noun.
우리 대부분=most of us
We've already learned 지금 for "now", so what is this new word 이제?
이제 has added emphasis that something has changed, and is often used with ~까지 or ~부터 to mean "up to now" or "from now on"
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 각 | each | 各 |
| 자 | individual | 自 |
| 문제 | problem | 问题 |
| 대부분 | big-division | 大部分 |
공항 · 권 · 기록 · 도착 · 면세 · 모험 · 방문 · 비자 · 비행 · 비행기 · 세관 · 수속 · 수하물 · 신청 · 안내 · 안내서 · 여권 · 연장 · 예매 · 입국 · 짐 · 출국 · 출발 · 탑승 · 표 · 항공사
26 words
Two words here, 삼촌 and 사촌, uncle and cousin, share the word 촌. Really they are 3촌 and 4촌.
How does this work?
Starting with yourself, you add a 촌 for every link in the chain of connection. Go up a level and your parents are 일촌, up one more and your grandparents are 이촌, down a level to your uncle and he is 삼촌, and down one more to your 사촌. Other than 삼촌 and 사촌 others are not that common, but if you mention your 구촌 people will understand what you're talking about.
For 사촌, it is common to add one of the sibling terms to specific age/gender. So 사촌 형 is your older male cousin, if you are male.
Aunt and uncle are tricky words in Korean, again based on age (relative to your parents), but also based on whether they are on your mother's or father's side and whether they are blood relatives or married in. For now we'll just stick with 이모 and 사촌.
On the other hand, all nieces and nephews are simply 조카, although 조카딸 can be used to refer to a niece.
Another form of the past tense modifier is -던. It implies the task was incomplete and is used when one looks back on the past.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 내가 먹은 빵 | The bread I ate (and it's all gone). |
| 내가 먹던 빵 | The bread I was eating (and part of it may be left). |
| 내가 다닌 학교 | The school I went to |
| 내가 다니던 학교 | The school I used to go to |
Of course, 내가 먹던 빵 may also refer to the kind of bread one used to eat when one was little.
-던 may even come after -았-/-었- implying the task was complete. There is no big difference between -던 and -았던/-었던.
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30 words
Welcome to the Korean for English speakers course!
The Korean script, Hangeul, may seem intimidating, but don't worry; it's actually a lot like the alphabet we use in English, a small set of characters representing the sounds of the language. Of course, it's not perfect, but in general it matches spoken Korean better than English does.
Unlike English, written Korean is organized into syllable blocks. Each block represents a single syllable and consists of two to four letters. The Korean word for ‘hello,’ 안녕하세요, is composed of 12 letters organized into five syllable blocks. Annyeonghaseyo!
Both letters and syllable blocks are written from left to right and from top to bottom.
We begin with the six basic vowels of Korean: ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, and ㅣ. Their names are 아, 어, 오, 우, 으, and 이, respectively, where the letter ㅇ, or ieung, remains silent, acting as a place holder. In the same way, you may just add an ㅇ to get the name of any other vowel. Note that ‘ㅏ,’ ‘ㅓ,’ and ‘ㅣ’ are written to the side of the initial consonant while ‘ㅗ,’ ‘ㅜ,’ and ‘ㅡ’ are written beneath the initial consonant.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅏ | a | /a/ Bach |
| ㅓ | eo | /ʌ/ gut |
| ㅣ | i | /i/ bee |
| ㅜ | u | /u/ boo |
| ㅗ | o | /o/ go |
| ㅡ | eu | /ɯ/ ugh |
‘어’ is a short ‘o’ sound, difficult for many American English speakers, similar to the ‘u’ ‘cup’ or to the o in yogurt for British speakers.
‘으’ is also difficult, being rare in English, although it is a short ‘u’ something close to the uh in uh-oh.
By adding an additional dash we get a y-sound.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅑ | ya | /ja/ |
| ㅕ | yeo | /jʌ/ |
| ㅠ | yu | /ju/ |
| ㅛ | yo | /jo/ |
Korean has two ways of forming diphthongs. The first is to add an ㅣ to the base vowel.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅐ | ae | /ɛ/ bed |
| ㅔ | e | /e/ bed |
| ㅢ | ui | /ɰi/ we |
| ㅒ | yae | /jɛ/ |
| ㅖ | ye | /je/ |
Due to recent sound changes, 애(얘) and 에(예) are pronounced the same in most Korean dialects.
의 is usually pronounced something like "we" on its own.
The second set of diphthongs is formed by adding an ㅗ or an ㅜ.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅘ | wa | /wa/ |
| ㅙ | wae | /wɛ/ |
| ㅚ | oe | /ø/ or /we/ |
| ㅝ | wo | /wʌ/ |
| ㅞ | we | /we/ |
| ㅟ | wi | /wi/ |
Due to sound changes, 왜, 외, and 웨 sound the same in most modern Korean dialects.
NOTE: You will sometimes be asked to translate a word or two here. Hover over the words and you will see their translations.
Welcome to the Korean for English speakers course!
We're very excited to have the chance to share this unique language with you! Along the way we will be sure to provide some helpful notes to explain some grammar and give you a glimpse into Korean culture. Let's start by discussing the Korean alphabet.
The Korean alphabet, Hangeul, was developed in 1443 in the court of King Sejong the Great.
For many generations Korean scholars had been using complicated Chinese characters to write in Korean, made more complicated by the fact that characters are ill-suited to Korean grammar. The new alphabet solved this problem and made it possible for a much larger population to read and write.
The Korean alphabet developed at a time when many scholars knew how to read and write in Chinese, which doesn't have a true alphabet, but rather characters that form whole syllables.
In part inspired by the Korean tradition of writing in Chinese, and in part because many Chinese characters were still used in Korean writing at the time, the new Korean alphabet is also written in syllable blocks. At least two and sometimes up to five letters can fit into one block. The Korean word for 'hello,' 안녕하세요, is made of five blocks - five syllables. Annyeonghaseyo!
The general rule is that you read each syllable from top left to bottom right. The consonant goes first, followed by a vowel. Vowels with a more vertical shape (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅣ) go to the right of the consonant while vowels with a more horizontal shape (ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ) go beneath the vowel. A final consonant always goes on the bottom.
What happens if you have a vowel by itself? There are a lot of syllables in Korean that only contain the vowel, so how can there be two letters? In order to make each syllable into a syllable block there is a letter called ieung ㅇ that goes before a vowel and does not make a sound. At the end of a syllable an ieung sounds like "ng."
The Korean alphabet has 6 basic vowels, 아, 어, 오, 우, 으, and 이. There are several additional vowels that are created using a combination of these six. Adding ㅜ or ㅗ creates a w sound and adding a ㅣ creates a y sound. In combination, we get 와, 워, 웨, 위, 외, 왜, 의 and 야, 여, 에, 애, 예, 얘. Listen carefully and match the sounds to the written words
Although they originally were more distinct, some vowels now sound almost the same, depending on the dialect or accent. However, even when pronounced the same, these syllables are still written as they were historically. 애 and 에 often sound the same while 웨, 왜, and 외 do as well.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅁ | m | /m/ |
| ㄴ | n | /n/ |
| ㅇ | ng | /ŋ/ (no sound at start of syllable) |
| ㄱ | g | /g/ or /k/ |
| ㅂ | b | /b/ or /p/ |
| ㄷ | d | /d/ or /t/ |
| ㄹ | l/r | /ɾ/or /l/ |
| ㅈ | j | /ʨ/ jam |
| ㅅ | s | /s/ or /ɕ/ |
ㄱ, ㅂ, and ㄷ represent both voiced and unvoiced sounds (g/k, b/p, and d/t), depending on the surrounding sounds. With these sounds, there should be no air coming from your mouth.
ㄹ is like Spanish r, where the tip of the tongue strikes the palate very briefly. When it is a final consonant introduced below, it is pronounced like an l.
ㅅ in most situations sounds like an s, but before ㅣ or "iotized" vowels it sounds more like "sh".
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅋ | k | /kʰ/ |
| ㅍ | p | /pʰ/ |
| ㅌ | t | /tʰ/ |
| ㅊ | ch | /tɕʰ/ |
| ㅎ | h | /h/ |
Aspirants are consonants followed by a puff of air. Hold a small sheet of paper in front of your mouth. Notice that the paper moves when you pronounce the English words ‘pen’ and touch’ due to the aspiration.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㄲ | kk | /k͈/ |
| ㅃ | pp | /p͈/ |
| ㄸ | tt | /t͈/ |
| ㅉ | jj | /t͈ɕ/ |
| ㅆ | ss | /s͈/ |
Tense consonants are pronounced with extra emphasis. Sometimes regular ㄱ, ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, and ㄷ sound become tense in the middle of words, especially for younger speakers.
Korean only have a few possible sounds at the end of a syllable, so many consonants' pronunciations change.
| Final Sound | Letters |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ |
| ㄷ | ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ |
| ㅂ | ㅂ ㅍ |
| ㄴ | ㄴ |
| ㅁ | ㅁ |
| ㅇ | ㅇ |
| ㄹ | ㄹ |
When two consonants appear in the final position, only one of them is pronounced:
| Final Sound | Letter Pairs |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄳ ㄺ |
| ㄴ | ㄵ ㄶ |
| ㄹ | ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㅀ |
| ㅁ | ㄻ |
| ㅂ | ㄿ ㅄ |
When followed by a vowel, final consonants (except ㅇ and ㅎ) move to the start of the next syllable. Consonants revert back to their original pronunciations and pairs are split, allowing both to be pronounced. ㅇ does not move, and ㅎ disappears before a vowel. Tense consonants (ㄲ, ㅆ) are not pairs.
| Written | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 독일 | 도길 |
| 웃음 | 우슴 |
| 영어 | 영어 |
| 관용어 | 과뇽어 |
| 놓이다 | 노이다 |
| 닭이 | 달기 |
| 많이 | 마니 |
| 엮음 | 여끔 |
Many consonants change their pronunciations when a consonant at the end of one syllable influences or is influenced by the consonant at the start of the next.
| Situation | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+nasal | ㅇ+nasal | 국물 [궁물] |
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+ㄹ | ㅇ+ㄴ | 낙뢰 [낭뇌] |
| ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ+nasal | ㄴ+nasal | 꽃말 [꼰말] |
| ㅂ ㅍ+nasal | ㅁ+nasal | 입니다 [임니다], 없는 [엄는] |
| ㅂ+ㄹ | ㅁ+ㄴ | 법률 [범뉼] |
| ㄹ+ㄴ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 실내 [실래] |
| ㄴ+ㄹ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 신라 [실라], 물난리[물랄리] |
| nasal (except ㄴ)+ㄹ | nasal+ㄴ | 성립 [성닙] |
Nasal sounds: ㄴ, ㅁ, final ㅇ
As mentioned in the previous skill, Korean syllable blocks are formed from a consonant and a vowel. In this lesson we'll introduce initial consonants.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅁ | m | /m/ |
| ㄴ | n | /n/ |
| ㅇ | ng | /ŋ/ (no sound at start of syllable) |
| ㄱ | g | /g/ or /k/ |
| ㅂ | b | /b/ or /p/ |
| ㄷ | d | /d/ or /t/ |
| ㄹ | l/r | /ɾ/or /l/ |
| ㅈ | j | /ʨ/ jam |
| ㅅ | s | /s/ or /ɕ/ |
ㄱ, ㅂ, and ㄷ can represent either voiced or unvoiced sounds (g/k, b/p, and d/t), depending on the surrounding sounds. The most important aspect is that there should be no air coming from your mouth while saying these sounds.
ㄹ is like a Spanish r at the beginning of a syllable, where the tip of the tongue hits the top of your mouth very briefly.
ㅅ in most situations sounds like an s, but before ㅣ or so-called iotized vowels (ㅕ, ㅑ, ㅛ, ㅠ) it sounds more like "sh".
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅋ | k | /kʰ/ |
| ㅍ | p | /pʰ/ |
| ㅌ | t | /tʰ/ |
| ㅊ | ch | /tɕʰ/ |
| ㅎ | h | /h/ |
Aspirants are consonants followed by a puff of air. Hold a small sheet of paper in front of your mouth. Notice that the paper moves when you pronounce the English words ‘pen’ and touch’ due to the aspiration.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㄲ | kk | /k͈/ |
| ㅃ | pp | /p͈/ |
| ㄸ | tt | /t͈/ |
| ㅉ | jj | /t͈ɕ/ |
| ㅆ | ss | /s͈/ |
Tense consonants are pronounced with extra emphasis. Listen carefully to the pronunciation in the course. It's difficult for most English speakers to master, but it'll come in time.
Sometimes regular ㄱ, ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, and ㄷ become tense in the middle of words, especially for younger speakers.
As mentioned in the previous skill, Korean syllable blocks are formed from a consonant and a vowel. In this lesson we'll introduce initial consonants.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅁ | m | /m/ |
| ㄴ | n | /n/ |
| ㅇ | ng | /ŋ/ (no sound at start of syllable) |
| ㄱ | g | /g/ or /k/ |
| ㅂ | b | /b/ or /p/ |
| ㄷ | d | /d/ or /t/ |
| ㄹ | l/r | /ɾ/or /l/ |
| ㅈ | j | /ʨ/ jam |
| ㅅ | s | /s/ or /ɕ/ |
ㄱ, ㅂ, and ㄷ can represent either voiced or unvoiced sounds (g/k, b/p, and d/t), depending on the surrounding sounds. The most important aspect is that there should be no air coming from your mouth while saying these sounds.
ㄹ is like a Spanish r at the beginning of a syllable, where the tip of the tongue hits the top of your mouth very briefly.
ㅅ in most situations sounds like an s, but before ㅣ or so-called iotized vowels (ㅕ, ㅑ, ㅛ, ㅠ) it sounds more like "sh".
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㅋ | k | /kʰ/ |
| ㅍ | p | /pʰ/ |
| ㅌ | t | /tʰ/ |
| ㅊ | ch | /tɕʰ/ |
| ㅎ | h | /h/ |
Aspirants are consonants followed by a puff of air. Hold a small sheet of paper in front of your mouth. Notice that the paper moves when you pronounce the English words ‘pen’ and touch’ due to the aspiration.
| 한글 | Romanization | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| ㄲ | kk | /k͈/ |
| ㅃ | pp | /p͈/ |
| ㄸ | tt | /t͈/ |
| ㅉ | jj | /t͈ɕ/ |
| ㅆ | ss | /s͈/ |
Tense consonants are pronounced with extra emphasis. Listen carefully to the pronunciation in the course. It's difficult for most English speakers to master, but it'll come in time.
Sometimes regular ㄱ, ㅂ, ㅈ, ㅅ, and ㄷ become tense in the middle of words, especially for younger speakers.
Now that we've learned some basic Consonant-Vowel syllables, let's look at more complicated combinations.
Korean only has a few possible sounds at the end of a syllable, so many consonants change their pronunciation.
| Final Sound | Letters |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ |
| ㄷ | ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ |
| ㅂ | ㅂ ㅍ |
| ㄴ | ㄴ |
| ㅁ | ㅁ |
| ㅇ | ㅇ |
| ㄹ | ㄹ |
When two consonants appear in the final position, only one of them is pronounced:
| Final Sound | Letter Pairs |
|---|---|
| ㄱ | ㄳ ㄺ |
| ㄴ | ㄵ ㄶ |
| ㄹ | ㄼ ㄽ ㄾ ㅀ |
| ㅁ | ㄻ |
| ㅂ | ㄿ ㅄ |
When followed by a vowel, final consonants (except ㅇ and ㅎ) move to the start of the next syllable. Consonants revert back to their original pronunciations and pairs are split, allowing both to be pronounced. ㅇ does not move, and ㅎ disappears before a vowel. Tense consonants (ㄲ, ㅆ) are not pairs.
| Written | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| 독일 | 도길 |
| 웃음 | 우슴 |
| 영어 | 영어 |
| 관용어 | 과뇽어 |
| 놓이다 | 노이다 |
| 닭이 | 달기 |
| 많이 | 마니 |
| 엮음 | 여끔 |
Many consonants change their pronunciations when a consonant at the end of one syllable influences or is influenced by the consonant at the start of the next.
| Situation | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+nasal | ㅇ+nasal | 국물 [궁물] |
| ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ+ㄹ | ㅇ+ㄴ | 낙뢰 [낭뇌] |
| ㄷ ㅌ ㅅ ㅆ ㅈ ㅊ ㅎ+nasal | ㄴ+nasal | 꽃말 [꼰말] |
| ㅂ ㅍ+nasal | ㅁ+nasal | 입니다 [임니다], 없는 [엄는] |
| ㅂ+ㄹ | ㅁ+ㄴ | 법률 [범뉼] |
| ㄹ+ㄴ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 실내 [실래] |
| ㄴ+ㄹ | ㄹ+ㄹ | 신라 [실라], 물난리[물랄리] |
| nasal (except ㄴ)+ㄹ | nasal+ㄴ | 성립 [성닙] |
Nasal sounds: ㄴ, ㅁ, final ㅇ
Before we wade into Korean grammar and vocabulary, let's get some more alphabet practice with some words you should already know.
We introduce two of the most famous Korean companies, Samsung and Hyundai. Don't be surprised that some companies and given names don't fit the romanization we're using.
Korean has had several standard systems of romanization over the years, with Revised Romanization currently the official system in use by South Korea and in this course. It came about in the 90s, so proper nouns and words that had previously entered English often make use of one of the older systems.
This gives us Samsung and Hyundai rather than "samseong" and "hyeondae".
Transliteration into Korean is based on Korean approximation of English pronunciation.
Sometimes sentence final 'r' is dropped, subsumed into the vowel, like in British pronunciation.
Sometimes single syllables become split since Korean doesn't really do consonant clusters, so 3 syllable United becomes 5 syllable 유나이티드.
Of course, non-English words may be transliterated based on native language pronunciation, as in 파리 for Paris.
Belongings
The syllable block "의" can appear in many Korean words. As the possessive particle (Like 's in English) it is often pronounced closer to 에.
Before we wade into Korean grammar and vocabulary, let's get some more alphabet practice with some words you should already know.
We introduce two of the most famous Korean companies, Samsung and Hyundai. Don't be surprised that some companies and given names don't fit the romanization we're using.
Korean has had several standard systems of romanization over the years, with Revised Romanization currently the official system in use by South Korea and in this course. It came about in the 90s, so proper nouns and words that had previously entered English often make use of one of the older systems.
This gives us Samsung and Hyundai rather than "samseong" and "hyeondae".
Transliteration into Korean is based on Korean approximation of English pronunciation.
Sometimes sentence final 'r' is dropped, subsumed into the vowel, like in British pronunciation.
Sometimes single syllables become split since Korean doesn't really do consonant clusters, so 3 syllable United becomes 5 syllable 유나이티드.
Of course, non-English words may be transliterated based on native language pronunciation, as in 파리 for Paris.
In this lesson we're going to learn how to make some sentences using the verb ~이다, corresponding to the English verb to be. Let's get started!
Korean nouns do not decline for number, case, or gender. The noun is the noun. Period. Simpler than English.
However, Korean is an agglutinating or agglutinative language. Rather than changing the base noun depending on its use in a sentence, extra pieces called particles are added to introduce more meaning. In general these pieces are added to the end of the word.
While that may seem scary, agglutinating languages usually have very clear rules so that people don't get confused when a basic word becomes buried inside a larger piece. The same is true for Korean. This means that you don't have to worry about memorizing exceptions to the rules, like we do in English!
Korean does not have articles, and only context tells you whether you would need a "the" if said in English. The article "a(n)" is not used.
One common piece is and. Unlike in English where there is one word for "and" that can function in all situations, Korean has several. We introduce three here; all of which are used with nouns.
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~하고 | 남자하고 | Common in speaking |
| ~와 | 남자와 | Common in writing, after a vowel |
| ~과 | 소년과 | Common in writing, after a consonant |
The most common, and trickiest, particles represent the topic and the subject of a sentences. These two particles represent two different, but overlapping, ideas.
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~이 | 소년이 | After a consonant |
| ~가 | 남자가 | After a vowel |
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~은 | 소년은 | After a consonant |
| ~는 | 남자는 | After a vowel |
Note: 는 is often contracted to -ㄴ in spoken language. (남자는 → 남잔)
The topic marker adds emphasis, contrast, or limits what is being talked about. 저 (meaning "I") becomes 제 before the subject particle 가.
| Usage | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Limited topic | 저는 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | Irrelevant of anyone else, I am a woman. (May imply that someone else might be as well.) |
| Contrasting topic | 저는 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | Unlike the others, I am a woman. |
| Subject | 제가 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | I am a woman. (May imply that out of the given options, I am the one who is a woman.) |
은/는 can be used with general statements as well because you only want to talk about the notion as a group, and nothing else.
| Usage | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| General topic | 빵은 음식입니다. (Bread is food.) | Bread, for one, is food. |
| General subject | 빵이 음식입니다. (Bread is food.) | Out of the given choices, it is bread that is food. |
A sentence may have several topics. Why a topic is not considered as a special case of a subject will be explained later.
The verb ~이다 is the only verb that is agglutinative.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is X. | X입니다.* |
| Y is X. | Y가/는 X입니다. |
In the speech level (more about that later) we're using at this point in the course, this verb will always be realized as ~입니다 for a statement.
Korean has a separate verb, 아니다, which means "not to be." This verb is not agglutinative, and it comes after the thing that the subject is not, or a complement. The complement particle is also 이/가. At this point, this will always be realized as 아닙니다.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is not X. | X가 아닙니다.* |
| Y is not X. | Y가/는 X가 아닙니다. |
There is a plural suffix, 들, but using 들 is often optional. It can be omitted if plurality is implied within the sentence, and is otherwise necessary for animate nouns/people but uncommon with inanimate nouns.
들 is not used when making a general statement.
| Korean | English | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| 남자는 사람입니다. | Men are people. | General statement |
| 남자들은 사람입니다. | The men are people. | Referring to actual, specific men |
As an exception, 의 as a particle (meaning of) can also be pronounced 에.
When the subject (or any other sentence component) is well implied in the context, you may freely drop it in Korean, though you will mostly see and be asked to submit full sentences here since translation exercises do not come with any context. If you come across an incomplete sentence in this course, then the dropped component is probably people in general (often translated to one or you) or something very obvious even without context. Otherwise we accept every possible pronoun for the omitted components.
Korean has a set of basic verbs that indicate existence. Two of the most common verbs, they form a class of their own and are used in many compound verbs and phrases.
The two verbs are 있다 and 없다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 있다 | there is/to exist/to be located |
| 없다 | there is not/to not exist/to not be located |
In our current speech level, these verbs become 있습니다 and 없습니다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵이 있습니다. | There is bread. |
| 빵이 없습니다. | There is no bread. |
| 제가 공원에 있습니다 | I am in the park |
| 제가 공원에 없습니다 | I am not in the park |
When used with place, the place is always marked with 에.
있다 and 없다 are the most common verbs used to translate "to have" and "not to have" into Korean, respectively. There are other verbs that mean "to possess," "to own," or "to hold," but those are usually more formal and less frequently used. Instead, most Koreans use 있다 and 없다.
The basic sentence is similar to the ones above, with the item marked with 이/가, the owner marked with 은/는, and the location marked with 에.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 저는 차가 있습니다. | I have a car. |
| 저는 차가 없습니다. | I do not have a car. |
| 저는 집에 신문이 있습니다. | I have a newspaper at home. |
| 저는 집에 신문이 없습니다. | I do not have a newspaper at home. |
Grammatically the word order does not matter as long as proper markers are used and the verb is at the end. However, the order shown in the examples above is the most common, and what is emphasized tends to come later in the sentence when you change the order.
있다 and 없다 can be used to create a wide range of compound adjectives in Korean. This is similar to adjectives ending in -ful or -less in English.
These compound adjectives can be broken down into their respective parts and still function the same way.
| Korean | English | Split |
|---|---|---|
| 맛있다 | delicious, tasty (flavorful) | 맛이 있다 |
| 맛없다 | not delicious, disgusting (flavorless) | 맛이 없다 |
Hello! It's nice to meet you!
In this lesson we'll learn some basic Korean pleasantries and get our first look at how to form a Korean sentence.
We introduce some common Korean names here in Lesson 1.
In general, full Korean names have three syllables - a one syllable family name and a two syllable given name. The name is written family name first and given name second, without any space in between.
For example, 이선화 would be Lee Seonhwa, or in the usual English name order Seonhwa Lee.
We try to be generous with the alternate translations, since names generally have a lot of different spellings as some people still continue to use older forms of romanization. However, we do NOT want you to "translate." 가람 is not the English name Graham, and we will not accept that as a valid translation.
A lot of surnames do have "standard" translations, such as Lee for 이. As in the case of Lee, this may not reflect current spelling or pronunciation, but at one point in time, Lee did indeed start with a ㄹ.
Korean nouns do not decline for number, case, or gender. The noun is the noun. Period. Simpler than English.
However, Korean is an agglutinating or agglutinative language. Rather than changing the base noun depending on its use in a sentences, extra pieces called particles are added to introduce more meaning. In general these pieces are added to the end of the word.
While that may seem scary, agglutinating languages usually have very clear rules so that people don't get confused when a basic word becomes buried inside a larger piece. The same is true for Korean. This means that you don't have to worry about memorizing exceptions to the rules, like we do in English!
We'll talk more about particles as you move through the course. Our first particle here is 은/는
은/는
은 occurs after a consonant and 는 after a vowel. This marks the topic of the sentence. When several sentences in a row have the same topic, only the first sentence needs to have 은/는 since it will be understood that the topic is continuing. When a new topic is introduced or when contrasting (as for X) you add a new 은/는.
When the subject (or any other sentence component) is well implied in the context, you may freely drop it in Korean, though you will mostly see and be asked to submit full sentences here since translation exercises do not come with any context. If you come across an incomplete sentence in this course, then the dropped component is probably people in general (often translated to one or you) or something very obvious even without context. Otherwise we accept every possible pronoun for the omitted components.
The verb ~이다 is the only verb that is agglutinative.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is X. | X입니다.* |
| Y is X. | Y가/는 X입니다. |
In the speech level (more about that later) we're using at this point in the course, this verb will always be realized as ~입니다 for a statement.
A short note on the liaison in ~입니다. Although written as ip-ni-da, a ㅂ plus a nasal (ㄴ/ㅁ/ㅇ), often results in the ㅂ being pronounced as ㅁ. So, here it sounds like "임니다" despite the spelling.
We'll talk about speech level in more detail as we go on, but for now, just know that every sentence ends in a verb and every verb has an ending that shows the speech level.
Here we have ㅂ니다/습니다 for statements and ㅂ니까/습니까 for questions.
ㅂ니다/ㅂ니까 come after vowels, so we get ~입니다 and 합니까.
습니다/습니까 come after consonants, so we get 반삽습니다.
Most pleasantries (hello, thank you, excuse me, etc) in Korean are a single word. You don't need to form a whole sentence when the listener knows what you mean, and so often just the verb is used.
There are two words for thank you, 고맙다 and 감사하다.
In most cases, the two are interchangeable. However, 감사하다, a Sino-Korean word, has a more formal connotation and is used more in public speaking (with notable exceptions including the news) while 고맙다, a native Korean word, is less formal.
In the speech level we're using now that's not an issue, but when you drop to a lower level 고맙다 often takes precedence.
감사하다 literally means "to thank," while 고맙다 is "to be thankful," so that can also lead to some differences in usage.
죄송하다 is a more formal form of apology.
실례하다 is the word you'd use if you're trying to get past someone on a crowded subway or if you bump into someone. 실례합니다 literally means "I am being rude."
Nice to meet you, 만나서 반갑습니다, is a set phrase that literally means "Glad to have met."
The Interrogative is used to ask questions. In 합쇼체, this mood is formed by adding -(스)ㅂ니까 to the verb stem. Word order remains the same.
Here we will introduce some of the most basic pleasantries you will use while speaking the Korean language. We'll introduce more later in the course as we delve further into Korean grammar.
Korean has 7 speech levels.
Don't let it scare you away!
Now that that fact has sunk in a little, let me alleviate your fears. Only 4 of the levels are common in daily speech today. You only hear some of the others among the older generation or in historical movies/dramas.
Unlike in some languages where different speech levels use different words, Korean speech levels mainly just affect the endings of the verbs and the pronouns that go along with them.
We'll introduce each level in due time. For now we're using 합쇼체, one of the most common levels. This is what you'd use talking to a stranger, when doing public speaking, among coworkers, to a teacher, and to customers/clients. In some dialects, including some popular in North Korea, this form is even common in more casual conversation, especially among men.
Throughout these Tips&Notes, we usually talk about verbs in the infinitive, which always ends with ~다. Everything that comes before ~다 is the verb stem.
More on this form in Verbs 1.
Korean, like most languages in East Asia, has a lot of loanwords from Chinese.
Chinese loanwords, Sino-Korean, are very pervasive. They make up about half of the Korean vocabulary. However, similar to the overwhelming amount of Latin/French based vocabulary in English, many of these words are uniquely Korean, either because of a change in meaning or because two Chinese roots were put together to make a new Korean word.
Unlike in Japanese, where one Chinese character (한자) may have multiple pronunciations, in Korean it is more standardized. Each 한자 usually has one pronunciation and the conversions between Chinese and Korean follow a logical system. If you speak some Chinese, you may soon be able to guess the meanings of some Korean words.
안녕 for example, comes from ānníng, with 안녕하세요 meaning "be safe!" 안 has kept the Chinese pronunciation while 녕 has slightly changed. Most borrowings that include pinyin -ing have become 영.
It should be noted that most of these words were initially borrowed hundreds of years ago, so they don't match Mandarin pronunciation 100%. Sometimes the Korean is closer to Cantonese or Shanghainese.
Most pleasantries (hello, thank you, excuse me, etc) in Korean are a single word. You don't need to form a whole sentence when the listener knows what you mean, and so often just the verb is used
A few words on thank you. We have two versions here in Phrases 1, 고맙다 and 감사하다.
In most cases, the two are interchangeable. When there is a difference, 감사하다, a Sino-Korean word, has a more formal connotation and is used more in public speaking (with notable exceptions including the news) while 고맙다, a native Korean word, is less formal. In the speech level we're using now that's not an issue, but when you drop to a lower level 고맙다 often takes precedence.
Also 감사하다 literally means "to thank," while 고맙다 is "to be thankful," so that can also lead to some differences in usage.
죄송하다 is a more formal form of apology. We'll introduce the other form later on in the course when we get to the next speech level.
실례하다 is the word you'd use if you're trying to get past someone on a crowded subway or if you bump into someone. 실례합니다 literally means "I am being rude," so in other situations there are other alternatives that we will be teaching later on.
Nice to meet you, 만나서 반갑습니다, is a set phrase that literally means "Glad to have met."
In this lessons we're going to learn how to make some sentences using the verb ~이다, corresponding to the English verb "to be." Let's get started!
Before we can make a sentence, first we need some nouns, so that's what we do here in Lesson 1. Nouns in Korean function much like nouns in English, so nothing too difficult.
Korean nouns do not decline for number, case, or gender. The basic noun is the basic noun. Period. However, Korean is an agglutinating or agglutinative language. Rather than the noun changing depending on its use in a sentences, extra pieces are added to introduce more meaning. In general these pieces are added at the end. We will mention these chunks in more detail as they are introduced.
While that may seem scary to some of you, agglutinating languages usually have very clear rules so that people don't get confused when a basic word becomes buried inside a larger piece. The same is true for Korean. This means that you don't have to worry about memorizing exceptions to the rules, like we do in English!
Like many agglutinating languages, Korean has vowel harmony, with a two way split: 아, 오, 애 are one set while 우, 어, 이, 으, and 에 form the other. See if you notice this as you go through the course.
One common chunk is and. Unlike in English, where there is one word for "and" that can function in all situations, Korean has several. We introduce two here.
Both versions are used only with nouns, in slightly different ways and with slightly different meanings.
~하고
하고 can be attached to the end of any noun. The general meaning is "and," but the sub-context is that the nouns don't have any special relationship, just two things that happen to be together.
Note: When 하고 occurs after ㄱ/ㄷ/ㅈ/ㅂ the consonant moves to replace the ㅎ while becoming stronger. For example, 책하고 is pronounced as 채-카-고. In fact, ㅋ/ㅌ/ㅊ/ㅍ are all designed to look like their partners with one additional line, representing this "strengthening".
~와/과
와/과 function similar to one another, with 와 following a vowel and 과 a consonant. 음식과 vs 김치와. 와/과 has a sub-context indicating a closer connection between the two words.
However, in many cases both options are equally acceptable and all Korean speakers will understand what you mean if you pick the wrong one.
The verb ~이다 in Korean is the only verb that is agglutinative. Rather than "to be X" Korean has X이다. In the speech level (more about that later) we're using at this point in the course, this will always be realized as X입니다.
Korean has a separate verb, 아니다, that means "to not be." This verb is not agglutinative, meaning that it comes after the noun. Usually that noun is marked with 이/가, so "Y is not X" would be Y은 X이 아닙니다.
A short note on the liaison in ~입니다. Although written as ip-ni-da, a ㅂ plus a nasal (ㄴ/ㅁ/ㅇ), often results in the ㅂ being pronounced as ㅁ. So, here it sounds like "임니다" despite the spelling.
Korean has a number of particles that attach to nouns depending on their role in a sentence. We see two here: 은/는 and 이/가
은/는
은 occurs after a consonant and 는 after a vowel. This marks the topic of the sentence. When several sentences in a row have the same topic, only the first sentence needs to have 은/는 since it will be understood that the topic is continuing. When a new topic is introduced or when contrasting (as for X) you add a new 은/는.
이/가
이 comes after a consonant and 가 comes after a vowel. 이/가 marks the subject of the verb, the person or thing doing the action. When the subject is also the topic of the sentence, 은/는 takes over. A long, complicated sentence with many verbs will have many nouns marked with 이/가, but only one marked with 은/는.
In casual speech where the topic and subject are easy to understand, many Korean speakers drop these particles. But, until you get used to this system, make sure to include them!
Unlike in English, not all sentences in Korean have a subject. If the subject is understood it is perfectly acceptable and fully correct to drop the subject.
As we go through the course we'll point out some of the common word roots, which will hopefully help you reach a deeper understanding of the vocabulary. Many of these roots are Sino-Korean, so we'll sometimes include the characters.
Note some of us learn this way, but if this isn't for you, go ahead and ignore the Roots sections :)
Now that we've learned how to say hello and introduce ourselves, let's dive deeper into verbs. Let's get started!
In 합쇼체, all verbs end with -ㅂ니다/-습니다 in the declarative mood. (As you might have already noticed, you can get the stem by dropping -다, or -다 is the ending for the base form of any verb.)
| Infinitive Verb | 합쇼체 | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 자다 | 잡니다 | Verb stem ending in a vowel + -ㅂ니다 |
| 좋다 | 좋습니다 | Verb stem ending in a consonant + -습니다 |
Verbs are more dominant in Korean than they are in English. In fact, for the most part adjectives don't really exist in Korean. Instead, there are descriptive verbs. In the most common speech levels, including the one that we're using now, these verbs act the same as all other verbs.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 갑니다 | goes |
| 나쁩니다 | is bad |
| 먹습니다 | eats |
| 좋습니다 | is good |
As you can see, unlike in English, where we have to add other words in order to form a full thought using an adjective, Korean descriptive verbs are already fully loaded with "is."
Korean has a set of verbs that indicate existence. Two of the most common verbs, they form a class of their own and are used in many compound verbs and phrases.
The two verbs are 있다 and 없다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵이 있습니다. | There is bread. |
| 빵이 없습니다. | There is no bread. |
| 제가 공원에 있습니다 | I am in the park |
| 제가 공원에 없습니다 | I am not in the park |
있다 and 없다 are the most common verbs used to translate "to have" and "not to have" into Korean, respectively. There are other verbs with similar meanings, but those are usually more formal and less frequently used.
The basic sentence is similar to the ones above, with the item marked with 이/가, the owner marked with 은/는.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 저는 차가 있습니다. | I have a car. |
| 저는 차가 없습니다. | I do not have a car. |
있다 and 없다 can be used to create a wide range of compound adjectives in Korean. This is similar to adjectives ending in -ful or -less in English.
These compound adjectives can be broken down into their respective parts and still function the same way.
| Korean | English | Split |
|---|---|---|
| 맛있다 | delicious, tasty (flavorful) | 맛이 있다 |
| 맛없다 | not delicious, disgusting (flavorless) | 맛이 없다 |
As we've mentioned, Korean has many particles. The most common, and trickiest, particles represent the topic and the subject of a sentences. These two particles represent two different, but overlapping, ideas.
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~이 | 소년이 | After a consonant |
| ~가 | 남자가 | After a vowel |
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~은 | 소년은 | After a consonant |
| ~는 | 남자는 | After a vowel |
Note: 는 is sometimes contracted to ㄴ in informal spoken language. (남자는 → 남잔)
The topic marker adds emphasis, contrast, or limits what is being talked about.
Note: The pronouns 저, 너, and 나 are altered before the subject particle 가, becoming 제, 네, and 내.
| Usage | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Limited topic | 저는 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | Irrelevant of anyone else, I am a woman. (May imply that someone else might be as well.) |
| Contrasting topic | 저는 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | Unlike the others, I am a woman. |
| Subject | 제가 여자입니다. (I am a woman.) | I am a woman. (May imply that out of the given options, I am the one who is a woman.) |
은/는 can be used with general statements as well because you only want to talk about the notion as a group, and nothing else.
| Usage | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| General topic | 빵은 음식입니다. (Bread is food.) | Bread, for one, is food. |
| General subject | 빵이 음식입니다. (Bread is food.) | Out of the given choices, it is bread that is food. |
A sentence may have several topics. Why a topic is not considered as a special case of a subject will be explained later.
There is a plural suffix, 들, but using 들 is often optional. It can be omitted if plurality is implied within the sentence, and is otherwise necessary for animate nouns/people but uncommon with inanimate nouns.
들 is not usually used when making a generic statement.
As we go through the course we'll point out some of the common word roots, which will hopefully help you reach a deeper understanding of the vocabulary. Many of these roots are Sino-Korean, so we'll sometimes include the characters.
Note some of us learn this way, but if this isn't for you, go ahead and ignore the Roots sections :)
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 여/녀 | woman | 女 |
| 남 | man | 男 |
| 식 | food | 食 |
It's time to learn how to make sentences using more than just "to be." We'll start off in Lesson 1 with simpler sentences and then build up to more complicated sentences.
In 합쇼체, all verbs end with -ㅂ니다/-습니다 in the declarative mood. (As you might have already noticed, you can get the stem by dropping -다, or -다 is the ending for the base form of any verb.)
| Infinitive Verb | 합쇼체 | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 가다 | 갑니다 | Verb stem ending in a vowel + -ㅂ니다 |
| 웃다 | 웃습니다 | Verb stem ending in a consonant + -습니다 |
English word order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), while Korean is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). SOV word order can be difficult for an English speaker at first, but eventually you get used to it.
Because of the particles that are added onto the nouns, it is sometimes possible to rearrange those parts of a sentence and still be grammatically correct, although the emphasis of the meaning may be slightly changed. The verb, however, is always at the end.
If the subject is the topic (like in Basics 1), the subject disappears. Otherwise, 이/가 may still be present along with 은/는 in the same sentence. 은/는 is translated to "regarding."
| Sentence | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
| 저는 (topic and subject) 여자입니다. | Regarding me, I am a woman. | The subject and topic coincide. See Basics 1. |
| 저는 (topic) 차가 (subject) 있습니다. | Regarding me/To me, a car exists. (I have a car.) | See Basics 2. |
| 저는 여자가 좋습니다. | To me, women are likeable. (I like women.) | |
| 저는 사과가 많습니다. | To me, there are many apples. (I have many apples.) | |
| 남자는 키가 큽니다. | To the man, the height is big. (The man is tall) |
In Basics 1, we learned that 와/과 and 하고 mean "and," but they have another usage, "with."
소년하고 소녀가 같이 갑니다.
The boy and the girl go together.
소년이 소녀하고 (같이) 갑니다.
The boy goes with the girl.
While 같이 means "together," it often comes after 와/과 or 하고 when it is used as "with."
| Korean | Usage |
|---|---|
| 같이 | Slightly more colloquial |
| 함께 | Slightly more written |
In Lesson 2 we introduce some verbs of motion along with the particles that go with them.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| ~에 | to (implies destination) |
| ~에서 | from |
| ~으로 (after a consonant except ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~로 (after a vowel or ㄹ) | |
| ~까지 | up to (implies some sort of boundary/limit) |
In general the word order with these sentences is Subject-From-To-Verb.
The object of the verb is marked with ~을/를.
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~을 | 소년을 | After a consonant |
| ~를 | 남자를 | After a vowel |
Note: 를 is often contracted to ㄹ in spoken language. (남자를 → 남잘)
In addition to toward, ~으로/로 can also mark instrumental. When used after a place and with a verb of motion, it is "toward," but in other cases it is often translated as "with."
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~으로 | 손으로 (by hand) | After a consonant except ㄹ |
| ~로 | 영어로 (in English) | After a vowel or ㄹ |
Similar to ~으로, ~에/에서 can have another meaning when not used with a verb of motion.
Both ~에/에서 in this case mean in or at.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에서 | where an action takes place |
| ~에 | where something static is happening |
If you are interested, you can read Ash-Fred's comment here for further explanation:
When talking about speaking a language, there are two options, ~를 하다 and ~로 말하다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 한국어를 하다 | To speak Korean |
| 한국어로 말하다 | To speak in Korean |
A lot of verbs can be broken up into two pieces. For example, 노래 means a song, and 하다 means to do, and they form a new word "노래하다", "to sing." You can, of course, say 노래를 하다 (lit. to do a song). There are some special verbs that repeat the same things.
| Verb | (broken into) | English |
|---|---|---|
| 잠자다 | 잠을 자다 | to sleep (a sleep) |
| 춤추다 | 춤을 추다 | to dance (a dance) |
| 꿈꾸다 | 꿈을 꾸다 | to dream (a dream) |
자다 can stand alone without 잠, but 추다 or 꾸다 always needs an object.
Korean has two ways to negate a verb.
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 안 | An adverb that comes before the verb; compound verbs are usually broken, like 잠을 안 자다 |
| -지 않다 | Another verb that comes after the main verb with -지 attached to it |
They are almost the same, but do not use 안 before 있다 or 없다. In other cases, you can safely ignore the differences at this level and use either at any time.
These particles are used as to/from in the sense of giving things to or getting things from someone.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| ~에게 | to |
| ~에게서 | from |
In this lesson we're going to focus on Korean demonstratives, those words we use to specify whether we're talking about this one or that one.
Korean has a three way split in demonstratives while English only have two, which can be confusing at first, but is easy once you get the hang of it.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 | this, close to the speaker |
| 그 | that, close to the listener |
| 저 | that (over there), far from both speaker and listener |
저 roughly corresponds to yonder.
이, 그, and 저 are the basic demonstratives, used just like this and that in English.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 개 | this dog |
| 그 개 | that dog (close to the listener) |
| 저 개 | that dog (over there) |
Note
Since Korean has no corresponding word for the, it is sometimes (actually very often) impossible to tell whether it is an apple or the apple that they are talking about, from the context. Then chances are it is "an" apple, as it is normal to use 그 in lieu of "the" in such cases.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵 | bread/the bread |
| 그 빵 | that bread (close to the listener)/the bread |
| 저 빵 | that bread (over there) |
이, 그, and 저 are used in compound words to express other ideas. When combined with 것, this compound is a noun that corresponds to "this/that one" in English. It combines with particles just like any other noun.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이것 | this one |
| 그것 | that one |
| 저것 | that one (over there) |
For here/there, there is a slight change in the stems, but the basic meaning stays the same.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 여기 | here |
| 거기 | there (somewhere close to the listener) |
| 저기 | over there |
Note 여기, 거기, and 저기 are nouns. Most of the time, you need an adverbial particle 에 after them, but it is usually omitted. When they are used as nouns, they can be translated to this place, that place, and that place (over there), respectively.
Hot
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 뜨겁다 | a hot thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything hot to the touch |
| 덥다 | something that makes you feel hot, like a summer day, a sauna, or a fever |
Cold
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 차갑다 | a cold thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything cold to the touch |
| 춥다 | something that makes you feel cold, like a winter day or a freezer |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 건 | building | 建 |
| 물 | thing/object | 物 |
| 건 | thing/item | 件 |
Let's introduce ourselves a little more deeply here, focusing on nationality and occupation. We'll also discuss Korean grammar a bit here too.
Korean has a separate verb, 아니다, which means "not to be." This verb is not agglutinative, and it comes after the thing that the subject is not, or the complement. The complement particle is also 이/가. At this point in the course, this verb will always be realized as 아닙니다.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is not X. | X가 아닙니다. |
| Y is not X. | Y는 X가 아닙니다. |
Korean has 7 speech levels.
Don't let it scare you away!
Now that that fact has sunk in a little, let me alleviate your fears. Only 4 of the levels are common in daily speech today. You only hear some of the others among the older generation or in historical movies/dramas.
Unlike in some languages where different speech levels use different words, Korean speech levels mainly just affect the endings of the verbs and the pronouns that go along with them.
We'll introduce more levels in due time. For now we're using 합쇼체, one of the most common levels. This is what you'd use talking to a stranger, when doing public speaking, among coworkers, to a teacher, and to customers/clients. In some dialects, including some popular in North Korea, this form is even common in more casual conversation, especially among men.
Throughout these Tips&Notes, we usually talk about verbs in the infinitive, which always ends with ~다. Everything that comes before ~다 is the verb stem.
Korean, like most languages in East Asia, has a lot of loanwords from Chinese.
Chinese loanwords, Sino-Korean, are very pervasive. They make up about half of Korean vocabulary. However, similar to the overwhelming amount of Latin/French based vocabulary in English, many of these words are uniquely Korean, either because of a change in meaning or because two Chinese roots were put together to make a new Korean word.
Unlike in Japanese, where one Chinese character (한자) may have multiple pronunciations, in Korean it is more standardized. Each 한자 usually has one pronunciation and the conversions between Chinese and Korean follow a logical system. If you speak some Chinese, you may soon be able to guess the meanings of some Korean words.
안녕 for example, comes from ānníng, with 안녕하세요 meaning "be safe!" 안 has kept the Chinese pronunciation while 녕 has slightly changed. Most borrowings that include pinyin -ing have become 영.
It should be noted that most of these words were initially borrowed hundreds of years ago, so they don't match Mandarin pronunciation 100%. Sometimes the Korean is closer to Cantonese or Shanghainese.
Korean has two words that roughly mean "person."
Firstly is 사람, the Native Korean word. It the main word when you want to say "that person" or "the person who," but it can also follow the name of a country to mean "a person from country X."
Second is 인, the Sino-Korean word. It is not a standalone word, but instead is agglutinative, and attaches to the word that it modifies.
Therefore both 한국 사람 and 한국인 mean "Korean person."
The particle ~도 is affixed after a noun to mean "also" or "too." It can attach to the topic, subject, or object in the sentence, and usually takes the place of the other particles.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 인 | person | 人 |
| 국 | country | 國 |
| 한 | Korea | 韓 |
| 영 | United Kingdom | 英 |
| 미 | United States | 美 |
| 일 | Japan | 日 |
| 원 | employee/member | 員 |
Let's introduce ourselves a little more deeply here, focusing on nationality and occupation. We'll also discuss Korean grammar a bit here too.
Korean has a separate verb, 아니다, which means "not to be." This verb is not agglutinative, and it comes after the thing that the subject is not, or the complement. The complement particle is also 이/가. At this point in the course, this verb will always be realized as 아닙니다.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| (It) is not X. | X가 아닙니다. |
| Y is not X. | Y는 X가 아닙니다. |
Korean has 7 speech levels.
Don't let it scare you away!
Now that that fact has sunk in a little, let me alleviate your fears. Only 4 of the levels are common in daily speech today. You only hear some of the others among the older generation or in historical movies/dramas.
Unlike in some languages where different speech levels use different words, Korean speech levels mainly just affect the endings of the verbs and the pronouns that go along with them.
We'll introduce more levels in due time. For now we're using 합쇼체, one of the most common levels. This is what you'd use talking to a stranger, when doing public speaking, among coworkers, to a teacher, and to customers/clients. In some dialects, including some popular in North Korea, this form is even common in more casual conversation, especially among men.
Throughout these Tips&Notes, we usually talk about verbs in the infinitive, which always ends with ~다. Everything that comes before ~다 is the verb stem.
Korean, like most languages in East Asia, has a lot of loanwords from Chinese.
Chinese loanwords, Sino-Korean, are very pervasive. They make up about half of Korean vocabulary. However, similar to the overwhelming amount of Latin/French based vocabulary in English, many of these words are uniquely Korean, either because of a change in meaning or because two Chinese roots were put together to make a new Korean word.
Unlike in Japanese, where one Chinese character (한자) may have multiple pronunciations, in Korean it is more standardized. Each 한자 usually has one pronunciation and the conversions between Chinese and Korean follow a logical system. If you speak some Chinese, you may soon be able to guess the meanings of some Korean words.
안녕 for example, comes from ānníng, with 안녕하세요 meaning "be safe!" 안 has kept the Chinese pronunciation while 녕 has slightly changed. Most borrowings that include pinyin -ing have become 영.
It should be noted that most of these words were initially borrowed hundreds of years ago, so they don't match Mandarin pronunciation 100%. Sometimes the Korean is closer to Cantonese or Shanghainese.
Korean has two words that roughly mean "person."
Firstly is 사람, the Native Korean word. It the main word when you want to say "that person" or "the person who," but it can also follow the name of a country to mean "a person from country X."
Second is 인, the Sino-Korean word. It is not a standalone word, but instead is agglutinative, and attaches to the word that it modifies.
Therefore both 한국 사람 and 한국인 mean "Korean person."
The particle ~도 is affixed after a noun to mean "also" or "too." It can attach to the topic, subject, or object in the sentence, and usually takes the place of the other particles.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 인 | person | 人 |
| 국 | country | 國 |
| 한 | Korea | 韓 |
| 영 | United Kingdom | 英 |
| 미 | United States | 美 |
| 일 | Japan | 日 |
| 원 | employee/member | 員 |
In this skill we introduce some verbs of motion along with the particles that go with them.
In general the word order with these sentences is Subject-From-To-Verb.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| ~에 | to (implies destination) |
| ~에서 | from |
| ~으로 (after a consonant except ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~로 (after a vowel or ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~까지 | up to (implies some sort of boundary/limit) |
There are actually several ways to say "and" in Korean. The particles 와* and 과** both mean "and" and attach directly onto a noun. (For connecting verbs, we'll learn more about that in another lesson.)
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~와 | 남자와 | Common in writing, after a vowel |
| ~과 | 소년과 | Common in writing, after a consonant |
In this skill we also learn how to negate a verb.
않다 is an auxiliary verb that comes after the main verb in the sentence, and conjugates just like any other verb in Korean.
않다 is connected to the preceding verb using ~지 after the verb stem. As a result, if we wanted to say "not to go" we would get this:
가다 (infinitive) - 가 (verb stem) - 가지 (verb stem + 지) - 가지 않다 (negated verb, in the infinitive) - 가지 않습니다 (fully conjugated verb)
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 학 | school/study | 學 |
| 식 | food/eating | 食 |
| 실 | room | 室 |
| 방 | room | 房 |
| 운동 | exercise | 運動 |
| 장 | field/location/place | 場 |
| 병 | sickness | 病 |
| 원 | institution | 院 |
In this skill we introduce some verbs of motion along with the particles that go with them.
In general the word order with these sentences is Subject-From-To-Verb.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| ~에 | to (implies destination) |
| ~에서 | from |
| ~으로 (after a consonant except ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~로 (after a vowel or ㄹ) | to/toward (implies direction) |
| ~까지 | up to (implies some sort of boundary/limit) |
There are actually several ways to say "and" in Korean. The particles 와* and 과** both mean "and" and attach directly onto a noun. (For connecting verbs, we'll learn more about that in another lesson.)
| Korean | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| ~와 | 남자와 | Common in writing, after a vowel |
| ~과 | 소년과 | Common in writing, after a consonant |
In this skill we also learn how to negate a verb.
않다 is an auxiliary verb that comes after the main verb in the sentence, and conjugates just like any other verb in Korean.
않다 is connected to the preceding verb using ~지 after the verb stem. As a result, if we wanted to say "not to go" we would get this:
가다 (infinitive) - 가 (verb stem) - 가지 (verb stem + 지) - 가지 않다 (negated verb, in the infinitive) - 가지 않습니다 (fully conjugated verb)
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 학 | school/study | 學 |
| 식 | food/eating | 食 |
| 실 | room | 室 |
| 방 | room | 房 |
| 운동 | exercise | 運動 |
| 장 | field/location/place | 場 |
| 병 | sickness | 病 |
| 원 | institution | 院 |
Grammatically, Korean differentiates between three main types of verbs - active, stative, and descriptive. In this lesson we will look more at stative verbs, which are those verbs which indicate that the subject is in a fixed, unchanging state.
Since English doesn't do this, it may be tricky for English speakers to understanding. But let's think about it together.
Compare "to stand up" with "to be standing." Which one is an action and which one is a state? When you "stand up" you physically rise to your feet. You move. But when you "are standing?" You are not taking an action, you are simply in a position that is unchanging. This, in Korean, would be described using a stative verb.
Common stative verbs can be:
We recently learned that the particle ~에 can be used with a verb of motion to indicate motion towards. Well, when used with a stative verb it can also be used to indicate location.
This is different from the particle where an action takes place, which would be the also familiar ~에서, but more on that when the time comes.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에 | location where something static is happening |
| ~에서 | location where an action happening |
If you are interested, you can read Ash-Fred's comment here for further explanation about the two:
Since Korean has so many particles, it can have relatively free word order. However, there is a general order that is often observed, especially in casual speech when particles may be dropped.
For a stative sentence, the order is usually
Subject - Location - Verb
For example:
We will continue to revisit word order as we learn new particles and see longer and longer sentences.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 공 | public | 公 |
| 산 | mountain | 山 |
| 관 | institute | 館 |
| 서 | book | 書 |
| 교 | education | 敎 |
| 실 | room | 室 |
Grammatically, Korean differentiates between three main types of verbs - active, stative, and descriptive. In this lesson we will look more at stative verbs, which are those verbs which indicate that the subject is in a fixed, unchanging state.
Since English doesn't do this, it may be tricky for English speakers to understanding. But let's think about it together.
Compare "to stand up" with "to be standing." Which one is an action and which one is a state? When you "stand up" you physically rise to your feet. You move. But when you "are standing?" You are not taking an action, you are simply in a position that is unchanging. This, in Korean, would be described using a stative verb.
Common stative verbs can be:
We recently learned that the particle ~에 can be used with a verb of motion to indicate motion towards. Well, when used with a stative verb it can also be used to indicate location.
This is different from the particle where an action takes place, which would be the also familiar ~에서, but more on that when the time comes.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에 | location where something static is happening |
| ~에서 | location where an action happening |
Since Korean has so many particles, it can have relatively free word order. However, there is a general order that is often observed, especially in casual speech when particles may be dropped.
For a stative sentence, the order is usually
Subject - Location - Verb
For example:
We will continue to revisit word order as we learn new particles and see longer and longer sentences.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 공 | public | 公 |
| 산 | mountain | 山 |
| 관 | institute | 館 |
| 서 | book | 書 |
| 교 | education | 敎 |
| 실 | room | 室 |
Moods in Korean include declarative, which we have already been using, imperative, propositive, and interrogative. While English often forms these using extra words, Korean packs this information into the endings of the verbs.
The imperative mood is used to give orders. In 합쇼체, this is formed by taking the verb stem and adding -(으)십시오. There is no word corresponding to please in Korean. Both answers with or without please will be accepted, and you may ignore please in reverse translations.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -십시오 | 가다 → 가십시오 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -십시오 | 만들다 → 만드십시오 |
| Ending in a consonant bar ㄹ | -으십시오 | 앉다 → 앉으십시오 |
| (negative) | -지 마십시오 | 가다 → 가지 마십시오 |
The negative imperative mood is formed by adding -지 말다 to the verb stem before conjugation, giving us 가지 마십시오, 만들지 마십시오, and 앉지 마십시오, here in 합쇼체.
The propositive mood is used to make suggestions, similar to "Let's…" in English. In 하오체, this mood is formed by adding -(으)ㅂ시다 to the verb stem.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -ㅂ시다 | 가다 → 갑시다 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -ㅂ시다 | 만들다 → 만듭시다 |
| Ending in a consonant bar ㄹ | -읍시다 | 앉다 → 앉읍시다 |
| (negative) | -지 맙시다 | 가다 → 가지 맙시다 |
The negative propositive mood is similar to the negative imperative.
The Interrogative mood is used to ask questions. In 합쇼체, this mood is formed by adding -(스)ㅂ니까 to the verb stem.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -ㅂ니까 | 가다 → 갑니까 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -ㅂ니까 | 만들다 → 만듭니까 |
| Ending in a consonant | -습니까 | 앉다 → 앉습니까 |
| (negative) | -지 않습니까 | 가다 → 가지 않습니까 |
The negative interrogative mood is not formed with -지 말다, but with -지 않다 like the negative declarative mood.
Note
While 않다 is simply the negation of a verb, 말다 means the speaker does not allow the listener(s) to do something. You may consider the propositive mood as the first person plural imperative mood here.
Unlike in English, word order does not have to change when asking a question. Question words can simply go into the sentence where the word they replace would have been. Just like declarative (or any other) sentences, it is possible to move the question words for emphasis.
| Korean | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 언제 | when | |
| 어디 | where | Unlike English, 어디 is not an adverb itself, but a pronoun. Thus it is often used with 에 or 에서. |
| 누구 | who | 누구 and 가 (subject particle) are usually contracted to 누가 in spoken language. |
| 무엇 | what (pronoun) | 무엇 is often contracted to 뭐 in spoken language. As 를 is also often contracted to ㄹ, you may say 뭘 for 무엇을. |
| 무슨 | what (determiner) | As in "what animal" or "what country"; 무슨 is sometimes contracted to 뭔 in spoken language. |
| 어떤 | what kind of | 어떤 replaces an adjective. |
| 어느 | which | |
| 어떻게 | how | Formed from 어떻다 meaning to be how |
| 왜 | why |
See Ash-Fred's comment here:
Korean has a complicated system for forms of address. You should not call a stranger, superior, or an elder only by their name. 당신 is commonly used in translations, but is not common in spoken Korean. People will usually use the title or status of the person as a form of address, followed by -님 (without a space). For example, in a store, customers are often referred to as 손님 (customer/guest + -님). When the person is much older than you, you could also say 선생님 (lit. teacher; not just in a store but at any time). When speaking to someone politely in a situation where their name must be used, such as in a store or airport calling someone by name over a loudspeaker, it is common to add 님 after their name (with a space).
In short, you can't really translate you into Korean; you could be mom, teacher, driver, pastor, or anything. Furthermore, some nouns, such as singer (가수), sound weird when followed by -님. As you may or may not imagine, there are really some times when we Koreans avoid talking just because we don't know how to address someone. Anyway, since it is practically impossible for us to add every single title or status as an accepted answer for you, only title-neutral pronouns such as 당신, 선생님, 너 (introduced later), etc. will be accepted in English-to-Korean exercises. (You will eventually have to get used to how to call someone outside Duolingo or any online materials.) In Korean-to-English exercises, if a title is used in lieu of the second person pronoun, translate it as you.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| -히 | -ly | |
| 극 | drama | 剧 |
| 장 | space/place | 场 |
| 박 | ample/plentiful | 博 |
| 요리 | food/dish/cuisine | 料理 |
| 글 | writing | |
| 매 | every | 每 |
| 일 | day | 日 |
| 심 | heart | 心 |
Time to learn a little bit about the very important topic of Food!
It is time that we learned the next of Korean's all important particles - 을/를.
This particle pair is used to mark the direct object of the verb. What is the direct object? It is the thing that the subject does the verb to. Think about it like this: Who verbs what? The "what" is the object.
As in the case of other particles, whether to use 을 or 를 depends on what sound it is following. 을 always follows a consonant and 를 always follows a vowel.
| Sentence | Translation | |
|---|---|---|
| 제가 피자를 먹습니다. | I eat pizza. | vowel + 를 |
| 제가 과일을 먹습니다. | I eat fruit. | consonant + 을 |
Rice, 밥, is a staple in Korean cuisine. In fact, it isn't uncommon to say 밥을 먹어요 to mean simply "to eat" rather than "to eat rice." Rice has been so important that Korean has multiple words for rice where English has only one. 밥 means specifically cooked rice.
Fish is very popular in Korea, and Koreans can be very specific about what fish they are eating. In general, 물고기 is used to talk about fish as an animal and 생선 is the fish you'd find in the grocery store.
Koreans love eggs. Not just chicken eggs, but also quail eggs and fish eggs are popular in Korean dishes. Here we've taught two words, 달걀 and 계란. Both refer specifically to chicken eggs, being combinations of chicken and egg. 계란 is originally from Chinese, and there has been a push by some people to use only native Korean 달걀.
We know that Korean food has become more internationally well known in recent years, so you'll want to know all you need to get by at your favorite Korean restaurant. This lesson serves only as the first step, so we have just introduced a few of the most common basics.
라면: ramen. You can easily find instant 라면 in any grocery store, but even better is to go to a restaurant where the chef expertly creates a delicious bowl full of noodles, meats, and vegetables with a savory broth.
불고기: bulgogi, thinly sliced beef, seasoned, and often cooked at the table.
김밥: kimbap/gimbap, white rice and fillings rolled up inside sheets of 김 (seaweed laver). Unlike sushi, 김밥 fillings are usually cooked and rarely include fish, aside from canned tuna. Common ingredients include egg, daikon, carrot, cucumber, crab stick, and ham. Some more inventive 김밥 includes bulgogi, tuna salad, and spicy chicken.
Note Since the Korean alphabet does not match one to one with the English alphabet, it is difficult to spell some Korean foods. When multiple spellings exist, we will accept all common spellings.
As Korean generally does not have consonant clusters, English words with clusters have the vowel 으 added when needed, like in 밀크셰이크. This also happens also when a word ends with a consonant, although ch and j sounds often wind up as 치 or 지 instead, like in 오렌지.
Sometimes the letter R is simply dropped, more British style, as in 햄버거.
English has one word for hot and one for cold. Korean, on the other hand, makes a distinction between several different words.
Hot
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 뜨겁다 | a hot thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything hot to the touch |
| 덥다 | something that makes you feel hot, like a summer day, a sauna, or a fever |
Cold
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 차갑다 | a cold thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything cold to the touch |
| 춥다 | something that makes you feel cold, like a winter day or a freezer |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 주 | alcohol | 酒 |
| 계 | chicken | 鷄 |
| 면 | noodle | 麵 |
In this lesson we will introduce another speech level in Korean, 해요체.
해요체, which we'll translate as polite speech, is our second speech level. It's potentially the easiest. Many Korean textbooks focus on 해요체 for good reason. You can use this form in a wide variety of situations. It is less formal than 합쇼체, but still polite, so you can use it with strangers, especially those your age or younger. It is also used in conversations between classmates and coworkers, and sometimes between friends. Many travel phrasebooks use 해요체, so feel no fear using this level with taxi drivers, waiters, and tour guides.
With regular verbs, start with the stem and add -아요 or -어요, and that's it!
| Ending | Final Vowels |
|---|---|
| -아요 | ㅏ ㅑ ㅗ ㅘ ㅛ |
| -어요 | (the rest) |
Simply add the ending that matches the final vowel in the stem. Note that ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅗ, ㅘ, and ㅛ end in ㅏ or ㅗ pronunciation-wise. The other vowels (vowels that do not end in ㅏ or ㅗ) match with -어요. (No verb stem has ㅛ as its final vowel in contemporary Korean.) When the verb stem ends in a vowel, a further contraction may be needed. Final ㅏ or ㅓ does not repeat itself, and final ㅡ is dropped. When ㅡ is dropped, the second vowel from the right becomes the new final vowel and then -ㅏ요 or -ㅓ요 comes accordingly. (If the stem consists of only one syllable, -ㅓ요 is used.) Final ㅣ + -어요, final ㅗ + -아요, and final ㅜ + -어요 can be contracted to ㅕ요, ㅘ요, and ㅝ요, respectively. (오다 is always contracted to 와요.)
| Verb | Stem | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 to eat | 먹- | 먹어요 |
| 막다 to block | 막- | 막아요 |
| 가다 to go | 가- | 가요 |
| 잠그다 to lock | 잠그- | 잠가요 |
| 크다 to be big | 크- | 커요 |
| 내리다 to get off | 내리- | 내리어요/내려요 |
| 보다 to see | 보- | 보아요/봐요 |
| 오다 to come | 오- | 와요 |
| 주다 to give | 주- | 주어요/줘요 |
There are a fair number of irregular verbs in this speech level, but they are each fairly regular.
ㅂ-Irregular Verbs
When a verb stem ends with ㅂ, the ㅂ disappears and is replaced with 우. Apart from regular verbs, there are only two exceptions where ㅂ is replaced with 오, one of which is 돕다 to help. 우-/오- + -어요/-아요 is always contracted here.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 어둡다 to be dark | 어둡- | 어두우- | 어두워요 |
| 돕다 to help | 돕- | 도오- | 도와요 |
| 잡다 to hold | 잡- | (regular) | 잡아요 |
ㄷ-Irregular Verbs
Only found among action verbs. When a stem ends in ㄷ, the ㄷ is replaced with ㄹ. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 듣다 to hear | 듣- | 들- | 들어요 |
| 받다 to receive | 받- | (regular) | 받아요 |
ㅅ-Irregular Verbs
When a stem ends in ㅅ, the ㅅ is replaced with 으. Remember that when ㅡ is dropped, the second vowel from the right becomes the new final vowel. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions. No further contraction can be done.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 짓다 to build | 짓- | 지으- | 지어요 (Not 져요) |
| 낫다 to get well | 낫- | 나으- | 나아요 (Not 나요) |
| 웃다 to laugh | 웃- | (regular) | 웃어요 |
ㅎ-Irregular Verbs
Only found among descriptive verbs. 좋다 is the only regular descriptive verb whose stem ends in ㅎ. The ㅎ disappears, and final ㅏ/ㅓ + -아요/-어요 becomes ㅐ요 for all verbs found in this course. Exceptions are rare.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 이렇다 to be like this | 이렇- | 이러- | 이래요 |
| 좋다 to be good | 좋- | (regular) | 좋아요 |
르-Irregular Verbs
When a stem ends with 르, the 르 is replaced with ㄹㄹ and the first ㄹ is attached to the end of the previous syllable. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 다르다 to be different | 다르- | 달ㄹ- | 달라요 |
| 따르다 to follow | 따르- | (regular) | 따라요 |
여-Irregular Verbs
All verbs that end in 하다 are 여-irregular verbs. -아요 becomes -여요 which gives 하여요. 하여요 is usually contracted to 해요.
| Verb | Stem | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|
| 하다 to do | 하- | 하여요/해요 |
~이다
~이다 to be is ~이에요 in 해요체. ~이에요 can be contracted further to ~예요 if it comes right after a vowel.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| is bread | 빵이에요 |
| is an apple | 사과예요 |
You can technically use ~이에요 after a vowel, but no one does.
잠그다 means to lock, but in Korean it is only used with an object that is directly locked. You cannot lock a room but a door of the room. The door can be locked, but you cannot be locked.
In English, you recover from a disease. In Soviet Korea, a disease recovers from you; the disease is the subject, and the patient is usually the topic. You can drop the subject if you don't have to specify what the disease is.
| Examples | Translation |
|---|---|
| 저는 병이 나아요. | I recover from the disease. |
| 저는 나아요. | I get well. |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 병 | disease | 病 |
Verbs are more dominant in Korean than they are in English. In fact, for the most part adjectives don't really exist in the language. Instead, there are descriptive verbs. In most speech levels, including the one that we're using now, these verbs act exactly the same as all other verbs.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 갑니다 | goes |
| 나쁩니다 | is bad |
| 먹습니다 | eats |
| 좋습니다 | is good |
As you can see, unlike in English, where we have to add other words in order to form a full thought using an adjective, Korean descriptive verbs are already fully loaded with "is."
But what about using adjectives without "to be?" Using the verbal roots, there is a way to transform all Korean verbs into modifiers, which we'll introduce in the Modifiers unit. Action verbs and descriptive verbs can all undergo this process, but they do so in slightly different ways.
There is not really a direct translation of "tall" or "short" into Korean. However, there is an easy work around.
높다 means high and 낮다 means low. When talking about buildings, trees, mountains, and so on, it is possible to say that something is high/low rather than tall/short.
When talking about people, you reference their height directly along with big/small. This is usually done by marking the person in question as the topic, following by 키 as the subject and then the descriptive verb, for something like this:
저는 키가 작습니다.- I am short. (Literally something like: "As for me, height is small.")
When the meaning is understood, it is sometimes possible to drop the 키 and just say 저는 작습니다.
In a previous skill we met the negative verb 않다. Here we meet it's adverbial sibling 안.
The usage of 안 is much simpler than 않다. Put it right in front of the verb, and you're done!
Meaning-wise, the two are virtually indistinguishable, but 안 is used more often in speech, especially when speaking casually.
| 안 | 않다 | English |
|---|---|---|
| 저는 안 갑니다. | 저난 가지 않습니다. | I do not go. |
| 저는 안 아릅답습니다. | 저는 아름답지 않습니다. | I am not beautiful. |
Verbs are more dominant in Korean than they are in English. In fact, for the most part adjectives don't really exist in the language. Instead, there are descriptive verbs. In most speech levels, including the one that we're using now, these verbs act exactly the same as all other verbs.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 갑니다 | goes |
| 나쁩니다 | is bad |
| 먹습니다 | eats |
| 좋습니다 | is good |
As you can see, unlike in English, where we have to add other words in order to form a full thought using an adjective, Korean descriptive verbs are already fully loaded with "is."
But what about using adjectives without "to be?" Using the verbal roots, there is a way to transform all Korean verbs into modifiers, which we'll introduce in the Modifiers unit. Action verbs and descriptive verbs can all undergo this process, but they do so in slightly different ways.
There is not really a direct translation of "tall" or "short" into Korean. However, there is an easy work around.
높다 means high and 낮다 means low. When talking about buildings, trees, mountains, and so on, it is possible to say that something is high/low rather than tall/short.
When talking about people, you reference their height directly along with big/small. This is usually done by marking the person in question as the topic, following by 키 as the subject and then the descriptive verb, for something like this:
저는 키가 작습니다.- I am short. (Literally something like: "As for me, height is small.")
When the meaning is understood, it is sometimes possible to drop the 키 and just say 저는 작습니다.
In a previous skill we met the negative verb 않다. Here we meet it's adverbial sibling 안.
The usage of 안 is much simpler than 않다. Put it right in front of the verb, and you're done!
Meaning-wise, the two are virtually indistinguishable, but 안 is used more often in speech, especially when speaking casually.
| 안 | 않다 | English |
|---|---|---|
| 저는 안 갑니다. | 저난 가지 않습니다. | I do not go. |
| 저는 안 아릅답습니다. | 저는 아름답지 않습니다. | I am not beautiful. |
In this lesson we will go more in depth with action verbs. Let's go!
Now we welcome back the particle 에서 as we learn its second meaning.
With action words ~에서 has the meaning of "at" or "in", similar to the particle ~에 with a stative verb.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에서 | where an action takes place |
| ~에 | where something static is happening |
With some words, you can use either particle, but it changes the meaning.
Although word order is not fixed, the usual word order for these sentences is Subject - Location - Object - Verb.
Education is important in Korea, and families spend a lot of money each year on their children's education. Even young children have ample extracurricular activities, including not only sports and instruments, but also additional academic classes. These classes are often at a 학원. Often these are private institutes, but they may also be connected to a school. English speakers in Korea refer to these as academy, institute, or hagwon.
While children spend a lot of time at the hagwon, older students and adults preparing to take college entrance exams or going through a professional or linguistic certification process spend their time at a 독서실. Literally a "reading-books-room" a 독서실 may be a simple "study room" or "reading room", similar to the quiet study space you would find in a library. You can also find a 독서실 with private rooms featuring advanced technology and complimentary refreshments.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 서 | book | 書 |
| 점 | store | 店 |
| 수 | water | 水 |
| 독 | reading | 讀 |
| 학 | study | 學 |
| 원 | institute | 院 |
In this lesson we will go more in depth with action verbs. Let's go!
Now we welcome back the particle 에서 as we learn its second meaning.
With action words ~에서 has the meaning of "at" or "in", similar to the particle ~에 with a stative verb.
| Particle | Usage |
|---|---|
| ~에서 | where an action takes place |
| ~에 | where something static is happening |
With some words, you can use either particle, but it changes the meaning.
Although word order is not fixed, the usual word order for these sentences is Subject - Location - Object - Verb.
Education is important in Korea, and families spend a lot of money each year on their children's education. Even young children have ample extracurricular activities, including not only sports and instruments, but also additional academic classes. These classes are often at a 학원. Often these are private institutes, but they may also be connected to a school. English speakers in Korea refer to these as academy, institute, or hagwon.
While children spend a lot of time at the hagwon, older students and adults preparing to take college entrance exams or going through a professional or linguistic certification process spend their time at a 독서실. Literally a "reading-books-room" a 독서실 may be a simple "study room" or "reading room", similar to the quiet study space you would find in a library. You can also find a 독서실 with private rooms featuring advanced technology and complimentary refreshments.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 서 | book | 書 |
| 점 | store | 店 |
| 수 | water | 水 |
| 독 | reading | 讀 |
| 학 | study | 學 |
| 원 | institute | 院 |
Let's take a closer look at Korean pronouns!
"I" in Korean can be translated as either 저 or 나. 저 is more formal, more humble, and is commonly used with 합쇼체 and with 해요체.
나 is less formal and is sometimes used with 해요체, especially when talking politely to an acquaintance or somebody younger.
너 is the you-form of 나. It would be best to avoid using it except when being informal. In all formal scenarios, simply use somebody's title.
너희 is a plural form of 너. 너네 is also used.
당신 is
you in 하오체 (Quite obsolete; this course does not cover this formality level.)
you to call one's spouse, in a respectful manner
you in written language, in a respectful manner
you while arguing, in a disrespectful manner
he or she in an extremely respectful manner
Korean does not commonly use he/she in sentences. When necessary, especially in translations, Koreans will use 그는/그가 and 그녀는/그녀가 to mean he and she.
In a normal Korean conversation, once you have established the topic, you no longer need to have a subject, so you can drop the he/she completely.
서로 means "each other" and usually comes right after the noun.
자기 and 자신 both mean "oneself," but have slightly different usages.
자기 is used in general, usually as an object.
자신 is used similar to 자기, but can also be used as after the subject for emphasis, as in 저(의) 자신 "I, myself" and it can means "for oneself"
The two can be used together as 자기 자신, which can be used in all of the above circumstances.
For both I and you the pronouns take a special form in two cases: possessive and with the particle 이/가.
| Pronoun | Possessive | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 저 | 제 | 제가 |
| 나 | 내 | 내가 |
| 너 | 네 | 네가 |
Since 네 and 내 sound very similar thanks thanks to sound changes, some speakers, especially younger people, say 니/니가 instead of 네/네가, though it's not the standard language.
Generally speaking, the possessive form is interchangeable with the un-contracted version. However, in most cases 제 is much more common than 저의. However, 저가 is never acceptable as a subject.
Definitely yes. 저 is for lowering oneself, and -ㅂ니다 is for raising the listener. If you are higher than the listener, you can raise them by using -ㅂ니다, but you don't have to lower yourself. On the other hand, it is weird to lower yourself and at the same time not raise the listener.
In this lesson we're going to focus on Korean demonstratives, those words we use to specify whether we're talking about this one or that one.
Korean has a three way split in demonstratives while English only have two, which can be confusing at first, but is easy once you get the hang of it.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 | this, close to the speaker |
| 그 | that, close to the listener |
| 저 | that (over there), far from both speaker and listener |
저 roughly corresponds to yonder.
이, 그, and 저 are the basic demonstratives, used just like this and that in English.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 개 | this dog |
| 그 개 | that dog (close to the listener) |
| 저 개 | that dog (over there) |
Note
Since Korean has no corresponding word for the, it is sometimes (actually very often) impossible to tell whether it is an apple or the apple that they are talking about, from the context. Then chances are it is "an" apple, as it is normal to use 그 in lieu of "the" in such cases.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵 | bread/the bread |
| 그 빵 | that bread (close to the listener)/the bread |
| 저 빵 | that bread (over there) |
이, 그, and 저 are used in compound words to express other ideas. When combined with 것, this compound is a noun that corresponds to "this/that one" in English. It combines with particles just like any other noun.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이것 | this one |
| 그것 | that one |
| 저것 | that one (over there) |
For here/there, there is a slight change in the stems, but the basic meaning stays the same.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 여기 | here |
| 거기 | there (somewhere close to the listener) |
| 저기 | over there |
Note 여기, 거기, and 저기 are nouns. Most of the time, you need an adverbial particle 에 after them, but it is usually omitted. When they are used as nouns, they can be translated to this place, that place, and that place (over there), respectively.
Hot
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 뜨겁다 | a hot thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything hot to the touch |
| 덥다 | something that makes you feel hot, like a summer day, a sauna, or a fever |
Cold
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 차갑다 | a cold thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything cold to the touch |
| 춥다 | something that makes you feel cold, like a winter day or a freezer |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 건 | building | 建 |
| 물 | thing/object | 物 |
| 건 | thing/item | 件 |
In this lesson we're going to focus on Korean demonstratives, those words we use to specify whether we're talking about this one or that one.
Korean has a three way split in demonstratives while English only have two, which can be confusing at first, but is easy once you get the hang of it.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 | this, close to the speaker |
| 그 | that, close to the listener |
| 저 | that (over there), far from both speaker and listener |
저 roughly corresponds to yonder.
이, 그, and 저 are the basic demonstratives, used just like this and that in English.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이 개 | this dog |
| 그 개 | that dog (close to the listener) |
| 저 개 | that dog (over there) |
Note
Since Korean has no corresponding word for the, it is sometimes (actually very often) impossible to tell whether it is an apple or the apple that they are talking about, from the context. Then chances are it is "an" apple, as it is normal to use 그 in lieu of "the" in such cases.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 빵 | bread/the bread |
| 그 빵 | that bread (close to the listener)/the bread |
| 저 빵 | that bread (over there) |
이, 그, and 저 are used in compound words to express other ideas. When combined with 것, this compound is a noun that corresponds to "this/that one" in English. It combines with particles just like any other noun.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 이것 | this one |
| 그것 | that one |
| 저것 | that one (over there) |
For here/there, there is a slight change in the stems, but the basic meaning stays the same.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 여기 | here |
| 거기 | there (somewhere close to the listener) |
| 저기 | over there |
Note 여기, 거기, and 저기 are nouns. Most of the time, you need an adverbial particle 에 after them, but it is usually omitted. When they are used as nouns, they can be translated to this place, that place, and that place (over there), respectively.
Hot
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 뜨겁다 | a hot thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything hot to the touch |
| 덥다 | something that makes you feel hot, like a summer day, a sauna, or a fever |
Cold
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 차갑다 | a cold thing, usually foods and drinks, but might also be anything cold to the touch |
| 춥다 | something that makes you feel cold, like a winter day or a freezer |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 건 | building | 建 |
| 물 | thing/object | 物 |
| 건 | thing/item | 件 |
Time to learn some animal related vocab.
타다 in Korean means "to ride." This is the same for an animal as it is for a vehicle. It can also be translated as "to take" as in "I take the bus to school."
찾다 can be both "to find" and "to search/to look for." Generally, it can be understood from context which of the two is meant. One hint that works some of the time is simple present vs present progressive (찾아요 vs 찾고 있어요) something like "to find" vs "to be finding."
We introduce two animals here that are not as well known as some of the others:까치 and 너구리.
까치 is a magpie, a type of black and white bird similar to a raven or a crow. They are fairly common throughout Korea, even in urban areas.
너구리 is a tanuki/mangut/raccoon dog, depending on the translation. They are small raccoon-like animal more closely related to the fox that can be found throughout East Asia. Sometimes 너구리 may also be used to mean simply raccoon.
There are many animals in Korean that end with ~이.
This happens in part because of another piece of Korean grammar. Nouns ending with ~이 are similar to nouns ending in -er in English, meaning "the one that does X." For example 개구리 comes from 개굴+이, which would be like if the word for "frog" was "ribbit-er."
An exception is 거북이, which was formed by the 이 as from 이/가 becoming permanently attached to the original form of the noun, possibly. Both 거북 and 거북 are still in common usage.
Languages group things differently. One example in Korean is 쥐, which can mean both rat and mouse. If you want to be more specific, 생쥐 means "mouse" only.
소 is a gender-neutral term for a single animal of the bovine species. Ox, cow, and bull are all accepted as a translation.
Just like rat/mouse in English, Korean has two words for owl. 부엉이 is an owl with ear tufts, like Duo. 올빼미 is an owl without tufted ears.
Unlike in English, where fish can be both the animal and the meat, Korean has two different words. However, it isn't as cut and dry as the difference between "cow" and "beef".
생선, which we've already learned, means "fish" in terms of food. This may be a piece of cooked fish, a whole fish, or even a live fish waiting to be sold from a tank at a fish market.
물고기 (literally "water" + "meat") refers to a fish as a living animal, usually not as something intended to be eaten.
The topic particle 은/는 can also come after an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 서울에는 사람이 많다. | There are many people in Seoul. |
은/는 still means regarding though it would be ungrammatical in English to say regarding in Seoul. Since regarding Seoul would also work fine, you may just say "서울은 사람이 많다."
The word 못 is another way to make a negative sentence, indicating the inability to do something.
운동을 안 하다/운동을 하지 않다= Not to exercise
운동을 못 하다=To be unable to exercise/cannot exercise
못 may imply that the inability is due to the person's own inferiority, that they are simply not up to the task of completing the verb.
Often 못 is used together with 잘, as in 저는 노래를 잘 못해요. "I cannot sing well"
There is another way to say "unable" that we will introduce later.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 개굴 | croak/ribbit | |
| 부엉 | hoot | |
| 코 | nose | |
| 용 | dragon | 龙 |
| 어 | fish | 鱼 |
| 농 | agriculture | 农 |
| 호 | tiger | 虎 |
| 양 | sheep | 羊 |
This lesson teaches us how to talk about language, while focusing on the grammar to propose an action.
Korean has several verbal moods depending on how the verb is used in the sentence. While English would usually use extra words to get to the same meaning, Korean packs it all into the verb endings.
The propositive mood is used to make suggestions, similar to "Let's…" in English. In 하십시오체, this mood is formed by adding -(으)ㅂ시다 to the verb stem.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -ㅂ시다 | 가다 → 갑시다 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -ㅂ시다 | 만들다 → 만듭시다 |
| Ending in a consonant bar ㄹ | -읍시다 | 앉다 → 앉읍시다 |
| (negative) | -지 맙시다 | 가다 → 가지 맙시다 |
As we've seen before, some of the particles have a second usage depending on the situation. The same is true with 로/으로.
We've already learned that 로/으로 means "toward" when used with a verb of motion.
The second meaning of this particle is something akin to "through," "with," or "as." This is the instrumental particle.
For example:
저는 한국어로 말합니다. I speak in Korean.
In that example, you are speaking "through" or "using" the Korean language. Make sense?
When talking about speaking a language, there are two options, ~를 하다 and ~로 말하다.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 한국어를 하다 | To speak Korean |
| 한국어로 말하다 | To speak in Korean |
Like so many other things in Korean, to form the name for a language, you follow a very regular pattern.
Usually, just take the name of a country and add ~어 or ~말.
한국 - 한국어/한국말
What's the difference between the two? For the most part, they are the same. But 한국말 sounds a bit more like the spoken language while 한국어 sounds bigger, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 언 | speech | 言 |
| 어 | words | 語 |
| 글 | writing | - |
| 매 | every | 每 |
| 일 | day | 日 |
Time to learn some animal related vocab and how to give an order.
Korean has several verbal moods depending on how the verb is used in the sentence. While English would usually use extra words to get to the same meaning, Korean packs it all into the verb endings.
The imperative mood is used to give orders. In 하십시오체, this is formed by taking the verb stem and adding -(으)십시오. There is no word corresponding to please in Korean. Both answers with or without please will be accepted, and you may ignore please in reverse translations.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -십시오 | 가다 → 가십시오 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -십시오 | 만들다 → 만드십시오 |
| Ending in a consonant other than ㄹ | -으십시오 | 앉다 → 앉으십시오 |
| (negative) | -지 마십시오 | 가다 → 가지 마십시오 |
The negative imperative mood is formed by adding -지 말다 to the verb stem before conjugation, giving us 가지 마십시오, 만들지 마십시오, and 앉지 마십시오, here in 합쇼체.
타다 in Korean means "to ride." This is the same for an animal as it is for a vehicle. It can also be translated as "to take" as in "I take the bus to school."
We introduce some animals throughout the course that are not as well known as some of the others, but are common in Korea. Here we meet the the 까치.
까치 is a magpie, a type of black and white bird similar to a raven or a crow. They are fairly common throughout Korea, even in urban areas.
There are many animals in Korean that end with ~이.
This happens in part because of another piece of Korean grammar. Nouns ending with ~이 are similar to nouns ending in -er in English, meaning "the one that does X." For example, 코끼리 "elephant" comes from 코 + 길 + 이, or the "long-noser".
An exception is 거북이, which was formed by the 이 from 이/가 becoming permanently attached to the original form of the noun, possibly. Both 거북 and 거북 are still in common usage.
Languages group things differently. One example in Korean is 쥐, which can mean both rat and mouse. If you want to be more specific, 생쥐 means "mouse" only.
소 is a gender-neutral term for a single animal of the bovine species. Ox, cow, and bull are all accepted as a translation.
Unlike in English, where fish can be both the animal and the meat, Korean has two different words. However, it isn't as cut and dry as the difference between "cow" and "beef".
생선, which we've already learned, means "fish" in terms of food. This may be a piece of cooked fish, a whole fish, or even a live fish waiting to be sold from a tank at a fish market.
물고기 (literally "water" + "meat") refers to a fish as a living animal, usually not as something intended to be eaten.
The topic particle 은/는 can also come after an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 서울에는 사람이 많다. | There are many people in Seoul. |
은/는 still means regarding though it would be ungrammatical in English to say regarding in Seoul. Since regarding Seoul would also work fine, you may just say "서울은 사람이 많다."
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 코 | nose | |
| 어 | fish | 魚 |
| 농 | agriculture | 农 |
| 호 | tiger | 虎 |
| 양 | sheep | 羊 |
Let's learn how to use verbs to create modifiers for nouns.
As we've mentioned before, verbs play a significant role in Korean. So far we've focused on sentences like "The man goes." or "The man is bad." In this skill we'll learn how to say "The man who goes" and "The bad man."
These verbal modifiers are created using the verb stem and usually go in front of the noun, like adjectives do in English.
The process is similar, though slightly different, for descriptive and action verbs. Action verbs have three different forms (past, present, and future) and descriptive verbs have two (future and present). Here we'll focus on the present tense.
First we'll tackle descriptive verbs. (있다, 없다, and verbs that end with 있다 or 없다 are exceptions. They conjugate like action verbs here; see below.)
작다 → 작은
나쁘다 → 나쁜
달다 → 단
쉽다 → 쉬운
Action verbs as well as 있다 and 없다 are much more straightforward to turn into modifiers than descriptive verbs. Simply take the verb stem and add -는.
가다 → 가는
먹다 → 먹는
있다 → 있는
맛없다 → 맛없는
A verb stem ending in ㄹ will drop the ㄹ.
This modifier can be translated in multiple ways in English, often as "doing" or "who/that/which is doing."
However, it could be literally anything. In English we have which, who, where, when, whose, with which, etc., but they all can be translated to -(으)ㄴ or -는. If a sentence in the present tense modifies a noun, you can use it.
제가 먹는 샌드위치: The sandwich which I am eating
음식이 맛있는 한국: Korea where food is delicious
손이 큰 남자: A man whose hand is big
밥을 먹는 그릇: A bowl with which (one) eats rice (or A bowl that eats rice (?))
n. having a higher or stronger degree than anything/anyone else
가장 is used to make the superlative form of a descriptive verb, and is usually translated to the most. However, there is a slight difference between English and Korean here. By definition, only one of the group can receive the honorable title "가장". If there are two tallest people in the world of the exactly same height, there is no 가장 tall person.
Conjunctions are the pieces that link two parts of a sentence together. In Korean, these linking pieces are not stand alone words, but are added to the ends of verbs.
When starting a sentence with a conjunction, the suffix is usually added to a form of 그렇다 to create a stand alone word.
We're already learned 와/과 for and, but that pair only works to link nouns. When you want to link verbs, Korean has the suffix ~고.
~고 is attached to the stem of the verb.
저는 먹고 마셔요=> I eat and drink.
Stand alone form: 그리고.
Another suffix that can be translated as "and" is ~서. Unlike ~고, ~서 implies sequence of events. It can also be translated as "and so" or "and then."
To attach ~서, take the 해요 form of the verb, drop the 요 and attach ~서.
저는 먹어서 마셔요.=> I eat and drink/I eat and then I drink.
Note: This form is not attached to a verb conjugated for tense. The tense is indicated by the final verb.
Stand alone form: 그래서
"If" in Korean is marked by ~(으)면. This suffix is added to the base verb stem. ~면 follows stems ending in a vowel or a ㄹ. ~으면 follows stems ending in a consonant.
저는 먹으면 마셔요.=> If I eat, I drink.
"When," "while," or "as" is marked by ~(으)면서. ~(으)면서 is attached to the stem in the same way as ~(으)면 above.
In formal writing, ~(으)면서 may be realized as ~(으)며.
저는 먹으면서 마셔요.=> I drink when/while/as I eat.
There are two ways to realize "but" in Korean. First we will discuss ~지만.
저는 먹지 않지만 마셔요.=>I do not eat, but I do drink.
Stand alone form: 하지만 (more colloquial)/그렇지만
~는데 is attached to action verb stems and ~은데 to descriptive verbs.
저는 먹는데 안 마셔요.=> I eat, but I do not drink.
저는 한국에 갔는데, 재미있었어요=> I went to Korea and it was fun.
Stand alone form: 그런데/근데 (spoken)
~도 is a particle that is used most often with nouns to mean "also" or "too". It replaces the subject/object particle.
~(으)러 means "in order to" and is only used to connect an action with a verb of motion. It indicates that you are going somewhere in order to complete an action.
~으러 is attached to verb stems ending in consonants and ~러 to vowels.
저는 먹으러 식당에 가요.=> I go to the restaurant to eat.
Moods in 해요체 are much simpler than in 합쇼체. Let's get started!
To form the imperative in 해요체 you need to start with the verb stem and add (으)세요.
As you may now be used to, how this works depends on whether the stem ends with a vowel or a consonant.
By dropping the ㄹ, verbs like 살다 and 사다 have the same imperative form, 사세요. The meaning is therefore derived from context.
Note: The usual declarative ending -아요/-어요 can be used in lieu of -(으)세요, but it is less formal.
To make a proposition in 해요체 the same basic form is used as making a statement. It is common to add 같이 before the verb, basically saying "let's...together"
Note: Optionally you can say 우리 as the subject. Particles are usually not used with 우리 in this sense unless for emphasis.
When asking a question, the verb form does not change.
The primary meaning of the verb 다니다 is "to go," but it implies the person goes to the place regularly or frequently and has something to do there. Figuratively you can say 다니다 for your workplace or school. "저는 학교에 다닙니다." would most likely mean you attend school (as opposed to you just go there frequently), and you can also say that when you are asked what your job is. This verb can be transitive and intransitive, and it takes 을(를) and 에 as a particle after the place, respectively.
The Korean word 원하다 is used specifically for wanting something, not wanting to do something. We'll teach how to say that you want to do something sooner than later.
In Korean 얼마 means "how much." It can be used with the copula to ask "how much is it?" or as 얼마나 plus an adjective to mean "how much," "how long," etc.
We've already covered questions in "Greetings," but let's go into more detail now.
The Interrogative mood is used to ask questions. In 합쇼체, this mood is formed by adding -(스)ㅂ니까 to the verb stem.
| Stem | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ending in a vowel | -ㅂ니까 | 가다 → 갑니까 |
| Ending in ㄹ, with ㄹ deleted | -ㅂ니까 | 만들다 → 만듭니까 |
| Ending in a consonant | -습니까 | 앉다 → 앉습니까 |
| (negative) | -지 않습니까 | 가다 → 가지 않습니까 |
The negative interrogative mood is not formed with -지 말다, but with -지 않다 like the negative declarative mood.
Note
While 않다 is simply the negation of a verb, 말다 means the speaker does not allow the listener(s) to do something. You may consider the propositive mood as the first person plural imperative mood here.
Unlike in English, word order does not have to change when asking a question. Question words can simply go into the sentence where the word they replace would have been. Just like declarative (or any other) sentences, it is possible to move the question words for emphasis.
| Korean | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 언제 | when | |
| 어디 | where | Unlike English, 어디 is not an adverb itself, but a pronoun. Thus it is often used with 에 or 에서. |
| 누구 | who | 누구 and 가 (subject particle) are usually contracted to 누가 in spoken language. |
| 무엇 | what (pronoun) | 무엇 is often contracted to 뭐 in spoken language. As 를 is also often contracted to ㄹ, you may say 뭘 for 무엇을. |
| 무슨 | what (determiner) | As in "what animal" or "what country"; 무슨 is sometimes contracted to 뭔 in spoken language. |
| 어떤 | what kind of | 어떤 replaces an adjective. |
| 어느 | which | |
| 어떻게 | how | Formed from 어떻다 meaning to be how |
| 왜 | why | |
| 얼마/얼마나 | how much | "얼마" on its own is usually used to asking prices, while "얼마나" is used to ask "how + adjective" |
A lot of verbs can be broken up into two pieces. For example, 노래 means a song, and 하다 means to do, and they form a new word "노래하다", "to sing." You can, of course, say 노래를 하다 (lit. to do a song).
Many of these nouns are borrowed from Chinese or English, as adding 하다 is the best way to adapt a foreign word to serve as a Korean verb.
There are some special verbs that are repetitive to the eye/ears of an English speaker.
These verbs often add the noun ahead of the verb, either as one word, or as two words with the noun marked with 을/를.
| Verb | (broken into) | English |
|---|---|---|
| 잠자다 | 잠을 자다 | to sleep (a sleep) |
| 춤추다 | 춤을 추다 | to dance (a dance) |
| 꿈꾸다 | 꿈을 꾸다 | to dream (a dream) |
자다 can stand alone without 잠, but 추다 or 꾸다 always needs an object.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| ~리 | ~ly | |
| ~히 | ~ly | |
| 인 | person | 人 |
| 사 | matter/affair | 事 |
A lot of verbs can be broken up into two pieces. For example, 노래 means a song, and 하다 means to do, and they form a new word "노래하다", "to sing." You can, of course, say 노래를 하다 (lit. to do a song).
Many of these nouns are borrowed from Chinese or English, as adding 하다 is the best way to adapt a foreign word to serve as a Korean verb.
There are some special verbs that are repetitive to the eye/ears of an English speaker.
These verbs often add the noun ahead of the verb, either as one word, or as two words with the noun marked with 을/를.
| Verb | (broken into) | English |
|---|---|---|
| 잠자다 | 잠을 자다 | to sleep (a sleep) |
| 춤추다 | 춤을 추다 | to dance (a dance) |
| 꿈꾸다 | 꿈을 꾸다 | to dream (a dream) |
자다 can stand alone without 잠, but 추다 or 꾸다 always needs an object.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| ~리 | ~ly | |
| ~히 | ~ly | |
| 인 | person | 人 |
| 사 | matter/affair | 事 |
찾다 can be both "to find" and "to search/to look for." Generally, it can be understood from context which of the two is meant. One hint that works some of the time is simple present vs present progressive (찾아요 vs 찾고 있어요) something like "to find" vs "to be finding."
너구리 is a tanuki/mangut/raccoon dog, depending on the translation. They are small raccoon-like animal more closely related to the fox that can be found throughout East Asia. Sometimes 너구리 may also be used to mean simply raccoon.
Just like rat/mouse in English, Korean has two words for owl. 부엉이 is an owl with ear tufts, like Duo. 올빼미 is an owl without tufted ears.
Quite a few Korean animals end with ~이. Why is that? It's because that ending can mean ~er. For example 개구리 comes from 개굴+이, which would be like if the word for "frog" was "ribbit-er." 부엉이 could also be translated to something like "hoot-er."
The word 못 is another way to make a negative sentence, indicating the inability to do something.
운동을 안 하다/운동을 하지 않다= Not to exercise
운동을 못 하다=To be unable to exercise/cannot exercise
못 may imply that the inability is due to the person's own inferiority, that they are simply not up to the task of completing the verb.
Often 못 is used together with 잘, as in 저는 노래를 잘 못해요. "I cannot sing well"
There is another way to say "unable" that we will introduce later.
| 부엉 | hoot | | | 개굴 | croak/ribbit | | | 용 | dragon | 龍 |
Korean has a complicated system for forms of address. You should not call a stranger, superior, or an elder only by their name. 당신 is commonly used in translations, but is not common in spoken Korean. People will usually use the title or status of the person as a form of address, followed by -님 (without a space). For example, in a store, customers are often referred to as 손님 (customer/guest + -님). When the person is much older than you, you could also say 선생님 (lit. teacher; not just in a store but at any time). When speaking to someone politely in a situation where their name must be used, such as in a store or airport calling someone by name over a loudspeaker, it is common to add 님 after their name (with a space).
In short, you can't really translate you into Korean; you could be mom, teacher, driver, pastor, or anything. Furthermore, some nouns, such as singer (가수), sound weird when followed by -님. As you may or may not imagine, there are really some times when we Koreans avoid talking just because we don't know how to address someone. Anyway, since it is practically impossible for us to add every single title or status as an accepted answer for you, only title-neutral pronouns such as 당신, 선생님, 너 (introduced later), etc. will be accepted in English-to-Korean exercises. (You will eventually have to get used to how to call someone outside Duolingo or any online materials.) In Korean-to-English exercises, if a title is used in lieu of the second person pronoun, translate it as you.
As such a verb heavy language, Korean has a large number of adverbs. We've split them between several skills, here focusing on adverbs of degree.
Korean adverbs come before the verb.
When given the option between an adjective describing a noun or an adverb on the verb, Korean will use the adverb more often than we do in English. For example, to say "He reads many books" rather than the direct translation "그는 많은 책을 읽어요," the correct sentence would be "그는 책을 많이 읽어요"
There are various words used to give emphasis, like very in English. Here we are introducing a couple of them.
| Words | Translations |
|---|---|
| 매우, 아주, 굉장히 | very, so, greatly, highly, exceedingly |
| 정말(로), 진짜(로), 참(으로) | really, truly, indeed, (non-standard) very, so |
| 특히 | in particular, particularly, especially, specially |
| 상당히 | considerably, fairly, rather, quite |
| 꽤 | quite, fairly, rather, pretty |
| 엄청 | overly, too, excessively, awfully |
| 너무 | too, overly, excessively, awfully, so Read more |
There aren't really one-to-one translations for these, so here we accept what's listed above.
The superlative form in Korean is formed using 가장 or 제일 plus the adjective/descriptive verb. Both can be used interchangeably, but 가장 means "the most," and 제일 means "number one."
Usually the phrase is 제일/가장 + Modifier form + Noun.
For example, 제일 맛있는 음식=the most delicious food
When forming a superlative in English, the noun is not always used, for example "This book is the best." In Korean, you would translate that as 이 책은 제일 좋은 책이에요 "This book is the best book" or 이 책은 제일 좋은 것이에요 "This book is the best one." Unlike in English where we actively seek to avoid repeating the noun, it is completely okay in Korean.
Comparative in Korean is introduced with the particle 보다. 보다 can be translated as "than" and attaches to the end of the noun to which the first noun is being compared and usually comes right before the descriptive verb.
이 사과는 바나나보다 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious than the banana.
Just using 보다 is enough to indicate the comparative form, but 더 is sometimes added before the descriptive verb for emphasis. Like English, the 보다 part can be omitted and simply adding 더 before the descriptive verb is enough.
이 사과가 더 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious.
Note: Of course, you can change the word order. Since the topic normally comes first, when 보다 comes first instead, the other noun is usually followed by 이(가) rather than 은(는). Whether the word order is changed or not, 이(가) emphasizes the noun before it.
There are some interesting adverbs that have a negative meaning in Korean that deserve special mention.
별로 안 좋아요.=It is not too good/It is not very good.
별로 없어요.=There is not much.
거의 없어요=There is almost nothing.
그녀는 그리 안 나빠요.=She is not [so/that] bad. 그게 그리 나빠요?=Is it that bad?
In this lesson we will introduce another speech level in Korean, 해요체.
해요체, which we'll translate as polite speech, is our second speech level. It's potentially the easiest. Many Korean textbooks focus on 해요체 for good reason. You can use this form in a wide variety of situations. It is less formal than 합쇼체, but still polite, so you can use it with strangers, especially those your age or younger. It is also used in conversations between classmates and coworkers, and sometimes between friends. Many travel phrasebooks use 해요체, so feel no fear using this level with taxi drivers, waiters, and tour guides.
With regular verbs, start with the stem and add -아요 or -어요, and that's it!
| Ending | Final Vowels |
|---|---|
| -아요 | ㅏ ㅑ ㅗ ㅘ ㅛ |
| -어요 | (the rest) |
Simply add the ending that matches the final vowel in the stem. Note that ㅏ, ㅑ, ㅗ, ㅘ, and ㅛ end in ㅏ or ㅗ pronunciation-wise. The other vowels (vowels that do not end in ㅏ or ㅗ) match with -어요. (No verb stem has ㅛ as its final vowel in contemporary Korean.) When the verb stem ends in a vowel, a further contraction may be needed. Final ㅏ or ㅓ does not repeat itself, and final ㅡ is dropped. When ㅡ is dropped, the second vowel from the right becomes the new final vowel and then -ㅏ요 or -ㅓ요 comes accordingly. (If the stem consists of only one syllable, -ㅓ요 is used.) Final ㅣ + -어요, final ㅗ + -아요, and final ㅜ + -어요 can be contracted to ㅕ요, ㅘ요, and ㅝ요, respectively. (오다 is always contracted to 와요.)
| Verb | Stem | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|
| 먹다 to eat | 먹- | 먹어요 |
| 막다 to block | 막- | 막아요 |
| 가다 to go | 가- | 가요 |
| 잠그다 to lock | 잠그- | 잠가요 |
| 크다 to be big | 크- | 커요 |
| 내리다 to get off | 내리- | 내리어요/내려요 |
| 보다 to see | 보- | 보아요/봐요 |
| 오다 to come | 오- | 와요 |
| 주다 to give | 주- | 주어요/줘요 |
Let's learn Korean prepositions!
English prepositions, words like on, in, and between form their own class of words. In Korean they are actually regular nouns, taking particles depending on their use in the sentence.
Generally speaking, "prepositions" in Korean act like postpositions, coming after the noun, usually with the particle 에 or 에서.
Strictly speaking, there should be an 의 after the first noun.
Grammatically, this means that a direct translation would actually be "at the house's inside" rather than "inside the house." In normal usage, the 의 dropped.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 안 | in/inside |
| 밖 | outside |
| 앞 | in front |
| 옆 | next to |
| 위 | over/on/above |
| 뒤 | behind |
| 아래 | under/beneath |
| 밑 | under/beneath |
| 속 | inside/among |
| 가운데 | in the middle |
| 사이 | between |
| 근처 | near |
| 건너편 | across from |
| 왼쪽 | left |
| 오른쪽 | right |
위 means both "on" and "above." In many cases, when the meaning of "on" would otherwise be understood, it is not necessary to use "위." Just the particle "에" would be enough.
"위" is not used for something "on" the wall, since 위 carries the connotation of behind "above" something.
When we want to specifically say "on" vs "over/above" we add 바로, which means directly. 바로 can be used with most of these position words.
While 아래 and 밑 can both be translated to "under", they are fairly different in meaning. 아래 refers to the whole space lower than a standard point which could be anything (e.g. sunshine, moonlight, the sky, the sea level, etc.), but 밑 means either 아래 or the bottom, of a tangible object. 자동차 밑 can mean either "under the car" (=자동차 아래) or "the bottom of the car" which might actually be the upper part if the car is turned over, depending on the context.
Both 속 and 안 are "in(side)" in English, but they are not the same in Korean. 속 means what is inside or surrounded whereas 안 just means the inner space as opposed to the outer space.
산속 is an exception and is considered as one word.
If you don't know which to use, probably they are interchangeable for the word. How you see the object in your mind may affect the choice.
Korean has a few words for "table". We've already seen 탁자, and here we introduce 식탁. A 식탁 is a dining/kitchen table, composed of the words 식/food and 탁/table.
In Korean the names of meals mirror the times of day. 아침 식사 is literally the "morning meal." However, in everyday speech people drop the 식사.
In Korea, meals are usually served family style in the middle of the table. Also in the center are smaller dishes of 반찬, side dishes. Kimchi is the most famous 반찬, and comes in dozens of varieties. But, side dishes can also include things like potato salad, Korean pancakes, and steamed egg.
Most of the fruits and vegetables popular in Korea are popular around the world. One specialty in Korea that we couldn't fail to mention here is 귤, which can be satsuma, tangerine, or mandarin, depending on the translation. In any case, they are small, juicy oranges. In Korea you can find 귤 on many menus, as juice, as candy, in chocolate, or just fresh as dessert.
The particle 만 means only. The topic, subject, and object particles come after it.
In Korea, you do not say that you are hungry or thirsty, but 저는 배가 고파요 or 저는 목이 말라요. Literally, this means "My stomach is hungry" and "My throat is dry."
There is no exact translation for this word in English. Snacks are not necessarily 과자, and crackers are only a kind of 과자. So here's the definition.
치킨: chicken? Actually this is fried chicken, which Korea has made its own. Fried chicken in Korea is something you cannot miss! Usually in a sauce, most commonly garlic, soy sauce, and a type of spicy bbq.
치맥: chicken and beer. A common pairing. You probably won't find this word in the dictionary because it is just a combination of 치킨 and 맥주.
김치: kimchi, preserved vegetables. Most people think of spicy fermented cabbage, but that's just one type of kimchi. Some kimchi is cabbage, but there are also radish, scallion, and cucumber kimchis. Some are spicy, but some are salty or vinegary.
김: laver, dried seaweed sheets. In Korea you can get a small packet of 김 to eat on its own or with white rice.
It's time to learn how to form adverbs in Korean!
Forming adverbs in Korean is extremely easy. For regular adverbs, starting with a descriptive verb simply take the verb stem and add -게, similar to adding -ly in English.
Some descriptive verbs have both regular and irregular forms. For example, 빠르다 (to be fast) can become both regular 빠르게 and irregular 빨리.
A number of descriptive verbs, mostly ending in ~하다, take ~히 as their ending as an adverb, after dropping the 하다.
조용하다 (to be quiet) =조용히 or 조용하게 (quietly)
없다 is an irregular case, becoming 없이 (without).
There are a fair number of irregular verbs in this speech level, but they are each fairly regular.
르-Irregular Verbs
When a stem ends with 르, the 르 is replaced with ㄹㄹ and the first ㄹ is attached to the end of the previous syllable. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 다르다 to be different | 다르- | 달ㄹ- | 달라요 |
| 따르다 to follow | 따르- | (regular) | 따라요 |
The copula ~이다
~이다 to be is ~이에요 in 해요체. ~이에요 can be contracted further to ~예요 if it comes right after a vowel.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| is bread | 빵이에요 |
| is an apple | 사과예요 |
You can technically use ~이에요 after a vowel, but no one does.
Other verbs ending in ~이
Other verbs that end in ~이 or the vowel ~ㅣ following another consonant take a different form. Think of it as ~이 + 어, and you get ~여
The Korean word 원하다 is used specifically for wanting something, not wanting to do something. We'll teach how to say that you want to do something sooner than later.
| Verb | Stem | 해요체 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 먹이다 to feed | 먹이- | 먹여요 | |
| 사라지다 to disappear | 사자지- | 사라져요 |
As we've already seen, Korean verbs have aspects of meaning absent from their English counterparts. Here we'll introduce another level of meaning to improve your Korean fluency.
First up is ~주다. 주다 (to give) attaches directly to the Casual form of the verb, sometimes called the 아/어 form in grammar books.
Taking it's meaning from "to give", V아/어주다 implies that the action is being done for the benefit of someone else. Sometimes this aspect of generosity is translated into English, but more often than not it isn't.
우리는 남자에게 읽어줍니다=We read to the man.
먹어주세요=Eat it (for me).
Next we have ~보다. 보다 (to see) attaches to the Casual 아/어 form as well.
Stemming from the meaning of "to see," V아/어보다 has the meaning of to try something out, to see how it is. Both 먹어보다 and 마셔보다 can mean "to try" or "to taste," literally "to see what it's like to eat" and "to see what it's like to drink"
읽어보세요=Read it/Take a look at it
해보세요=Give it a try
Now let's look at ~하다. While ~주다 and ~보다 can attach to most any word, ~하다 is more restricted. Usually this compound ending attaches to the 아/어 form of descriptive verbs.
In fact, we've already seen this a few times, with words like 좋아하다 and 싫어하다.
Adding V아/어하다 means to treat something a certain way. For example, 좋다 ="good" and 좋아하다="to like" (to treat something like it is good).
It can also mean "to act like..." For example, 슬프다="to be sad" while 슬퍼하다="to act sad." Usually this aspect of ~하다 compound verbs is only used when talking in the third person because it is something that you have observed. When talking about yourself, you would just say that you were sad, not that you were acting sad.
무섭다=to be scary
무서워하다=to fear
Finally we have ~가다 and ~오다, which you should recognize as "to go" and "to come."
Coming after V아/어, this pair of endings is usually used with verbs of motion to indicate direction. For example, 내리다="to move downward" so 내려오다="to come down" and 내려가다="to go down."
돌다=to return
돌아오다=to come back
돌아가다=to go back
We've already taught you 원하다 as "to want something" and now here we have ~고 싶다 "to want to do something."
~고 싶다 attaches to the verb stem (V minus 다), and is treated as a descriptive verb. When talking about a third person, you would only ever use the compound ~고 싶어하다.
저는 가고 싶어요=I want to go
그녀는 가고 싶어해요=She wants to go
괴 - ghost (怪)
Colors can be tricky in Korean, with a mixture of Native Korean and Sino-Korean color terms.
In Lesson 1 we introduce some Native Korean verbal modifiers.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Black | 검은 |
| White | 하얀 |
| Blue | 파란 |
| Red | 빨간 |
| Yellow | 노란 |
As you should be able to see, all of these are the Modifier forms of descriptive verbs.
Sometimes these adjectives are followed by 색 "color" with or without ~인, the Modifier form of ~이다.
So for "black cat" you may see:
In Lesson 2 we introduce some Sino-Korean colors. Like most borrowings from Chinese, these take the form of nouns in Korean.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| Orange | 주황 |
| Green | 초록/녹 |
| Gray | 회 |
| Brown | 갈 |
| Purple | 보라 |
| Pink | 분홍 |
Usually these are used with 색/색인 to form modifiers in a sentence.
An "orange cat" gives us:
Most colors have a Sino-Korean equivalent, but normally Korean colors take precedence, with the Sino-Korean words used as roots in compound words.
Korean colors are a bit more nuanced than the ones we use in English. Many colors have multiple words that can be used to mean the same thing but with different connotations.
The one case where we do introduce both words here is "green." Both 초록 and 녹 mean green, so what's the different?
초록 means "grass green" and may have the connotation of being cleaner or sharper than 녹.
The same is true for 흰 (pure white) and 까만 (jet black). We'll may see some of these colors later in the course, but for know you can just put them out of your mind.
The Native Korean colors have noun forms based in part on their base verb forms.
| English | Modifier | Noun |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 검은 | 검정 |
| White | 하얀 | 하양 |
| Blue | 파란 | 파랑 |
| Red | 빨간 | 빨강 |
| Yellow | 노란 | 노랑 |
While these may sometimes be used to form modifiers, usually they are used in compound nouns or when talking about the color itself.
One compound we'll see here is 파랑새 (bluebird) compared to 파란 새 (blue bird).
In this skill we also introduce 색깔. 색깔 is used as "color" when standing alone, while 색 is most commonly used as a suffix attached to other words. One exception to this is when asking what color something is, which is usually realized as "X은 무슨 색이에요?"
The Native Korean colors have descriptive verbs that may used for "to be X-color."
| English | Modifier | Noun | Verb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 검은 | 검정 | 검다 |
| White | 하얀 | 하양 | 하얗다 |
| Blue | 파란 | 파랑 | 파랗다 |
| Red | 빨간 | 빨강 | 빨갛다 |
| Yellow | 노란 | 노랑 | 노랗다 |
~ㅎ다 verbs form a special case for conjugation, as we saw in Polite Moods with 이렇다. Drop the ㅎ and the 아 turns into 애. For 하얗다, 야 becomes 얘.
The cat is white=고양이가 하얘요.
When using Sino-Korean colors, or even the Native Korean modifiers, it is common to use ~색이다 to form the descriptive verb.
The cat is gray=고양이가 회색이에요.
There are two ways to say "but" in Korean. First we will discuss ~지만.
저는 먹지 않지만 마셔요.=>I do not eat, but I do drink.
Stand alone form: 하지만 (more colloquial)/그렇지만
더 means more as in smaller or more beautiful, but given context it can be dropped in Korean. For example, "제가 빨라요." could mean "I am faster (than my brother)." But please do not leave it out in this course unless a proper context is given.
The time has come for us to address one of Korean's most (in)famous features, honorifics.
Every Korean sentence changes based on two factors: the listener and the subject.
The listener dictates the speech level, which we've already seen.
The subject dictates the use of honorifics.
These two are mutually exclusive. Honorifics can be used in any of the speech levels of Korean, creating a very, very wide variety of sentences.
The honorific is usually seen on the verb, just like speech levels, but there are also some special honorific nouns and particles.
Honorifics are usually used when talking about older relatives, people of higher social status, deities, and other respected entities, implying that the speaker is lower in status and therefore showing honor and respect for the subject.
It would be incredibly rude to use this form in any way to refer to yourself.
Usually the honorific is formed simply by adding ~시다 to the verb stem, after applying the special cases (ie 듣=>들, 덥=>더우, etc).
Form most verbs ending in a consonant, drop ~다 and add ~으시다. 얻다=>얻으시다
With a verb stem ending in a ㄹ, drop the ㄹ as well. 살다=>사시다
ㄷ special case verbs do not drop the ㄹ, but instead act like a regular consonant. 듣다=>들으시다
For a verb ending in a vowel, simply add ~시다. 하다=>하시다
~시다 is slightly irregular, but works similar to other verbs.
| 하다 | 하시다 |
|---|---|
| 합니다 | 하십니다 |
| 해요 | 하세요 |
| 해 | 하셔 |
| 한다 | 하신다 |
If some of this looks familiar, it's because you've already seen ~시다 in the imperative.
Rather than simply add ~시다, some verbs have their own honorific forms.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 먹다 | 드시다 |
| 마시다 | 드시다 |
| 있다 | 계시다* |
| 자다 | 주무시다 |
| 말하다 | 말씀하시다 |
In addition, the verb 드리다 replaces 주다 when giving something to an honored person.
*계시다 replaces 있다 only in the sense of "to be" or "to exist." The sense of "to have" can be formed using 있으시다. 계시다 is still used when forming the progressive (~ing) form of the verb.
Other words also have their own forms.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 밥 | 진지 |
| 이/가 | 께서 |
| 에게 | 께 |
| 집 | 댁 |
| 나이 (age) | 연세 |
| 이름 (name) | 성함 |
| 생일 (birthday) | 생신 |
| 명 (counter) | 분 |
Note: Unlike 이름, 성함 technically means a full name.
Korean forms of address are a type of honorific.
~씨 is a lower level honorific usually added to somebody's name.
~님 is a higher level of addressed usually added to somebody's title or to a relationship term. With relationship terms, there is sometimes a slight change to the original when adding the stem.
Let's learn Korean prepositions!
English prepositions, words like on, in, and between form their own class of words. In Korean they are actually regular nouns, taking particles depending on their use in the sentence.
Generally speaking, "prepositions" in Korean act like postpositions, coming after the noun, usually with the particle 에 or 에서.
Strictly speaking, there should be an 의 after the first noun.
Grammatically, this means that a direct translation would actually be "at the house's inside" rather than "inside the house." In normal usage, the 의 dropped.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 안 | in/inside |
| 밖 | outside |
| 앞 | in front |
| 옆 | next to |
| 위 | over/on/above |
| 뒤 | behind |
| 아래 | under/beneath |
| 밑 | under/beneath |
| 속 | inside/among |
| 가운데 | in the middle |
| 사이 | between |
| 근처 | near |
| 건너편 | across from |
| 왼쪽 | left |
| 오른쪽 | right |
위 means both "on" and "above." In many cases, when the meaning of "on" would otherwise be understood, it is not necessary to use "위." Just the particle "에" would be enough.
"위" is not used for something "on" the wall, since 위 carries the connotation of behind "above" something.
When we want to specifically say "on" vs "over/above" we add 바로, which means directly. 바로 can be used with most of these position words.
While 아래 and 밑 can both be translated to "under", they are fairly different in meaning. 아래 refers to the whole space lower than a standard point which could be anything (e.g. sunshine, moonlight, the sky, the sea level, etc.), but 밑 means either 아래 or the bottom, of a tangible object. 자동차 밑 can mean either "under the car" (=자동차 아래) or "the bottom of the car" which might actually be the upper part if the car is turned over, depending on the context.
Both 속 and 안 are "in(side)" in English, but they are not the same in Korean. 속 means what is inside or surrounded whereas 안 just means the inner space as opposed to the outer space.
산속 is an exception and is considered as one word.
If you don't know which to use, probably they are interchangeable for the word. How you see the object in your mind may affect the choice.
We're already learned 와/과 for and, but that pair only works to link nouns. When you want to link verbs, Korean has the suffix ~고.
~고 is attached to the stem of the verb.
저는 먹고 마셔요=> I eat and drink.
Stand alone form: 그리고.
Korean has a few words for "table". We've already seen 탁자, and here we introduce 식탁. A 식탁 is a dining/kitchen table, composed of the words 식/food and 탁/table.
There are a fair number of irregular verbs in this speech level, but they are each fairly regular.
ㅂ-Irregular Verbs
When a verb stem ends with ㅂ, the ㅂ disappears and is replaced with 우. Apart from regular verbs, there are only two exceptions where ㅂ is replaced with 오, one of which is 돕다 to help. 우-/오- + -어요/-아요 is always contracted here.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 어둡다 to be dark | 어둡- | 어두우- | 어두워요 |
| 돕다 to help | 돕- | 도오- | 도와요 |
| 잡다 to hold | 잡- | (regular) | 잡아요 |
ㄷ-Irregular Verbs
Only found among action verbs. When a stem ends in ㄷ, the ㄷ is replaced with ㄹ. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 듣다 to hear | 듣- | 들- | 들어요 |
| 받다 to receive | 받- | (regular) | 받아요 |
ㅅ-Irregular Verbs
When a stem ends in ㅅ, the ㅅ is replaced with 으. Remember that when ㅡ is dropped, the second vowel from the right becomes the new final vowel. Apart from regular verbs, there are no exceptions. No further contraction can be done.
| Verb | Stem 1 | Stem 2 | 해요체 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 짓다 to build | 짓- | 지으- | 지어요 (Not 져요) |
| 낫다 to get well | 낫- | 나으- | 나아요 (Not 나요) |
| 웃다 to laugh | 웃- | (regular) | 웃어요 |
In English, you recover from a disease. In Soviet Korea, a disease recovers from you; the disease is the subject, and the patient is usually the topic. You can drop the subject if you don't have to specify what the disease is.
| Examples | Translation |
|---|---|
| 저는 병이 나아요. | I recover from the disease. |
| 저는 나아요. | I get well. |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 병 | disease | 病 |
Korean has two sets of numbers, Native Korean and Sino-Korean. Before that scares you away, let's take a closer look at Native Korean Numbers.
Native Korean numbers are used for numbering things, just as you would any number system. In contrast, Sino-Korean numbers are used in specific cases, such as dates, telephone numbers, addresses, and counting money.
Native Korean can be used for counting as well. When taking pictures, you may hear Koreans say "하나, 둘, 셋!" before snapping the photo.
Native Korean has the numbers 1-10, then 11-19 simply combine 10 and the small number, so 11 would be "ten-one." There are separate words for each of the tens, which are used to create compounds the same way that 10 is.
Some of the tens are derived from their "base" as in English, 여덟/eight=> 여든/eighty, but others have no obvious relationship.
Native Korean has five numbers that take a "short" form before a counter.
| Number | Base Form | Short Form |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 하나 | 한 |
| 2 | 둘 | 두 |
| 3 | 셋 | 세 |
| 4 | 넷 | 네 |
| 20 | 스물 | 스무 |
What are these counters we've mentioned? Think of words in English like paper or milk. Usually we cannot say "a paper" or "a milk," except in some limited circumstances. We have to be specific, "a sheet/piece/pack of paper" or "a cup/glass/carton/jug of milk." Now apply that to every noun in Korean.
The most common counter is 개 and can be used in most situations. As a non-native Korean speaker, you can often get away with using 개 in cases where Koreans would use a specific counter. Exceptions include 명 for people, 마리 for animals, and some food terms where more specificity is required.
The general usage is Noun+Number+Counter+Particle in a sentence.
Particles can sometimes be attached to the noun instead of the counter.
Usually in writing the number and counter are written separately, with a space, but without a space when using a numeral (두 명 vs 2명).
Other word orders are also possible in some circumstances, but less popular:
Number+Noun (한 사람)
Number+Counter+의+Noun (한 명의 사람)
Noun+Number (사람 하나)
| Counter | Nouns |
|---|---|
| 개 | General counter |
| 명 | People |
| 살 | Age |
| 마리 | Animals |
| 자루 | Long thing things |
| 대 | Machines/cars |
Age in Korean is marked with the counter 살. 저는 스무 살이에요=I am twenty
In Korea, age is calculated differently than in most other countries. It is based on the traditional Asian lunar cycle. A baby is one when it is born and turns two on New Year's Day. Depending on who you are talking to, this may be either January 1st or Lunar New Year. Therefore, most of us are 1 or 2 years older in Korea than we are at home.
Although Native Korean was the original number system, it now only goes up to 99 in regular language. Larger numbers are said in Sino-Korean except in some more academic cases, mostly poetry, as the large Native Korean numbers are fairly archaic.
For these numbers of 100, some people may mix the two forms. 150, for example, could be said with 100 in Sino-Korean and 50 in Native Korean. This is more common in speaking than in writing.
It is not uncommon for numbers over 19 to be said in Sino-Korean, especially by children who do not yet have the trickier Native Korean digits memorized.
| Number | Native Korean |
|---|---|
| 10 | 열 |
| 20 | 스물 |
| 30 | 서른 |
| 40 | 마흔 |
| 50 | 쉰 |
| 60 | 예순 |
| 70 | 일흔 |
| 80 | 여든 |
| 90 | 아흔 |
Ordinal Numbers (first, second, third) are created by combining the Native Korean number with 번째. This uses the short form for those numbers that have one, except for 1, which uses 첫 instead of 한, giving us 첫 번째 for "first."
Let's learn how to use verbs to create modifiers for nouns.
As we've mentioned before, verbs play a significant role in Korean. So far we've focused on sentences like "The man goes." or "The man is bad." In this skill we'll learn how to say "The man who goes" and "The bad man."
These verbal modifiers are created using the verb stem and usually go in front of the noun, like adjectives do in English.
The process is similar, though slightly different, for descriptive and action verbs. Action verbs have three different forms (past, present, and future) and descriptive verbs have two (future and present). Here we'll focus on the present tense.
First we'll tackle descriptive verbs. (있다, 없다, and verbs that end with 있다 or 없다 are exceptions. They conjugate like action verbs here; see below.)
작다 → 작은
나쁘다 → 나쁜
달다 → 단
쉽다 → 쉬운
Action verbs as well as 있다 and 없다 are much more straightforward to turn into modifiers than descriptive verbs. Simply take the verb stem and add -는.
가다 → 가는
먹다 → 먹는
있다 → 있는
맛없다 → 맛없는
A verb stem ending in ㄹ will drop the ㄹ.
This modifier can be translated in multiple ways in English, often as "doing" or "who/that/which is doing."
However, it could be literally anything. In English we have which, who, where, when, whose, with which, etc., but they all can be translated to -(으)ㄴ or -는. If a sentence in the present tense modifies a noun, you can use it.
제가 먹는 샌드위치: The sandwich which I am eating
음식이 맛있는 한국: Korea where food is delicious
손이 큰 남자: A man whose hand is big
밥을 먹는 그릇: A bowl with which (one) eats rice (or A bowl that eats rice (?))
n. having a higher or stronger degree than anything/anyone else
가장 is used to make the superlative form of a descriptive verb, and is usually translated to the most. However, there is a slight difference between English and Korean here. By definition, only one of the group can receive the honorable title "가장". If there are two tallest people in the world of the exactly same height, there is no 가장 tall person.
Moods in 해요체 are much simpler than in 합쇼체. Let's get started!
To form the imperative in 해요체 you need to start with the verb stem and add (으)세요.
As you may now be used to, how this works depends on whether the stem ends with a vowel or a consonant.
By dropping the ㄹ, verbs like 살다 and 사다 have the same imperative form, 사세요. The meaning is therefore derived from context.
Note: The usual declarative ending -아요/-어요 can be used in lieu of -(으)세요, but it is less formal.
The primary meaning of the verb 다니다 is "to go," but it implies the person goes to the place regularly or frequently and has something to do there. Figuratively you can say 다니다 for your workplace or school. "저는 학교에 다닙니다." would most likely mean you attend school (as opposed to you just go there frequently), and you can also say that when you are asked what your job is. This verb can be transitive and intransitive, and it takes 을(를) and 에 as a particle after the place, respectively.
Moods in 해요체 are much simpler than in 합쇼체. Let's get started!
To form the imperative in 해요체 you need to start with the verb stem and add (으)세요.
As you may now be used to, how this works depends on whether the stem ends with a vowel or a consonant.
By dropping the ㄹ, verbs like 살다 and 사다 have the same imperative form, 사세요. The meaning is therefore derived from context.
Note: The usual declarative ending -아요/-어요 can be used in lieu of -(으)세요, but it is less formal.
The primary meaning of the verb 다니다 is "to go," but it implies the person goes to the place regularly or frequently and has something to do there. Figuratively you can say 다니다 for your workplace or school. "저는 학교에 다닙니다." would most likely mean you attend school (as opposed to you just go there frequently), and you can also say that when you are asked what your job is. This verb can be transitive and intransitive, and it takes 을(를) and 에 as a particle after the place, respectively.
Another suffix that can be translated as "and" is ~서. Unlike ~고, ~서 implies sequence of events. It can also be translated as "and so" or "and then."
To attach ~서, take the 해요 form of the verb, drop the 요 and attach ~서.
저는 먹어서 마셔요.=> I eat and drink/I eat and then I drink.
Note: This form is not attached to a verb conjugated for tense. The tense is indicated by the final verb.
Stand alone form: 그래서
Another suffix that can be translated as "and" is ~서. Unlike ~고, ~서 implies sequence of events. It can also be translated as "and so" or "and then."
To attach ~서, take the 해요 form of the verb, drop the 요 and attach ~서.
저는 먹어서 마셔요.=> I eat and drink/I eat and then I drink.
Note: This form is not attached to a verb conjugated for tense. The tense is indicated by the final verb.
Stand alone form: 그래서
Family in Korean, like in many Asian languages, is a tricky subject. Depending on age and formality, many words exist where in English there would just be one. We'll try to make it fairly straightforward for you :)
As we saw in Honorifics with grandparent terms, many familial terms take the ending ~님 with a slight change of the root word to add extra respect for the family member.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 어머니 | 어머님 |
| 아버지 | 아버님 |
| 아들 | 아드님 |
| 딸 | 따님 |
| 누나 | 누님 |
Age is important in determining hierarchy and respect in Korean society.
One example is 우리 for "my." When talking about something important, usually shared in common by a community, like your country, president, or school, Koreans usually say 우리 to mean "my" as a sign of respect. The same is true with parents and older relatives, as well as sometimes children. When you want to emphasis "our" over "my" you just add 들 to erase the confusion.
Another example is siblings, which has 6 words where English would have only 2. The name you use for a sibling depends on your gender, their gender, and who's older.
| Speaker's Gender | Older Sister | Older Brother | Younger Sister | Younger Brother |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 누나 | 형 | (여)동생 | (남)동생 |
| Female | 언니 | 오빠 | (여)동생 | (남)동생 |
You would only ever call an older sibling 오빠 or 누나, and never their name. The same is true for older cousins and older friends. Which certainly takes some getting used to. If we knew your brother's name then we'd add his name as a translation for 형, but that's sadly impossible, so please write brother as a translation for 형 though in reality you never call your brother brother. The same goes for 누나, and so on.
"If" in Korean is marked by ~(으)면. This suffix is added to the base verb stem. ~면 follows stems ending in a vowel or a ㄹ. ~으면 follows stems ending in a consonant.
저는 먹으면 마셔요.=> If I eat, I drink.
"When," "while," or "as" is marked by ~(으)면서. ~(으)면서 is attached to the stem in the same way as ~(으)면 above.
In formal writing, ~(으)면서 may be written as ~(으)며.
저는 먹으면서 마셔요.=> I drink when/while/as I eat.
Every Korean sentence changes based on two factors: the listener and the subject.
The listener dictates the speech level, which we've already seen.
The subject dictates the use of honorifics.
These two are mutually exclusive. Honorifics can be used in any of the speech levels of Korean, creating a very, very wide variety of sentences.
The honorific is usually seen on the verb, just like speech levels, but there are also some special honorific nouns and particles.
Honorifics are usually used when talking about older relatives, people of higher social status, deities, and other respected entities, implying that the speaker is lower in status and therefore showing honor and respect for the subject.
It would be incredibly rude to use this form in any way to refer to yourself.
Usually the honorific is formed simply by adding ~시다 to the verb stem, after applying the special cases (ie 듣=>들, 덥=>더우, etc).
Form most verbs ending in a consonant, drop ~다 and add ~으시다. 얻다=>얻으시다
With a verb stem ending in a ㄹ, drop the ㄹ as well. 살다=>사시다
ㄷ special case verbs do not drop the ㄹ, but instead act like a regular consonant. 듣다=>들으시다
For a verb ending in a vowel, simply add ~시다. 하다=>하시다
~시다 is slightly irregular, but works similar to other verbs.
| 하다 | 하시다 |
|---|---|
| 합니다 | 하십니다 |
| 해요 | 하세요 |
| 해 | 하셔 |
| 한다 | 하신다 |
If some of this looks familiar, it's because you've already seen ~시다 in the imperative.
Rather than simply add ~시다, some verbs have their own honorific forms.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 먹다 | 드시다 |
| 마시다 | 드시다 |
| 있다 | 계시다* |
| 자다 | 주무시다 |
| 말하다 | 말씀하시다 |
In addition, the verb 드리다 replaces 주다 when giving something to an honored person.
*계시다 replaces 있다 only in the sense of "to be" or "to exist." The sense of "to have" can be formed using 있으시다. 계시다 is still used when forming the progressive (~ing) form of the verb.
Other words also have their own forms.
| Plain | Honorific |
|---|---|
| 밥 | 진지 |
| 이/가 | 께서 |
| 에게 | 께 |
| 집 | 댁 |
| 나이 (age) | 연세 |
| 이름 (name) | 성함 |
| 생일 (birthday) | 생신 |
| 명 (counter) | 분 |
Korean forms of address are a type of honorific.
~씨 is a lower level honorific usually added to somebody's name.
~님 is a higher level of addressed usually added to somebody's title or to a relationship term. With relationship terms, there is sometimes a slight change to the original when adding the stem.
As such a verb heavy language, Korean has a large number of adverbs. We've split them between several skills, here focusing on adverbs of degree.
Korean adverbs come before the verb.
When given the option between an adjective describing a noun or an adverb on the verb, Korean will use the adverb more often than we do in English. For example, to say "He reads many books" rather than the direct translation "그는 많은 책을 읽어요," the correct sentence would be "그는 책을 많이 읽어요"
The superlative form in Korean is formed using 가장 or 제일 plus the adjective/descriptive verb. Both can be used interchangeably, but 가장 means "the most," and 제일 means "number one."
Usually the phrase is 제일/가장 + Modifier form + Noun.
For example, 제일 맛있는 음식=the most delicious food
When forming a superlative in English, the noun is not always used, for example "This book is the best." In Korean, you would translate that as 이 책은 제일 좋은 책이에요 "This book is the best book" or 이 책은 제일 좋은 것이에요 "This book is the best one." Unlike in English where we actively seek to avoid repeating the noun, it is completely okay in Korean.
Comparative in Korean is introduced with the particle 보다. 보다 can be translated as "than" and attaches to the end of the noun to which the first noun is being compared and usually comes right before the descriptive verb.
이 사과는 바나나보다 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious than the banana.
Just using 보다 is enough to indicate the comparative form, but 더 is sometimes added before the descriptive verb for emphasis. Like English, the 보다 part can be omitted and simply adding 더 before the descriptive verb is enough.
이 사과가 더 맛있어요.
This apple is more delicious.
Note: Of course, you can change the word order. Since the topic normally comes first, when 보다 comes first instead, the other noun is usually followed by 이(가) rather than 은(는). Whether the word order is changed or not, 이(가) emphasizes the noun before it.
There are some interesting adverbs that have a negative meaning in Korean that deserve special mention.
별로 안 좋아요.=It is not too good/It is not very good.
별로 없어요.=There is not much.
거의 없어요=There is almost nothing.
그녀는 그리 안 나빠요.=She is not [so/that] bad. 그게 그리 나빠요?=Is it that bad?
Korea has an amazing restaurant culture that any visitor has to try. Here we'll give you some of the basic vocab you'll need when going out to eat for a delicious meal.
In general, when talking about type of restaurant, you can simply say X 식당, like 파스타 식당 for 'pasta restaurant.' However, more popular is to add either 집 or 점.
집 is less common, with 술집 and 빵집 most common, as well as 찻집 for 'tea house.' Usually 집 follows a dish or type of food.
점 is more common, and is usually used with a type of cuisine (한식점), but may also be used with a dish. Sometimes this is X전문점, an "X specialty restaurant."
We often talk about types of cuisine by simply saying "미국 + 음식" or "미국 + 요리," respectively "American food" and "American cooking."
For types of cuisine common in Korea, there are shortened versions, 한식, 일식, and 양식. 한 and 일 represent Korea and Japan, while 양 means "Western"
*후식 is dessert, literally "after food"
When you want to get your waiter's attention at a restaurant, there may be a button on the table that let's them know you need something. If not, simply shout out "저기요!" and they'll come to you.
시키다 means "to order," and means as well to force someone to do something. When you order, you are asking them to make the food for you, so it's 시키다.
주문하다 also means "to order," and is more to request something.
주문하다 is a bit more humble, so might be used more when talking to the waiter, while 시키다 might be used more with your friend.
Many Korean restaurants specialize in one type of food and only have a few options on the menu. For foods like bbq, fried rice, and stir fries there might be a grill on the table, and the whole table will just order one main dish to share. Therefore, you use 인분 to specify how many portions. 인분 acts like a counter word and takes a Sino-Korean number.
불고기 일 인분=one portion of 불고기
Traditional table settings in Korea are metal chopsticks and a spoon with a long handle. There's even an abbreviation of 숟가락 and 젓가락, 수저.
Food is served family style, and each person will have their own small plate or bowl, plus their own rice. Side soups are usually eaten from a communal bowl and you will usually not take your full serving at once, but will take little bits of food throughout the meal.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 분 | part | 分 |
| 사 | -er | 师 |
| 채식 | vegetarian food | 采食 |
| 주의 | -ism | 主义 |
| 자 | -er | 者 |
| 주 | alcohol | 酒 |
| 가락 | stick of something |
In this lesson about clothing the grammar and vocabulary are fairly straightforward, though there are some verb issues to contend with. Here we go!
Korean has multiple words meaning "to put on," each with their own distinct though potentially overlapping meanings.
Depending on context, these words can mean "to put on," "to wear," or "to be wearing."
| Verb | Meaning | Types of Clothing |
|---|---|---|
| 입다 | To wear/to slip on | General clothing |
| 신다 | To wear footwear | Socks, shoes |
| 쓰다 | To wear on the head | Hat, glasses |
| 끼다 | To wear on the hand | Gloves, ring |
| 차다 | To wear/clasp | Belt, watch, earrings |
| 매다 | To wrap/tie | Tie, scarf, necklace, shoelaces |
Some other verbs may be used in very limited cases, so we will not introduce them here.
In the same way, there are multiple ways to say "to take off." although in a more limited way.
| Verb | Meaning | Types of Clothing |
|---|---|---|
| 벗다 | To take off/remove | General clothing, shoes, hats |
| 풀다 | To untie/unwrap | Scarf, tie, watch, belt |
| 빼다 | To pull off/out | Gloves, belt, ring, watch |
Another one or two verbs, such as 떼다 (to detach) may also be used in other limited cases.
By adding 갈아~ in front of 입다 we get 갈아입다 "to change clothes."
갈아~ also works this way for 갈아타다 "to transfer bus/train/plane"
Korean traditional clothing is the hanbok, which originated in the Joseon dynasty. Hanbok is more a style of clothing than an article, usually composed of several pieces with bright colors and simple lines. People today still wear hanbok, although usually on ceremonial occasions such as weddings and certain holidays.
So 구두 and 신발 both mean shoes, but while 신발 is a general term, 구두 is more for dress shoes.
In Korean belt can be either 허리띠 or 벨트, but while 허리띠 is only a piece of clothing, 벨트 can also be a piece of machinery.
The verb 되다 has many uses and meanings in Korean. It can serve as "to become", "to turn", or "to be."
In this lesson we see X면 안 돼요. This literally means "If you do X, it is not becoming." In plainer English, this would be "doing X is not okay." You can also say this in the positive, X면 돼요 "doing X is okay."
Sometimes we translate this as "it is okay/it is not okay" or "it is allowed/it is not allowed", but also "you should/you should not", "you can/you cannot", or "you may/you may not." This is not imperative, so it will not be translated as "Do not do X."
Now that we've learned four different ways for form the present tense, here we go into the past.
All Korean speech levels are formed from the 아/어 form we learned in Casual. We then add ~ㅆ to the end of the syllable, giving us 았/었 as the basic past tense verb stem. Vowel harmony ends here, and the double ㅅ is followed by the vowel 어.
| Formal | Polite | Casual | Written | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statement | 했습니다 | 했어요 | 했어 | 했다 |
| Question | 했습니까 | 했어요 | 했어 | 했느냐/했니 |
There are a number of instances where in English we would use present but in Korean the past. Here we have 생기다 and 오래되다.
In both these cases, these verbs describe something that has already happened. With exact translation, rather than saying "someone is ugly" Korean translates as "someone was poorly formed" and instead of "something is old" Korean has "something has become old."
There are two ways to realize "but" in Korean. First we will discuss ~지만.
저는 먹지 않지만 마셔요.=>I do not eat, but I do drink.
Stand alone form: 하지만 (more colloquial)/그렇지만
~는데 is attached to action verb stems and ~은데 to descriptive verbs.
저는 먹는데 안 마셔요.=> I eat, but I do not drink.
저는 한국에 갔는데, 재미있었어요=> I went to Korea and it was fun.
Stand alone form: 그런데/근데 (spoken)
Now that we've learned four different ways for form the present tense, here we go into the past.
All Korean speech levels are formed from the 아/어 form we learned in Casual. We then add ~ㅆ to the end of the syllable, giving us 았/었 as the basic past tense verb stem. Vowel harmony ends here, and the double ㅅ is followed by the vowel 어.
| Formal | Polite | Casual | Written | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statement | 했습니다 | 했어요 | 했어 | 했다 |
| Question | 했습니까 | 했어요 | 했어 | 했느냐/했니 |
There are a number of instances where in English we would use present but in Korean the past. Here we have 생기다 and 오래되다.
In both these cases, these verbs describe something that has already happened. With exact translation, rather than saying "someone is ugly" Korean translates as "someone was poorly formed" and instead of "something is old" Korean has "something has become old."
There are two ways to realize "but" in Korean. First we will discuss ~지만.
저는 먹지 않지만 마셔요.=>I do not eat, but I do drink.
Stand alone form: 하지만 (more colloquial)/그렇지만
~는데 is attached to action verb stems and ~은데 to descriptive verbs.
저는 먹는데 안 마셔요.=> I eat, but I do not drink.
저는 한국에 갔는데, 재미있었어요=> I went to Korea and it was fun.
Stand alone form: 그런데/근데 (spoken)
In this lesson we'll do some review of the verbs we already know while introducing the Continuous aspect of Korean verbs.
The use of this verbal aspect is more restrictive than in English, in the present tense focusing only on verbs currently in progress. Even then, in many cases it is used more for emphasis than the English equivalent, with the simple present tense usually taking precedence.
Let's start off with action verbs. Take the verb stem (root minus ~다) and add ~고 있다. ~고 있다 conjugates just like the 있다 we've already learned, and it's as simple as that!
먹다=>먹고 있다
저는 치킨을 먹고 있어요=I am eating fried chicken
Stative verbs like 앉다 or 서다 take the continuous differently. Of course, it is possible to say 앉고 있어요, although this would translate more closely to "I am being seated" than "I am sitting."
To truly say "I am sitting" you would say 저는 앉아 있어요.
The rule here s to take the Casual form and add 있어요. In grammar books this may be written as 아/어 있다.
We mentioned when introducing the possessive aspect of 있다 that there are other ways to indicate the possessive in Korean. Here we teach the verbs 가지다 (sometimes 갖다) and 들다, with 가지다 the more common of the two.
Both these verbs can be translated as "to hold" or "to carry." 들다 additionally can mean "to pick up" or "to take in hand."
In the continuous aspect, both these verbs become "to have." This is more specific, and restrictive, than using 있다.
While "A는 B가 있다" in general indicated that A possesses B, "A가 B를 가지고 있다" implies that A is carrying around B. This makes sense if it's something in your bag or your pocket, but it makes less sense when you're talking about your house or your friend.
선생님 means "teacher" in Korean, but is also a common term of respect. It is not uncommon for strangers to call each other 선생님 on the streets in polite conversation when they do not know which other term of address would be most appropriate. Additionally, it is sometimes added to the end of other titles, like doctor, to convey a deeper level of respect.
Students in school generally address their teachers solely as 선생님.
As the term is respectful, there is a more informal version that students use when they are talking to a favorite teacher, 쌤, which is a slang abbreviation of 선(ㅅ)생(새)님(ㅁ).
In this lesson we'll do some review of the verbs we already know while introducing the Continuous aspect of Korean verbs.
The use of this verbal aspect is more restrictive than in English, in the present tense focusing only on verbs currently in progress. Even then, in many cases it is used more for emphasis than the English equivalent, with the simple present tense usually taking precedence.
Let's start off with action verbs. Take the verb stem (root minus ~다) and add ~고 있다. ~고 있다 conjugates just like the 있다 we've already learned, and it's as simple as that!
먹다=>먹고 있다
저는 치킨을 먹고 있어요=I am eating fried chicken
Stative verbs like 앉다 or 서다 take the continuous differently. Of course, it is possible to say 앉고 있어요, although this would translate more closely to "I am being seated" than "I am sitting."
To truly say "I am sitting" you would say 저는 앉아 있어요.
The rule here s to take the Casual form and add 있어요. In grammar books this may be written as 아/어 있다.
We mentioned when introducing the possessive aspect of 있다 that there are other ways to indicate the possessive in Korean. Here we teach the verbs 가지다 (sometimes 갖다) and 들다, with 가지다 the more common of the two.
Both these verbs can be translated as "to hold" or "to carry." 들다 additionally can mean "to pick up" or "to take in hand."
In the continuous aspect, both these verbs become "to have." This is more specific, and restrictive, than using 있다.
While "A는 B가 있다" in general indicated that A possesses B, "A가 B를 가지고 있다" implies that A is carrying around B. This makes sense if it's something in your bag or your pocket, but it makes less sense when you're talking about your house or your friend.
선생님 means "teacher" in Korean, but is also a common term of respect. It is not uncommon for strangers to call each other 선생님 on the streets in polite conversation when they do not know which other term of address would be most appropriate. Additionally, it is sometimes added to the end of other titles, like doctor, to convey a deeper level of respect.
Students in school generally address their teachers solely as 선생님.
As the term is respectful, there is a more informal version that students use when they are talking to a favorite teacher, 쌤, which is a slang abbreviation of 선(ㅅ)생(새)님(ㅁ).
Indefinite pronouns are words like someone, anyone, or no one, that take the place of a noun but do not refer to a specific person, place, or thing.
To express "every" we have three words. One is a noun, another is an adjective, and the third is an adverb.
우리 모두= We all
모든 사람=everyone
다 먹다=eat everything
아무 고기=any meat
아무 고기나=whichever meat
To say "at anytime" or "anywhere" you use 때 and 데, respectively.
아무 때나=at any time 아무 데나=anywhere
~(이)나 may also be attached to question words.
언제나 means "whenever" 무엇이나 means "whatever"
The differences between ~이나 and 이든지 are very subtle and even Koreans may have a hard time explaining the difference. However, one example is that 언제나 may have a little bit more of an "all the time" connotation, compared with 언제든지.
아무 고기도=no meat
When you want to talk about "something" you simply use the question words.
저는 무엇을 먹었습니다=I ate something.
You can also use 어떤 followed by a noun.
저는 어떤 것을 먹었습니다=I ate something.
각각 and 각자 both mean "each" and are used similarly to "each" in English. 각각 is more general, while 각자 is used more specifically with people.
대부분 means "most" or "most of" and usually comes after a noun.
우리 대부분=most of us
We've already learned 지금 for "now", so what is this new word 이제?
이제 has added emphasis that something has changed, and is often used with ~까지 or ~부터 to mean "up to now" or "from now on"
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 각 | each | 各 |
| 자 | individual | 自 |
| 문제 | problem | 问题 |
| 대부분 | big-division | 大部分 |
Korea has four different seasons. Let's take a look at what those seasons are like.
벚꽃-Just like in Japan and Washington DC, cherry blossoms are a thing in Korea. They're beautiful.
새끼-This word is often used to describe baby animals. 새끼 곰 is bear cub, for example. A puppy, though, is 강아지. Don't combine dog+baby, just don't. You'll probably end up in the ER by 5 minutes.
푸른-Blue or green? In the past, the basic terms in Korean didn't differentiate between the two. Just one word, 푸르다, meant the both. Similar to how light blue and dark blue are both blue, but other languages might have separate words. This means that the sky, water, and grass can all be 푸른.
황사-Every year in summer clouds of yellow dust blow into Korea from the Gobi Desert in China. It creates a haze and leaves a film on many things. There are good days and bad days, and some with no 황사 at all.
해-We've already seen 해 in Time. The use of 해 as 'year' is based on its original meaning of 'sun'
해수욕장-This is a type of beach, specifically the one where you go to swim or sunbathe
낙엽-This comes from Chinese characters and means specifically fallen leaves.
긁다-It makes some sense, but the word for "rake" is also means "scratch." It may be combined with 모이다 to form 긁어모이다 "to rake up"
As explained earlier, 동안 means the time period of the preceded noun or phrase. With a phrase or a sentence, just like when qualifying any other nouns in the present tense, the ending of the verb becomes -는. Note that, while 동안 is usually translated to during or while, it is a noun in Korean. Unlike English, since Korean uses relative tense, the preceding verb is always in the present tense. Descriptive verbs except 있다 and 없다 cannot be used with 동안.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 여름 동안 | during the summer |
| 사과를 먹는 동안 | while eating an apple |
| 내가 여기에 있는 동안 | while I am here |
~(으)러 means "in order to" and is only used to connect an action with a verb of motion. It indicates that you are going somewhere in order to complete an action.
~으러 is attached to verb stems ending in consonants and ~러 to vowels.
저는 먹으러 식당에 가요.=> I go to the restaurant to eat.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 황 | yellow | 黄 |
| 사 | sand | 沙 |
| 해수 | seawater | 海水 |
| 낙엽 | fallen leave | 落叶 |
Adverbs of frequency work just like other adverbs, usually coming just before the verb.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 가끔 | sometimes |
| 자주 | often |
| 보통 | usually |
| 항상 | always |
Never is not included in the list above because it doesn't work in Korean quite like the others.
There are two options that roughly translate as "never." Both are only used along with some form of negation on the verb.
*결코: literally "at all". Might be translated as something along the lines of "no matter what." This acts the most similarly to English "never."
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 금 | gold | 金 |
| 붕어 | carp | 鮒魚 |
| 뱀 | snake | |
| 보통 | usually | 普通 |
As we've already seen, Korean verbs have aspects of meaning absent from their English counterparts. Here we'll introduce another level of meaning to improve your Korean fluency.
First up is ~주다. 주다 (to give) attaches directly to the Casual form of the verb, sometimes called the 아/어 form in grammar books.
Taking it's meaning from "to give", V아/어주다 implies that the action is being done for the benefit of someone else. Sometimes this aspect of generosity is translated into English, but more often than not it isn't.
우리는 남자에게 읽어줍니다=We read to the man.
먹어주세요=Eat it (for me).
Next we have ~보다. 보다 (to see) attaches to the Casual 아/어 form as well.
Stemming from the meaning of "to see," V아/어보다 has the meaning of to try something out, to see how it is. Both 먹어보다 and 마셔보다 can mean "to try" or "to taste," literally "to see what it's like to eat" and "to see what it's like to drink"
읽어보세요=Read it/Take a look at it
해보세요=Give it a try
Now let's look at ~하다. While ~주다 and ~보다 can attach to most any word, ~하다 is more restricted. Usually this compound ending attaches to the 아/어 form of descriptive verbs.
In fact, we've already seen this a few times, with words like 좋아하다 and 싫어하다.
Adding V아/어하다 means to treat something a certain way. For example, 좋다 ="good" and 좋아하다="to like" (to treat something like it is good).
It can also mean "to act like..." For example, 슬프다="to be sad" while 슬퍼하다="to act sad." Usually this aspect of ~하다 compound verbs is only used when talking in the third person because it is something that you have observed. When talking about yourself, you would just say that you were sad, not that you were acting sad.
무섭다=to be scary
무서워하다=to fear
Finally we have ~가다 and ~오다, which you should recognize as "to go" and "to come."
Coming after V아/어, this pair of endings is usually used with verbs of motion to indicate direction. For example, 내리다="to move downward" so 내려오다="to come down" and 내려가다="to go down."
돌다=to return
돌아오다=to come back
돌아가다=to go back
We've already taught you 원하다 as "to want something" and now here we have ~고 싶다 "to want to do something."
~고 싶다 attaches to the verb stem (V minus 다), and is treated as a descriptive verb. When talking about a third person, you would only ever use the compound ~고 싶어하다.
저는 가고 싶어요=I want to go
그녀는 가고 싶어해요=She wants to go
괴 - ghost (怪)
As we've already seen, Korean verbs have aspects of meaning absent from their English counterparts. Here we'll introduce another level of meaning to improve your Korean fluency.
First up is ~주다. 주다 (to give) attaches directly to the Casual form of the verb, sometimes called the 아/어 form in grammar books.
Taking it's meaning from "to give", V아/어주다 implies that the action is being done for the benefit of someone else. Sometimes this aspect of generosity is translated into English, but more often than not it isn't.
우리는 남자에게 읽어줍니다=We read to the man.
먹어주세요=Eat it (for me).
Next we have ~보다. 보다 (to see) attaches to the Casual 아/어 form as well.
Stemming from the meaning of "to see," V아/어보다 has the meaning of to try something out, to see how it is. Both 먹어보다 and 마셔보다 can mean "to try" or "to taste," literally "to see what it's like to eat" and "to see what it's like to drink"
읽어보세요=Read it/Take a look at it
해보세요=Give it a try
Now let's look at ~하다. While ~주다 and ~보다 can attach to most any word, ~하다 is more restricted. Usually this compound ending attaches to the 아/어 form of descriptive verbs.
In fact, we've already seen this a few times, with words like 좋아하다 and 싫어하다.
Adding V아/어하다 means to treat something a certain way. For example, 좋다 ="good" and 좋아하다="to like" (to treat something like it is good).
It can also mean "to act like..." For example, 슬프다="to be sad" while 슬퍼하다="to act sad." Usually this aspect of ~하다 compound verbs is only used when talking in the third person because it is something that you have observed. When talking about yourself, you would just say that you were sad, not that you were acting sad.
무섭다=to be scary
무서워하다=to fear
Finally we have ~가다 and ~오다, which you should recognize as "to go" and "to come."
Coming after V아/어, this pair of endings is usually used with verbs of motion to indicate direction. For example, 내리다="to move downward" so 내려오다="to come down" and 내려가다="to go down."
돌다=to return
돌아오다=to come back
돌아가다=to go back
We've already taught you 원하다 as "to want something" and now here we have ~고 싶다 "to want to do something."
~고 싶다 attaches to the verb stem (V minus 다), and is treated as a descriptive verb. When talking about a third person, you would only ever use the compound ~고 싶어하다.
저는 가고 싶어요=I want to go
그녀는 가고 싶어해요=She wants to go
괴 - ghost (怪)
Here we have the other half of the Korean number system, the Sino-Korean numbers.
Sino-Korean numbers are used for dates, money, phone numbers, addresses, and in math, as well as in large numbers.
The number 6 in Sino-Korean is 육, but is 륙 in North Korean. In South Korea the ㄹ pronunciation was lost and the ㄹ was replaced with ㅇ, but there is still a ghost of ㄹ left behind.
For the number 16, 십육, the deleted ㄹ reacts with the ㅂ and the word is pronounced 심뉵.
In Korean the dashes/spaces in a phone number are read as 에. So 010-723-6045 would be read 공일공에 칠이삼에 육공사오.
When Sino-Korean numbers are used with nouns, those nouns often double as counters. Two dollars is 이 달러 not 달러 이 개.
Once you reach 100, Sino-Korean takes over completely from Native Korean. Which is good, since Korean numbers are complicated.
Korean numbers follow the general East Asian number pattern. Instead of base 1000 like English, the base in Korean is 10 thousand.
This will take some getting used to, but 100 thousand is actually 10*10,000.
After 만, we have 억 (100 million) and 조 (1 trillion). Each number has four more zeroes than the number before.
Here we have the other half of the Korean number system, the Sino-Korean numbers.
Sino-Korean numbers are used for dates, money, phone numbers, addresses, and in math, as well as in large numbers.
The number 6 in Sino-Korean is 육, but is 륙 in North Korean. In South Korea the ㄹ pronunciation was lost and the ㄹ was replaced with ㅇ, but there is still a ghost of ㄹ left behind.
For the number 16, 십육, the deleted ㄹ reacts with the ㅂ and the word is pronounced 심뉵.
In Korean the dashes/spaces in a phone number are read as 에. So 010-723-6045 would be read 공일공에 칠이삼에 육공사오.
When Sino-Korean numbers are used with nouns, those nouns often double as counters. Two dollars is 이 달러 not 달러 이 개.
Once you reach 100, Sino-Korean takes over completely from Native Korean. Which is good, since Korean numbers are complicated.
Korean numbers follow the general East Asian number pattern. Instead of base 1000 like English, the base in Korean is 10 thousand.
This will take some getting used to, but 100 thousand is actually 10*10,000.
After 만, we have 억 (100 million) and 조 (1 trillion). Each number has four more zeroes than the number before.
Here we learn the vocab for a few everyday objects that you will hopefully find useful!
The word broken in English has pretty broad meaning, when you think of it. Something could be smashed, snapped, shattered, or cracked and be "broken." Korean doesn't have an all encompassing word quite like English. One of the more common ways to say something is broken is a phrase itself "고장이 나다."
고장 means something like "problem" or "malfunction" and 나다 means "arise" or "grow"
Based on this, it only has the meaning of something being broken so as not to work, not that something has been shattered or cracked in pieces.
The verb 줍다 means to "pick up" but it has more of a connotation of gathering up or collecting. Think trash, seashells, leaves, etc.
We introduce the word 실크 here. Of course, having been along the Silk Road there is already a Korean word for silk. In fact, there are many. 비단, 생사, 명주, 견포. Raw silk, silk thread, silk fabric. But, sometimes, in modern Korean when talking about silk in a more abstract way, rather than about a piece of silk thread or fabric, you can just use 실크.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 자 | self | 自 |
| 전 | roll | 传 |
| 거 | vehicle | 车 |
| 볼펜 | ballpoint pen | |
| 기 | machine | 机 |
| 계 | equipment | 械 |
| 형광 | florescent | 螢光 |
| 지우다 | erase | |
| 개 | -er | |
| 솥 | cauldron |
Generally speaking, a gerund is the ~ing form of a verb, a verbal noun.
Korean has two ways of forming what would be a gerund in English, with overlapping but slightly different uses.
The most popular form is the present tense modifier (V는) plus 것.
This form is the more common in speaking.
하는 것 has a connotation of an ongoing action, not just "doing" but "the act of doing."
Just like in other circumstances, 것 can be abbreviated or contracted to 거, 건, 게, 걸.
The second form is made by taking the verb stem (V) plus 기.
This form may sometimes be more formal.
하기 has a more general connotation, "doing," and may be more abstract or impersonal.
To say "before doing X" we use this form, saying X하기 전에.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 전 | before | 前 |
| 계획 | plan | 计划 |
| 여행 | travel | 旅行 |
| 중요 | important | 重要 |
Generally speaking, a gerund is the ~ing form of a verb, a verbal noun.
Korean has two ways of forming what would be a gerund in English, with overlapping but slightly different uses.
The most popular form is the present tense modifier (V는) plus 것.
This form is the more common in speaking.
하는 것 has a connotation of an ongoing action, not just "doing" but "the act of doing."
Just like in other circumstances, 것 can be abbreviated or contracted to 거, 건, 게, 걸.
The second form is made by taking the verb stem (V) plus 기.
This form may sometimes be more formal.
하기 has a more general connotation, "doing," and may be more abstract or impersonal.
To say "before doing X" we use this form, saying X하기 전에.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 전 | before | 前 |
| 계획 | plan | 计划 |
| 여행 | travel | 旅行 |
| 중요 | important | 重要 |
Here we talk about numbering hours, days, months, and years, but we won't get in to dates or days of the week until later.
Telling time requires a mixture of Sino-Korean and Native Korean numbers.
Native Korean is used with the hour, 1:00=한 시
Minutes and seconds take Sino-Korean, 2:30= 두 시 삼십 분
오후 (afternoon) or 오전 (before noon) can come before the time to indicate AM or PM
Similarly the period of the day comes before the time, 11 at night=밤 열한 시
When counting hours, use 시간 with Native Korean numbers
한 시=1:00 한 시간=1 hour
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 그저께 | Day before yesterday |
| 어제 | Yesterday |
| 오늘 | Today |
| 내일 | Tomorrow |
| 모레 | Day after tomorrow |
When asking for the date, instead of 몇일 it becomes 며칠.
"Last night" is 어젯밤. The ㅅ added to the end of 어제 is a common addition to compound words.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 지난 | Last |
| 이번 | This |
| 다음 | Next |
| 마지막 | Final |
These qualifiers come before the time period they describe
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 작년 | Last year |
| 올해 | This year |
| 내년 | Next year |
해 is the Native Korean word for "year" and is used in some limited situations, like 올해 (this year) and 그해 (that year)
년 is the Sino-Korean word for "year" and other than the examples above, can also be used in 금년 (this year), as well as the date with Sino-Korean numbers.
2017년=이천십칠 년
일 is the Sino-Korean word for "day" and is usually used in the date, together with Sino-Korean numbers.
날 is the Native Korean word for "day" and is used most often in the names of holidays, with ordinal numbers (둘째 날=2nd day), and when describing a day (좋은 날=good day)
Month has a similar pair, with 달 being Korean and 월 coming from Chinese. When counting months, use Native Korean with 달 or Sino-Korean with 개월.
Just to make things fun, Korean has two ways of counting days. The first is just Sino-Korean number+일, which is pretty easy.
The second way is based on the Native Korean numbers, but it's not so intuitive, so you'll have to memorize them. 하루 is very commonly used, but the higher the number gets the more likely it is to be in Sino-Korean.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| One day | 하루 |
| Two days | 이틀 |
| Three days | 사흘 |
| Four days | 나흘 |
| Five days | 닷새 |
| Six days | 엿새 |
| Seven days | 이레 |
| Eight days | 여드레 |
| Nine days | 아흐레 |
| Ten days | 열흘 |
~부터 is a particle that means 'from.' It is used with dates and times instead of ~에서.
동안 means the time period of the preceding noun or phrase. It is usually followed by 에, but also the 에 is usually dropped. 동안(에) can usually be translated to during. When used with a noun, simply put 동안 after the noun and a space. With a phrase will be explained later.
Note: Nouns that cannot stand alone such as 년, 일, 시, 분, etc. are called bound nouns. A space is required before a bound noun, but there are two exceptions where the space is optional.
| Correct | Incorrect | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 백 년, 백년, 100 년, 100년 | The year 100 | |
| 백 년, 100 년, 100년 | 백년 | 100 years |
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 시 | hour | 时 |
| 분 | minute | 分 |
| 초 | second | 秒 |
| 주 | week | 周 |
| 년 | year | 年 |
| 일 | day | 日 |
Here we go into how to form modifiers in the past tense.
Past tense modifiers are only used with action verbs, not descriptive ones.
We form the past tense modifier the same way we form the present modifier for a descriptive verb.
먹다=>먹은
하다=>한
돕다=>도운
살다=>산
Sometimes these past tense modifiers may be the exact same as descriptive present tense modifiers.
적다 (to be few)=>적은 (few)
vs
적다 (to write down)=>적은 (written)
This form can modifier either the subject or the object of the verb:
먹은 피자=the eaten pizza 먹은 사람=the person who ate
This past tense modifier is used in the grammar pattern to mean "after Xing"
The word broken in English has pretty broad meaning, when you think of it. Something could be smashed, snapped, shattered, or cracked and be "broken." Korean doesn't have an all encompassing word quite like English. One of the more common ways to say something is broken is a phrase itself "고장이 나다."
고장 means something like "problem" or "malfunction" and 나다 means "arise" or "grow"
Based on this, it only has the meaning of something being broken so as not to work, not that something has been shattered or cracked in pieces.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 후 | after | 后 |
Here we go into how to form modifiers in the past tense.
Past tense modifiers are only used with action verbs, not descriptive ones.
We form the past tense modifier the same way we form the present modifier for a descriptive verb.
먹다=>먹은
하다=>한
돕다=>도운
살다=>산
Sometimes these past tense modifiers may be the exact same as descriptive present tense modifiers.
적다 (to be few)=>적은 (few)
vs
적다 (to write down)=>적은 (written)
This form can modifier either the subject or the object of the verb:
먹은 피자=the eaten pizza 먹은 사람=the person who ate
This past tense modifier is used in the grammar pattern to mean "after Xing"
The word broken in English has pretty broad meaning, when you think of it. Something could be smashed, snapped, shattered, or cracked and be "broken." Korean doesn't have an all encompassing word quite like English. One of the more common ways to say something is broken is a phrase itself "고장이 나다."
고장 means something like "problem" or "malfunction" and 나다 means "arise" or "grow"
Based on this, it only has the meaning of something being broken so as not to work, not that something has been shattered or cracked in pieces.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 후 | after | 后 |
The time has finally come to learn the last of Korean's three verb tenses, the future tense.
Unlike present and past, the future tense in Korean is a compound tense, formed using more than one word.
The basic idea is that the future tense is formed by taking the future verbal modifier (explanation below) and then adding 것 and the copula ~이다.
As we've seen before, 것 has various forms and contractions. With the future tense, the two most common are 것 and 거. While 할 것입니다 (will do) might be more common in writing, 할 겁니다 is common in speaking without necessarily decreasing the politeness or formality of your sentence.
Future tense verbal modifiers have several forms, all of which end with ~ㄹ.
For verb stems ending with a vowel, simply add ㄹ to the final syllable. 하다=>할
For verb stems ending with a consonant, add 을. 먹다=>먹을
For verb stems ending with a ㄹ, do nothing, just use the stem. 만들다=>만들
For ㄷ special case verbs, those where the final ㄷ becomes a ㄹ, add 을 to the end of the stem. 듣다=>들을
It's as simple as that.
저는 한국어를 공부할 것입니다=I will study Korean.
If you're wondering where to add the honorific in the future tense, it is always on the future tense verbal modifier. You do not need to add the honorific ~시다 to the copula following 것.
There is a second form of the future, using 예정. This is formed much the same way as the main form of the future tense, although 것 is replaced with 예정.
This form of the future is for something you are planning to do, somewhere along the lines of "I'm going to..." in English.
저는 편의점에 갈 예정입니다=I'm going to go to the convenience store.
The time has finally come to learn the last of Korean's three verb tenses, the future tense.
Unlike present and past, the future tense in Korean is a compound tense, formed using more than one word.
The basic idea is that the future tense is formed by taking the future verbal modifier (explanation below) and then adding 것 and the copula ~이다.
As we've seen before, 것 has various forms and contractions. With the future tense, the two most common are 것 and 거. While 할 것입니다 (will do) might be more common in writing, 할 겁니다 is common in speaking without necessarily decreasing the politeness or formality of your sentence.
Future tense verbal modifiers have several forms, all of which end with ~ㄹ.
For verb stems ending with a vowel, simply add ㄹ to the final syllable. 하다=>할
For verb stems ending with a consonant, add 을. 먹다=>먹을
For verb stems ending with a ㄹ, do nothing, just use the stem. 만들다=>만들
For ㄷ special case verbs, those where the final ㄷ becomes a ㄹ, add 을 to the end of the stem. 듣다=>들을
It's as simple as that.
저는 한국어를 공부할 것입니다=I will study Korean.
If you're wondering where to add the honorific in the future tense, it is always on the future tense verbal modifier. You do not need to add the honorific ~시다 to the copula following 것.
There is a second form of the future, using 예정. This is formed much the same way as the main form of the future tense, although 것 is replaced with 예정.
This form of the future is for something you are planning to do, somewhere along the lines of "I'm going to..." in English.
저는 편의점에 갈 예정입니다=I'm going to go to the convenience store.
Korea has an amazing restaurant culture that any visitor has to try. Here we'll give you some of the basic vocab you'll need when going out to eat for a delicious meal.
In general, when talking about type of restaurant, you can simply say X 식당, like 파스타 식당 for 'pasta restaurant.' However, more popular is to add either 집 or 점.
집 is less common, with 술집 and 빵집 most common, as well as 찻집 for 'tea house.' Usually 집 follows a dish or type of food.
점 is more common, and is usually used with a type of cuisine (한식점), but may also be used with a dish. Sometimes this is X전문점, an "X specialty restaurant."
We often talk about types of cuisine by simply saying "미국 + 음식" or "미국 + 요리," respectively "American food" and "American cooking."
For types of cuisine common in Korea, there are shortened versions, 한식, 일식, and 양식. 한 and 일 represent Korea and Japan, while 양 means "Western"
*후식 is dessert, literally "after food"
When you want to get your waiter's attention at a restaurant, there may be a button on the table that let's them know you need something. If not, simply shout out "저기요!" and they'll come to you.
시키다 means "to order," and means as well to force someone to do something. When you order, you are asking them to make the food for you, so it's 시키다.
주문하다 also means "to order," and is more to request something.
주문하다 is a bit more humble, so might be used more when talking to the waiter, while 시키다 might be used more with your friend.
Many Korean restaurants specialize in one type of food and only have a few options on the menu. For foods like bbq, fried rice, and stir fries there might be a grill on the table, and the whole table will just order one main dish to share. Therefore, you use 인분 to specify how many portions. 인분 acts like a counter word and takes a Sino-Korean number.
불고기 일 인분=one portion of 불고기
Traditional table settings in Korea are metal chopsticks and a spoon with a long handle. There's even an abbreviation of 숟가락 and 젓가락, 수저.
Food is served family style, and each person will have their own small plate or bowl, plus their own rice. Side soups are usually eaten from a communal bowl and you will usually not take your full serving at once, but will take little bits of food throughout the meal.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 분 | part | 分 |
| 사 | -er | 师 |
| 채식 | vegetarian food | 采食 |
| 주의 | -ism | 主义 |
| 자 | -er | 者 |
| 주 | alcohol | 酒 |
| 가락 | stick of something |
It's time to learn how to form adverbs in Korean!
Forming adverbs in Korean is extremely easy. For regular adverbs, starting with a descriptive verb simply take the verb stem and add -게, similar to addinly -ly in English.
Some descriptive verbs have both regular and irregular forms. For example, 빠르다 (to be fast) can become both regular 빠르게 and irregular 빨리.
A number of descriptive verbs, mostly ending in ~하다, take ~히 as their ending as an adverb, after dropping the 하다.
조용하다 (to be quiet) =조용히 or 조용하게 (quietly)
없다 is an irregular case, becoming 없이 (without).
It's time to learn the third of the four most common Korean speech levels with Casual.
This speech level is commonly used to talk to close friends and family. It is also used when speaking to children, even when they are strangers.
If you use this to talk to strangers (other than small children) it is usually very rude. Sometimes people use this when they're angry to yell at strangers or other people that would usually be addressed more politely.
Casual speech, 해체 is very easy to form. In most cases, you simply take the Polite form and drop the -요.
먹어요=>먹어
Exceptions to this are the copula ~이다 and 하다.
개야=It is a dog. 집이야=It is a house.
하다 usually becomes simply 해, just by dropping the ~요 from the Polite form. In some cases, mostly in writing, 해 is replaced by 하여.
When using the Honorific, ~시다 becomes 셔, not 세.
해체 changes very little based on mood.
그것을 해 can be "(They) do it," "Do (they) do it?" or "Do it!"
To form the propositive, drop the ~다 from the infinitive and add ~자. So 하자 means "Let's do it!"
To form a negative imperative sentence, add "-지 마" (NOT "-지 말아") to the stem.
Korean names are usually three syllables total, with a one syllable family name and a two syllable given name. The family name comes first, and the whole name is written with no spaces. So first Korean president Syngman Rhee's name would be written 이승만.
In Casual speech it is not uncommon to use someone's actual name, especially when they are the same age or younger. When addressing someone, it is common to add ~아/야 after the name.
~아 follows a consonant ~야 follows a vowel
서연아!=Seoyeon! 민지야!=Minji!
Here we introduce two ways of making adjectives/adverbs out of nouns.
-적 is a suffix that is added after a noun, meaning "related to". It is usually used in the form of "-적인" (-related), "-적이다" (is …-related), or "-적으로" (in a …-related way).
| Korean Phrases | English Translations |
|---|---|
| 과학 | science |
| 과학적(인) 방법 | a science-related method, a scientific method |
| 방법이 과학적이다. | The method is scientific. |
| 과학적으로 | scientifically |
대하다 means to set as a target or an object and 관하다 means to set as an object of one's speech or idea. 대하다 is broader, but in practice there is little difference. These verbs usually function as adjectives (대한, 관한) or adverbs (대하여, 관하여). Note that 에 comes before them.
| Korean Phrases | English Translations |
|---|---|
| 경제 | economy |
| 경제에 대한/관한 책 | an economy-related book, a book about economy |
| 경제에 대하여/관하여 쓴 책 | a book that (one) wrote about economy, a book about economy |
Here we introduce two ways of making adjectives/adverbs out of nouns.
-적 is a suffix that is added after a noun, meaning "related to". It is usually used in the form of "-적인" (-related), "-적이다" (is …-related), or "-적으로" (in a …-related way).
| Korean Phrases | English Translations |
|---|---|
| 과학 | science |
| 과학적(인) 방법 | a science-related method, a scientific method |
| 방법이 과학적이다. | The method is scientific. |
| 과학적으로 | scientifically |
대하다 means to set as a target or an object and 관하다 means to set as an object of one's speech or idea. 대하다 is broader, but in practice there is little difference. These verbs usually function as adjectives (대한, 관한) or adverbs (대하여, 관하여). Note that 에 comes before them.
| Korean Phrases | English Translations |
|---|---|
| 경제 | economy |
| 경제에 대한/관한 책 | an economy-related book, a book about economy |
| 경제에 대하여/관하여 쓴 책 | a book that (one) wrote about economy, a book about economy |
In this lesson we'll learn some of the basic body parts. We'll get into more detail in the skill Medicine.
The Korean word for "hair" is 머리카락, with 머리 meaning "head." However, in everyday speech where it is clearly understood, people just say "머리." So 머리 깎았네! is "You've had a haircut" and not "You've trimmed your head."
The basic word for bone is 뼈. If you're talking about a bone you'd give a dog or a piece of meat on the bone, you'd probably use a different word, 뼈다귀.
Korean has 3 words for teeth. 이, 치아, and 이빨. 이 is the basic word, 치아 is more formal and sounds more medicinal, while 이빨 is less formal and may often be used when talking about animals.
English can get complicated when talking about hands and feet. Fingers vs toes. Palm vs sole. Korean has some compound words that make it a bit easier to know what you're talking about.
If you add 손 or 발 to the following words (and in one case 팔) you create compounds that are easy to understand.
| Korean | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 가락 | A "stick". Fingers and toes |
| 바닥 | "floor". Palm and sole |
| 꿈치 | bony joint. 팔꿈치 "elbow" and 발꿈치 "heel" |
| 톱 | "nail." Toenail and fingernail |
| 목 | "neck" 손목 "wrist" and 발목 "ankle" |
Korean words sometimes change when used in a compound. When a word used as a prefix ends in a vowel it sometimes has an added ㅅ at the end. So 코 "nose" as a prefix becomes 콧.
In North Korean writing they don't add the ㅅ, but the sound is still there.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 피부 | skin | 皮肤 |
| 각 | sense | 覺 |
| 후 | smell | 嗅 |
| 감 | feeling | 感 |
| 미 | flavor | 味 |
| 청 | listen | 听 |
| 촉 | touch | 觸 |
| 시 | see | 视 |
In this lesson we'll learn a few more set phrases, some words common in conversations, and some exclamations.
As we've already seen, Korean doesn't need a separate word for please, you can just politely ask someone to do something using ~주세요. However, there is 제발, which is the literal translation of please. It's use is much more limited than the English, as it seems a bit like you're pleading.
There is also 부탁하다 which means to "request" or to "ask a favor."
There are two popular toasts in Korean.
건배: Cheers, the usual thing to say when clinking together your glasses.
위하여: "Here's to", more of a toast. It's common to just say 위하여, but you can add whatever you're toasting to before the 위하여. This comes from the verb 위하다 "to do for the sake of"
안녕 can mean "hi" or "bye", but if you want to say a more formal "goodbye" there are two different ways, depending on who's going and who's staying.
안녕히 가세요: Both are based on 안녕히 "safely." 안녕히 가세요 is said to someone who is leaving, literally "go safely"
안녕히 계세요: This is said to someone who is staying behind, literally "stay safely"
A common way of saying that you're glad to have met someone, this literally means something along the lines of "I saw you first."
뵈다 is a formal way of saying "to see" and can also be used in a formal "see you later" as 나중에 봬요.
We introduce here two ways of saying "later"
나중에: This is a more generic word for "later" and is used much the same as in English.
이따가: This could be "later" but also "in a little while." It cannot be used with past tense. It usually indicates something that will be done within the next few hours.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 아싸 | yeah! |
| 대박 | great! often said with the 대 extended |
| 아이고 | ah! I've heard little old ladies going down the stairs saying this with every step |
| 우아 | wow! |
| 그냥 | just because |
| 화이팅 | good luck! you can do it! literally "fighting" |
| 진짜 | really |
In English indirect quotations are usually done with to-infinitives or that-clauses. When what you want to quote is a question, question words or whether(if)-clauses are also used. In Korean there are four way to quote indirectly.
| Quotation Endings | Usage | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -다고 | After a declarative sentence except 이다 | 철수가 선생님이 미국에 있다고 해요. *Cheolsu says the teacher is in the US. |
| -냐고 | After an interrogative sentence | 철수가 영희가 어디에 있냐고 해요. Cheolsu asks where Yeonghui is. |
| -자고 | After a propositive sentence | 철수가 미국에 가자고 해요. Cheolsu suggests that we go to the US. |
| -라고 | After 이다 in the declarative form | 저는 철수라고 해요. (They) say I am Cheolsu./My name is Cheolsu. |
Here we learn a little bit of the places you may find around the city.
Korean has a few words relating to "city" that are useful to know.
| Korean | English | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 도시 | city | |
| ~시 | City | this is a prefix that comes after the city's name |
| 수도 | capital | |
| 시내 | downtown | literally "city+inside", referring to the city center |
| 시외 | outside the city | literally "city+outside," referring to things outside the city. We'll see this more in a later skill |
The verbs 건너다 and 지나다 mean to "go across" and to "pass." Both can be used in combination with other verbs of motion to talk about "going across" or "coming across," "going past" or "coming past." 지나다 can be used sometimes as "to pass through."
지나가는 사람 means a "passerby", literally a "person who goes past"
The descriptive verb 복잡하다 literally means "complicated" but if often used to describe somewhere that is crowded. It really is complicated navigating a crowded place!
백화점 "department store", literally a "hundred things shop." Korea has a lot of department stores, in some cases with so many sections and so many stalls inside that they could just as easily be entire malls all on their own.
편의점 "convenience store" Every street corner in Korea has a convenience store, with a few more located in between for good measure. You can buy just about anything in a convenience store, including a full meal at decent quality.
마천루 is the literal work for skyscraper, a sky-high building
고층 means "high rise" and can be used with 건물 to be a "high-rise building" or 아파트 to be "high-rise apartment"
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 시 | city | 市 |
| 내 | inside | 内 |
| 외 | outside | 外 |
| 횡단 | cross | 横断 |
| 보도 | path | 步道 |
| 고 | high | 高 |
| 층 | floor | 層 |
| 백 | hundred | 百 |
| 화 | thing | 花 |
| 점 | store | 店 |
| 편의 | convenience | 便宜 |
| 서 | office | 暑 |
| 마천 | sky-high | 摩天 |
Now we've come to the last of the four most common speech levels in Korean!
The speech level we're calling "written" is known in Korean as 해라체. This speech level is fairly formal, but not high on the politeness scale.
We call it "written" here because this speech level is often used in more formal writing, as it can carry an impersonal connotation lacking in the other levels. Other than in print, 해라체 is also used between friends, by adults to children, and sometimes when making an exclamation or talking to yourself.
In 해라체 indicative for action verbs ends with ~ㄴ/는다.
When a verb stem ends in a vowel, add ~ㄴ다. 가다=>간다
When a verb stem ends in a ㄹ, drop the ㄹ and add ~ㄴ다. 만들다=>만든다
When a verb stem ends in a consonant, add ~는다. 웃다=>웃는다
Descriptive verbs simply stay in the infinitive.
When asking a question in 해라체, simply add ~느냐 or ~니 to the verb stem.
For verb stems ending with an ㄹ, drop the ㄹ.
When giving a command, take the ~아/어 form we had in Casual and add ~라.
The propositive is just the same as in Casual. Just add ~자 to the verb stem.
We introduce here a few new conjunctions and interjections used most often in written Korean.
~(으)며 is just the same as ~(으)면서, meaning "while"
그러나 "however" is used much the same as 하지만 or 그래도
~(으)나 "although" is used similarly to ~지만
Talking about dates in Korean is a mixture of some pretty straightforward, easy vocabulary and some that will take some getting used to. It'll make more sense with practice, so don't worry
Korean dates start with the year, then the month, then the day. A good rule of thumb when telling time or giving an address in Korean is that start with the biggest and work your way down to the smallest unit.
For dates, it is common to add 년, 월, and 일 after the numbers:
2015년 10월 22일
Koreans often have a hard time memorizing the names of the months in English. Thankfully the Korean is much easier!
Simply use the Sino-Korean number plus 월 (month), and you're done! However, there are two exceptions.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| June | 6월 (유월) |
| October | 10월 (시월) |
Note that 6 and 10 in 6월 and 10월 are not pronounced as would be expected. Instead the final consonant, the 받침, is dropped.
Earlier, in the Time skill, we learned how to count days in native Korean words. They can also be used for dates, usually in the lunar calendar.
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| First (of a month) | 초하루 |
| Second | 이틀 |
| Third | 사흘 |
| Fifteenth | 보름(날), 열닷새 |
| Twentieth | 스무날 |
| Twenty-first | 스무하루 |
| Thirtieth | 그믐(날) |
Note that the first day is 초하루 rather than 하루, being the only exception. Just for reference, 보름달 and 그믐달 mean the full moon and the old moon, respectively.
Earlier we learned that 다음 means the next. When paired with the copula ~이다 and following a noun, 다음 takes the meaning "comes after".
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 다음 주 | the next week |
| 화요일은 월요일 다음이에요. | Tuesday comes after Monday |
Korean days of the week can be a little tricky, but they make sense eventually.
Basically, all the days are formed as X요일. The 7 days are then composed of different elements or substances. Signs in Korean will drop the ~요일 so a store open Monday-Friday would say 월-금.
When asking "what day of the week" you would simply ask 무슨 요일 or "which 요일".
| English | Korean | Element |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 월요일 | Moon |
| Tuesday | 화요일 | Fire |
| Wednesday | 수요일 | Water |
| Thursday | 목요일 | Wood |
| Friday | 금요일 | Fire |
| Saturday | 토요일 | Ground |
| Sunday | 일요일 | Sun |
Do Monday and Sunday, moon and sun, look familiar? That's because both English and Korean names are originally descended from the Latin, named after the gods/heavenly bodies. The other 5 are also related to the names of planets in Korean. 화요일? dies Martis. 화성. Mars.
Korean has two ways of saying "each" or "every", although their uses are slightly different.
매 appears before a noun, usually a time related noun that comes from Sino-Korean. It fuse with some nouns as one word, such as 매일/every day , 매주/every week, 매월/every month, 매년/every year.
마다 appears after a noun, usually a time noun, but not necessarily. It always attaches to the noun it follows. Rather than 일 or 월, it prefers the native Korean 날 or 달. 마다 can also attach to a person, 학생마다/each student.
Both 매 and 마다 can be used with a number to indicate every X amount of time. 매 4주/4주마다 "every 4 weeks"
Sometimes both are used at once, as emphasis. 매 주마다 "every week"
Koreans have a lot of traditional celebrations based on time, which we'll briefly introduce here.
백일 The 100 days celebration is to commemorate the 100th day after a child's birth. This was a day to celebrate that a new baby had officially survived the most dangerous first 100 days of life. This often marked the time that a baby and its mother would rejoin society after recuperating following the birth.
돌 The 1st anniversary of a child's birth. Living in a time without modern medicine, infancy was difficult. The 1st anniversary of birth was a huge milestone, celebrated with a feast, prayers, and ritual.
환갑 Koreans traditionally used the same calendar as China, with a zodiac featuring 12 years. Everyone knows that. But there are also 5 elements, so every 12 years is a cycle under one element. It takes 60 years to go through all 12 cycles of the zodiac under all 5 elements, do you're 60th birthday is an important one, celebrating going full circle through the entire zodiac.
동갑 Age is important to Koreans. It can determine your social status and the speech level you use with someone. One aspect used to refer to age, that is unfamiliar to most English speakers, is 동갑. The best translation is "same age". People who are truly 동갑 are usually born in the same lunar year, so they are the same age under the Korean system of counting. As a reminder, you are one at birth and two at the next Lunar New Year. Koreans will often say that two people who are 동갑 are "friends" because of the ties this creates, even if they've never actually met.
Here we introduce verbs that have passive meanings as well as passive suffixes.
나다 in the literal sense means to grow or to happen. This is often attached to nouns and turn them into verbs. You say it when the event happens on its own and it is not under your control. When it is under your control and you are making it happen, you say 내다.
| Examples | Translations |
|---|---|
| 끝 | end |
| 끝나다 | to end, to be over |
| 끝내다 | to end (it) |
| 기억 | memory |
| 기억나다 | to remember |
되다 literally means to be done. You can make the passive voice by replacing 하다 with 되다.
| Examples | Translations |
|---|---|
| 준비하다 | to prepare |
| 준비되다 | to be ready |
| 포함하다 | to include |
| 포함되다 | to be included |
There are four passive suffixes in Korean. They are attached to stems of original verbs. These suffixes often have emphasis on the agent i.e. what caused it to happen.
| Suffixes | Notes | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -이 | Usually comes after vowels, ㅍ, ㅌ, ㅎ | 보이다 to come in sight |
| -히 | Usually comes after ㄱ, regular ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ | 닫히다 to close |
| -리 | Usually comes after irregular ㄷ, ㄹ | 열리다 to open |
| -기 | Usually comes after ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, ㅊ | 안기다 to be hugged |
For reference, there are no verbs or adjectives (descriptive verbs) whose stems end in ㅇ or ㅋ. In this skill, you will be given active voice sentences as well as passive voice sentences so that you can naturally compare them.
Both 년 and 년도 refer to a year but they are used in different contexts. 년 is rather a year number counter whereas 년도 refers to a year as a period. If someone asks you in what year you were born, the answer is, for example, 1993년. On the other hand, 1993년도 refers to the whole period such as a budget year, fiscal year, school year etc. and as far as we know no one was born over the course of one year from Jan 1 to Dec 31. Further, 년 can also be used for simply counting years e.g. 삼 년 동안 for three years. This distinction may look bizarre to English speakers, but is found in other languages as well, such as French (an vs. année).
| English | Korean (Sino-Korean) |
|---|---|
| year | 해(년/연) |
| month | 달(개월/월) |
| day | 날(일) |
The native Korean words 해, 달, and 날 and Sino-Korean words 년, 월, and 일 are usually paired with other native Korean words and Sino-Korean words, respectively. For example, one year is 한 해 or 일 년, and one month is 한 달 or 일 개월. 년 and 개월 are bound nouns and thus must be preceded by a number whereas 연 and 월 are stand-alone words. 월 is also found as part of the names of the months, which we introduce below. 년도 does not have its native Korean counterpart.
We Korean speakers have a hard time remembering the names of the months when we learn English because we have totally different names for them. In other words, you will also need a long time and hard work to get yourself familiar with their Korean names. Here is the list:
| English | Korean |
|---|---|
| January | 일월(1월) |
| February | 이월(2월) |
| March | 삼월(3월) |
| April | 사월(4월) |
| May | 오월(5월) |
| June | 유월*(6월) |
| July | 칠월(7월) |
| August | 팔월(8월) |
| September | 구월(9월) |
| October | 시월*(10월) |
| November | 십일월(11월) |
| December | 십이월(12월) |
*These are not spelt 육월 and 십월.
We introduced how to count days in native Korean before, and they are also used in the lunar calendar (with the exception of 하루; the first day of the month is called 초하루). For example, 유월 열아흐레 means the 19th of the sixth month in the lunar calendar, though this usage sounds very old-fashioned. The fifteenth day and the last day of the month, of course in the lunar calendar, are called 보름 and 그믐, respectively. It is not surprising that 보름달 and 그믐달 mean the full moon and the old moon, respectively.
| Day | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | 하루 |
| 2 | 이틀 |
| 3 | 사흘 |
| 4 | 나흘 |
| 5 | 닷새 |
| 6 | 엿새 |
| 7 | 이레 |
| 8 | 여드레 |
| 9 | 아흐레 |
| 10 | 열흘 |
| 11 | 열하루 |
| 15 | 열닷새/보름 |
| 20 | 스무날 |
| 21 | 스무하루 |
We will translate 마루 as floor in the course, but it refers to a specific kind of wooden floor usually found in traditional Korean houses.
Let's get to work!
Think about all the different meanings of "work" in English. It can be you job, the things you do at your job, or the place where you do your job.
Korean is a little more discrete. All of the below words could be "work" or "job" in English, but have more concrete meanings in Korean. Not all are taught in this lesson, but we include them in this list for completeness.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 일 | work, a thing to be done. also used in 집안 일 "housework" |
| 직업 | career/profession |
| 직장 | place of work |
| 업무 | task |
| 일자리 | position |
적 is a noun that doesn't translate well into English on its own, but is used in phrases to talk about having done something.
The phrase is constructed as follows:
Past modifier of verb + 적이 + 있다
or
Past modifier of verb + 적이 + 없다
For example:
저는 고래를 본 적이 있습니다=I have seen a whale.
저는 한국에 간 적이 없습니다=I have not been to Korea.
Korean has two words that both mean already, 이미 and 벌써.
What is the different between the two? 이미 is more generic, while 벌써 indicates an aspect of surprise.
We have three verbs here with the root 근.
출근하다 is to go in to work for the day
퇴근하다 is to finish work for the day
근무하다 is to work. This verb may be used with ~에 instead of ~에서 as it means more closely "to be on duty" than "to work." It is more formal, and therefore used most frequently in writing, but also in the military.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 직 | duty | 职 |
| 업 | profession | 业 |
| 노동 | labor | 劳动 |
| 가 | -er | 家 |
| 건축 | architecture | 建築 |
| 군 | soldier | 军 |
| 사 | master | 师 |
| 취 | undertake | 就 |
| 실 | lose | 失 |
| 근무 | service | 勤務 |
| 퇴 | withdraw | 退 |
| 화 | painting | 画 |
| 출 | leave | 出 |
Sports! From the beautiful game of football/soccer to the European sport of tennis, this skill will cover many of the sports enjoyed by people around the world.
School is in session!
In this skill we introduce some of the basic vocabulary needed to talk about school. The course currently doesn't include much about college, but we have some of that planned for our eventual Tree 2.0
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 유치원 | kindergarten/preschool |
| 초등학교 | elementary school |
| 중학교 | middle school |
| 고등학교 | high school |
We introduce here the names of four levels of school, with translations based (more or less) on the American school system. Different countries, and sometimes different school districts within a country, use different names for these, so please report missing translations.
To talk about the students going to one of these schools, replace ~교 with ~생. For kindergarteners, you can just add ~생 to the end of 유치원.
We've already seen 선생님, the general term for teacher, with the honorific ~님 built right in.
You can add the school, the subject, or other descriptors before 선생님 to specify type of teacher. For example, 초등학교 선생님 would be an elementary school teacher, while 영어 선생님 would be an English teacher.
Two common descriptors followed by 선생님 are 담임 and 교장.
담임 comes from 한자 that mean "to be in charge" and refers to the "homeroom" or "head teacher", often in contrast to administrators, aides, or special subject teachers that do not oversee a specific group of young learners.
교장 comes from 한자 that mean "school" and "leader", referring to the principal or headmaster.
English can be very vague when we use the word "class." Is it the space? the time period? the material being learned? or the people?
Korean is not vague. Let's take a look at some of the words that may be difficult to parse at first.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 학년 | grade/year in school |
| 반 | homeroom |
| 학급 | class/group of students |
| 교시 | class period |
| 교실 | classroom |
| 수업 | lesson |
Each school has several 학년, numbered 1학년 and up. (The numbers start over again from 1 in middle and high school). At anything other than a very small school, each 학년 will have several 반, numbered 1반 and up, of students in different homerooms with different 담임 선생님.
학급 is more abstract, but the best to describe it would be "collection of students."
For the other words, each day has several 교시, each 교시 you have a 수업 in a 교실.
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 초 | early | 初 |
| 등 | level | 等 |
| 분 | dust | 粉 |
| 필 | pen | 筆 |
The doctor is in!
This lesson teaches some vocab related to getting sick and getting treated.
In this lessons we have two words for pain, 아픔 and 고통.
아픔 is a general native Korean word for "pain" or "soreness" or even "sickness"
고통 is a more specific Sino-Korean word, that means "pain" or "agony." It may be more formal or place more emphasis.
아픔 might look familiar. That's because it's related to the adjective 아프다 (to be sick/to be in pain). Many nouns may be formed from adding ~음 or ~ㅁ to the end of a verb or verbal adjective.
Another example is 죽음 "death", from the verb 죽다 "to die".
A lot of times, these form nouns that may be used independently. However, sometimes this forms part of a grammar pattern without an easy to translate noun. We won't see any of that here though now.
The ending ~과 serves a dual purpose when talking about medicine. Usually formed from Sino-Korean roots, much like Latin roots in English medical terms, much medical terminology ends with ~과.
This may be translated as a field of medicine, such as 치과 "dentistry". However, this may also be translated as "department of dentistry." All medical terms ending with ~과 function the same way.
We can also add ~학 at the end of one of these words. Usually adding ~학 doesn't change the English meaning, but it can be understood as "the study of X"
So a 내과의사 (doctor of internal medicine) works in the 내과 (department of internal medicine) and studied 내과학 (internal medicine).
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 심장 | heart | 心臟 |
| 마비 | paralysis | 痲痺 |
| 약 | medicine | 藥 |
| 내 | inside | 內 |
| 외 | outside | 外 |
| 과 | department | 科 |
| 치 | teeth | 齒 |
| 대 | table | 臺 |
되다 literally means to be done. You can make the passive voice by replacing 하다 with 되다.
| Examples | Translations |
|---|---|
| 준비하다 | to prepare |
| 준비되다 | to be ready |
| 포함하다 | to include |
| 포함되다 | to be included |
(And a bit of active?)
We already covered 나다. (We really did!) In the literal sense it means to grow or to happen. This is often attached to nouns and turn them into verbs. You say it when the event happens on its own and it is not under your control. When it is under your control and you are making it happen, you say 내다.
| Examples | Translations |
|---|---|
| 끝 | end |
| 끝나다 | to end, to be over |
| 끝내다 | to end (it) |
| 기억 | memory |
| 기억나다 | to remember |
There are four passive suffixes in Korean. They are attached to stems of original verbs. These suffixes often have emphasis on the agent i.e. what caused it to happen.
| Suffixes | Notes | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -이 | Usually comes after vowels, ㅍ, ㅌ, ㅎ | 보이다 to come in sight |
| -히 | Usually comes after ㄱ, regular ㄷ, ㅂ, ㅈ | 닫히다 to close |
| -리 | Usually comes after irregular ㄷ, ㄹ | 열리다 to open |
| -기 | Usually comes after ㄴ, ㅁ, ㅅ, ㅊ | 안기다 to be hugged |
In this skill, you will be given active voice sentences as well as passive voice sentences so that you can compare them.
Indefinite pronouns are words like someone, anyone, or no one, that take the place of a noun but do not refer to a specific person, place, or thing.
To express "every" we have three words. One is a noun, another is an adjective, and the third is an adverb.
우리 모두= We all
모든 사람=everyone
다 먹다=eat everything
아무 고기=any meat
아무 고기나=whichever meat
To say "at anytime" or "anywhere" you use 때 and 데, respectively.
아무 때나=at any time 아무 데나=anywhere
~(이)나 may also be attached to question words.
언제나 means "whenever" 무엇이나 means "whatever"
The differences between ~이나 and 이든지 are very subtle and even Koreans may have a hard time explaining the difference. However, one example is that 언제나 may have a little bit more of an "all the time" connotation, compared with 언제든지.
아무 고기도=no meat
When you want to talk about "something" you simply use the question words.
저는 무엇을 먹었습니다=I ate something.
You can also use 어떤 followed by a noun.
저는 어떤 것을 먹었습니다=I ate something.
각각 and 각자 both mean "each" and are used similarly to "each" in English. 각각 is more general, while 각자 is used more specifically with people.
대부분 means "most" or "most of" and usually comes after a noun.
우리 대부분=most of us
We've already learned 지금 for "now", so what is this new word 이제?
이제 has added emphasis that something has changed, and is often used with ~까지 or ~부터 to mean "up to now" or "from now on"
| Korean | English | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 각 | each | 各 |
| 자 | individual | 自 |
| 문제 | problem | 问题 |
| 대부분 | big-division | 大部分 |
Two words here, 삼촌 and 사촌, uncle and cousin, share the word 촌. Really they are 3촌 and 4촌.
How does this work?
Starting with yourself, you add a 촌 for every link in the chain of connection. Go up a level and your parents are 일촌, up one more and your grandparents are 이촌, down a level to your uncle and he is 삼촌, and down one more to your 사촌. Other than 삼촌 and 사촌 others are not that common, but if you mention your 구촌 people will understand what you're talking about.
For 사촌, it is common to add one of the sibling terms to specific age/gender. So 사촌 형 is your older male cousin, if you are male.
Aunt and uncle are tricky words in Korean, again based on age (relative to your parents), but also based on whether they are on your mother's or father's side and whether they are blood relatives or married in. For now we'll just stick with 이모 and 사촌.
On the other hand, all nieces and nephews are simply 조카, although 조카딸 can be used to refer to a niece.
Another form of the past tense modifier is -던. It implies the task was incomplete and is used when one looks back on the past.
| Example | Translation |
|---|---|
| 내가 먹은 빵 | The bread I ate (and it's all gone). |
| 내가 먹던 빵 | The bread I was eating (and part of it may be left). |
| 내가 다닌 학교 | The school I went to |
| 내가 다니던 학교 | The school I used to go to |
Of course, 내가 먹던 빵 may also refer to the kind of bread one used to eat when one was little.
-던 may even come after -았-/-었- implying the task was complete. There is no big difference between -던 and -았던/-었던.
부끄럽다 means to be shameful, but it comes with a topic. In short, what one feels ashamed of is the subject, and the person feeling ashamed is the topic.
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
| 나는 네가 부끄럽다. | To me, you are shameful. / I feel ashamed of you. |