Nouns: 음식 = food 케이크 = cake 공항 = airport 병원 = hospital 공원 = park 한국어 = Korean (language) 머리 = head 다리 = leg 손가락 = finger 귀 = ear 팔 = arm 눈 = eye 입 = mouth 배 = stomach 버스 = bus 배 = boat Adverbs: 아주 = very 매우 = very 너무 = too Verbs: 먹다 = eat 가다 = go 만나다 = meet 닫다 = to close something 열다 = open 원하다 = to want (an object) 만들다 = make 하다 = do 말하다 = speak 이해하다 = understand 좋아하다 = to like (something) Adjectives: 크다 = big 작다 = small 새롭다 = new 낡다 = old (not age) 비싸다 = expensive 싸다 = not expensive/cheap 아름답다 = beautiful 뚱뚱하다 = fat/chubby 길다 = long 좋다 = good Some Quick Notes about Korean Verbs and Adjectives Now it is time to start learning things that you can apply to any verb or any adjective. There are a few things you need to know about Korean verbs and adjectives: 1) I said this before (twice) but I m going to say it again. Every Korean sentence must end in either a verb or an adjective (this includes 이다 and 있다 ). Every sentence absolutely must have a verb or adjective at the end of the sentence. 2) You should notice (it took me months to notice) that every Korean verb and adjective ends with the syllable 다. 100% of the time, the last syllable in a verb or adjective must be 다. Look up at the vocabulary from this lesson if you don t believe me. 3) In addition to ending in 다 many verbs and adjectives end with the two syllables 하다. 하다 means do. Verbs ending in 하다 are amazing, because you can simply eliminate the 하다 to make the noun form of that verb/adjective. Confused? I was at first too. In fact, I don t think I knew this until 3 months after I started studying Korean but it is something so essential to learning the language. It is confusing to English speakers because we don t realize that words can have a verb/adjective form AND a noun form. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 1
For example: 행복하다 = happy 행복 = happiness 성공하다 = succeed 성공 = success 말하다 = speak 말 = speech/words 성취하다 = achieve 성취 = achievement 취득하다 = acquire 취득 = acquisition You don t need to memorize those words yet (they are difficult), but it is important for you to realize that 하다 can be removed from words in order to create nouns. Korean Verbs We have already talked about verbs a little bit in previous lessons, but nothing has been formally taught. You learned the basic verb sentence structure in Lesson 1. Let s look at this again. If you want to say I eat food you should know how to use the particles 는 / 은 and 를 / 을 : I eat food I 는 food 를 eat To make a sentence, you simply need to substitute the English words with Korean words: 저는 + 음식을 + 먹다저는음식을먹다 = I eat food *Note - Although the structure of the sentences presented in this lesson is perfect, the verbs are not conjugated, and thus, not perfect. You will learn about conjugating in Lesson 5 and Lesson 6. Before learning how to conjugate, however, it is essential that you understand the word-order of these sentences. However, because of some strange Korean grammatical rules, the sentences provided in the "Adjectives" section are technicality perfect but are presented in an uncommon (but simplest) conjugation pattern. Again, you will learn about these conjugations in Lesson 5 and Lesson 6. For now, try to understand the word order of the sentences and how the verbs/adjectives are being used. As with previous lessons, conjugated examples (one formal and one informal) are provided beneath the un-conjugated example: HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 2
Let s look at more examples: 나는케이크를만들다 = I make a cake ( 나는케이크를만들어 / 저는케이크를만들어요 ) 나는배를원하다 = I want a boat ( 나는배를원해 / 저는배를원해요 ) 나는한국어를말하다 = I speak Korean ( 나는한국어를말해 / 저는한국어를말해요 ) 나는공원에가다 = I go to the park (notice the particle 에 ) ( 나는공원에가 / 저는공원에가요 ) 나는문을닫다 = I close the door ( 나는문을닫아 / 저는문을닫아요 ) 나는창문을열다 = I open the window ( 나는창문을열어 / 저는창문을열어요 ) Remember that sentences with verbs don t necessarily need to have an object in them: 저는이해하다 = I understand ( 나는이해해 / 저는이해해요 ) Korean Adjectives Korean adjectives, just like Korean verbs are placed at the end of a sentence. The main difference between verbs and adjectives is that an adjective cannot act on an object. Notice, in the sentences below that there is no object being acted on. Adjectives are very easy to use. Just put them into the sentence with your subject: (Remember that the examples in parentheses show sentences that have been conjugated which you have not learned yet.) 나는아름답다 = I am beautiful ( 나는아름다워 / 저는아름다워요 ) 나는작다 = I am small ( 나는작아 / 저는작아요 ) 이버스는크다 = This bus is big ( 이버스는커 / 이버스는커요 ) 그병원은새롭다 = That hospital is new ( 그병원은새로워 / 그병원은새로워요 ) HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 3
There is one confusing thing about translating sentences with Korean adjectives to English. Notice that in all examples above, the words "am/is/are/etc..." are used. In English, these words must be used when using an adjective: I am fat He is fat They are fat Remember, the translation for "am/is/are" to Korean is " 이다." However, you do not use " 이다 " when writing a sentence like this in Korean. Within the meaning of Korean adjective is "is/am/are." Early learners are always confused by this. The confusion stems from the fact that it is done differently in English and Korean. Please, from here on, abandon what you know of grammar based on English - it will only hold you back. 의 Possessive Particle You already know that I in Korean is 저 / 나. You also know the translation for various objects in Korean. " 의 " is a particle that indicates that one is the owner/possessor of another object. It has the same role as " 's" in English (for most examples). For example: 저의책 = my book 저의차 = My car 그사람의차 = That person's car 의사의탁자 = The doctor's table 선생님의차 = the teacher s car 저의손가락 = my finger You can use these words in sentences you already know (with verbs and adjectives): 선생님의차는크다 = The teacher s car is big ( 선생님의차는커 / 선생님의차는커요 ) 나는선생님의차를원하다 = I want the teacher s car ( 나는선생님의차를원해 / 저는선생님의차를원해요 ) 나의손가락은길다 = my finger is long ( 나의손가락은길어 / 저의손가락은길어요 ) 그여자의눈은예쁘다 = That woman s eyes are beautiful ( 그여자의눈은예뻐 / 그여자의눈은예뻐요 ) HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 4
좋다 and 좋아하다 The word 좋다 in Korean is an adjective that means good. Because 좋다 is an adjective we can use it just like any other adjective: 이음식은좋다 = this food is good ( 이음식은좋아 / 이음식은좋아요 ) 그선생님은좋다 = that teacher is good ( 그선생님은좋아 / 그선생님은좋아요 ) 이학교는좋다 = This school is good ( 이학교는좋아 / 이학교는좋아요 ) There is also 좋아하다 which is a verb meaning to like. Because 좋아하다 is a verb, can use it just like any other verb: 나는이음식을좋아하다 = I like this food ( 나는이음식을좋아해 / 저는이음식을좋아해요 ) 나는그선생님을좋아하다 = I like that teacher ( 나는그선생님을좋아해 / 저는그선생님을좋아해요 ) 좋아하다 gets formed by removing 다 from 좋다 and adding 아 + 하다. There is a reason for why this is done, and there is an explanation for how it is done - but you do not need to know this yet. For now, just understand that: 좋다 is an adjective which cannot act on an object 좋아하다 is a verb which can act on an object HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 5