Beginning Korean: A Grammar Guide Unit 5: Our Classroom In this unit, you will learn how to: describe the location of objects using o the locative particle 에 o locational postpositions o the word 어디 "where"; link two nouns using 하고 ; describe objects using new descriptive verbs; use descriptive verbs pre-nominally (like adjectives); Grammatical Notes Locating Objects using the Particle 에 The locative particle 에 is attached to a noun to indicate that the noun serves as the place in which the subject of the sentence is located. As such, the particle 에 is frequently used with the verbs of existence. The basic pattern is this: subject noun + 이 / 가 location noun + 에 verb of existence 김수미가미국에있어요. 박선생님이학교에계세요. 우리집에고양이가없어요. Sumi Kim is in the United States. Mr. Park is at school. At our house there is no cat. ("We don't have a cat.") In the first sentence above, Sumi Kim is the subject, and so is marked by the nominative particle 가. The noun 미국 'United States' names Sumi's current location, and so it marked by the locative particle 에. In the second sentence, note the use of the honorific verb of existence, 계시다. In the third sentence, the locative phrase 우리집에 'at our house' has been moved to the front of the sentence, while the subject of the verb, 고양이 'cat' (marked with the nominative particle 가 ) is immediately adjacent to the verb of non-existence, 없다. By moving the location to the front, we emphasize that at our house there is no cat, but that there might be a cat at someone else's house. It's important to stress that regardless of the relative order of the subject and the location words, the two sentences: 우리집에고양이가없어요 and 고양이가우리집에없어요 44 Autumn 2004
D.J. Silva are both perfectly grammatical. Moreover, both convey the same basic information: at a given place ('our house') a certain object ('a cat') does not exist. The difference between them lies in the emphasis that the speaker wishes to convey. Locating Objects using Postpostions (along with the Particle 에 ) The locative particle 에 is very vague in its meaning. To further specify the location of an object relative to some other object, Korean uses elements called postpositions. The postpositions of Korean are similar to the prepositions of English: the main difference is how the two languages create the post-/pre-positional phrases. 책상위에 literally, desk-on-at on the desk 의자밑에 chair-under-at under the chair 문옆에 door-beside-at beside the door, next to the door 책앞에 book-in.front.of-at in front of the book 집뒤에 house-behind-at behind the house As we can see above, Korean postpositions are placed after (that is, "post") the noun that names the location: 책상위 desk-on. In English, prepositions are placed before (that is, "pre") the noun that names the location: on the desk. The most common locational postpositions in Korean are: 위 on, on top of 밑 under, beneath, below (also 아래 ) 옆 beside, next to 앞 in front of 뒤 behind 속 inside of, surrounded by 안 in (a room or other similar space) Given that these postpositions are very often used to indicate the location of the subject, it's extremely common that they appear with the locative particle 에. 책이책상위에있어요. The book is on (top of) the desk. or There's a book on (top of) the desk. 고양이가집뒤에있어요. The cat is behind the house. or There's a cat behind the house. Draft Do not cite! revised 9/18/2004 45
Beginning Korean: A Grammar Guide 연필이의자밑에있어요. 가방속에펜이있어요? The pencil is under the chair. or There's a pencil under the chair. Is the pen inside the bag? or Is there a pen inside the bag? Asking about the Location of Objects and People using 어디 To inquire about the location of a person or thing, one uses the word 어디 'where'. Since 어디 is a question word that seeks locational information, it is often the case that the locative particle 에 is attached to 어디. In Korean, a question word such as 어디 is not moved to the front of the sentence (as is done in English). Rather, 어디 occupies the same location in the sentence that the corresponding answer would occupy. 그책은 어디에 있어요? Where's that book? (As for that book, where is (it)?) [ 그책은 ] 가방속에있어요. [That book] is in the bag. Q: 김선생님은어디에계세요? Where's Mrs. Kim? A: 교실안에계세요. (She's) in the classroom. Q: 연필이어디에있어요? Where are the pencils? A: 컴퓨터뒤에있어요. (There's one) behind the computer. or (There are some) behind the computer. Note that when answering a question with 어디, it is not necessary to repeat the subject. You do, however, need to explicitly mention the location, and remember to mark it with the locative particle 에. Using 하고 to Conjoin Two Nouns The particle 하고 is one of several ways to connect two nouns in a way analogous to the conjunction "and" in English. To use 하고, attach it to the first noun: 밥하고물책하고공책개하고고양이 cooked rice and water book(s) and notebook(s) dog(s) and cat(s) 46 Autumn 2004
D.J. Silva The entire conjoined structure (i.e., NOUN- 하고 NOUN) must then be marked for grammatical case: this is done by attaching the case marker to the second noun. 우리집에는개하고고양이있어요. At our house, there are dogs and cats. (We own dogs and cats.) 승훈은책하고공책을사요. Seunghun bought books and notebooks. Descriptive Verbs In Korean, there are various types of verbs. These include action verbs ( 하다, 가다 ), existence verbs ( 있다, 없다, 계시다 ), and the equation / copula verb (- 이다 ). There are also verbs used to describe the attributes of nouns. These so-called "descriptive verbs" are similar to adjectives in European languages, but with one major difference: in Korean, these words function like verbs. As verbs, the words below can appear in various forms such as the polite formal and the polite informal and they can be conjugated for tense (see Unit 6 for a discussion of future and past tenses). Perhaps the best way to learn these verbs is to imagine that each includes the verb "to be" in its definition. Dictionary Informal Formal 많다 많아요 많습니다 'to be many', 'to be a lot (of)' 적다 적어요 적습니다 'to be few,' 'to be little (of)' 좋다 좋아요 좋습니다 'to be good' 작다 작아요 작습니다 'to be small' If the final vowel of the verb stem is the vowel 으, then the polite informal (- 요 ) form of the verb is formed by dropping and inserting the appropriate linking vowel: - 아 if the previous vowel is either 아 or 오, or 어 in every other case. 크다 커요 큽니다 'to be large' 기쁘다 기뻐요 기쁩니다 'to be happy' 나쁘다 나빠요 나쁩니다 'to be bad' Some Korean descriptive verbs are constructed by using other verb forms, such as 있다, 없다 and 하다 : 재미있다 재미있어요 재미있습니다 'to be interesting' 재미없다 재미없어요 재미없습니다 'to be boring' Draft Do not cite! revised 9/18/2004 47
Beginning Korean: A Grammar Guide 맛있다 맛있어요 맛있습니다 'to taste good' 맛이없다 맛이없어요 맛이없습니다 'to taste bad' 똑똑하다 똑똑해요 똑똑합니다 'to be smart, clever' Just like any other Korean verb, a descriptive verb appears at the end of a sentence. The resulting structure is similar to what we might call a "predicate adjective" construction in English: "(TOPIC) SUBJECT is ADJECTIVE." Topic Subject Verb 우리교실에는책상이많아요. There are a lot of desks in our classroom. (As for in our classroom, desks are many.) 이안경은질이좋아요. These are good-quality eyeglasses. (As for these eyeglasses, the quality is good.) 우리개는커요. Our dog is large. 그영화는재미있어요? Is that film interesting? 어느학생이똑똑해요? Which student(s) is/are smart? Using Descriptive Verbs Adnominally In Korean, as in English, we are not required to use all adjective-like words only in a "predicate adjective" way: we can transform the descriptive verbs of Korean into new forms that function much like English adjectives. In Korean, such forms are known as "Adnominal" constructions, because they allow the verb to be placed next to ("ad-") the noun ("nominal"), just like a regular adjective in English. Compare the following patterns. Predicate Adjective: 그책이좋아요. That book is good. Adnominal Construction: 그좋은책 that good book lit: the book that is good Notice that in the Predicate Adjective case, we have a complete sentence: the subject is 책 'book' and the verb is the polite informal form of 좋다 'be good.' In the corresponding Adnominal construction, we don't have an entire sentence; rather, we have just a modified noun that good book or that book, which is good which can then act as a subject, direct object (as we'll see in moment). 48 Autumn 2004
D.J. Silva To create adnominal forms, we first isolate the verb stem (which can be done by removing 다 from the dictionary form) and then adding the descriptive verb adnominal suffix, which takes two forms: -은 when the verb stem ends in a consonant; or -ㄴ when the verb stem ends in a vowel. Consider the list of descriptive verbs given in the previous section and their adnominal forms Dictionary Form Verb Stem Adnominal 많다 많- 많은 'numerous' ('that are a lot') 적다 적- 적은 'few' ('that are few') 좋다 좋- 좋은 'good' ('that is/are good') 나쁘다 나쁘- 나쁜 'bad' ('that is/are bad') 크다 크- 큰 'large' ('that is/are large') 작다 작- 작은 'small' ('that is/are small') 기쁘다 기쁘- 기쁜 'happy' ('that is/are happy') 똑똑하다 똑똑하- 똑똑한 'smart' ('that is/are smart') The exception? The verbs 있다 and 없다. The adnominal forms for these verbs take the suffix 는 : 재미있다 재미있는 'interesting' 재미없다 재미없는 'boring' 맛있다 맛있는 'to taste good/ be delicious' 맛이없다 맛이없는 'to taste bad' Notice how we can now use these adnominal forms to describe nouns in a way that is independent of the main verb of the sentence. 우리집에는 책이많아요. In our house book are numerous. (There are a lot of books at our house.) 우리집에는재미있는책이많아요. In our house, interesting books are numerous. (There are a lot of interesting books at our house.) 사과는맛있어요. 작은사과는맛있어요. Apples taste good. Small apples taste good. Draft Do not cite! revised 9/18/2004 49