Nouns: 길 = street 거리 = street, road 손 = hand 영어 = English 택시 = taxi 열차 = train 역 = train/subway station 버스정류장 = bus stop 비행기 = airplane 자전거 = bicycle 아내 = wife 아이 = child 아들 = son 딸 = daughter 남편 = husband 아버지 = father 어머니 = mother 편지 = letter 맛 = taste 식사 = meal 아침 = morning 아침식사 = breakfast 물 = water 사과 = apple 돈 = money Passive Verbs: 끝나다 = to be finished Verbs: 오다 = to come 끝내다 = to finish something 춤추다 = to dance 알다 = to know 걷다 = to walk 배우다 = to learn 연습하다 = to practice 생각하다 = to think 살다 = to live Adjectives: 위험하다 = to be dangerous 잘생기다 = to be handsome 못생기다 = to be ugly 피곤하다 = to be tired 다르다 = to be different 슬프다 = to be sad 맛있다 = to be delicious 재미있다 = to be funny, to be fun 많다 = to be many, to be a lot of 행복하다 = to be happy Adverbs and Other Words: 거기 = there 저기 = there (when farther away) 지금 = now 하지만 = but Common greeting words I wish I could tell you not to worry about these. Of course, I can tell you don t worry about these, but I don t think that will do. When learning a language, everybody wants to learn these words as soon as possible. I understand that completely, but I have purposely waited to teach you these types of words. In fact, I still don t want to show them to you but at this point I am sure you are asking yourself I ve gotten this far and I still don t even know how to say goodbye yet! In Korean, it is much easier to understand these words/phrases if you also understand why they are used the way they are. If you can t memorize them, that is okay. I still maintain the position that you should put off memorizing these until you can understand the grammar within them. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 1
안녕히가세요 = Goodbye (said to a person leaving) 안녕히계세요 = Goodbye (said when you leave) 만나서반갑습니다 = Nice to meet you 실례합니다 = Excuse me 죄송합니다 / 미안합니다 = Sorry 제발 = Please 이름이뭐예요? = What is your name? 저의이름은 이다 = My name is 어디에서왔어요? = Where are you from? 저는 에서왔어요 = I am from Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let s start studying some actual material. Using Adjectives ~ ㄴ / 은 Alright, this won t help you understand those greeting words any better, but what you are about to learn is a major step in learning Korean. You should remember these two important facts from the previous lesson: 1. All sentences must end with either a verb or adjective 2. All verbs/adjectives end with the syllable 다 Although both of those are true (and always will be), let s look at them more deeply: All sentences must end with either a verb or adjective - Yes, but verbs and adjectives can ALSO go elsewhere in a sentence. In the previous lesson, you learned this sentence: 나는배를원하다 = I want a boat ( 나는배를원해 / 저는배를원해요 ) But what if you want to say: I want a big boat. In that sentence, there is a verb and an adjective. Where should we put the adjective? In Korean when describing a noun, the adjective is placed in the same position as in English. For example: 나는배를원하다 = I want a boat 나는 big 배를원하다 = I want a big boat Simple. So we just substitute the Korean word for big ( 크다 ) into that sentence?: 나는크다배를원하다 = Not correct. Not by a long shot. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 2
Remember that second rule I taught you?: All verbs/adjectives end with the syllable 다 - Yes, but the version of the word with 다 as the last syllable is simply the dictionary form of that word and is rarely used. Every verb/adjective in Korean has a stem, which is made up of everything preceding 다 in the dictionary form of the word. Let s look at some examples: 크다 = 크 (stem) + 다작다 = 작 (stem) + 다좋다 = 좋 (stem) + 다배우다 = 배우 (stem) + 다 When you deal with a verb/adjective, you eliminate ~ 다 and add something to the stem. What you add depends on what you are doing. When you want to make an adjective that can describe a noun, for example: small boy big boat soft hand delicious hamburger you must eliminate ~ 다 and add ~ ㄴ or ~ 은 to the stem of the adjective. Words in which the last syllable of the stem ends in a vowel ( 크다 / 비싸다 / 싸다 ) you add ~ ㄴ to the last syllable. For example: Word Stem Adjective that can describe a noun Example Translation 크다 크 큰 큰배 Big boat 비싸다 비싸 비싼 비싼음식 Expensive food 싸다 싸 싼 싼것 Cheap thing Words in which the last syllable of the stem ends in a consonant ( 작다 / 좋다 / 많다 ) you add ~ 은 to the stem. For example: Word Stem Adjective that can describe a noun Example Translation 작다 작 작은 작은남자 Small man 좋다 좋 좋은 좋은아들 Good son 많다 많 많은 많은돈 A lot of money Looking back to what we were trying to write before: I want a big boat = 저는크다배를원하다 = incorrect I want a big boat = 저는큰배를원하다 = correct HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 3
The key to understanding this is being able to understand the difference between the following: 음식은비싸다 = The food is expensive 비싼음식 = expensive food The first example is a sentence. The second example is not a sentence. The second sentence needs more words in order for it to be a sentence. You need to add either a verb or adjective that predicates the noun of "expensive food." For example: 나는비싼음식을먹다 = I eat expensive food ( 나는비싼음식을먹어 / 저는비싼음식을먹어요 ) The verb "to eat" predicates this sentence. 저는비싼음식을좋아하다 = I like expensive food ( 나는비싼음식을좋아해 / 저는비싼음식을좋아해요 ) The verb "to like" predicates this sentence. 비싼음식은맛있다 = Expensive food is delicious ( 비싼음식은맛있어 / 비싼음식은맛있어요 ) The adjective "to be delicious" predicates this sentence. Notice that there is no object in this sentence. Remember, for the last time - you do not know how to conjugate verbs and adjectives at the end of a sentence yet. This will be introduced in the next lesson. Because you do not know how to conjugate verbs/adjectives at the ends of sentences, examples with unconjugated forms are presented in this lesson. Remember that these sentences are technically incorrect, but understanding them is crucial to your understanding of the Korean sentence structure. As with the previous three lessons, I have provided conjugated examples below each unconjugated example. You will probably not be able to understand these conjugations.) More examples of using adjectives to describe nouns within a sentence: 나는작은집에가다 = I go to the small house ( 나는작은집에가 / 저는작은집에가요 ) 나는큰차를원하다 = I want a big car ( 나는큰차를원해 / 저는큰차를원해요 ) 나는잘생긴남자를만나다 = I meet a handsome man ( 나는잘생긴남자를만나 / 저는잘생긴남자를만나요 ) HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 4
나는많은돈이있다 = I have a lot of money ( 나는많은돈이있어 / 저는많은돈이있어요 ) 나는뚱뚱한학생을만나다 = I meet a fat student ( 나는뚱뚱한학생을만나 / 저는뚱뚱한학생을만나요 ) In Lessons 1 and 2, I explained that adjectives cannot "act" on objects. Many learners look at the sentences above and say "Hey! Those sentences have an object and an adjective!" Adjectives cannot act on an object to predicate a sentence. This means you cannot use a sentence like this (in either language): 나는집을작다 = I small house However, I didn't say anything about adjectives and objects being used in the same sentence. Adjectives can be used to describe an object that is being predicated by a verb. I will continue to talk about this in the examples below. In the examples above, notice the difference in function between when an adjective is used to describe a noun compared to when it is used to predicate a sentence. For example: ---------------------- 나는작은집에가다 = I go to the small house ( 나는작은집에가 / 저는작은집에가요 ) The verb "to go" predicates this sentence. 그집은작다 = That house is small ( 그집은작아 / 그집은작아요 ) The adjective "to be small" predicates this sentence. Notice that there is no object in this sentence. ---------------------- 저는큰차를원하다 = I want a big car ( 나는큰차를원해 / 저는큰차를원해요 ) The verb "to want" predicates this sentence. 이차는크다 = This car is big ( 이차는커 / 이차는커요 ) The adjective "to be big" predicates this sentence. Notice that there is no object in this sentence. ---------------------- In each of the examples above, even though the adjective always acts as a descriptive word, in the cases when they are placed before nouns to describe them - those nouns are able to be placed anywhere in the sentence (for example, as the subject, object, location, or other places). HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 5
This same thing happens in English, where I can have a simple sentence like this: 남자는음식을먹다 = The man eats food ( 남자는음식을먹어 / 남자는음식을먹어요 ) I can use adjectives to describe each noun in the sentence. For example: 행복한여자는작은차안에있다 = The happy girl is inside the small car ( 행복한여자는작은차안에있어 / 행복한여자는작은차안에있어요 ) You will see some adjectives that end in "~ 있다." The most common of these for a beginner are: 맛있다 = delicious 재미있다 = fun, funny When an adjective ends in ~ 있다 like this, instead of attaching ~ ㄴ / 은 to the stem, you must attach ~ 는 to the stem. For example: 그남자는재미있는남자이다 = that man is a funny man ( 그남자는재미있는남자야 / 그남자는재미있는남자예요 ) 나는맛있는음식을먹다 = I eat delicious food ( 나는맛있는음식을먹어 / 저는맛있는음식을먹어요 ) The difference here is due to what I call the "~ 는것 " principle. For now, you do not need to think about why ~ 는 is added instead of ~ ㄴ / 은. It is sufficient at this point to just memorize it as an exception. The concept behind this grammatical rule is introduced in Lesson 26 and I continue to discuss it into other Lessons in Unit 2. This concept is related to verbs being able to describe nouns. For example: "The man who I met yesterday will go to the park that I want to go to" However, this is very complex and is the whole basis to the ~ 는것 principle that I mentioned earlier. As I said, you will begin to learn about this in Lesson 26. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 6
To be a lot of: 많다 A good way to practice your understanding of how adjectives can be used to describe a noun in a sentence or to predicate an entire sentence is to apply your knowledge to the word " 많다." 많다 is an adjective that describes that there is "many' or "a lot" of something. Its translation to English usually depends on how it is used in a sentence. For example, when used to describe nouns in a sentence, it can be used in the following way: 나는많은음식을먹다 = I eat a lot of food ( 나는많은음식을먹어 / 저는많은음식을먹어요 ) 나는많은돈이있다 = I have a lot of money ( 나는많은돈이있어 / 저는많은돈이있어요 ) 나는많은아내가있다 = I have a lot of wives (ha!) ( 나는많은아내가있어 / 저는많은아내가있어요 ) Now, if we use " 많다 " to predicate a sentence, it can be used like this: 사람이많다 In your Korean studies, you need to realize that it is never effective to think of a Korean sentence as an exact translation in English. The fact is, Korean and English grammar are completely different, and trying to force the rules/structure of English into Korean is unnatural. If we stuck with the translation of "a lot of" for the meaning of " 많다 " and forced the English translation to the sentence " 사람이많다 ", we would get: People are a lot of... But that clearly is not accurate. Instead, what is the sentence " 사람이많다 " describing? It is describing that there is a lot of something, therefore, the translation should be: 사람이많다 = there is a lot of people ( 사람이많아 / 사람이많아요 ) Therefore, when 많다 predicates a sentence, its translation is usually "There is/are a lot of...". Here is another example: 음식이많다 = there is a lot of food ( 음식이많아 / 음식이많아요 ) Of course, this can be applied to very complex sentences as well, but this is just the very beginning. Eventually, you will be able to make a sentence like: There are a lot of singers who become famous and spend all of their money too quickly HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 7
This sentence as well would also end in " 많다." The structure would basically be: (singers who become famous and spend all of their money too quickly) 가많다 You are still very far from understanding how complex sentences like that work, but I want to show you that the content you learned in this lesson brings you one step closer. Also notice that the particles 이 / 가 are attached to the subjects in sentences ending with " 많다." There are some words where the use of the particles ~ 이 / 가 on the subject of the sentence is more natural than the use of ~ 는 / 은. 많다 is one of these words. We will continue to tell you in which situations it is more natural to use ~ 이 / 가 instead of ~ 은 / 는 as we progress through our lessons. ~ Particle 도 ~ 도 is another particle that is very useful in Korean. It has the meaning of too/as well. It can replace the subject particles ( 는 / 은 ) OR the object particles ( 를 / 을 ), depending on what you are saying too with. For example: 저도한국어를말하다 = I speak Korean as well (In addition to other people) ( 나도한국어를말해 / 저도한국어를말해요 ) which is different from: 저는한국어도말하다 = I speak Korean as well (in addition to other languages) ( 나는한국어도말해 / 저는한국어도말해요 ) Make sure you notice the difference between the previous two examples. In English these two are written the same, but sound different when speaking. In the first example, you are emphasizing that YOU also speak Korean, in addition to other people that you are talking about. In the second example, you are emphasizing that (in addition to other languages), you also speak Korean. See the two examples below for the same issue: 저도사과를먹다 = I eat apples as well ( 나도사과를먹어 / 저도사과를먹어요 ) 저는사과도먹다 = I eat apples as well ( 나는사과도먹어 / 저는사과도먹어요 ) Notice the difference in pronunciation in English. The first one has the meaning of other people eat some apples, but I too eat some apples. HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 8
The second example has the meaning of I eat some other food as well, but I also eat apples. It is important to recognize that whatever noun "~ 도 " is attached to (the subject or object) is the thing that is being expressed as "too." More examples: 나도그것을알다 = I know that, too ( 나도그것을알아 / 저도그것을알아요 ) 나도피곤하다 = I am tired, too ( 나도피곤해 / 저도피곤해요 ) 나의딸도행복하다 = My daughter is happy, too ( 나의딸도행복해 / 저의딸도행복해요 ) HowtoStudyKorean.com Unit 1 9