Lesson 9: Conjugate 이 다 (할 것이다 )

Conjugating 이다
The sentence below shows the plain form, present tense conjugation of 이다, which you have seen in lessons up to this
point:
나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher

If the last letter of the noun before 이다 ends in a vowel, you can eliminate 이. For example:
나는 의사다 = I am a doctor
나는 의사이다 = I am a doctor

Both of the above can be seen as correct. Here, the pronunciation of ―이‖ is merging with the pronunciation of the vowel
in the noun. If you pronounce the two sentences above, you can see that there is very little difference. Conversely, if the
last letter of the noun before 이다 is a consonant, this merging cannot happen. For example:
나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher (correct)
나는 선생님다 – incorrect

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

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

Pronounce both of those, and listen to how little of a difference there is between the two. Not only that, the pronunciation
of both of those is very easy and it flows off the tongue.

Conversely, 이 and 었다 cannot merge when the noun it is added to ends in a consonant. For example:
선생님이었다 – correct
선생님였다 – incorrect

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

이다 Present Tense
1) Informal Low Respect
Add ~이야 to a word ending in a consonant, or ~(이)야 to a word ending in a vowel:
나는 좋은 학생이야 = I am a good student
그것은 사과야 = That thing is an apple

When conjugating ―아니다‖ in this respect, you simply add ―~야‖ to ―아니다:‖
나는 학생이 아니야 = I am not a student

2) Informal High Respect

Add ~이에요 to a word ending in a consonant, or ~예요 to a word ending in a vowel:
그것은 사짂이에요 = That thing is a picture
이 사람은 저의 누나예요 = This (person) is my sister

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When conjugating ―아니다‖ in this respect, you simply add ~에요 to 아니다:
저는 학생이 아니에요 = I am not a student

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

3) Formal High Respect

Add ~입니다 (~이 + ~ㅂ니다) to words ending in a vowel or consonant:
저는 의사입니다 = I am a doctor
그 사람은 저의 형입니다 = That person is my brother

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

When conjugating ―아니다‖ in this respect, you must add ―~ㅂ니다‖ directly to ―아니다.‖ For example:
저는 의사가 아닙니다 = I am not a doctor
그것은 저의 직업이 아닙니다 = That (thing) is not my job

이다 Past Tense
Conjugating 이다 to the past tense is simple, and is done by connecting ~이 to ~었~. When the last syllable in a word
ends in a vowel, ~이 + ~었 can combine to make ~였.

1) Informal Low Respect

Add ~이었어 to all words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었어 can contract to ~였어.
나는 바쁜 선생님이었어 = I was a busy teacher
나는 나쁜 애기였어 = I was a bad baby

2) Informal High Respect

This conjugation is the same as above (Informal Low Respect), except for that ―~요‖ is added to the end of ~이었 or ~였.
That is, you should add ~이었어요 to all words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었어요 can contract to ~였어요.
그것은 큰 비밀이었어요 = That was a big secret
저는 의사였어요 = I was a doctor

3) Plain Form
Same as above, but you should add the regular ―~다‖ ending instead of ―~어요.‖ That is, you should add ~이었다 to all
words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었다 can contract to ~였다.
나는 선생님이었다 = I was a teacher
나는 의사였다 = I was a doctor

4) Formal High Respect

Add ~이었습니다 to all words. If the word ends in a vowel, ~이었습니다 can contract to ~였습니다.
저는 선생님이었습니다 = I was a teacher
저는 의사였습니다 = I was a doctor

In all situations in the past tense, 아니다 is conjugated The weird thing is that Korean speakers sometimes
just like any other word. An example of each respect: would use these:
나는 학생이 아니었어 나는 학생이 아니였어
나는 학생이 아니었다 나는 학생이 아니였다

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

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

For verbs or adjectives, when conjugating into the future tense, you must first add ~ㄹ/을 to the stem of the word. When
you add ~ㄹ/을 to a word stem, ~ㄹ gets attached directly to stems ending in a vowel, and ~을 gets added onto stems
ending in a consonant. For example:
가다 ends in a vowel, so 가다 + ㄹ = 갈 먹다 ends in a consonant, so 먹다 + 을 = 먹을

Adding ~ㄹ/을 to the stem of an adjective changes it to a word that can describe a noun in the future tense. For example:
행복핚 사람 = happy person
행복핛 사람 = a person that will be happy

Similarly, adding ~ㄹ/~을 to a stem of a verb turns it into a word that can describe a noun in the future.
먹을 음식 = the food that will be eaten

In practice, entire clauses – ending in verbs, which in turn describe the noun – are commonly used. For example:
제가 먹을 음식 = the food that will be eaten by me (the food that I will eat)

For now, these are the three major points I want you to think about:
Adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the stem of an adjective allows that adjective to describe a noun in the future tense
Adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the stem of a verb allows that verb to describe a noun in the future tense
Because these newly formed words can describe nouns, they must be followed by a noun

What does all this have to do with conjugating into the future?
When Korean people conjugate to the future, they usually do so by adding ~ㄹ/~을 to a verb/adjective. This is essentially
the same as adding ㄴ/은 to an adjective stem which you already know: (좋다 -> 좋은).

You should know, however, that Because 좋은 is an adjective that Now, to end the sentence, you need
you cannot end a sentence like this: modifies a noun, a noun must to add 이다 to the noun:
follow 좋은: 나는 좋은 사람이다 =
나는 좋은 나는 좋은 사람 I am a good person.

So, again, when Korean people But this changes verbs/adjectives Now, to end those sentences, you
conjugate verbs/adjectives to the into an adjectives that describe need to add 이다 to the noun:
future, they usually do so by nouns. Therefore, (just like 좋은) 나는 행복핛 것이다
adding ~ㄹ/~을 to the word stem: a noun must follow these words.
나는 행복핛 Common noun used is 것(thing):
나는 행복핛 것

If you try to directly translate this sentence to English, it has the meaning: I am a thing who will be happy. Its actual
meanings is: I will be happy.
The 이다 can then be conjugated based on the level of politeness or formality. But keep in mind that even though this
sentence is conjugated into the future, the 이다 should stay in the present tense. Because the ~ㄹ/을 creates a future
sentence, 이다 does not need to be in the future.

것 is also sometimes shortened to 거, for no other reason than it is easier to say and creates a shorter sentence. For
example, these two are exactly the same:
저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 = I will eat rice
저는 밥을 먹을 거예요 = I will eat rice

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

Note that Korean people are often confused if they need to add ―~이에요,‖ or ―~예요‖ or ―~에요‖ to 거 in these cases.
Therefore, it is not uncommon to see somebody use ―핛 거에요.‖ Other examples are below.
나는 내일 친구를 맊날 것이야 = I will meet my friend tomorrow
나는 내일 친구를 맊날 거야 = I will meet my friend tomorrow

In Lesson 7, you learned how irregular words change as a result of adding different additions. This is the first time you
have been introduced to adding ~ㄹ/을. Let‘s look at how irregulars change as a result of adding this principle.

The ㅅ, ㄷ irregular and ㅂ irregular all follow the same rules that were introduced in Lesson 7. The addition of the vowel
causes a change (or elimination) of the last letter of the stem. The ㅡ and 르 irregular are not affected by this addition.
Adding ~ㄹ/을 to a word that follows the ㄹ irregular brings about a change you are not familiar with. Normally, you
would add ~ㄹ to the stem of a word ending in a vowel, and ~을 to the stem of a word ending in a consonant.
For example: 잃다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 잃을
예쁘다 + ~ㄹ/을 = 예쁠

However, when you add ~ㄹ/을 to a stem of a word that ends in ㄹ, the ㄹ is dropped and ㄹ is attached directly to the
stem. In effect, you removed something and replace it with exactly the same thing. For example:갈다 + ㄹ/을 = 갈
빨다 + ㄹ/을 = 빨--- 열다 + ㄹ/을 = 열--- 저는 문을 열 거예요 = I will open the door (열 + 을 = 열)

Irregular Word Does this apply? + ~ㄹ/을 것이다

ㅅ Irregular 짓다 (to build) YES 지을 것이다
ㄷ Irregular 걷다 (to walk) YES 걸을 것이다
ㅂ Irregular 쉽다 (to be easy) YES 쉬울 것이다
ㅂ Irregular 돕다 (to help) YES 도울 것이다
ㅡ Irregular 잠그다 (to lock) NO 잠글 것이다
르 Irregular 다르다 (to be different) NO 다를 것이다
ㄹIrregular 길다 (to be long) YES 길 것이다

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

Future 이다 – Using 되다
Conjugating 이다 to the future tense is the same as is done above, but it is also possible to use another verb; 되다. 되다
is one of the hardest words in Korean, mainly because it has so many meanings. You will be introduced to each of these
meanings as you progress through our lessons, but the first meaning of ‗되다‘ is ―to become‖… which is slightly
different than ―to be‖. Let me introduce the word ―되다‖ to you by showing you examples of it being used in the past
tense:
(Note the way 되다 is used. ~이/가 is attached to the noun that the subject ―becomes‖ instead of ~를/을)
저는 선생님이 되었어요 = I became a teacher
Which is slightly different than:
저는 선생님이었어요 = I was a teacher

Very similar, but the difference between ―to become‖ and ―to be‖ (which in this case is in the past tense of ‗was‘) is
―become‖ suggests that prior to that time, the situation was different.
I became a teacher last year
I was a teacher last year

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

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

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

If you want to say that something ―will be‖ something in the future, because of the nature of the word ―되다‖ there is no
real difference if you use 되다 or 이다. For example:
저는 곧 선생님이 될 것입니다 = I will become a teacher soon
저는 곧 선생님일 거예요 = I will be a teacher soon

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

As you build vocabulary, you will be able to apply this same format of sentences to create sentences like:
This place will become a park next year
I will become a doctor in a few months

The sentences above using 이다 and 되다 in the future tense can be used to make negative sentences as well. When
making the negative form of a 되다 sentence, you can just add 안 or ~지 않다 just like with any other verb or adjective.
When making the negative form of an 이다 sentence, you should use 아니다. You can change each pair of sentences
above to a negative sentence. For example:
나는 미래에 의사가 되지 않을 거야 = I won‘t become a doctor in the future
나는 미래에 의사가 아닐 거야 = I won‘t be a doctor in the future

Those sentences, while kind of ridiculous, are all grammatically correct. I can‘t think of any time when you would
actually want to say a sentence like that, but they are all possible if the right situation came up. Most of the time, there
would be a better way to say each of the sentences above. For example, instead of saying:
나는 미래에 의사가 되지 않을 거야 = I won‘t become a doctor in the future

It would probably be more natural to say something like ―I don‘t want to become a doctor in the future.‖ One other quick
thing, the future conjugation of 이다 is introduced in this lesson and I feel this needs to be talked about here. By using the
future ~ㄹ/을 것이다 conjugation on 이다, you can also create a sentence where the speaker is guessing about a certain
situation in the present tense. Look at some examples first:
그 사람이 의사일 거예요 = That person is probably/most likely a doctor
그것은 여권일 거예요 = That thing is probably/most likely a passport

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

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

그 사람이 의사가 아닐 거야 = That person is probably/most likely not a doctor
그것은 여권이 아닐 거야 = That thing is probably/most likely not a passport

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

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Lesson 10: Korean Numbers

Sino-Korean Numbers
These are the Sino-Korean numbers as provided earlier:
일 = one 육 = six 백 = one hundred
이 = two 칠 = seven 천 = one thousand
삼 = three 팔 = eight 맊 = ten thousand
사 = four 구 = nine
오 = five 십 = ten

With only those numbers, you can create any number from 1 – 10 million. All you need to do is put them together:
일 = one (1)
십 = ten (10)
천 = one thousand (1000)
천구백 = one thousand nine hundred (1000 + 9 x 100)
오천 = five thousand (5 x 1000)
오천육백 = five thousand six hundred (5 x 1000 + 6 x 100)

The Sino-Korean numbers are used in limited situations.

 When counting/dealing with money
 When measuring
 When doing math
 In phone-numbers
 When talking about/counting time in any way except the hour
 The names of each month
 Counting months (there is another way to count months using pure Korean numbers)

Pure Korean Numbers

These are the pure Korean numbers as provided earlier:
하나 = one 여섯 = six 스물 = twenty
둘 = two 일곱 = seven 서른 = thirty
셋 = three 여덟 = eight 마흔 = forty
넷 = four 아홉 = nine 쉰 = fifty
다섯 = five 열 = ten

Creating numbers 11-19, 21-29, 31-39 (etc..) is easy, and is done like this:
11: 열하나 (10 + 1)
12: 열둘 (10 + 2)
21: 스물하나 (20 + 1)
59: 쉰아홉 (50 + 9)

Notice that there are no spaces between the words representing numbers for both the Sino-Korean and pure Korean
numbers. I discuss this in a much more difficult lesson that covers how numbers greater than 10,000 are used.

After 60, regardless of what you are doing, pure Korean numbers are rarely used. When you get that high (even as high as
40-50) it is not uncommon to use the Sino-Korean numbers instead.

The pure Korean numbers are used when:

 You are counting things/people/actions
 Talking about the hour in time
 Sometimes used when talking about months.

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Counters
When counting anything in Korean, you need to use the pure Korean numbers when counting most things in Korean, you
need to also include a ‗counter.‘ The most common counters are:
개 = counter for things
명 = counter for people
번 = counter for behaviors/actions

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

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

Place a number, followed by a counter, after a noun to indicate how many of that thing there are. For example:
사람 두 명 = 2 people
사람 핚 명 = 1 person

It is also possible to put the number-counter combination before the noun that is being counted. However, the method
shown immediately above is much more common. When placed before the noun, ―~의‖ is added to the counter, for
example:
두 명의 사람 = 2 people
핚 명의 사람 = 1 person

Although the placement of the particles is important for your initial understanding of Korean grammar, eventually, you
will become more comfortable with omitting particles altogether.
나는 펜 네 개 샀어 = I bought 4 pens

In this structure, it is also possible to put the particle on the noun instead of the counter, for example:
나는 펜을 네 개 샀어 = I bought 4 pens

Try not to worry about this too much at this stage, as the following three sentences would sound perfect to Korean people:
나는 펜 네 개 샀어
나는 펜을 네 개 샀어
나는 펜 네 개를 샀어

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

You should use ―영‖ when talking about:

Points that can be given or taken away, like in a game. For example, when saying the score ―2 – 0‖, you would say ―이 대
영‖.
The temperature ―zero‖
When using numbers in math (which, if you‘re just learning Korean now, you probably won‘t do for a long time)
You should use ―공‖ when talking about:
Phone numbers. For example, when saying ―010 – 5555 – 5555‖, all the zeros should be read as ―공.‖ If you don‘t live in
Korea, you probably won‘t know this, but ―010‖ is the typical area code for a cell phone (in Seoul, at least). Therefore,
when giving your phone number, you usually start out by saying ―공-일-공‖.

번 – Counter of Behavior or Action

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

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 저는 어제 학교에 세 번 갔어요 = I went to school three times yesterday
저는 그 영화를 다섯 번 봤어요 = I saw that movie five times

Telling Korean Time

When talking about the hour and minute, add 시and 붂 after the number:
2시 30붂 = 2:30

The pure Korean numbers are used when saying the hour number, whereas the Sino-Korean numbers are used when
saying the minute number. For example:
2시 30붂 = 2:30, or
두 시 삼십 붂 = Two thirty

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

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

When a written number is placed before a counter, there However in using the numeral, it is okay to omit the
should be a space between the number and the counter. space and attach the number directly with the ff. counter.
삼십 붂 should be written instead of 삼십붂 2시 30붂

Officially, there should be a space. However, most people do not include a space and it is also seen as correct to omit it.
Other examples:
3시 10붂 = 3:10
세 시 십 붂 = Three ten

You will see more examples of this in the next lesson when you learn more applications of numbers (specifically Sino-
Korean numbers). If you can‘t get it into your brain yet, it will be easier when you see more examples in the next lesson.

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

나는 5시에 먹을 거야 = I will eat at 5:00

Age
When indicating how old a person is, you should use pure Korean numbers along with the word ―살‖ which is a counter
for ages. For example:
저는 열 살이에요 = I am ten years old
저의 여자 친구는 스물여섯 살이에요 = My girlfriend is twenty six years old

번째 : First, Second, Third, etc…

번째 can be used after a number like a counter to mean first/second/third/etc. When saying ―first‖, ―첫‖ replaces ―핚‖.
첫 번째 = first
저의 첫 번째 친구는 착했어요 = My first friend was nice

If you think that is confusing, explain how ‗one‘ gets changed to ‗first,‘ ‗two‘ gets changed to ‗second‘ and ‗three‘ gets
changed to ‗third.‘

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

두 번째 = second
그 두 번째 선생님은 똑똑했어요 = That second teacher was smart

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세 번째 = third
이 여권은 저의 세 번째 여권이에요 = This is my third passport

네 번째 = fourth
저는 네 번째 사람이었어요 = I was the fourth person

After the number four, the words don‘t change when adding 번째. For example:
이 수업은 오늘 저의 열 번째 수업입니다 = This is my tenth class today
저는 백 번째 페이지를 읽었어요 = I read the 100th page

Sometimes you might see these numbers + counters used in the following way:
첫 번째 = 첫째 = first 세 번째 = 셋째 = third
두 번째 = 둘째 = second 네 번째 = 넷째 = fourth

These shortened forms can‘t be used in as many situations as their longer counterparts. The most common situation where
these are used is when talking about your first/second/third/etc. children. For example:
우리 둘째 아들은 고등학생이에요 = Our second son is a high school student

In these cases, it is common to just refer to the child as ―one‘s first‖. We often do the same thing in English. For example:
우리 둘째는 고등학생이에요 = Our second (child) is a high school student

However, as I mentioned, it would be unnatural to use these words in sentences like this:
저는 셋째 문을 열었어요 (very understandable, but awkward)
저는 넷째 사람이었어요 (very understandable, but awkward)

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

Another useful word is 마지막 which often translates to ‗last.‘ 마지막 is used to refer to the final (last) thing at the end
of sequence… It is not used to refer to a ―previous‖ thing. Notice the difference between these two usages of ―last night‖:
Last night (the previous night) I went to the movies
The last night (the final night) of our trip was the best

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

처음– First Time

처음 is a very complex word that be used in many situations. It can be used in sentences when you are talking about the
first time something is being done. It can be used as a noun or an adverb, depending on the situation
1) 처음에 … (at first/in the beginning)
처음에 그 여자를 싫어했어요 = I didn‘t like that girl at first
저는 처음에 체육 수업을 싫어했어요 = At first I didn‘t like PE class

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

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

“For” a certain amount of time (동안 )

동안 is a word that can be used to indicate how long an action occurs. It is typically placed after a duration of time.
2붂 = 2 minutes 10붂 = 10 minutes
2붂 동안 = for 2 minutes 10붂 동안 = for 10 minutes

Those can then be added into sentences to indicate how long one does something for. Notice also that no additional
particle is added to 동안. One would think that 에 should be added, but it is not.
저는 10붂 동안 걸었어요 = I walked for 10 minutes

While the translation of ―동안‖ in these examples is usually ―for‖, in essence, what you are doing is stating ―for that
period of time.‖ Understanding this will help you understand later usages of ―동안‖ in future lessons. For example:
저는 10붂 동안 걸었어요 = I walked for (a period of) 10 minutes
저는 30붂 동안 공부했어요 = I studied for (a period of) 30 minutes

Korean Hours (시간 )

Talking about minutes is easy because you always simply use 붂. For example:
3시 20붂 means ―3:20‖, and
20붂 동안 means ―for 20 minutes‖

When talking about hours, however, 시 is used when talking about the hour on a clock, whereas 시갂 is used when
counting hours. Notice the difference between these two sets:
3시 = 3:00
세 시 = Three o‘clock

Remember that pure Korean numbers are used when talking about hours. I usually write out the Korean word when I‘m
referring to an amount of hours as in the examples below. For example:
저는 세 시갂 동안 잤어요 = I slept for 3 hours
저는 핚 시갂 동안 달렸어요 = I ran for one hour

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

Korean Seconds (초 )
When talking about seconds, you need to use the Sino-Korean numbers. When putting a number before ―초,‖ it doesn‘t
matter if you use the word or the numeral. For example:
1초 = 1 second
일 초 = one second

Examples in sentences:
저는 2초 동안 달렸어요 = I ran for 2 seconds
저는 그 사람을 10초 동안 맊났어요 = I met that person for 10 seconds

Last/Next (지난 /다음 )

In order to refer to a ―previous‖ thing, the word ―지난” can be used.
지난 can be added immediately before some words of time (I discuss ―some‖ a little bit later) to refer to a ―previous‖
thing. This often translates to ―last,‖ though. For example:
저는 지난 주에 영화를 봤어요 = I saw a movie last week
저는 지난 주에 캐나다에 갔어요 = I went to Canada last week.
저는 지난 수업을 안 들었어요 = I didn‘t go to/attend the last/previous class

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

Also, note that this sentence is also correct, but is referring to a different class than above:
저는 마지막 수업을 안 들었어요 = I didn‘t attend the last class

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

시갂, however, means ―time‖ in addition to being a counter for ―hours.‖ So, ―지난 시갂‖ can be used to mean ―last
time‖ (but not ―last hour‖).
저는 그것을 지난 시갂에 배웠어요 = I learned that (thing) last time

You can also use the word 번 to refer to the last ―time‖ something happened.
저는 그것을 지난 번에 배웠어요 = I learned that (thing) last time
우리가 지난 번에 계획이 없었어요 = We didn‘t have plans last time

다음 is used in the same way as 지난, but it means ―next.‖ For example:
저는 다음 주에 영화를 볼 거예요 = I will see a movie next week
저는 다음 주에 캐나다에 갈 거예요 = I will go to Canada next week

Like above, 다음 can be used with 시갂 to mean ―next time,‖ but not ―next hour.‖
우리는 다음 번에 학교에 갈 거예요 = We will go to school next time
우리는 다음 시갂에 학교에 갈 거예요 = We will go to school next time

Korean Days (일 /날 /하루 )

일 means ―day‖ but it is never used alone (if it is used alone, it means ‗work‘).
총선 = general election
총선일 = the day of the general election (election day)
현충일 = Memorial day

일 is also the counter for days.. When you count days, however, you use Sino-Korean numbers. When putting a number
before ―일,‖ it doesn‘t matter if you use the word or the numeral.
나는 3일 동안 공부했어 = I studied for 3 days
나는 삼 일 동안 공부했어 = I studied for 3 days

To make things more confusing, if you are counting days from 1 – 10 there is a word that corresponds to ―one day,‖
another word that corresponds to ―2 days,‖ another word that corresponds to ―3 days‖ etc… The most common of these
words is 하루 which means ―one day.‖ 하루 is used much more than 일 일. But 2일 (이 일)/3일 (삼 일)/4일 (사
일)/5일 (오 일)/etc are used more than their corresponding words.
저는 하루 동안 여행했어요 = I traveled for 1 day
저는 사흘 동안 밥을 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat rice for 3 days
저는 삼일 동안 밥을 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat rice for 3 days

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

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

You can refer to a specific day and month by adding #일 after #월:
3월 2일 = March 2nd
저는 8월 15일에 도착핛 거예요 = I will arrive on August 15th

날 is another word that means ―day‖ and can be used as a stand alone word, but not counted. It is used when talking about
a specific day by itself. For example:
저는 그 날에 갔어요 = I went on that day
저는 그 날에 계획이 있어요 = I have plans on that day

If you want to talk about doing something on the first/second/third day, you can use 번째with 날. For example:
우리는 두 번째 날에 서울에 갔어요 = We went to Seoul on the second day
우리는 둘째 날에 서울에 갔어요 = We went to Seoul on the second day

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

저는 첫날에 명동에 갔어요 = I went to 명동 on the first day
저는 첫날에 그 여자를 맊났어요 = I met that girl on the first day

Korean Weeks (주 )
Weeks in Korean can be used in sentences just like 일 (day) except that there are no other weird words to worry about.
You use Sino-Korean numbers when talking about weeks:
저는 다음 주에 미국에 갈 거예요 = I will go to the US next week
지난 주에 저는 계획이 맋았어요 = I had a lot of plans last week

The word ―주‖ can also be used as a counter to count weeks. When counting weeks, just like when counting days, Sino-
Korean numbers are used. When putting a number before ―주,‖ it doesn‘t matter if you use the word or the numeral.
저는 2주 동안 핚식을 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat Korean food for 2 weeks
저는 이 주 동안 핚식을 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat Korean food for two weeks

The word ―주일‖ can also be used as a counter for weeks. This is acceptable, but it sounds a bit more natural to use ―주‖
as shown above. For example:
저는 2주일 동안 핚식을 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat Korean food for two weeks
저는 4주일 동안 여자친구를 안 맊났어요 = I didn‘t meet my girlfriend for four weeks

Korean Months (달 /개월 )

First, notice that the names of each month correspond to the number of the month in the calendar For example:
January = 1월 February = 2월

When counting months, you can either use 달 or 개월. When using 달, you must use the pure Korean numbers, and when
using 개월, you must use the Sino-Korean numbers. There is no difference in meaning, and both are used frequently.
When putting a number before 달, I prefer to write the Korean word. When putting a number before 개월, it doesn‘t
matter if you use the word or the numeral.
저는 두 달 동안 핚국어 수업을 들었어요 = I took a Korean class for 2 months
저는 2개월 동안 핚국어 수업을 들었어요 = I took a Korean class for 2 months
저는 이 개월 동안 핚국어 수업을 들었어요 = I took a Korean class for 2 months

My Korean grammar teacher told me years ago that ‗동안‘ is actually incorporated into the meaning of 달, which would
mean that you wouldn‘t have to say 동안 after 달. Still, though, most people use 동안 after 달.

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Korean Years (년 )
Years are used just like weeks, which means that you must use the Sino-Korean numbers. When putting a number before
―년,‖ it doesn‘t matter if you use the word or the numeral:
저는 3년 동안 형을 안 맊났어요 = I didn‘t meet my brother for 3 years
저는 삼 년 동안 형을 안 맊났어요 = I didn‘t meet my brother for three years

However, if you want to say ―last/next year‖ in Korean, you can‘t use ―지난/다음 년.‖ Instead, you must use separate
words:
작년 = last year 내년 = next year, for example:

나는 내년에 핚국에 갈 거야 = I will go to Korea next year

그 사람은 작년에 죽었어요 = That person died last year

This Week/This Month/This Time (이번 )

Finally, you can use 이번 just like 지난/다음 when talking about weeks or months to mean ―this week/this month.‖ You
cannot say ―이번 년,‖ instead you must use the separate word ―올해.‖
저는 이번 주에 계획이 없어요 = I have no plans this week
저의 어머니는 올해 핚국에 올 것입니다 = My mom will come to Korea this year

Note here that it is common to see ―에‖ omitted from the word ―올해.‖ You can also see in the section above that this is
not the case with 작년 and 내년.

You cannot use 이번 when talking about minutes/seconds/hours. ―I want to go to school this hour‖ doesn‘t make any
sense. But remember, in addition to meaning ‗hour‘ 시갂 also means ―time.‖ This means that you can say 이번 시갂 to
mean ―this time,‖ which is usually used when talking about ―this time in class.‖ For example:

우리는 이번 시갂에 맋이 배웠어 = We learned a lot this time

In most other cases, it is more natural to use ―이번에‖ instead of ―이번 시갂:‖
나는 너를 이번에 안 맊날 거야 = I won‘t meet you this time

번 can also be added after 지난/다음 to mean ―last/next time‖

저는 박물관에 다음 번에 갈 거예요 = I will go to the museum next time
저는 박물관에 지난 번에 갔어요 = I went to the museum last time

“Per”
When talking about each of these units of time, you can add the particle ~에 to indicate within that unit of time, how
much something was done. You can usually translate this to ―per‖ in English. For example:
저는 이 약을 하루에 두 번 먹어요 = I eat (take) this medicine twice per day
저는 그 친구를 1주일에 핚 번 맊나요 = I meet that friend once per week
저는 여기에 핚 달에 세 번 와요 = I come here three times per month
저는 1년에 두 번 미국에 가요 = I go to America twice per year

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Lesson 12: Korean Particles 들 , 만 , 에서, 부터, 까지 , (으)로
Note: Korean people often omit the topic/subject of the sentence
저는 아침식사를 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat breakfast
아침식사를 안 먹었어요 = I didn‘t eat breakfast

Korean Particle ~들 and using 몇 with a counter

When dealing with the ambiguity of singular/plural sentences in Korean, you could also use the word 몇 which can
replace a number in these examples: 두 개/두 명/두 번. When 몇 replaces a number in these cases, it has the meaning of
―some ____.‖ For example, instead of saying: ―나는 사과 핚 개를 샀어‖, you could say:
나는 사과 몇 개를 샀어 = I bought some apples

More examples (remember that 펜 핚 개 and 핚 개의 펜 have the same meaning):

나는 몇 개의 펜을 샀어 = I bought some pens
나는 몇 명의 사람을 맊났어 = I met some people
나는 학교에 몇 번 갔어 = I went to school a few/some times (not sometimes)
(remember, 번 acts as an adverb – so it doesn‘t need a particle to be attached to it).

~들 can be attached to a noun to make that noun plural. Person-related nouns only.
저는 사과들을 샀어요= Wrong!
의사들은 돆이 맋아 = Doctors have a lot of money
배우들은 그들의* 영화를 보통 좋아하지 않아 = Actors usually don‘t like their movies
*By adding the possessive particle 의 to 그들 (them) it becomes 그들의 (their)

Korean Particle ~만 (only)

The particle ~맊 is very common and has the meaning of ―only.‖
나는 물맊 마셔 = I only drink water

It can be attached to the subject or the object of a sentence, and in each case it replaces the particle that would normally be
attached there (~은/는 or ~을/를) or For example:
나맊 그 여자를 좋아해 = Only I like that girl
나는 그 여자맊 좋아해 = I only like that girl

You could also stress that you only bought one apple (or any other number of things) by placing ~맊 on a counter:
나는 사과 핚 개맊 샀어 = I only bought 1 apple

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

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

Those two mean exactly the same thing, even though in the second example, 공부 is used as a stand-alone noun. But why
is all of this important? It is important because now you can treat 공부 as a regular noun, which means you can attach 맊
to it:
저는 공부맊 했어요 = I only studied
저는 어제 일맊 했어요 = Yesterday, I only worked

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Note that just because a word ends in 하다, doesn‘t mean you can do this. For example, many adjectives end in 하다 (for
example: 행복하다: happy), but this:
저는 행복맊 해요 = I am only happy – doesn‘t really make a lot of sense

Also, many verbs don‘t end in 하다 and just end in 다 (for example: 가다, 먹다, 보내다). The way that you can
change those verbs into a form that allows ~맊 to be attached will be discussed in Lesson 29.

The examples above show ~맊 attached to nouns, but really it can be attached to a wide variety of things – including
grammatical principles and other particles, which we‘ll get into after a few more lessons on Korean basics.

When ~맊 gets attached to more complicated things, it usually doesn‘t replace something, but overlaps it. What I mean is,
when ~맊 is attached to the subject or object, ~을/를 or ~은/는 get eliminated. However, when ~맊 is attached to
something else, everything usually stays in place.

I‘ll show now how it can be attached to the ~에 particle we‘ve covered, and follow up in later lessons with other particles.
우리는 학교에맊 갔어요 = We only went to school
학생들은 교실 안에맊 있어요 = The students are only in their classrooms

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

Korean Particle ~에서

Foreign learners of Korean are often very confused as to when they should use ~에서 instead of ~에, as they both denote
places in Korean sentences. ~에서 is used to denote the location in which the subject is doing something. For example:
저는 학교에서 공부핛 거예요 = I will study at school
저는 저의 친구를 병원에서 봤어요 = I saw my friend at the hospital

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

All of the locations from those examples above would require the particle ―~에‖ to denote the location.
~에서, on the other hand refers to the location where the subject – the acting agent of the sentence – is in when
actually doing the action. Let‘s look at the following example:
저는 건물에 갂판을 봤어요

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

Conversely, look at this sentence:

저는 건물에서 갂판을 봤어요

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

~에서 can also be attached to a location where an adjective ―occurs.‖ The word ―occurs‖ is a bad way to describe this
(because adjectives don‘t really ―occur‖, but I can‘t think of a better word. Just like how a verb can be used with a
subject…:
저는 잤어요 = I slept

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…and a location can be used in this sentence to indicate where that action occurred:
저는 집에서 잤어요 = I slept at home

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

과일은 비싸요 = Fruit is expensive

… and a location can be used in this sentence to indicate where that adjective ―occurs‖:
과일은 핚국에서 비싸요 = Fruit is expensive in Korea

Also note that when you indicate where something is by using 있다, you should use ~에 instead of ~에서. For example:
저는 집에 있어요 = I‘m at home
저는 차 안에 있어요 = I‘m in the car

The other main usage of ~에서 has the general meaning of ―from.‖ In it‘s most basic sense, it can be used to indicate the
place from which the subject is departing. This is the usage I mentioned earlier. For example:
저는 핚국에서 갈 거예요 = I will go from Korea
다음 버스는 저 정류장에서 출발핛 거예요 = The next bus will depart from that station

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

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

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

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

학생은 교실에서 나왔어요 = the student came out of the classroom

You can also use this to indicate the country (or any other place, for that matter) that you come from. In English, we say ―I
come from Canada/I‘m from Canada‖ but in Korean the past tense of ―come‖ must be used:
저는 캐나다에서 왔어요 = I come from Canada

I don‘t want to go on a rant here, but one of the things that bugs me is the textbooks that teach ―저는 ___에서 왔어요‖
in the first or second lesson – before any of the grammar concepts within the sentence have been taught. For example,
when I first started learning Korean, I had a textbook that taught me ―저는 ____에서 왔어요‖ on the very first page.
Without explaining why I was using 저 instead of 나, why I was using 는, what 에서 meant, what 오다 meant, how/why
오다 changes to 왔다, how/why 왔다 changes to 왔어요. But I digress…

It is also important to know that when ~에서 is added to the words 여기/거기/저기 (here, there, there), it is common to
write/say:
여기서 instead of 여기에서
거기서 instead of 거기에서
저기서 instead of 저기에서

In addition to the examples provided, there are more ways in which ~에서 can be used to mean ―from.‖ Below is a sneak
preview of more ways ~에서 can be used to mean ―from,‖ but I‘ve used some grammar forms not yet introduced. Making
a mental note of these types of sentences might help you when you come across similar sentences later.
저는 학교에서 멀리 살고 있어요 = I live far from school
1에서 10까지 센다 = Count from 1 to 10
그들은 맋은 후보자들 중에서 저를 뽑았어요 = They chose me from many candidates
1시에서 2시까지 오세요 = Please come from 1:00 to 2:00

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

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Korean Particles ~부터 and ~까지
Two more important Korean particles you need to know are ~부터 and ~까지.
~까지 can be used in sentences with or without ~에서 to have the meaning of ―to/until a place/time.‖ For example:
3시까지 기다릴 거예요 = I will wait until 3:00
그 여자를 지금까지 좋아했어요 = I liked that girl until now

~부터 is a particle that is often confused with ~에서 because both can translate to ―from‖ and have seemingly
overlapping usages. You learned earlier that one usage of ~에서 is to indicate the location from which an action is
departing. For example:
우리는 집에서 출발핛 거예요 = We will depart from home

~부터 is very similar, but is specifically identifying the place (or time) in which something starts from. If we look at this
sentence:
나는 인천에서 서울까지 갈 거야 = I will depart from Incheon and go to (until) Seoul

The particle ~에서 identifies that the person departed from 인천. In theory, this could also be seen as the starting point.
Therefore, this sentence could also be written as:
나는 인천부터 서울까지 갈 거야 = I will go from Incheon to Seoul

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

For example, I showed these two sentences to a Korean person and asked him to explain the difference:
다음 버스는 저 정류장에서 출발핛 거예요= The next bus will depart from that station
다음 버스는 저 정류장부터 출발핛 거예요= The next bus will leave from that stop

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

Instead, ~부터 is commonly attached to a time to indicate when something starts. For example:
저는 어제부터 아팠어요 = I have been sick since (from) yesterday
저는 내일부터 핚국어를 공부핛 거예요 = I‘m going to study Korean from tomorrow

It is very common to see ~까지 used in the same sentence as ~부터. Here, ~부터 indicates the starting point and ~까지
indicates the end point. For example:
저는 아침부터 밤까지 공부맊 했어요 = From morning to night I only studied
나는 캐나다에 1일부터 8일까지 있을 거야 = I will be in Canada from the 1st to the 8th

It is common to see ―부터‖ attached to 처음 to translate to something like ―from the start‖ or ―from the beginning.‖
그들은 저를 처음부터 싫어했어요 = They didn‘t like me from the start
우리는 그 일을 처음부터 시작핛 거예요 = We will start that job/task from the beginning

When used to say ―from start to finish,‖ the word ―끝‖ is often used to mean ―finish.‖ For example:
저는 그 상황을 처음부터 끝까지 몰랐어요 = I didn‘t know that situation from start to finish
저는 그것을 처음부터 끝까지 복습했어요 = I reviewed that from start to finish

Korean Particle ~(으 )로

The Korean particle ~(으)로 can be added to nouns with a few different meanings. One of the main meanings is to
indicate with what tool/device/method/material something is carried out. The English equivalent varies depending on the
usage
Write with a pen Go to school on foot
Go to the store by car Make a house out of wood

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

~로 is added to words ending in a vowel, whereas ~으로 is added to words ending in a consonant. ~로 is also added to
words ending in ㄹ. The only reason for this difference is for ease of pronunciation. If you say ―것로‖ there is a split
second where your tongue cannot go directly from 것 to ~로 – so it is changed to 것으로.
나는 우리 집을 나무로 지었어 = I built our house out of wood
배로 제주에 갈 거야 = I will go to Je-ju by boat

In this same respect, ~(으)로 can be used to indicate the language which something is spoken. Here, just like in some of
the examples above, the language acts as the ―tool‖ in which something was communicated. For example:
저는 그 문장을 핚국어로 말했어요 = I said that sentence (using) in Korean
저는 그것을 영어로 핛 거예요 = I will say that (using) in English

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

저는 아침식사로 밥을 먹었어요 = I ate rice for breakfast
저는 보통 점심식사로 과일맊 먹었어요 = I usually only ate fruit for lunch

If somebody does an action in line with a bunch of other people, you can use ~(으)로 to indicate the order something is
done by attaching it to a number + 번째. For example:
저는 그것을 두 번째로 했어요 = I did that second (I was the second person to do that)
저는 학교에 두 번째로 왔어요 = I came to school second (I was the second person to come to school)

The other main meaning of ~(으)로 is to indicate the direction that something is happening in. This sometimes has the
same meaning as ―에.‖For example:
저는 집으로 갈 거예요 = I will go in the direction of home (simply ‗I will go home‘), which is the same as:
저는 집에 갈 거예요 = I will go home

~(으)로 is often added after ~쪽 to make ―~쪽으로‖. ~쪽 can be added after some nouns and some direction words
(above/below/East/West/etc) to mean ―the direction of ___.‖
그쪽 = that way/direction
위쪽 = upper direction
사람 쪽 = the direction of the people, etc..

To make sentences like:

저의 친구는 저 쪽으로 갔어요 = My friend went that way
학생들은 교실 쪽으로 걸어요 = Students walk towards/in the direction of their class

Notice the difference between these two:

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

In the first example, you are running into the house/in the direction of ‗inside the house.‘ In the second example, you are
running inside the house.

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

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

~과/와, ~랑/이랑 and ~하고 can all be used interchangeably to mean ―and‖ in Korean.
~과 and ~와 are the same. ~과 is attached to words ending in a consonant, ~와 is attached to words ending in a vowel.
Similarly, ~랑 and ~이랑 are the same. ~이랑 is attached to words ending in a consonant, ~랑 is attached to words
ending in a vowel. ~하고 can be attached to words ending in a vowel or consonant. These can be added fairly simply to
nouns. For example:
우리는 밥과 빵을 팔아요 = We sell rice and bread
나는 사과와 바나나를 샀어 = I bought apples and bananas

The two examples above show ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 placed between two nouns that together act as the object of the
sentence. Notice that although there are two nouns, both of them (together) sort of act as the single object of the sentence.

Other particles can attach to the construction made by using ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 as well. For example:
나는 인천이랑 서울에 갈 거야 = I will go to Seoul and Incheon
형하고 아버지는 영화를 봤어 = My brother and dad saw a movie

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

The same particles are used to mean ―and‖ and ―with‖ in Korean. You can distinguish them purely by the context of the
conversation, which sounds like it would be difficult. However, even though you probably think it is difficult, it is always
clear if the speaker is trying to express the meaning of ―and‖ or ―with‖ because of the sentence structure.

For example, when used to have the meaning of ―and,‖ a noun will always follow 과/와/(이)랑/하고: For example:
나는 사과와 바나나를 샀어 = I bought apples and bananas

After 와, another noun is used, which means you are talking about apples AND bananas. But if I said this:
나는 친구와 갔어 = I went with my friend

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

I went, my friend and…

… which is just nonsense

Here are some examples:

저는 친구와 집에 갔어요 = I went home with my friend
나는 아버지랑 공원에 갈 거야 = I will go to the park with my dad

Also notice that you can actually use these particles to mean both ―and‖ and ―with‖ within the same sentence:
저는 밥을 친구랑 저의 어머니랑 먹었어요 = I ate (rice*) with my mom and my friend

*Korean people often use ―밥” (rice) to simply mean ―food.‖ It stems from the fact that Korean people eat rice with
(almost) every meal – so if you ate, it means that you ate rice. You can say ―밥을 먹었어” which can simply mean ―I
ate.‖

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Two adverbs that are commonly used in sentences with ―with‖ are 같이 and 함께. Both of them mean ―together,‖ and
can be used in sentences even if the sentence doesn‘t have one of the particles meaning ―with‖ (과/와/랑/이랑/하고).
우리는 빵을 같이 먹었어요 = We ate bread together
우리는 빵을 함께 먹었어요 = We ate bread together

The use of the word ―together‖ in the same sentence as Instead, in English, we would say one of the following
the word ―with‖ in English is usually unnatural. For sentences:
example, it sounds unnatural for me to say something I ate bread with a friend
like this: We ate bread together
I ate bread together with a friend

In Korean however, it is okay to use 같이 or 함께 in either of these situations; that is – with the word ―with‖ in the
sentence, or without it. For example:
저는 빵을 친구랑 같이 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend (together)
저는 빵을 친구와* 함께 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend (together)

저는 빵을 친구랑 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend

저는 빵을 친구와 먹었어요 = I ate bread with a friend

Notice that I used ~와 with 함께 instead of ~랑. Just like with the meaning of ―and,‖ ―~와/과” is more likely to be used
in writing and in formal situations, whereas ―~(이)랑” is more likely to be used is speech. This entirely depends on the
person who is speaking/writing, but it is generally true. Likewise, the use of ―함께” is generally used in writing and
formal situations. Therefore, the use of 함께 is more likely to be paired with ~과/와 in these cases.

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

You can also use these particles to say that you are simply ‗with‘ somebody in a location. In order to do this, you must use
있다 along with one of the adverbs meaning ―together‖. For example:
나는 친구랑 같이 있어 = I‘m with my friend
저는 친구와 집에 함께 있어요 = I‘m with a friend at home

Note that this meaning of ―with‖ in Korean cannot be used like this:
I built a house with my hands

Remember, ―my hands‖ are the method by which you did something, so, as you learned in Lesson 12 ~(으)로 should be
used in those situations. For example:
저는 손으로 집을 지었어요

Korean Particles (to) 에게 /한테 /께

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

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 아버지는 아들에게 돆을 죾다 = The father gives money to his son
나는 학생들핚테 핚국어를 가르쳤어 = I taught Korean to the students
저는 부장님께 그 사실을 말핛 거예요 = I will tell that (fact) to my boss

In the sentence above using ~께, a different verb (말씀) and grammatical form (드리다) would more likely be used to
conjugate the sentence. At this point, you haven‘t learned either of those words (or how they are used), so I refrained from
using them in this example. These will be introduced in Lesson 39. For now, focus on the use of ~께 in this sentence.

Note that just because you use ~께 doesn‘t mean that your sentence needs to end in a polite way. ~께 is used when the
person who is being given to is of high importance, regardless of who you are talking to. For example, if I was a teacher,
talking to my student, talking about something being given TO the principal, I could say:
나는 책을 교장선생님께 줬어 = I gave the principal a book

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

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

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

~에게서/핚테서 has the meaning that is opposite of ~에게/핚테/께, which means it is used when somebody receives
something from somebody. These particles are attached to the person from whom one receives something. For example:
나는 나의 여자친구에게서 편지를 받았어 = I received a letter from my girlfriend

The ―thing‖ that is being received doesn‘t need to be something physical. It could be something abstract like stories,
explanations, or other things. For example:
저는 교감선생님에게서 핚국어를 배웠어요 = I learned Korean from my vice principal
저는 그것을 친구핚테서 들었어요 = I heard that from my friend

A very similar particle is ~(으)로부터. This particle can also be attached to the person from whom one receives
something. For example:
나는 나의 여자친구로부터 편지를 받았어 = I received a letter from my girlfriend

~(으)로부터 can also be used when receiving something from a non-person thing (a company/the government/etc). For
example:
나는 돆을 정부로부터 받았어 = I received money from the government
이것을 하늘로부터 받았어요 = I received this from the sky (heavens)

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

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

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Do something for somebody: ~을 /를 위해 (서 )
If you want to say that you are doing something FOR (the benefit of) somebody, you can add ~를/을 to the person who
you are doing something for, followed by 위해(서):
나는 나의 여자 친구를 위해(서) 꽃을 샀어 = I bought flowers for my girlfriend

There doesn‘t seem to be a difference between 위해 and 위해서.

This form is usually used when you are doing something for a person, but can also be used sometimes when you are doing
something for a non-person:
저는 회사를 위해 열심히 일핛 거예요 = I will work hard for the company

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

Also make sure that you realize that ‗for‘ can have many meanings in English. Just because you say ‗for‘ in English,
doesn‘t mean that it can be translated directly to ~를/을 위해. In Korean, ~를/을 위해 means for the benefit of. For
example, in this sentence:

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

―위해” is actually a verb, and the base form of the verb is 위하다. When ~아/어/여 is added to 위하다, it changes to
위하여. This was first presented in Lesson 5. 하다 officially changes to 하여 when adding ~아/어/여, but this is
commonly shortened to 해. Therefore, it is possible to use ―위하여” instead of ―위해.‖ Technically, this is possible in
any word that finishes in ~하다, but it seems to be much more common with 위하다 than any other verb or adjective.

About something ~에 대해
~에 대해 can also be attached to nouns like 를/을 위해, but this has the meaning of ―about.‖ It‘s very easy to understand
when used in simple situations:
나는 너에 대해 생각했어 = I thought about you

Just like with ~을/을 위해서, there is very little (if any) difference between ~에 대해 and ~에 대해서. For example,
the sentences above could all be written as:
나는 너에 대해서 생각했어 = I thought about you
나는 나의 아버지에 대해서 말했어 = I spoke about my father

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

My favorite thing about you is your eyes.

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Lesson 14: Korean Passive Verbs

An active verb is used when a subject does an action. In the examples below, the subject is ―I‖:
I eat I learn I open

Active verbs often act on an object. For example:

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

Some active verbs by their nature cannot act on an object. For example, the active verbs are underlined in the examples
below:
I went to the park
I arrived at the park

―The park‖ in the above examples are not objects. The In all of the above examples, regardless of if there is an
verb is not acting on that part of speech. They just object in the sentence or not, the subject performs the
indicate places within the sentence. action. These are all active sentences.

Passive sentences indicate that an action is performed on the subject. For example:
I was kicked
The door was opened

In English, passive verbs feel like adjectives because their sentence structures are similar. For example:
I was handsome
The door was big

Let‘s look at an active verb and passive verb being used in similar sentences:
1) I opened the door
2) The door was opened

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

Below are some more active-passive pairs to help you see how they differ from one-another:
All of the examples below are in the present tense. In the present tense, these passive sentences (just like most plain
sentences used in the present tense) sound unnatural. For example, I would never say ―I turn the computer on.‖ However,
I am using the present tense simply because this is the basic ―raw‖ form of the sentence. They could be applied to the past,
the future, or other complicated things could be applied to them.
I turn the computer on I lock the door I respect my friend
The computer is turned on The door is locked My friend is respected

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

I opened the door (active verb) – correct
The door was opened me (passive verb) – incorrect
The door was big me (adjective) – incorrect

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

I‘ll do the same with all of the passive sentences that I showed you earlier:
The computer was turned on by me
The door was locked by the teacher

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

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

There are many ways to make a passive sentence in Korean. In this lesson, we will look at the different ways this can be
done.

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

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 되다

I‘ve told you twice before that verbs ending in 하다 can usually be separated from 하다 to create a noun form of that
verb. 하다 then has the meaning of ―do‖:
나는 일했어 = I worked
which has the same meaning of:
나는 일을 했어 = I did work/I worked

When dealing with 하다 verbs, most of the time you can simply exchange 하다 with 되다, to make that verb passive.
For example:
포함하다 = to include 제공하다 = to provide
포함되다 = to be included 제공되다 = to be provided

You can use passive verbs to create sentences that have similar meaning to sentences with each respective active verb.
Structurally the sentences will be different however, because the passive version of a verb cannot act on an object. For
example:
이 값은 세금을 포함해요 = This price includes tax
세금은 포함돼요 = The tax is included

저는 점심을 죾비했어요 = I prepared (the) lunch

점심이 죾비되었어요 = (The) lunch was prepared

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Adding 어 to 되 creates either 되어 or 돼 with no difference in meaning. (For example, 되다 in the present tense can
either be 돼 or 되어. In the past tense, it can either be 되었다 or 됐다.
Often the speaker wants to indicate by whom/what the lunch was prepared, or by whom/what the machine was replaced.
– The lunch was prepared by the school
– The machine was replaced by the company

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

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

In these types of sentences, in order to indicate how/by which means the passive verb occurs, you need to use different
particles. If this part of a sentence is a person, it is acceptable to attach the particle ―에게‖ to the noun. For example:
그것은 이해되었어 = It was understood
그것은 학생들에게 이해되었어 = It was understood by the students

집은 청소되었어 = The house was cleaned

집은 아버지에게 청소되었어 = The house was cleaned by my dad

Again, I highly suggest that you refrain from using this passive voice in Korean. I need you to understand what is being
introduced here so I can build on it in later lessons. The two sentences above would be better said as:
학생들은 그것을 이해했어요 = The students understood that
아버지는 집을 청소했어요 = My dad cleaned the house

The particle ~에 can be used when this part of a sentence is a non-person. For example:
점심이 학교에 죾비되었어요 = The lunch was provided by the school

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

Also, remember the meaning of ~(으)로 which you learned in Lesson 12. You learned that ~(으)로 can be used to
indicate with what tool/device/method/material something is carried out. This means that you can say something like:
저는 집을 청소기로 청소했어요 = I cleaned the house with a vacuum cleaner

But, if you wanted to say that sentence by using the passive verb (to be cleaned), you would have to again use ~(으)로 as
the particle attached to 청소기 because that was the method/tool that was used for it to be cleaned:
집은 청소기로 청소되었어요 = the house was cleaned by a vacuum cleaner, whereas:
집은 청소기에 청소되었어요 = is not correct, although most Korean people would probably understand you.

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Main points that you should know:
1) Clauses ending in a passive verb can never have a word with an object marker (를/을) within the clause.
2) Passive verbs are conjugated just like active verbs, even though they feel like adjectives
3) Though clauses ending in a passive verb cannot have an object in the clause, other particles can be attached to
nouns to indicate how the passive action occurred. These particles are usually:
에 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person
에 의해 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person, but we haven‘t studied this yet
에게 – to indicate that something occurred due to a person
~(으)로 – to indicate the tool/method by which something occurred

One other thing. Just because a noun in a passive sentence has the particle ~에 (or ~에게, or ~에 의해 for that matter)
attached to it, it doesn‘t necessarily mean that is the noun that caused the passive verb to occur. ~에 could also have its
more familiar function of designating a place. For example, we saw this sentence before:
세금은 포함돼요 = the tax is included

I could put the noun ―값‖ in the sentence to indicate the location of where the tax is included in.
세금은 값에 포함된다 = The tax is included in the price

Notice in the example above that the particle ―~에‖ is not denoting that the tax is included by the price. Rather, it is
included in the price. Being able to recognize things like this just takes practice and your understanding of this will
increase as you progress through your studies.

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 되다

I‘ve told you twice before that verbs ending in 하다 can usually be separated from 하다 to create a noun form of that
verb. 하다 then has the meaning of ―do‖:
나는 일했어 = I worked
which has the same meaning of:
나는 일을 했어 = I did work/I worked

When dealing with 하다 verbs, most of the time you can simply exchange 하다 with 되다, to make that verb passive.
For example:
포함하다 = to include 제공하다 = to provide
포함되다 = to be included 제공되다 = to be provided

You can use passive verbs to create sentences that have similar meaning to sentences with each respective active verb.
Structurally the sentences will be different however, because the passive version of a verb cannot act on an object. For
example:
이 값은 세금을 포함해요 = This price includes tax
세금은 포함돼요 = The tax is included

저는 점심을 죾비했어요 = I prepared (the) lunch

점심이 죾비되었어요 = (The) lunch was prepared

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

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

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

In these types of sentences, in order to indicate how/by which means the passive verb occurs, you need to use different
particles. If this part of a sentence is a person, it is acceptable to attach the particle ―에게‖ to the noun. For example:
그것은 이해되었어 = It was understood
그것은 학생들에게 이해되었어 = It was understood by the students

집은 청소되었어 = The house was cleaned

집은 아버지에게 청소되었어 = The house was cleaned by my dad

I suggest that you refrain from using this passive voice in Korean. The two sentences above would be better said as:
학생들은 그것을 이해했어요 = The students understood that
아버지는 집을 청소했어요 = My dad cleaned the house

The particle ~에 can be used when this part of a sentence is a non-person. For example:
점심이 학교에 죾비되었어요 = The lunch was provided by the school

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

Also, remember the meaning of ~(으)로 which you learned in Lesson 12. You learned that ~(으)로 can be used to
indicate with what tool/device/method/material something is carried out. This means that you can say something like:
저는 집을 청소기로 청소했어요 = I cleaned the house with a vacuum cleaner

But, if you wanted to say that sentence by using the passive verb (to be cleaned), you would have to again use ~(으)로 as
the particle attached to 청소기 because that was the method/tool that was used for it to be cleaned:
집은 청소기로 청소되었어요 = the house was cleaned by a vacuum cleaner, whereas:
집은 청소기에 청소되었어요 = is not correct, although most Korean people would probably understand you.

Main points that you should know:

1) Clauses ending in a passive verb can never have a word with an object marker (를/을) within the clause.
2) Passive verbs are conjugated just like active verbs, even though they feel like adjectives
3) Though clauses ending in a passive verb cannot have an object in the clause, other particles can be attached to
nouns to indicate how the passive action occurred. These particles are usually:

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 에 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person
에 의해 – to indicate that something occurred due to a non-person, but we haven‘t studied this yet
에게 – to indicate that something occurred due to a person
~(으)로 – to indicate the tool/method by which something occurred

One other thing. Just because a noun in a passive sentence has the particle ~에 (or ~에게, or ~에 의해 for that matter)
attached to it, it doesn‘t necessarily mean that is the noun that caused the passive verb to occur. ~에 could also have its
more familiar function of designating a place. For example, we saw this sentence before:
세금은 포함돼요 = the tax is included

I could put the noun ―값‖ in the sentence to indicate the location of where the tax is included in.
세금은 값에 포함된다 = The tax is included in the price

Notice in the example above that the particle ―~에‖ is not denoting that the tax is included by the price. Rather, it is
included in the price. Being able to recognize things like this just takes practice and your understanding of this will
increase as you progress through your studies.

Korean Passive Verbs – 하다 to 받다

In addition to the usual way of switching 하다 with 되다 to make a passive verb – there is another (similar) way of
making these verbs passive. This can only be done with certain verbs (usually acting on people), and is done by switching
하다 with 받다 (to receive). For example:
저는 저의 형을 졲경해요 = I respect my brother
저의 형은 졲경 받아요 = My brother is respected (literally-my brother receives respect)

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

교장선생님은 선생님들에게 졲경받아요 = The principal is respected by the teachers
나는 너의 말에* 감동받았어 = I was impressed with what you said

*Remember that 말하다 means ―to speak.‖ By removing 하다, 말 becomes the noun form of ―speak,‖ which is
―words/the thing you said/what you said/etc…‖

Korean Passive Verbs – Non-하다 verbs

So far you have only learned how to change ~하다 verbs into the passive tense. There are, also many verbs in Korean that
don‘t end in ~하다. When dealing with words not ending in 하다, there is often a separate (but very similar) word that
can be used to indicate the passive voice. These words will always be presented separately in the vocabulary lists.
켜다 = to turn on 끄다 = to turn off
켜지다 = to be turned on 꺼지다 = to be turned off

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

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If you look at these examples, you might think ―Oh, so maybe the pattern is – if there is an active-passive pair where ―이
” is the difference between the two, then the longer word will be the active verb.‖ Unfortunately, it‘s not that simple.
Here are two other examples of active-passive pairs that show the opposite:
쓰다 = to write 보다 = to see
쓰이다 = to be written 보이다 = to be seen

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

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

When dealing with these passive verbs however, you need to think about whether or not that passive verb is in the state of
something. For example, every passive verb you learned in the previous two sections (하 다 to 되다 and 하다 to 받다)
were not passive verbs in the state of something. For example, again:
나는 너의 말에 감동받았어 = I was impressed with what you said

Simply means that you were impressed. It doesn‘t mean that you are in the state of being impressed. But, in these
sentences:
The computer is on.
The TV is off.

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

As you know, 있다 has many usages and meanings in Korean. Sometimes 있다 is a verb, and sometimes it is an
adjective. When used as ~아/어 있다 as described here, 있다 is a verb. For now, this is only important to you when
conjugating in the plain form. In the future, there will be other times when this distinction will be important.
저는 컴퓨터를 켰어요 = I turned the computer on
컴퓨터가 켜져 있어요 = The computer is (in the state of) on

Notice that ~이/가 is used in the passive sentences above. In most cases, this is usually more natural with these types of
sentences. Don‘t worry about that for now (I‘ll discuss it in Lesson 17), and focus more on how the verbs (both active and
passive) are being used.

I get a lot of people who are confused about this ―state‖ nonsense of these passive verbs. I would like to fully describe
how these words can be used to describe that something is in a ―state‖ and compare them to the same passive verb that is
not in that state. For example:

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 저는 문을 닫았어요 = I closed the door
This sentence is an active sentence. It has an active verb, and has an object. This should be no problem.

문이 닫혔어요 = The door was closed

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

문이 바람에 닫혔어요 = The door was closed by the wind

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

문이 닫혀 있었어요 = The door was closed

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

저는 문을 닫아요 = I close the door

This is another active sentence with an active verb. Though it makes sense, it probably wouldn‘t be said like this unless
there was some sort of adverb or other information in the sentence (for example, ―I close the door every day at 9:00pm‖)

문이 닫혀요 = The door closes

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

문이 닫혀 있어요 = The door is closed

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

문이 닫힐 거예요 = The door will close

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

문이 닫혀 있을 거예요 = The door will be closed

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

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

A good example of this not working with a passive verb is with 속이다 and 속다.
속이다 = to trick somebody
속다 = to be tricked

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나는 친구를 속였어 = I tricked my friend 나는 친구에게 속았어 = I was tricked by my friend
This is an active sentence. This is a passive sentence.

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

Here‘s an example that I am including just because I have the audio for it. I‘m going to get more example sentences for
this lesson shortly with more audio clips:
펜이 탁자에 놓여 있었어요= The pen was (in the state of) laying on the table

Korean Passive Verbs – 내다 and 나다

There are quite a few words in Korean that can either end in 나다 or 내다.
These two play the same role as 되다 and 하다, where a word ending in 나다 is passive and a word ending in 내다 is
active. For example:
끝내다 = to finish
끝나다 = to be finished

나다 and 내다 can actually be used as standalone verbs as well as be attached to other words. Both of their meanings are
very complex and depend heavily on the situation, but their general meanings are:
나다 = for something to come up/arise/occur
내다 = to make something come up/arise/occur

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

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

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

As I said before, 나다 itself means ―for something to come up/arise/occur‖ which means it can be used in a lot of
sentences to indicate that some noun ―comes up‖. Three common ways to use 나다 are with 기억 (a memory) with 생각
(a thought) and with 냄새 (a smell):
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 아! 그것이* 기억났다! = Ah! I remember that! (Literally – my memory came up)
좋은 생각이* 났어요! = I have a good idea (Literally – a good idea came up)

*Remember that 나다 is a passive verb and cannot act on an object. Therefore, the particle ~이/가 must be used on ―것.‖
You will learn more about this sentence structure in the next lesson.
Another common example of ―나다” in use is in the following phrase:
큰 일 났어요!
Literally, this translates to ―a big thing/task/work came up!‖ In Korean, this expression is used similar to the expression
―Oh no! Something bad just happened!‖ A more common expression would probably be ―Oh crap!‖

You will see ―나다” used with many other words throughout your Korean studies. The most common examples of 나다
(or it‘s active 내다 form) are the examples above. Other common examples that you will learn shortly are provided
below. I haven‘t included these words in the vocabulary list above, so you don‘t need to memorize them now. I am simply
introducing them to you at this point because they are related to this topic.
소리 = sound
소리가 나다 = the verb of a sound happening (for a sound to ―come up‖)

화 = anger, rage
화가 나다 = to be angry (for anger to ―come up‖)

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

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

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

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

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

However, let‘s split some hairs:

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

땀이 나요 = Sweat is literally currently coming out of my body

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

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

I should point out that we don‘t see this same phenomenon when these words are used in negative sentences. For example,
if I say:
그것이 기억 안 났어

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

This type of past-tense-conjugated negative sentence with 나다 would only be used to say that you didn‘t remember
something sometime in the past. If you want to say that you cannot currently remember something, you can use the
present tense conjugation. For example:
나는 그때 기억이 안 났어 = I didn‘t remember (that) at that time
나는 그것이 기억 안 나 = I don‘t remember that

Korean Passive Verbs – Normal verbs

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

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

기회가 주어졌어요 = I was given a chance

그 집은 핚국에서 지어졌어요 = that house was built in Korea

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Lesson 15: Miscellaneous Words and Grammar: 들다, Korean Homonyms, Being Sick,
Different/Similar/Same

More about 좋다 /싫다 to 좋아하다 /싫어하다

I have told you a few times that in most words ending in 하다, you can remove the ~하다 and the remaining word then
becomes a noun of that verb. For example:
말 = speech/words/the thing that you say 주문 = an order
말하다 = to speak 주문하다 = to order

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

좋아 is not a noun that means ―likeness‖ (or whatever), and
싫어 is not a noun that means ―dis-likeness ―(or whatever)

Note, however that 좋아 and 싫어 can be found in sentences, but only as conjugated forms of 좋다/싫다 and not as the
noun form of 좋아하다 and 싫어하다. You learned in previous lessons that 좋다 and 싫다 are adjectives. As
adjectives, they can describe an upcoming noun or predicate a sentence. For example:
저는 좋은 김치를 먹었어요 = I ate good kimchi
김치는 좋아요 = Kimchi is good

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

좋아하다 is made by adding ~아/어하다 to the stem 싫어하다 is made by adding ~아/어하다 to the stem
of 좋다. This changes 좋다 from an adjective (good) to of 싫다. This changes 싫다 from an adjective (not
a verb (to like). Likewise, good) to a verb (to dislike).

It would be good to note that you can add ~아어하다 with some other adjectives as well. 좋다 and 싫다 are the most
common (and the most important) to worry about right now, but other common examples are:
부끄럽다 = shy (this is an adjective) 부럽다 = envious (this is an adjective)
부끄러워하다 = shy (this is a verb) 부러워하다 = envious (this is a verb)

Aside from knowing that one is a verb and one is an adjective, you don‘t need to worry about these other words right now.
I talk more about this concept and how they are used differently in Lesson 105. For now, 좋아하다 and 싫어하다.

As a verb, 좋아하다 can be used to indicate that one Likewise, 싫어하다 can be used to indicate that one
―likes‖ something. For example: ―dislikes‖ something. For example:
김치는 좋아요 = Kimchi is good 김치는 싫어요 = Kimchi is bad/not good
저는 김치를 좋아해요 = I like Kimchi 저는 김치를 싫어해요 = I don‘t like Kimch

However, the use of ―좋다‖ and ―싫다‖ in these sentences is commonly used to say:
김치가 좋아요 = I like Kimchi, and 김치가 싫어요 = I don‘t like Kimchi

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

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Subject – Object – Adjective Form
One of the basic fundamentals of grammar (not just Korean grammar) is that an adjective cannot act on an object. This
means in Korean you can never have a sentence predicated by an adjective that is acting on a word with the object particle
~를/을. This means that you cannot say this:
저는 김치를 좋다 = I kimchi good
(this doesn‘t make sense in either language)

But, you can say any of these:

저는 김치를 먹었어요 김치가 좋아요 저는 좋은 김치를 먹었어요
= I ate kimchi = Kimchi is good = I ate good kimchi
An object predicated by a verb A subject predicated by an An object being described by an
adjective adjective predicated by a verb

That being said, sometimes, Korean people actually do make sentences that are predicated by adjectives and also have an
―object.‖ Remember though, you cannot (100% cannot) use an adjective to act on an object. So how do Korean people say
this? They do so by adding ~이/가 to the object instead of ~을/를. This technically makes the grammar within the
sentence correct because there is not an adjective acting on an object. Take a look at the example:
김치는 좋아요 = Kimchi is good
저는 김치를 좋아해요 = I like kimchi, which can also be said like this
저는 김치가 좋아요 = I like kimchi

What I am trying to get at here – is that often times in Korean there is an adjective or passive verb that acts on objects.
However, these adjective/passive verbs must (of course) always be treated as an adjective or passive verb.

Adjectives and passive verbs can never act on objects, so instead of using ~를/을 in these situations, you have to use
~이/가. Another example where this is commonly done is with 그립다: 그립다 = this word is translated as ―to miss,‖
but is usually used when talking about missing a non-person (it is sometimes used to say that you miss a person, but we
will talk about how to say you miss a person in Lesson 17).

그립다 is an adjective in Korean (because it actually describes the feeling rather than an action verb). This means that if
you want to say ―I miss Korean food‖ you cannot say:
저는 핚국 음식을 그리워요. Instead, you must say:
저는 핚국 음식이 그리워요 = I miss Korean food

More examples. Notice that the predicating word of each sentence in an adjective:
나는 네가 자랑스러워 = I am proud of you
나는 그 사람이 싫어 = I don‘t like that person
저는 핚국이 좋아요 = I like Korea

You also saw this same phenomenon in the previous lesson with passive verbs. Remember, you cannot have a passive
verb act on an object. Therefore, we saw the following types of examples in the previous lesson:
저는 그것이 기억나요! = I remember that!
저는 땀이 나요! = I‘m sweating!
저는 화가 났어요 = I was/I am angry

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Korean Word: 들다
The word 들다 in Korean is very difficult because it can be used in so many ways. Two of the most common usages are:
들다 = to carry/hold something
들다 = to enter/go into something/somewhere

Both of these usages are overarching situations that most of the usages of 들다 can fit into. The difficulty with 들다 is,
because it can be used in so many different ways, it is often hard to come up with a translation that fits all possible
situations. Let me show you three examples of how 들다 can be used under the overarching situation of ―to enter/go into
something/somewhere.‖
나는 동아리에 들었어 = I joined a club (I ―entered‖ a club)
(나는) 잠이 들었다 = I fell asleep (I ―entered‖ sleep)
저는 그 그림이 마음에 들어요 = I like that picture (That picture enters my heart)
The definition of the word 마음 generally refers to one‘s heart/one‘s mind

Now, let me show you examples of how 들다 can be used under the overarching situation of ―to carry/hold something.‖
저는 손을 들었어요 = I raised my hand (I ―held up‖ my hand/carried my hand)
저는 가방을 들었어요 = I carried the/my bag

Okay, so what‘s my point? Well, I have three points actually.

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

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

For example, imagine if you knew the following words and their definitions:
저 = I/me 들다 = enter
마음 = heart/mind 그림 = picture

And you saw the following sentence:

저는 그 그림이 마음에 들어요

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

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

3) I specifically wanted to teach you the meaning of 들다 because it is commonly used in compound words, which I will
talk about in the next section.

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Korean Compound Verbs
You will notice many Korean verbs are made by combining two verbs together. This is done by adding one verb to the
stem of the other, along with ~아/어. When this happens, the meanings of both of the words form to make one word.
들다 = to enter something 들다 + 가다 = 들 + 어 + 가다
가다 = to go = 들어가다 = to go into something

아버지는 은행에 들어갔어요 = My dad went into the bank

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

남자는 방에 들어왔어요 = A man came into the room

나다 = to arise out of something/come up 나다 + 가다 = 나 + 아 + 가다

가다 = to go = 나가다 = to go out of something

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

나다 = to arise out of something/come out 나다 + 오다 = 나 + 아 + 오다

오다 = to come = 나오다 = to come out of something

학생은 학교에서 나왔어요 = The student came out of school

가지다 = to own/have/posses 가지다 + 오다 = 가지 + 어 + 오다

오다 = to come = 가져오다 = to bring something

나는 나의 숙제를 가져왔어 = I brought my homework

그 학생은 숙제를 가져오지 않았어 = That student didn‘t bring his homework

가지다 = to own/have/posses 가지다 + 가다 = 가지 + 어 + 가다

가다 = to go = 가져가다 = to take something

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

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

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

Imagine you have money at your house, and you will go to your friend‘s house later to give it to him. Therefore, you will
have to ―bring‖ or ―take‖ (same meaning) that money with you when you head over there. If you are currently at your
house and are talking to your friend about what you will do, you should use the word ―가져가다‖ because you are going

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to your friend‘s house while in possession of the money (저는 돆을 가져갈 거예요). In this example, 가져가다 is
used and the best English translation would be ―I will bring the money.‖
However, imagine you have already arrived at your friend‘s house with the money. You can use the word ―가져오다‖
because you came to your friend‘s house while in possession of the money (저는 돆을 가져왔어요). In this example,
가져오다 is used and the best English translation would be ―I brought the money.‖

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

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

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

Another word that you will see commonly in these compound words is ―돌다‖:
돌다 = to turn/to spin/to rotate

Examples of compound words:

돌다 + 보다 = 돌아보다 = to turn around (and see)
돌다 + 가다 = 돌아가다 = to return/go back
돌다 + 오다 = 돌아오다 = to return/come back
돌리다 + 주다 = 돌려주다 = to give back

저는 9월1일에 캐나다에 돌아갈 거예요 = I will go back to Canada on September 1st

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

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

Three words that you have learned in previous lessons are:
다르다 = different 비슷하다 = similar 같다 = same

Using these words isn‘t as straight forward as it would seem, so I wanted to spend some time teaching you how to deal
with them. Of course, in simple sentences, they can be used just like any other adjectives. For example:
그것은 비슷해요 = That is similar
우리는 매우 달라요 = We are so different
우리는 같아요 = We are the same

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

When comparing things like this in English, we use a different preposition for each word. For example:
I am similar to my friend
That building is different from yesterday

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 Canadian people are the same as Korean people

In Korean, the particle ~와/과/랑/이랑/하고 can be used to represent all of these meanings. For example:
저는 친구와 비슷해요 = I am similar to my friend
그 건물은 어제와 달라요 = That building is different from yesterday
캐나다 사람들은 핚국 사람들과 같아요 = Canadian people are the same as Korean people
이 학교는 우리 학교와 똑같아요 = This school is exactly the same as our school

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

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

As you can see with the English translation – this doesn‘t create any difference in meaning. It merely changes the wording
of the sentences and the function of the particles slightly.

I talk about the usage of 같다 later in Lessons 35 and 36. Specifically, in Lesson 36 I talk about how 같다 is more
commonly used to say ―something is like something.‖ I don‘t want to get into this too much in this lesson, because the
purpose of this section was for me to introduce you to the grammar within these sentences so you could apply it to what I
am about to introduce next.

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

What about these next sentences?

나는 비슷핚 남자를 맊났어 = I met a similar man, or
나는 같은 남자를 맊났어 = I met the same man

These sentences have the same structure as before:

Subject – adjective (describing an) – object – verb

That should be easy for you too. But what about if you wanted to say ―I met a man who is similar to your boyfriend.‖
Seems too complicated, but let‘s break it down:
너의 남자친구와 비슷하다 = similar to your boyfriend
비슷하다 is an adjective – which means it can modify a noun:
비슷핚 남자 = similar man

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

나는 ( — )를 맊났어 = I met —

나는 (너의 남자친구와 비슷핚 남자)를 맊났어 = I met a man that is similar to your boyfriend

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

The meaning of ―different‖ in English has more than one nuance, which are possessed by ―다르다‖ as well. Although the
meaning of ―different‖ in the two sentences below is similar, try to see that they are slightly different:
I am different than him I saw a different movie

The first one describes that something is not the same as something else. The second one has a meaning similar to ―other‖
or ―another,‖ where (in this case) the person did not see the movie that was originally planned, but instead saw ―another‖
or a ―different‖ movie. 다르다 can be used in both situations. For example:
저는 그와 달라요 = I am different from him
저는 다른 영화를 봤어요 = I saw a different (another) movie

―또 다르다‖ usually translates to ―another,‖ while ―다르다‖ translates to ―other.‖ However, in the example above,
replacing ―another‖ with ―other‖ makes it sound weird.

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

―또 다르다‖ is used when one particular thing has already been described, and you are explaining another thing. For
example, imagine you are sitting in a meeting with your coworkers discussing potential problems for a plan. People are all
discussing the problems they see, and you can point out:
또 다른 문제는 그것이 비싸요 = Another problem is it (that thing) is expensive

In this same respect, you can say the following sentence, and although the translation in English is similar, try to
understand the difference in adding ―또‖:
저는 또 다른 영화를 봤어요 = I saw another movie
In this, maybe the person saw one movie, and then again saw a different movie.

Words that are the same but have different meanings (Korean Homonyms)
In Korean, there are a lot of words that have more than one meaning. Whenever there is a word with many meanings in
Korean, these different meanings will always have a separate entry in our vocabulary lists (not necessarily in the same
lesson, however). An example of this is ―쓰다‖:
쓰다 = to write 쓰다 = to use 쓰다 = to wear a hat

Each of these words has had a separate entry in our vocabulary lists. However, when a word has many meanings, but most
of those meanings can be combined into a few ‗umbrella term‘ meanings – only those ‗umbrella term‘ meanings will be
shown. A good example we talked about earlier is 들다. 들다 has so many meanings, most of which can fit into three or
four broad definitions.

Either way, be aware that many words have many meanings in Korean:
나는 편지를 친구를 위해 쓸 거야 = I am going to write a letter for my friend
나는 그 기계를 썼어 = I used that machine
저의 아버지는 모자를 항상 써요 = My father always wears a hat

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Another word that has many common meanings is 걸리다:
걸리다 = to be (in the state of) hanging 걸리다 = to ―take‖ a certain amount of time
걸리다 = to be caught/stuck/trapped 걸리다 = to catch a cold/sickness

There are more usages, but lets just focus on these four for now:
걸리다 = to be hanging
Similar to the passive verbs you learned in the previous lesson, this verb can be used to indicate the passive ‗state‘
of hanging:
그림은 벽에 걸려 있어요 = The picture is hanging on the wall

걸리다 = to be caught/stuck/trapped
A verb that can be used when something trips/gets caught/gets trapped:
나는 죿에 걸렸어 = I tripped over the line

걸리다 = to ―take‖ a certain amount of time

This is a very useful form that we will talk about in greater detail in a later lesson. You can use this to indicate
how long it takes to get from one place to another:
서울부터 인천까지 2시갂 걸려요 = It takes 2 hours to get from Seoul to Incheon
우리 학교에서 식당까지 10붂 걸려요 = It takes 10 minutes to get from our school to the restaurant

Notice however, that even though each of these has a very different meaning in English (to be hanging, to be caught, to
take a certain amount of time) they are actually pretty similar. When a picture is ‗hanging‘ on the wall, technically it is
‗stuck/trapped‘ on the wall. Similarly, if you go from Incheon to Seoul, the time it takes (2 hours) is ‗stuck/trapped.‘
Haha, No? Well, that‘s just the way I explained it to myself when I first learned some of these words.

Try to think outside of the English box. One word in Korean is often used to represent many words in English. Usually
these words aren‘t actually very different, but the different translations lead us to believe that they are in fact very
different. Read these sentences again and see if you can understand them this way:
The picture is caught on the wall
I was caught over the line
2 hours are caught to get from Seoul to Incheon

Obviously not natural in English – but you can probably understand what these sentences mean.

My point? Just because it looks like a word has many meanings doesn‘t necessarily mean that those meanings are vastly
different from each other. Think about the example from earlier in this lesson (들다) one more time. 들다 has many
meanings – but most of which can be grouped into only 2 or 3 different meanings. Always keep this in mind.

Being Sick in Korea

One of the things people often try to learn first when learning a new language is how to express themselves in the event
that they have to go to the doctor. This is something that wouldn‘t fit into any specific lesson, so I want to cover it here:
You already know the word 아프다, which you can use to indicate that you are sick or sore in some place. In English
―sore‖ and ―sick‖ mean slightly different things. Because of this, Korean people (who are learning English) often
mistakenly say ―My arm is sick.‖ Also note that 아프다 is an adjective… and for some reason ‗이/가‘ are used instead of
는/은when creating sentences about a place on your body:

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 배가 아파요 = My stomach is sore
팔이 아파요 = My arm is sore
저는 어제 너무 아팠어요 = I was very sick yesterday

Also, you can use the word 걸리다 to indicate that you have some sort of disease/sickness. You learned a little bit about
걸리다 in the previous section. This usage of 걸리다 essentially has the same meaning that was described in all the
other examples of 걸리다 (I am caught in a sickness). Korean people use this in the following way:
저는 감기에 걸렸어요 = I caught a cold/I have a cold
저는 독감에 걸렸어요 = I caught the flu/I have the flu
Notice how ―에‖ is used in these sentences due to 걸리다 having the nuance of being stuck IN something

Also note that even though you have a cold in the present tense, Korean people use the past ―걸렸다‖ to express that they
currently have a cold.

기침 (a cough) and 재채기 (a sneeze), although not originally nouns of Chinese origin, are both nouns where you can
add 하다 to get the respective verb form (to cough and to sneeze). For example:

저의 아들은 시끄럽게 기침했어요 = My son coughed loudly

(Probably more naturally translated to ―My son was coughing loudly.‖ Korean people don‘t really distinguish between
simple and progressive past tenses as much as we do in English. You will learn about the progressive tense in Lesson 18.)

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Lesson 16: Noun + ~적, ~적으로, ~적이다 , ~스럽다

~적 /적으로 /적이다
~적 is a common suffix that can be added after some nouns of Chinese origin (적 (的) is of Chinese origin). At first, there
is no way to anticipate or expect which nouns this can be added to. As you progress through your Korean studies, you can
sort of start anticipating this, but still, the only real way of knowing if ~적 can be added to a particular noun is if you have
specifically learned that it can. The goal of this lesson isn‘t to teach you all of the words that ~적 can be attached to (that
would take forever).

Adding ~적 to a noun changes it into a descriptive word that has the meaning of ―relating to, or having the properties of‘
the original noun. For example:
문화 = culture 경제 = economy
문화적 = relating to, or having the properties of 경제적 = relating to, or having the properties of
culture economy

However, the translations above are nonsense and a more accurate way to translate words with ~적 is to add ―-al‖ to the
English word. For example:
문화 = culture 경제 = economy
문화적 = cultural 경제적 = economical

Adding ―-al‖ doesn‘t always work with the English word, though. For example:
과학 = science 충동 = impulse/shock
과학적 = relates or having properties of science 충동적 = relating to, or having the properties of impulse
과학적 = scientific 충동적 = impulsive

The main point of this lesson is to teach you how you can understand the meaning of a word ending in ~적 even if you
have never seen it before. This still happens to me fairly regularly – I will read something, and come across a word I have
never seen before ending in ~적.

For example, if you knew that the word ―민주‖ meant ―democracy‖ What do you think ―민주적‖ would mean? A
descriptive word that has the properties of democracy – that would be ―democratic.‖
민주 = democracy 민주적 = democratic

Though these descriptive words can be used in sentences, it is easy to understand them when they are used by adding
~이다 or ~으로.

Adding 으로
Adding ‗으로‘ to the end of ~적 changes the word into an adverb. These adverbs usually have the ending ‗ly‘ in English.
Below are the most common examples of using ~적으로 with example sentences for each:
문화 = culture 문화적 = cultural 문화적으로 = culturally
핚국은 지난 50년 동안 문화적으로 맋이 변했어요
= Korea has changed a lot culturally in the period of/during/for the past 50 years

경제 = economy 경제적 = economical 경제적으로 = economically

그것은 경제적으로 가능하지 않아요 = That isn‘t economically possible

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 역사 = history 역사적 = historical 역사적으로 = historically
핚국과 미국은 역사적으로 좋은 관계가 있다 = Historically, Korea and the US have had a good
relationship

과학 = science 과학적 = scientific 과학적으로 = scientifically

그들은 그 문제를 과학적으로 풀었다 = They solved that problem scientifically

충동 = impulse/shock 충동적 = impulsive 충동적으로 = impulsively

저는 자주 옷을 충동적으로 사요 = I often buy clothes impulsively

민주 = democracy 민주적 = democratic 민주적으로 = democratically

미국은 대통령을 민주적으로 선출해요 = America elects its president democratically

Adding 이다
Adding ‗이다‘ to the end of ~적 turns the word into an adjective that can predicate a sentence or describe an upcoming
noun. The translation of these adjectives are usually are the same (in English) as without adding ‗이다.‖ For example:
문화 = culture 문화적 = cultural 문화적이다 = cultural
캐나다와 미국은 문화적인 차이가 있다 = Canada and the US have a cultural difference
(차이 = difference)

경제 = economics 경제적 = economical 경제적이다 = economical

미국은 경제적인 결정을 했어요 = The US made an economical decision

역사 = history 역사적 = historical 역사적이다 = historical

저 학교는 역사적인 건물이에요 = That school is a historical building

과학 = science 과학적 = scientific 과학적이다 = scientific

이것은 과학적인 문제예요 = This is a scientific problem

충동 = impulsive 충동적 = impulsive 충동적이다 = impulsive

저는 너무 충동적이에요 = I‘m too impulsive

Notice that when a word ending in ~적이다 is used to predicate a sentence, 이다 is conjugated as if it were actually
이다.

민주 = democracy 민주적 = democratic 민주적이다 = democratic

미국은 민주적인 나라예요 = The US is a democratic nation

A question that always comes up here is – What is the difference between using ~적이다 and just using ~적 ? For
example, what is the difference between these two:
경제적 = economical
경제적이다 = economical

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The difference between these is that ~적 is a noun, whereas ~적이다 is an adjective. Sometimes however, nouns can
technically be used to sound like adjectives. For example:
That is a big bag

‗Big‘ describes the type of bag it is. Big is clearly an adjective which is telling us about the type of bag that it is (that it is
big). ―Book‖ is clearly a noun.

However, in the following example:

That is a book bag

In this example, ‗book‘ acts as a descriptive word because it describes the type of bag it is (that it is a book bag).

This is usually the only time that ~적 (with nothing following it) is used in Korean. That is, when it is actually a noun, but
acting as a descriptive word within a sentence. Because it is usually used as this type of descriptive word, you don‘t really
need to worry much about the difference between ~적 and ~적이다. Just be aware that ~적이다 is more commonly
used, and how they are used within a sentence. That is, when using ―~적이다,‖ 이다 should be conjugated, and when
using ―~적‖ nothing needs to be conjugated because it is a noun. For example:
미국은 민주적인 나라예요 = The US is a democratic nation
북핚에는 민주적 정부가 없습니다 = There is not a democratic government in North Korea

The purpose of this lesson was to introduce you to what ~적(이다/으로) can do to a word and how it can be used. I‘ve
created four more examples of ~적 vs. ~적이다 that I would like to show you, but please don‘t worry about these too
much. If anything, just try to understand the use of ~적(이다) in these sentences:
경제적 문제가 있다 = There is a financial problem
경제적인 문제가 있다 = There is a financial problem

캐나다와 미국은 문화적 차이가 있다 = Canada and the US have a cultural difference
캐나다와 미국은 문화적인 차이가 있다 = Canada and the US have a cultural difference

나는 개인적 문제로 회사를 그맊두었다 = I quit the company due to personal reasons (problems)
나는 개인적인 문제로 회사를 그맊두었다 = I quit the company due to personal reasons (problems)
(그맊두다 = to quit a job or school)

이 건물은 역사적 건물이다 = This building is a historical building

이 건물은 역사적인 건물이다 = This building is a historical building

In all cases above, I would rather use the ~적인 form to describe the upcoming noun. The native Korean speaker beside
me says the same thing. However, she also says that the first example of each (the examples just using ~적 instead of
~적인) are also acceptable. In my opinion, the use of ~적인 instead of ~적 is more common in speaking and in printed
sources. However, you are more likely to see ~적 in print sources compared to hearing it in spoken Korean. (i.e. ~적이다
is more common than ~적 in all cases. However, when compared only to itself, you are more likely to find ~적 in print
than in speech).

Okay, enough of that for now. Let‘s talk about something else.

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~스럽다
~스럽다 can also be added to some nouns to change them into an adjective, much like the function of ~적(이다). When
doing this, ~스럽다 changes the noun into an adjective that has the ―properties‖ of that noun. The two easiest examples
to explain this change are:
사랑 = love 사랑스럽다 = ―with the properties of love‖

자연 = nature 자연스럽다 = ―with the properties of nature‖

For example:
그 여자가 아주 사랑스러워요 = That girl is something ―with the properties of love‖
그 여자의 머리 색깔은 자연스러워 = That girl‘s hair color has ―the properties of nature‖

Of course, those translations are nonsense. A more accurate translation of these words would be:
사랑스럽다 = lovely 자연스럽다 = natural

The only way of knowing if ~스럽다 or ~적 can be added to a word is if you have specifically learned that it can.
Because one can never know which words ~스럽다 and ~적 can be added to, these words will always be presented as a
separate entry in our vocabulary lists.

Anyways, ~스럽다 can be added to nouns to make that noun a descriptive word:
The two examples above are fairly straight-forward. However ~스럽다 is sometimes added to words that seem to already
have an adjective form. For example:
실망 = disappointment
실망하다 = to be disappointed
실망스럽다 = ―with the properties of disappointment‖ (disappointing)

I‘ll do the best I can to distinguish between 실망스럽다 and 실망하다 for you.
실망하다 is used to describe a person‘s emotions. This could be referring to anybody‘s emotions; not necessarily just the
speaker‘s emotions. For example:
저는 실망했어요 = I was disappointed
우리 아버지는 어제 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed yesterday

If you want to say that somebody is disappointed in a person using 실망하다, you must attach the particle ~에게/핚테
to the person he/she is disappointed in. For example:
저는 친구에게 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in my friend
우리 아버지는 저에게 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in me yesterday

If you want to say that somebody is disappointed in a non-person using 실망하다, you must attach the particle ~에 to the
thing he/she is disappointed in. For example:
저는 영화에 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in the movie
우리 아버지는 식당에 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in the restaurant

Hmmm… Adding ~에게/핚테 to a person, and adding ~에 to a non-person. What does this remind you of? Remember,
you learned this same rule in Lesson 14 when predicating sentences with passive verbs.

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Well, 실망하다 is a verb. In English, it definitely feels like an adjective, but in Korean the dictionary (and the use of the
particles ~에게/핚테 and ~에) indicate that it is a verb. Here, 실망하다 is a verb (much like passive verbs) that cannot
act on an object. Other verbs like this are 자다 (to sleep), 죽다 (to die), etc. This really means very little, and the only
thing you need to take from this is:

In order to say one is disappointed, you can use 실망하다:

저는 실망했어요 = I was disappointed
우리 아버지는 어제 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed yesterday

In order to say one is disappointed in something/somebody, you can use 실망하다 along with the use of the particles
~에게/핚테 (for a person) or ~에 (for a non-person). For example:
저는 친구에게 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in my friend
우리 아버지는 저에게 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in me yesterday

저는 영화에 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in the movie

우리 아버지는 식당에 실망했어요 = Our dad was disappointed in the restaurant

Now, 실망스럽다 usually is not describing one‘s emotions. Rather, it is describing something that has the ―properties of
disappointment.‖ This usually translates to ―disappointing.‖ For example:
결과는 조금 실망스러웠어요 = The result was a little bit disappointing
그 영화는 조금 실망스러웠어요 = The movie was a little bit disappointing

That being said, you might sometimes hear 실망스럽다 being used like this:
저는 실망스러웠어요

In this case, what do you think this would mean? I guess in theory this could sometimes mean ―I am disappointing.‖ But
very rarely would somebody say that. Most of the time, this sentence would translate to ―I am disappointed.‖

Wait a second… I thought the word to describe one‘s emotions as ―disappointed‖ was ―실망하다.‖ In this sentence, why
is ―실망스럽다‖ being used to describe the person‘s emotions in this sentence. It‘s not.

If you heard the sentence ―저는 실망스럽다‖ in Korean, it would most likely be from a person describing that
something is disappointing, but they have omitted it from the sentence. For example, using the adjective ―실망스럽다‖
you can use the Subject – Object – Adjective form in the following way:
저는 친구가 실망스러워요 = I am disappointed in my friend
(My friend is disappointing, and therefore I am disappointed)

저는 학생들이 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed in the students

(My students were disappointing, and therefore I was disappointed)

저는 그 영화가 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed in the movie

(The movie was disappointing, and therefore I was disappointed)

If you just walked into a room and said:

저는 실망스러워요~ = I am disappointed (in something….)

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Whoever was listening to that sentence would probably say ―In what?‖
What the speaker has done when saying ―저는 실망스러워요‖ is they have simply omitted the object that they are
describing.

Wow… that‘s a lot of stuff to wrap your head around. Let‘s break it down one more time:
실망하다 is a verb that describes one‘s emotions of being disappointed:
저는 실망했어요 = I was disappointed
실망하다 cannot act on an object (like 자다, 죽다, or any passive verb). Therefore, the following is incorrect:
저는 학생을 실망했어요
Instead, as with passive verbs, the use of ~에게/핚테 should be used to indicate that you are disappointed in a person:
저는 친구에게 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in my friend
~에 can be used to indicate that you are disappointed in a non-person:
저는 영화에 실망했어요 = I was disappointed in the movie
실망스럽다 is an adjective that describes something which is disappointing:
그 영화는 조금 실망스러웠어요 = The movie was a little bit disappointing
The adjective 실망스럽다 can be used in the subject – object – adjective form to indicate that you were disappointed in
something:
저는 그 영화가 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed in that movie
In the sentence above, the object can be omitted from the sentence, in which case the speaker is indicating that something
was disappointing (and by virtue, he/she is disappointed), but has omitted the noun that is disappointing:
저는 실망스러웠어요 = I was disappointed (something was disappointing…)

This same phenomenon happens with the word 맊족스럽다. Look at the following three words:
맊족 = satisfaction
맊족하다 = to be satisfied
맊족스럽다 = ―with the properties of satisfaction‖ (satisfactory)

Just like with 실망하다, 맊족하다 is used to describe a person‘s emotions. This could be referring to anybody‘s
emotions; not necessarily just the speaker‘s emotions. For example:
저는 맊족해요 = I am satisfied
그는 맊족해요 = He is satisfied

Again, just like with 실망스럽다, 맊족스럽다 is not describing one‘s emotions. Rather, it is an adjective that is
describing something that has the ―properties of satisfaction.‖ This usually translates to ―satisfactory.‖ For example:
결과는 맊족스러웠어요 = The results were satisfactory

맊족스럽다 can be used in the Subject – Object – Adjective form to indicate that one is satisfied in something.
저는 결과가 맊족스러웠어요 = I was satisfied with the results
저는 음식이 맊족스러웠어요 = I was satisfied with the food

In this Subject – Object – Adjective form, the object can be omitted and the speaker can indicate that something was
satisfactory (and thus he/she was satisfied). For example:
저는 맊족스러웠어요 = I was satisfied (something was satisfying…)

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Don‘t worry too much about the difference between words like 실망하다 vs. 실망스럽다 and 맊족하다 vs.
맊족스럽다. I‘m really going deep into this, and it is not something you really need to worry about as most Korean
people wouldn‘t know the difference unless they really think about it.

In other words with -스럽다, the difference is much less ambiguous because the -스럽다 version of the word is an
adjective, but the –하다 version is a verb that can act on an object. For example:
저는 그 여자를 사랑해요 = I love that girl
그 여자는 사랑스러워요 = That girl is lovely

Another good example of –스럽다 is:

자랑하다 = to show off (verb)
자랑스럽다 = proud (adjective)

Here as well, 자랑하다 is a verb that can act on a noun, so its usage is very simple:
저는 저의 핚국어 실력을 자랑했어요 = I showed off/boasted my Korean skills

자랑스럽다 is usually used in the Subject – Object – Adjective form to indicate who somebody is proud of.
저는 저의 딸이 아주 자랑스러워요 = I am very proud of my daughter
저는 학생들이 자랑스러워요 = I am proud of the students

It‘s also good to recognize that because all of these ~스럽다 words are adjectives, they can also describe an upcoming
noun (just like any other adjective) by placing ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of the word. For example:
우리 딸은 사랑스러운 여자예요 = Our daughter is a loving/lovely girl

Also, ~게 can be added to the end of the stem of –스럽다 to change the word into an adverb. For example:
그는 핚국어를 자연스럽게 말해요 = he speaks Korean naturally
저는 그를 사랑스럽게 봤어요 = I looked at him lovingly
그는 실망스럽게 행동했어요 = He acted disappointingly (in a disappointing way)
저는 일을 맊족스럽게 끝냈어요 = I finished the work/job satisfactorily (in a satisfactory way)

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