Korean for Dummies (8 page)

Abstract nouns for things like
ideology
(
Ee-de-ol-lo-jee;
ideology), and
jeongui
(
jung-ee;
justice).

Mass nouns for non-discrete thing such as
mul
(
mool;
water),
sul
(
sool;
alcoholic beverages) and
bul
(
bool;
fire).

Some of your Korean friends might tell you that there are politer ways to refer to common nouns. See examples below:

Food:
jinji
(
jin-ji
) instead of
bap
(
bap
) Name:
seongham
(
sung-ham
) or
jonham
(
jon-ham
) instead of
ireum
(
ee-reum
)

Home:
daek
(
daek
) instead of
jip
(
jeeb
)

You can use the politer form of common nouns to people that you want to show respect. However, most of the time, you can get by without them. If there is a situation in which you should use the honorific form of the noun, I will make sure to bring it to your attention.

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Pronouns

Pronouns take the place of nouns to reduce repetition in a sentence and are indispensable when asking questions. Here are a few examples of interrogative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, and personal pronouns along with a few pointers.

Interrogative pronouns

Question words such as
nugu
(
noo-goo;
who),
mwo
(
muh;
what),
eoneu
(
uh-neu;
which),
eotteon
(
uh-ttun;
what kind of),
eonje
(
un-jae;
when), and
eodi
(
uh-dee;
where) Demonstrative pronouns

In English, the difference between this and that, and here and there has to do with the relative location of a thing to the speaker.
This
is closer to the speaker than
that
, and
here
is closer than
there
. In Korean, the word for
here
is
yeogi
(
yuh-gee
), but for the word
there
, there are two options depending on whether or not the place is closer to the listener. If the place is closer to the listener, but far away from the speaker, then it is
geogi
(
guh-gee;
there), if it is far from both the speaker and the listener then it is
jeogi
(
juh-gee;
there).

Personal pronouns

Korean also has several personal pronouns, but they are used less extensively. This is especially true with the case of the pronoun
You
. It sounds more natural and more polite if you call someone by their name as opposed to addressing them using a personal pronoun. If you don’t know the person’s name, try using
jeogiyo
(
juh-gee-yo;
hey there).

I:
jeo
(
juh;
humble form of I, used with people you want to show respect to),
na
(
nah;
form of I used when talking with close friends and younger family members).

You:
seonsaeng
(
sun-saeng;
sir)
, eoreusin
(
uh-reu-shin;
when referring to elderly),
jane
(
ja-nae;
to address younger people),
geudae
(
geu-dae;
to address your girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse),
yeoreobun
(
yuh-ruh-boon;
to address groups of people),
neo
(
nuh;
used in informal settings amongst peers).

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i
(
ee;
this),
geu
(
geu;
that near the listener)
,
and
jeo
(
juh;
that over there) are added before various nouns such as person and things to make them

pronouns.

He:
i namja
(
ee-nam-ja;
this man),
geu namja
(
geu-nam-ja;
that man near the listenr),
ju namja
(
juh-nam-ja
; that man over there) She:
i yeoja
(
ee-yeo-ja;
this women),
geu yeoja
(
geu-yeo-ja;
that women near the listener),
jeo yeoja
(
juh-yeo-ja;
that women over there) However, using the
namja
(
nam-ja;
man/men) and
yeoja
(
yeo-ja;
woman/

women) to refer to someone, isn’t that polite. Instead use
bun
(
boon;
no English translation. It is used when referring to a person you want to show respect to. Used for both genders.) to get
i
bun (
ee-boon;
this person),
geu
bun
(
geu-boon;
that person near the listener) and
jeo bun
(
juh-boon;
that person over there) when you’re referring to: a stranger, a person with seniority over you or when you are in a formal setting. Use
i saram
(
ee-sa-ram; this
person
),
geu saram
(
geu-sa-ram;
that person near the listener) and
jeo saram
(
juh-sa-ram;
that person over there) when you are using informal polite Korean.

It: Use
geot
(
guht;
thing) or its contraction
geo
(
guh;
things). These are interchangeable. You can just pick one way and stick to it. Add
i
(
ee;
this),
geu
(
geu;
that), and
geo
(
guh;
that) to get
i geot
(
ee-guht;
this thing),
geu geot
(
geu-guht;
that thing neat the listener), jeo
geot
(
juh-guht;
that thing over there), or
i geo
(
ee-guh;
this thing),
geu geo
(
geu-guh;
that thing near the listener),
jeo geo
(
juh-guh;
that thing over there).

We:
uri
(
oo-ree;
we/us) used in casual conversation,
jeohui
(
juh-hee;
we/us) used when speaking in front of an authority figure or a crowd.

Them:
i deul
(
ee-deul;
these people),
geu deul
(
geu-deul;
those people near the listener),
jeo deul
(
juh-deul;
those people over there) when speaking of other people casually,
i bundeul
(
ee-boon-deul;
these people),
geu bundeul
(
geu-boon-deul;
those people) and
jeobundeul
(
juh-boon-deul;
those people) when speaking of people that you are trying to show respect for.

Depending on context, the sentence
geogi saram isseoyo
(
guh-gee sa-ram-ee-ssuh-yo
) can mean “there are people there.” or “there is a person there.” And, in most cases, you don’t have to explicitly indicate that there is more than one. But if you want to, just add
deul
(
deul;
it’s like adding’s” at the end of a word to make things plural in English) behind a pronoun or even a noun to show there are more than one. For example, the word for this respected person is
i bun
(
ee-boon
), and these respected people is
i bundeul
(
ee-boon-deul
). Isn’t this easy?

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Yours, mine, and (not necessarily) ours

In Korean, you might notice that people tend to

jib
(nae-jeeb; my house), or
ne dongne
(nae—

use the word
uri
(woo-ri; we/us) and
jeohui

dong-nae; my neighborhood)
.

(juh-hee; we/us when speaking to person with

This is also true when speaking of shared rela—

seniority over you)
,
a lot more when talking

tionships. If you are a part of company, it is
uri

about things they own, especially if they are

hoesa
(oo-ree-hwae-sa; our company). Koreans

talking about a thing that they use communally

will further say that their child is “
uri ai
(oo-ree—

with other people, such as family members or

a-ee; our child),” and yes, they even use the

co-workers. Hence they refer to company prop—

term,
uri nampyun
(oo-ree-nampyun; our hus—

erty and homes as
uri jib
(oo-ree-jeeb; our

band), and
uri jibsaram
(oo-ree-jeeb-sa-ram;

house),
juhui mitingnum
(juh-hee-meeting-room;

our wife) when referring to their own spouses.

our meeting room), and
uri dongne
(oo-ree—

Just because a Korean uses the word
uri
(uri;

dong-nae; our neighborhood), as opposed to
ne

our), don’t get any wrong ideas.

Possessive pronouns

Whose is whose is about as important as what is what, and if you want to make the fact that this book, chair, or table belongs to you, add a
ui
(
~ui;
~’s) after any pronoun or noun. For example
;
i geoseun jeoui chaegieyo
(
ee-geoseun juh-ae chaeg-ee-ae-yo;
this is my book). Just like in English, the person that owns is placed to the left of the thing that is owned.The formula would be as follows: possessor + possessed.

However, Koreans will rather often omit the
ui
(
~ui;
~’s) in everyday conversation. For example, Koreans will often use
uri hoesa
(
oo-ree-hwae-sa;
our company),
uri giji
(
oo-ree gee-jee;
our base camp) and
jon eomma
(
jon-um-ma;
John’s mom) and omit the
ui
. Although
ui
maybe omitted in everyday conversations, it is important to know that
ui
reflects possession.

Verbs

In English, verbs conjugate according to person and number. In Korean, this doesn’t happen. Verbs such as “to be” and “to have” are the same for him

[e.g., Tom] or her [e.g., Jane] and you and me.

This doesn’t mean that verbs in Korean are a one size fits all kind of deal. Not only do verbs indicate whether or not you are speaking about the past, present, and show intent of future action, but they also show the level of respect that you hold for the subject in your sentence. Hence, if you want to effectively insult your enemy, or impress your in-laws, you must understand how to use verbs.

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Knowing the basic verb forms

The verbs of a sentence are conjugated using the stems of the dictionary and informal polite form.

Dictionary form:
The dictionary form of the verb is what you use to look up a verb in the dictionary. Alone, they behave like English infini-tives such as to see, to go. All the dictionary forms of verbs end in
da
(
da;
no English translation). Few examples are
boda
(
bo-da;
to see),
mannada
(
man-na-da;
to meet), and
itda
.(
it-da;
to have).

Verb stem:
The verb stem is simply the dictionary form minus the
da
at the end. The verb stem is never used by itself. The stems of the words used in the example above are:
bo
(
bo;
to see),
man
(
man;
to meet), and
it
(
it;
to have).

Informal polite form:
The important thing to remember with informal polite form of the Korean language is that the sentence ends with
yo
(
yo;
no English translation). I.e., the Informal polite form of the verb always ends in a
yo
. For example,
bwayo
(
bwa-yo;
see),
mannayo
(
man-na-yo;
meet) and
iseoyo
(
ee-ssuh-yo;
have).
Yo
at the end of the sentence shows that you respect the person you are speaking to.

For example:
jeoneun chingureul mannayo
(
juh-neun chin-goo-reul mannayo;
I am meeting a friend).

When I introduce a new verb, I will present it in both the dictionary form and informal polite form. Just remember that the dictionary form ends with “
da
”

while the informal polite form ends with “
yo
”.

Conjugating verbs

The key to conjugating verbs lies in the final syllable of the stem. And in almost all regular conjugations, conjugating the verb depends on one of two things.

Whether or not the stem ends in a vowel or a consonant

Whether or not the last syllable contains one of the following two vowels,
a
and
o,
which are called
bright vowels
by many linguists For example, the stems
meok
(
muk;
eat),
nol
(
nol;
play) and
it
(
it;
have), end in
eo, o,
and
i
vowels.

Some of you might find it odd that I am going to show you how to conjugate the dictionary form of the word to the informal polite form, especially when I am going to present the two forms anyway. But I am going to do this because learning how to conjugate the informal polite form from the dictionary form will makes it easier to understand and memorize many of the irregular verbs.

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1.
First, take the dictionary form Stem and check whether or not the last vowel is an
a, or o
.