just some korean language things

word of the day, grammar explanations, vocab lists, study tips // Mainly for my own learning but feel free to ask/suggest/comment! // Replies will be from my main account // I don't use romanisation but just ask if you want it.

[honeyhangukeo]

Hi! Please read to know more

26, British.

I’ve been self-studying Korean since about 2016 (but for 3 years of this I was busy at university and had no time for Korean...)

I used to be an English and Maths tutor, and I'm currently a full time English teacher at 1 elementary school and 1 middle school in South Korea.

I have never taken a formal course or class in Korean, but I use it on a daily basis with students, adults, friends, and strangers.

I have lived here since 2021.

This blog is a place to note down my recent or common vocab and reinforce my understanding of grammar, and of course to help those studying or interested in Korean.

If you have any suggestions for things I should post, a grammar point or word you want explained, or something you want help translating, please send an ask or post reply *^^*

[honeyhangukeo]

some more words related through Hanja characters:

If you don't know what Hanja is, it refers to the Chinese-derived words of the Korean language. Pretty much half of Korean comes from originally Chinese words (and therefore will share pronunciation similarities with actual Chinese) and the rest is pure Korean.

Just like Latin and Greek is to English (e.g. aqua- hydro- indicate relation to 'water'), we can remember some Hanja to make semantic links between words in Korean.

The majority of Korean people's names have Hanja equivalents and could be written out in Chinese (sometimes required on official documents) and will be chosen by their parents based on the traditional semantic meaning. However, in the last few decades more Korean people are giving their kids pure Korean names with nice meanings such as 사랑, 보라, 하나, 하늘, 진주. More on Korean names in a future post!

Anyway, on with some semantic Hanja word links.

Marriage related words - 혼

결혼 - marriage

이혼 - divorce

약혼 - engagement (does the 약 part also seem familiar? It's the same 약 in 약속 - promise, and 예약 - appointment.)

기혼 - married (as in the person's status)

미혼 - unmarried, single

water related words - 수

수달 - otter

생수 - drinking/fresh water

수상 스키 - water ski (상 is a Hanja meaning 'above')

홍수 - flood

호수 - lake

school related words - 학 and 교

학교 - school

학생 - student

교복 - school uniform (your probably know what Hanbok is right? 한 - Korea 복 - clothing. That's the same 복.)

교육 - education

middle related words - 중

중국 - China (국 is the character used in country names)

중학교 - middle school

중급 - middle/intermediate level

중 - medium size (might see on a menu with portion options)

beauty related words - 미

미국 - the U.S.

미녀 - beautiful woman

미용실 - beauty salon/hairdressers

people related words - 인

인간 - human

~인 - person from ~ country (a Korean, a Brit, a German etc)

인생 - life

인기 - popularity

인사 - greeting

인삼 - ginseng (so called because the root resembles a person)

개인 - personal, private

주인 - owner

부인 - wife

female related words - 여/녀

여신 - goddess

미녀 - beautiful woman

마녀 - witch

그녀 - she

여성 - female

소녀 - girl (소 is another Hanja meaning small)

[honeyhangukeo]

I feel like the final boss of living in korea is getting a hair cut. i have not done so in the almost 3 years i have been here. I've done post office, dentist, florists, health test, dinner reservation, parcel returns etc but i have not been to a salon......

[honeyhangukeo]

sorry for not posting recently i have been busy at work and started a new middle school teaching position in autumn~

However! I am taking the TOPIK II exam in late January so i hope to document some of my study for that and talk about the exam experience afterwards. 🌸🍁💕

[honeyhangukeo]

Not confident about this exam 🫡 but i only have 2 days left

[honeyhangukeo]

I failed the exam by 5 points bruh

[honeyhangukeo]

sorry for not posting recently i have been busy at work and started a new middle school teaching position in autumn~

However! I am taking the TOPIK II exam in late January so i hope to document some of my study for that and talk about the exam experience afterwards. 🌸🍁💕

[honeyhangukeo]

Not confident about this exam 🫡 but i only have 2 days left

[honeyhangukeo]

my coteacher said i speak in 경상남도 satoori 👀🤨 i do not ever know conciously how i sound, i am just ...Saying Things.

[honeyhangukeo]

combination terms

I don't know what else to call these, but they refer to two opposing things that are often referred to together in one phrase to illustrate a breadth of span of the concept.

north and south- 남북 (often refers the two Koreas.)

east and west - 동서

pros and cons - 장점과 단점 can be seen shortened to 장단점. (점 means point)

strengths and weaknesses - 강점과 약점 (similar to above) (강 means strong and 약 means weak)

long and short term - 장기와 단기 can be seen shortened to 장단기 (기 refers to a time period)

up and down - 위아래(로)

side to side - 좌우(로) (좌 refers to 'left' and 우 is 'right' but from Hanja rather than 왼쪽/오른쪽 from native Korean)

here and there - 여기저기(에)

coming and going/back and forth between places - 왔다갔다하다

push and pull - 밀다 당기다 can be seen shortened to 밀당 (can refer to playing hard to get)

[honeyhangukeo]

Different words meaning 'to use'.

이용하다 - to utilise something for the beneficial facility or function it offers (can also refer to taking advantage/exploiting in a negative way)

쓰레기통을 이용하세요 = please use the trash can

이용자 = a user/visitor of a facility or space

인터넷 이용자 = a user of the internet

도서관 이용자 = a library goer

사용하다 - to use, operate or employ a tool of some kind

컴퓨터를 사용해도 되나요? = May I use the computer?

사용설명서 = instruction manual (lit. usage + explanation + document)

사용자 = consumer/utiliser of something

스페인어 사용자 - user(speaker) of Spanish

유용하다 - to possess uses/functions, able to be utilised positively

병을 여는 데 아주 유용해요 = it's useful/great for opening bottles

유용한 표현을 배우야 해 = you must learn useful/useable phrases

쓰다 - to use or employ something or wear (in terms of some accessories) (also means 'to write' and 'to be bitter'.)

돈을 썼어 = I spent my money

안경을 쓰는 사람 = a person who wears glasses

이것은 어디에 쓰는 겁니까? = where/what is this used for?

연필을 쓰세요 - please use a pencil (whereas 연필로 쓰세요 would be please write in pencil

tldr: 쓰다 is more simple and common in speech but is essentially the same as 사용하다. 이용하다 has a different nuance of referring to making use of a facility offered by an object or space (e.g. using the bathroom, the internet, public transport) rather than 쓰다/사용하다 being the personal, often physical, manipulation of a thing (e.g. using toilet paper, using photoshop, using a pencil). 유용하다 is not about the actual use of something, more a remark on something's ability to be used/useful. The recurring ~용 character of these words comes from the Chinese/Hanja 用 which refers to use, function, utilisation, consumption.

[honeyhangukeo]

sorry for not posting recently i have been busy at work and started a new middle school teaching position in autumn~

However! I am taking the TOPIK II exam in late January so i hope to document some of my study for that and talk about the exam experience afterwards. 🌸🍁💕

[honeyhangukeo]

what kind of posts should i make more of here?

vocab lists (weather, food, etc)

grammar (particles, verbs etc)

sentence/phrase meaning breakdowns

real life tips (honorifics, getting by in korea)

other (reply here)

Voting ended onMay 16, 2023

[honeyhangukeo]

should i include romanisation in my posts?

yes

no

Voting ended onMay 16, 2023

[honeyhangukeo]

Intransitive verbs - when a verb is used alone without the need for an object. A whole sentence with valid meaning can be made and understood with an intransitive verb. Example in English:

'I eat.' is transitive - I eat what? A noun needs to be used to complete the sentence. The action of eating needs to be enacted upon a food.

'I dance.' is intransitive - doesn't need a noun. You can't dance something.

In Korean these are not considered intransitive verbs (that's something different) but instead get translated as a verb plus a corresponding noun come as a two part package to create a phrase. In English, 'to dance' in Korean is literally 'to dance a dance':

춤을 추다 - to dance a dance

춤 (noun - a dance), and the object marker ~을/를 is put after it because the noun is being acted upon by 추다 (verb - to dance). You will often see it without the object marker because its obvious of the meaning.

춤을 추는 것을 좋아해. - I like to dance.

same grammar applies to these:

잠을 자다 - to sleep a sleep

어젯밤에 잠을 못 잤어. - I couldn't sleep last night.

꿈을 꾸다 - to dream a dream

무서운 꿈을 꿨어. - I dreamt a scary dream.

[honeyhangukeo]

making your verbs more polite with 드리다

드리다 has many meanings, often used to mean ‘to give’ in place of 주다 to give as 주다 is not polite enough when referring to ‘giving’ something to a higher person.

(remember - higher person is not always just older. i could use a bit of lower language about my older sister for example because of our familial relationship, but a salesperson in a shop would use higher language towards me even if they were older than me, because of the service relationship.)

주다 and 드리다 are very very often stuck after another verb to give more detail to the action. ( send, put, buy, make, complete, prepare, lend, find...any situation where you are doing something for or towards a person, use that verb + 주다/드리다. 

Final point - a polite verb like 드리다 implies the direction of the relationship between giver and recipient, therefore it removes the need to refer to a higher person as ‘you/he/she/them’, which as you probably know, Koreans never do.

봉투에 할인 쿠폰을 넣어 드릴게요. = I’ll put a discount coupon in the shopping bag for you.

금요일까지 문서를 보내 드릴게요. = I’ll send the document to you by Friday. 

아메리카노 한 잔을 사 드릴게요. = I’ll buy you an americano.

in contrast, a lower sentence, an older girl to a younger girl friend:

어니가 밥 사 줄게 = I’ll buy you food./ let big sis treat you to a meal.

[honeyhangukeo]

super common korean phrase time!

갔다 오다 - to go somewhere and come back

this phrase has 2 verbs in it - 가다 (to go) and 오다 (to come). 가다 is in past tense as 갔다, and this shows that the first verb of ‘go’ will be finished before the next verb of ‘come’ occurs.

In English we use just ‘go/went/will go’ to explain someone going to a different location, and we hardly ever explain that the person ‘will come back/came back’, its just implied by context. Obviously if you go on vacation, you will return, because that’s the definition of vacation.

But in Korean if someone will be returning to the current location/already did return, you will use 오다 as well. Here’s some examples with different tenses and formality:

I’ll go to the bathroom real quick. = 화장실에 빨리 갔다 올게요.

I went on a fun vacation. = 잼이있는 여행 갔다 왔어요.

I visited my home town last week.  = 지난 주 제 고향에 갔다 왔어요.

oh, so you got back from Seoul already = 오, 벌써 서울에 갔다 왔네요

did you go (somewhere) alright?/did you have a good time?  = 잘 갔다 왔어?

safe travels/hope you get there alright/have a good time! = 잘 갔다 와!

[honeyhangukeo]

sentence analysis time!

       멀리 계신 엄머님께도 보내드렸어요.

멀리 있는 (것) - a far away thing. Here 겨시다 (to be at, to stay) is used instead of 있다 (to be) because the speaker is talking about their mother.  Therefore 계시다 must be used to politely describe a higher person being /staying at a location. so 멀리 계신 엄머님 = mother that lives far away.

엄머님 - 님  title particle. it isn’t always used after a persons name or title, but it makes it more formal. in this context the speaker was actually talking about her mother-in-law, but its fine to call her mother with a more formal 님 on the end (you can do this to refer to other people’s parents, eg a close friends parents, in-laws)

~께 - to. there’s several ways to say you are giving something ‘to’ a person’ (~에게, ~한테, ~께) and ~께 is a polite way. it’s affixed after the person’s name or title: 선생님께, 아버지께 etc

~도 - too, as well. this is super common and easy. 나도 = me too, 과일도 먹었 = i ate fruit as well. in this context the speaker sent something (it was kimchi) to her mother in law as well as to other people.

보내다 - to send, to mail, to forward. 사진을 보내다 to send a photo, 편지를 보내다 to mail a letter.

보내다 is really frequently paired with 주다 (to give) which emphasises sending something for a person to receive. 과일을 좀 보내줄게 - I’ll send you some fruit.

드리다  - to give. just like with 있는 becoming 계신 before, the speaker must change some verbs to make it more polite. 주다 cannot be used when giving something to a higher person. 주다 connotes giving downwards, putting the speaker in position of power. 드리다 connotes offering upwards, putting the recipient in position of power.

우리 딸에게 선물을 줬어요 - i gave a gift to my daughter. (down)

선생님께 선물을 드렸어요  - i presented the teacher with a gift. (up)

~요 - verb ending conjugation. the speaker is talking about a much higher person (hence the changes in verbs above) but she is just speaking to viewers of the video in a friendly manner. therefore she can end the sentence with ~요 which is reasonable and normal for the situation.

so the whole translation is =

   I also sent it to my mother in law who lives far away.

[honeyhangukeo]

따라 used alongside other verbs

따라 in it’s dictionary form is 따르다 (to follow, obey, comply with) and sometimes comes up in front of another verb to create a new meaning of repeating that verb. examples:

따라해 - copy, imitate

따라하지 마 - don’t copy me

따라말해 - repeat/copy one’s words

따라가 - to go along, follow when going (i.e. follow your dreams)

따라와 - to come along, follow when coming (i.e. come with me)

[honeyhangukeo]

~(으)러 가다/오다 - to come and do/go and do something

adding ~(으)러 오다/가다 to a verb stem allows you to make the meaning of ‘to come and do/go and do (verb)’. add ~으러 if the stem ends in a consonant, and add ~러 if it ends with a vowel. this verb stem needs no conjugation, just conjugate the 오다/가다  to show tense and honorifics. examples:

접정하러 왔습니다 - i came to get the vaccine (lit. came to do inoculation)

쇼핑하러 갑시다 - let’s go shop (lit. let’s go to do shopping)

밥 먹으러 갔어 - i went to eat (lit. went to do eating food)

내일 도서관에서 공부하러 갈게요 - i’ll go study at the library tomorrow (lit. tomorrow will go to do studying in the library)