Class with Soo -- Korean Grammar References

Hi, I'm Soo! I want to help you learn Korean! Please use the links to the right to navigate to the lessons, check out my resources page for further learning, and feel free to send me an ask with any questions not covered in the FAQ. This blog updates on Mondays and Fridays, time permitting. :)

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Beginner Lesson 5: 전, -기 전에, before

In this lesson we’ll look at a way to say “before” in Korean, with the added bonus of being able to make slightly more complicated sentences by using two clauses!

The word 전 on it’s own means “ago” when used in conjunction with a time descriptor. For example “3주 전” means “3 weeks ago”. Because this references a period of time, the time particle -에 is needed. (Click here to check out the lesson regarding -에 and other sentence particles.)

In this way, we can make sentences referencing events and actions that have already occurred, and specify exactly when these events/actions occurred.

3주 전에 남동생하고 영화를 봤어요. I watched a movie with my little brother 3 weeks ago.

5달 전에 한국에 갔어요. I went to Korea 5 months ago.

10분 전에 저녁을 먹었어요. I ate dinner 10 minutes ago.

Now when 전 is used with a verb, the meaning is “before” instead of “ago”. When you want to use 전 with a verb, you must first change the verb to a noun. This is where -기 comes in. Adding -기 to a verb changes it into a noun--there are some specific nuances here that we’ll cover in a later lesson--but for now just now if you see -기 used in a grammatical principle, it’s generally being used to change the verb it’s attached to into a noun.

-기 전에 is used to express an action that is done/occurs before the following action.

-기 전에 is used with verbs and attached directly to the verb stem with no distinction in spelling.

가다: 가 →  가기 전에 읽다: 읽 →  읽기 전에

학교에 가기 전에 제가 아침을 먹어요. Before I go to school, I eat breakfast.

만화를 읽기 전에 숙제를 했어요. I finished my homework before reading comics.

Pretty much any verb clause can be added before -기 전에, as all this grammar point does is lend it the meaning “before (such and such) happened”. Let’s look at a few more examples.

한국에 오기 전에 한국어를 배웠어요. I learned Korean before I came to Korea.

영화를 보기 전에 친구하고 커피를 마실 거예요. Before I watch the movie I will have coffee with my friend.

사과를 먹기 전에 손을 씻어요. I wash my hands before eating an apple.

Easy right? :)

Note: the tense of the sentence is only reflected in the secondary clause, not with the verb attached to -기 전에.

자기 전에 숙제를 해요. 자기 전에 숙제를 했어요. 자기 전에 숙제를 할 거예요.

That’s all for this lesson, see you next time!

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Have you ever heard of or tried the app HelloTalk? It reminds me of facebook but for connecting with people in target languages.

Hi anon! :)

Yes, I have heard of that! It’s actually listed on my Resources page.

For anyone unaware, HelloTalk is a language exchange app. You can sign up and find partners to chat with in any language you’re learning, via text or voice. Of course, being that you’re interacting in real time with real people, what you get out of the app is only as much as what you put in! I’ve personally be using it to practice Thai. :D

As far as language exchange apps go, there’s also another option called “Tandem”, which is growing in popularity as of late.

I definitely recommend that learners of any language interact with native speakers as soon as and as often as possible! Learning natural and native ways of speaking and writing is incredibly important to avoid creating bad grammar habits early on in learning a language.

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Traducción de este post. Anónimo: Mencionaste en la reseña de memrise que no se debe usar la palabra “당신” para “tú”. ¿Por qué? ¿Qué se supone que se usa entonces? su-eop: Maravillosa pregunta. Esto es...

I was approached recently by @tjstudieskorean about translating my post regarding why you shouldn’t use the word 당신 when speaking Korean into Spanish. This is such an important topic that I really want it to reach as many learners as it can!

The translation of the post can be found by clicking here or using the link above!

And if you’re a native Spanish speaker or you’re more comfortable using Spanish than you are with English, definitely check out the rest of TJ’s blog! It’s in it’s beginning stages, but growing quickly! ♥  

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you said in the memrise review not to use the word "당신" for "you". why? what are you supposed to use instead?

Great question. This is really really important so listen up, y’all.

To understand why you shouldn’t use this word, you need to understand why it exists in the first place. There 3 main reasons why the word 당신 is used in Korean, and a 4th reason that’s not used very much at all.

Basically, you should only use 당신 if:

1. You’re talking to your husband/wife. -당신 is a very blunt way of saying “you”. The only way you can use it in polite conversation without offending anyone is with someone you are extremely close/intimate with. Married-for-a-million-years close, and even then only if they say it’s okay. You cannot use 당신 with your boyfriend/girlfriend. You cannot use it with your best friend. You can’t use it with your parents. You can’t use it with your co-workers. You cannot use it with your dog. They will get offended. In addition, generally only older/middle aged couples will use 당신 with each other. It isn’t a word younger couples tend to use.

2. The listener/audience is not a specific person.-It’s okay to use 당신 in songs and advertisements. That’s because they are impersonal broadcasts or communications to a non-specific audience. Here’s a screencap from an advertisement using 당신:

This is fine, because the creators have no way of knowing that you personally are going to see their advertisement. The vocalist has no way of knowing that you personally are going to hear their song. Additionally, neither the advertisers or the singers of our hypothetical song are standing in front of you using the word 당신. They are physically somewhere else. And when they created the advertisement/lyrics? You physically were somewhere else. So using 당신 in the absence of an actual person/audience is fine. It’s not directed at someone specifically, so it’s not rude.

3. You want to start a fight.-This is pretty self explanatory. Using 당신 with someone else who isn’t your husband/wife (see #1) is belittling and extremely rude. If you use 당신 with someone, they are going to get upset and yell at you. If you use 당신 with someone you’re already actively fighting with, they’re probably going to hit you. Pay attention the next time you’re watching a Korean drama and the leads start arguing--chances are you’ll hear a 당신 or two being thrown around.

These are the three most common reasons for the uses of 당신. The fourth reason is when using 당신 as a 3rd person reflexive pronoun, but it is used so very infrequently this way in Korean that it’s not really even worth remembering at all.

As for what you can use instead: it depends on what the situation is/who you’re speaking with.

Most Korean learners are familiar with the word ‘너’. This is another informal way of saying “you”. You can use this with close friends/your kids/someone you speak to regularly with in 반말, etc.

In other situations it’s better to use someone’s name, title, or job title instead of directly addressing them as “you” combined with ‘-은/는요’ if you HAVE to imply ‘you’ for whatever reason. For example:

레오: 매일 커피를 마셔요?켄: 아니요, 커피를 보통 안 마셔요. 레오 씨는요?

Leo: Do you drink coffee everyday?Ken: No, I don’t usually drink it. What about [you]?

선생님: 요즘 바빠요?학생: 네, 매일 8시간동안 공부해요. 선생님은요?

Teacher: Are you busy lately?Student: Yes, I study for 8 hours everyday. And [you]?

You can also use -는 with 너 if you wanted (”너는?”) and again, that’s pretty informal.

If you don’t know someone’s name or title and absolutely have to say “you” when addressing a stranger then you can use something like 그쪽, but this more formal and implies the person is above you in social status. You might be able to get away with it if this stranger isn’t someone you ever expect to meet again and this will be the only time you talk to them. But if it’s someone you think you’ll end up interacting with regularly, you might as well just ask them their name and use that instead.

In general, spoken Korean tends to drop pronouns anyway. If you’re speaking naturally you wouldn’t really be using ‘you’ or other pronouns very often.

But please, whatever you do, just don’t use 당신!

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Requested Review: Memrise Korean

I received an ask requesting I check out the Memrise Korean course, so today I’m happy to bring you guys a review of their set up. :)

For those of you unfamiliar with Memrise, it’s a website (with iOS and Android app equivalents) that teaches mostly languages--though other topics can be found--using memory exercises and “gamification” to make learning fun. Memrise employs the use of mnemonics or “mems” to help the user learn and memorize words and phrases. In simpler terms, it’s just another SRS (spaced repetition software) program. There are no ads and all courses are free to use, but the user does have the option of upgrading to a “pro” account in order to access some specialized features. In addition to the official Memrise designed/curated courses, users can create their own courses/lists/mems for any topic they’d like. The official website is here: https://www.memrise.com/

This review is of the course as presented through the iOS app.

I actually quite like Memrise as a SRS program. I've had a pro account for years and I made use of the ability to create your own courses and use other users’ courses quite heavily. However, before today I never actually took a look at any of the official Memrise created language courses.

The description for the official Memrise Korean 1 course is as follows: Part 1 of the complete and inspirational mission to Memrise Korean. Learn to read the Korean script - perhaps the most perfectly satisfying writing system ever devised. Introduce yourself in Korean, get around Korea, and learn a bunch of useful colloquial Korean expressions to make people smile!

So I knew very well going into this that the course is not designed at all to teach you actual Korean grammar and how to use it. This course is to teach you vocabulary and useful phrases.

This is readily apparent once you get to the level selection screen. Curious, I clicked on a random level just to check and:

Yep. Phrases.

Starting from the beginning though the course begins by teaching the user Hangul. They use romanization, of course, but in conjunction with both a male and female speaker to do all of the audio. This is a good thing--I find that courses with audio generally have either a male or female voice, not both. Being able to hear the differences when using the same words/phrases is definitely a good thing. The other thing that struck me as odd with the course was the order in which they choose to teach the letters to the learner. Generally courses with start with either basic vowels that move into alphabetical order consonants, or they simply start with the letters in alphabetical order. There’s nothing wrong with learning the letters in any order you’d like (and I have yet to meet more than a handful of foreigners who actually know Korean alphabetical order off the top of their heads), I just found it strange that of all things, they chose to lead with the letter ㄹ.

But besides the audio, the way the course is designed around teaching Hangul isn’t that great. There’s no explanation that the letters are letters or how to put them together to form words. There’s no indication about needing to use ㅇ for singular vowels. In fact, the vowels are introduced on their own (eg: ㅏ, ㅗ, ㅡ, etc, without the null entirely). This is particularly frustrating as one of the first actual words the course teaches is “예”, immediately following the letter “ㅖ” and there’s a confusing muddle for a couple audio questions where the learner is asked for the meaning of “예” but the multiple choice answers contained both “예” and “ㅖ” so one was left to guess which one the audio was referencing.

As far as the course exercises go they’re pretty standard. There’s many different types of multiple choice questions including audio ones, but the exercise that stood out to me the most was the video audio questions:

Different native speakers come up in these videos and say a word or phrase, which the user then has to select from the options below (either in English, or Korean, depending on the exercise). This is great because it really gets the learner listening to various voices of people of different genders and ages. Varying the input means the learner gets used to the different ways people talk much faster.

The exercise I liked the least was the “fill in the blank” questions. I generally use Memrise on my computer, where the fill in the blank questions require the keyboard and are timed with a short countdown for the user to fill in the answer before it’s automatically marked wrong. This I feel is much better than the fill in the blank questions on the app:

On the app, the user is presented with preset keys to select the answer from. This isn’t the greatest because it becomes too easy for the user to rely on sight recognition instead of active recall--filling in the blank yourself helps you remember the answer better than just selecting it from a list of preset choices like this. There is an option to switch to the keyboard, but it’s way up at the top of the screen on the upper right and I can’t imagine a whole lot of people will be looking up there when the question and the answers are at the bottom of the screen.

After learning Hangul and some short phrases, I was introduced to my first important grammar point: the sentence particles -은/는. The app handled that pretty much exactly as I expected--with no explanation:

But Memrise isn’t designed to teach grammar and usage. Memrise is designed to teach you vocabulary words and everyday useful phrases. So I can’t exactly fault them for it.

My last point is actually a very important one: Memrise’s course doesn’t make distinctions for politeness levels of the words and phrases it teaches. For example all the phrases I was taught were in the informal-polite (verb/adjective conjugations ending with -요) but the first word it teaches for “I” is “나”, which is informal. And perhaps the biggest issue with the entire course: it teaches the user the word “당신” for the pronoun “you”. Don’t use 당신 when speaking to other people unless you want to offend them. There are times when using 당신 is appropriate, but just avoid using it if at all possible.

So to sum: Memrise’s course is not going to teach you Korean grammar, or how to speak Korean. It will do a poor job of teaching you Hangul, however it will do a better job of teaching you words and (reasonably) useful phrases but only if you already know enough Korean grammar to weed out the mistakes/faux pas contained therein.

If you want to learn grammar and how to actually use Korean instead of parroting sentences, check out an app like Lingodeer, or a coursebook like Korean Grammar in Use.

If you’re a beginner and want to learn more words in conjunction with your other learning, you can definitely use Memrise, but I would recommend finding a “Level 1″ course for one of the more popular Korean universities (Ehwa, Sogang, Yonsei, etc) and start learning vocab there as it’ll be geared more towards a beginners level.

If you’re a high beginner/lower intermediate learner I would recommend a course based on Korean word frequency lists, such as this one: https://www.memrise.com/course/1614/1000-most-common-korean-words/

There are also a number of user made courses on Memrise for idioms, slang, and so on for users of higher capabilities. :) So definitely check those out!

That’s it for this review! If you have any questions or want me to review something else, send me an ask!

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A Review of Lingodeer

I’m really excited to bring you guys another app review today!

Lingodeer is a brand new app that is designed by actual language teachers/native speakers for specifically learning the three main East Asian languages: Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. And it’s totally free! If you haven’t heard of them before, you can check them out here: https://www.lingodeer.com/

I’ve actually been wanting to review this app for a while, but the iOS version wasn’t available until just the other day (and I only own Apple devices!).

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this review, the (iOS version) app is currently build 1.0, so any of the following may or may not change going forward as updates are applied.

Unlike for my review of the Duolingo Korean course, I did not complete the entire available skill tree that Lingodeer’s app offers. I found going through the lessons that there wasn’t any need to complete the tree in the vain hopes that the course might magically get better. Lingodeer is very good right out of the gate.

Your first stop on the app is the “alphabet” section, as it should be. Like Duolingo, Lingodeer unfortunately uses a form of romanization to teach the letters (see my Duolingo review for an explanation about why that’s bad) but that’s where the similarities stop. Lingodeer presents the Hangul letters in an order that actually makes sense, and in a way where learners can understand they are actually using letters to build sounds and eventually, words. Also, stroke order! That was a delightful and welcome surprise, which will come in handy for users actually wanting to learn to write the letters properly.

Heading into the first set of lessons (the “Nationality” section of the above screenshot) the user is greeted with a list of the lessons contained in the section, and to the left side, a menu labeled “Learning Tips”. When I selected the first lesson, I was initially disappointed to see that the romanization followed me but I quickly found that there is a setting the user can toggle to switch between Hangul and romanization, Hangul only, and romanization only.

Jumping right into the lesson, the user begins learning words and grammar that are pertinent for beginners to know, which is again, something Duolingo fails at. Additionally, all the audio is voiced by a native Korean speaker, and the quality is very clear and easy to understand.

The exercises in the lessons are fairly standard for apps of this nature (match a picture to a word/sound, unscramble sentences, listen to a bit of audio and enter the answer, choose the word/grammar bit that doesn’t belong, etc) and are on the whole unremarkable. However there was a conspicuous lack of explanations about why the grammar works the way it does, why the lesson kept trying to drill -은/는 into my brain with no indication about why it was important... Until I accidentally brushed part of the screen with one of my fingers on my way to the “next” button and a small window popped up to explain the word and grammar I had unintentionally poked at! There is no indication on any of the exercises or lesson screens that the user can press the words or grammar points for tips, instead of just blindly clicking through the lesson and guessing.

Upon completing the first two lessons, I decided to check out the “Learning Tips” menu from the lesson selection screen, and found the in depth answers for all my previous questions and more were contained there. I feel like the app and users would benefit from somehow marking very clearly that this is the location to find all that information, instead of hiding it behind an ambiguous “tips” label, especially when the tips in the lessons themselves exist (invisible though they are). In my opinion this section should be required reading, especially as this app is directed towards total beginners, however even something like “grammar explanations” would be a big step up from “tips”. Putting an indicator somewhere on the lesson screen to draw attention to the fact tips are available there too would be a good idea as well.

The app also contains a review section, where the user can practice and review both vocabulary and grammar that they have covered in completed lessons, which negates the need for a separate SRS app at the very beginning stages of learning (though I do recommend it at higher levels).

And a bonus that does not pertain to the Korean section of the app itself: I encountered a bug while using the app and sent off a support email. I received a very prompt and polite response regarding it, and assurances they were working on fixing the issue. :) Lovely people over there at Lingodeer.

That all said, there are a couple things I don’t like about the app and it’s claims. First and foremost, there is no option to test out of skills or individual lessons. The app is designed for absolute beginners with no prior knowledge, yes, but being unable to test out of parts of the skill tree is discouraging for not-exactly-absolute-beginner users. Instead of having to spend the time to complete a whole bunch of lessons to get to one or two they might need, not-quite-newbies are better off just looking up the information online for a quicker answer.

Second, the listing on the app store claims that by using the app you will be at the “intermediate” level of knowledge, and the official website claims that if you complete all the lessons you will speak your target language. I find both of these claims laughable--the contents of the lessons will get the user to a mid-high beginner at best (late A2 on the CEFR scale) and the app doesn’t have any speaking exercises at all. Speaking recall can be very difficult if the learner is not actively practicing it. Remember: No one app, book series, website, or lesson set will be enough to get you anywhere near fluency alone.

But ultimately, the Lingodeer app is a very, very big step in the right direction and is everything Duolingo should have been but wasn’t. I would definitely recommend using Lingodeer along side a good set of grammar textbooks or when taking a class.

Check out the official Lingodeer site for links to the app/play store to give it a download! https://www.lingodeer.com/

Do you have another app or Korean learning source you want me to review? Send me an ask!

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A Review of Duolingo’s Korean Course

Recently, the Duolingo course for Korean was released via the Duolingo app for iOS and Android. Duolingo, for those who are unaware, is a very popular website that offers free language lessons for a number of different languages including the conlang Esperanto and even fictional languages like High Valyrian from Game of Thrones. Korean was one of the most anticipated courses.

Disclaimer: at the time of writing this review, Duolingo’s Korean course is still technically in beta, so any of the following may or may not change in the future as the course is updated.

That said, I am very disappointed in the Korean course. Korean is a language that has gained a lot of interest in recent years (mainly due to the explosion in popularity Korean music and media has found not just in Asia but around the entire world) and so the amount of books, courses, and websites offering Korean has expanded tremendously. Not all of them are good. Duolingo’s happens to fall in the “pretty bad” category.

I actually completed the entire skill tree for the course, as shown by my little golden owl:

And ultimately, it was a waste of time.

The first thing the course tries to teach the learner is Hangul. And this, is probably where they made the biggest mistake. They used romanization. Now, Korean does have an official romanization system that was created by the government, but it’s pretty clunky. And there is overall no standard for use--a lot of course makers still use older romanization systems such as McCune–Reischauer, or even “in house” systems that they feel “better” represent the hangul letters. Having to learn new romanization systems every time you pick up a new book or course is detrimental to learning. Hangul, while an alphabet, does not have a 1:1 direct exchange with Latin letters. It is best to learn Hangul by associating the letters with their sounds.

Additionally, the hangul in the Duolingo course is presented in syllable blocks. There is no mention or indication whatsoever that Hangul is actually an alphabet, or how the letters come together to form words. The learner is left to infer from their own devices how exactly that works. And I feel sorry for any newbie learner who ends up thinking Korean uses syllables instead of letters, thinking there must be thousands of blocks to learn and memorize...

The second biggest issue I found is that there is no explanation at all for sentence particles. 이/가, 은/는, -에, and even 와/과 are dropped in the learner’s lap in the “Basics” section of the course. But there is no coverage at all about how important particles are for the Korean language (see my post here regarding them). Duolingo just expects users to figure it out for themselves. But hey, we also learn the words “milk”, “doughnut”, and “McDonalds” so we’re all set to take on the world.

My third biggest issue with the course is there is no consistency for sentence formality. As the course starts throwing more sentences at the learner to memorize, the conjugations end up all over the place. The biggest instance that stood out to me in the beginning was where I was asked to translate “고마워” in one exercise, which was quickly followed up with “고맙습니다” in another, with no indication that these are the exact same word just held to different politeness levels. Sentence formality is very important when it comes to speaking Korean. You don’t want to run the risk of offending someone--but Duolingo just passes the topic on by. It continues this way through out the entire course.

Additionally the course has an automated robotic female voice, which does not sound natural at all. And it was actually pretty buggy--if I tapped the words too fast while putting sentences together, it would only say half of a word or pick up halfway through a sentence, or not say a single thing at all. Which is, ultimately, not helpful to anyone.

Finally--and this is something I believe will be changing in the future as the course grows, or at least I hope it changes--the app will only accept the answer it’s programmed to accept, even if the provided answer is also correct. I ran into this when “testing out” of a couple of the later skills because I was sick of doing them. This screenshot is from the “Maps” section of the course:

Both my provided answer and the one the app wanted are acceptable translations of the sentence given. There is an option to say “my answer was correct” if the report button is selected, though, so I believe that as the course grows they will be able to add extra correct answers/solutions to the translations exercises. However I feel this “wrong answer” false positive happened way more often than I find acceptable as I went through the course, which is why I decided to include it here.

So in conclusion: Duolingo’s Korean course is just bad. It is not a place any beginner is going to want to start learning Korean, because all this app basically does is teach really poor study habits and is nothing more than a glorified awkward sentence memorization machine.

Want to start learning Korean? Get a course like Korean Grammar In Use (which comes in English, Chinese, and Japanese) and pretend Duolingo Korean doesn’t exist.

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안녕하세요 여러분, Soo here! :)

I know I’ve been gone for quite a time and for that I apologize! In February I began to feel very poorly, and by the beginning of April it had become too difficult to do much of anything online. I sort of dropped off the face of the world towards the end of April. Luckily I was finally given a diagnosis from my doctor in July, and I’ve been receiving treatment since then! I still need to take things easy for a while, but I’m feeling a lot better. :D

Even with my absence the blog has grown to incredible numbers and I just want to thank all of you for sticking with me as long as you have.

As far as the future of the blog goes while I am still returning to my full capabilities, I will be taking things easy and only posting 2 to 3 times a week now, instead of everyday like I was previously. I think I am going to be focusing on completing the Beginner’s lesson section for a time (at least, until I am feeling 100% myself again--they’re easier to write). I also plan on doing a review of the new Duolingo Korean course which has just come out.

My ask box is an explosion of questions right now, but from a quick look through them a lot of the questions are about things that are covered in the FAQ. If you sent me an ask in the last couple months whilst I’ve been gone that isn’t covered on the blog already, please feel free to send it again or any new questions you may have! I am going to be clearing the ask box out and starting over. Please also feel free to send me any titles of materials and websites you’d like me to review too.

I look forward to helping everyone continue with their Korean learning journey! :D

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would you be able to use 기로서니 in a sentence where you're acknowledging you yourself that your excuse isn't sufficient? or is it only to be used in response? thank you!

Hi anon!

It’s used mostly naturally in response. :) Because you’re acknowledging something that’s been said but refuting or challenging it in turn because it’s not sufficient to explain whatever it is going on in the clause that -기로서니 is attached to. 

Hope that helps!

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Advanced II Lesson 3: -기로서니, insufficient reasoning

Using this expression in Korean allows the speaker to acknowledge that the event/fact in the preceding clause occurred, that it doesn’t excuse or is an insufficient explanation for the reason/condition/actions that come in the following clause. It is usually paired with the word 아무리.

-기로서니 can be used with verbs, adjectives, and 이다. -기로서니 is attached directly to the word stem.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

레오: 켄 씨, 지난번에 바람맞혀서 미안해요. 켄: 아무리 바쁘기로서니 못 나온다고 전화도 못 해요? Leo: Ken, I’m sorry I stood you up last time. Ken: You couldn’t call me to let me know you couldn’t come no matter how busy you were?

So here, despite the apology from his friend, Ken states that being busy was no excuse at all for not calling him first the last time they were to meet.

찬미: 엄마, 내일 방탄소년단 콘서트에 꼭 가고 싶어요. 엄마: 아무리 방탄소년단이 좋기로서니 학교도 안 가고 곤서트에 간다는 게 말이 되니? Chanmi: Mom, I really want to go to the BTS concert tomorrow. Mom: No matter how much you like BTS, you can’t go to the concert without going to school first.

Chanmi really wants to go to the concert, but her mother finds really liking the idol group isn’t a sufficient enough reason to miss school for.

Easy right? :)

Note: when used in the past tense, the tense is reflected in the word attached directly to -기로서니 and not at the end of the clause/sentence.

벤: 이번에 한 실수로 회사에서 해고될까 봐 걱정돼 죽겠어요. 신행: 실수를 좀 했기로서니 그만한 일로 해고를 하겠어요? Ben: I’m really really worried that I will get fired from work for the mistake I made. Shinhaeng: Just because you made a mistake, why would you get fired for such a trivial thing?

So here, because the mistake/action was something that occurred in the past, the tense is used in conjunction with -기로서니, implying that the mistake alone isn’t enough to get fired over.

That’s it for today! Questions? Send me an ask! :)

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Advanced I Lesson 3: -기라도 하면, were to

This grammar point is used to propose the possibility of an event occurring. Therefore it’s is similar to 만약에 -으면 or 만약에 -은/는다면, but the main difference is that -기라도 하면 is used when the possible event only has a small chance of occurring. It can also be used to describe both positive and negative events, but depending on the content of the sentence it has different meanings.

-기라도 하면 is used with verbs and adjectives, and is attached directly to the word stem.

Let’s look at the negative use for this grammar point first.

When using -기라도 하면 negatively, it’s often paired with words/phrases like 어떡하나(어쩌나) 걱정이 되다, or 두렵다, though it’s not absolutely required.

Using this grammar point negatively expresses concern about what someone would do if the event were to possibly happen, though the chance is small.

For example:

오늘 혹시 비가 오기라도 하면 어떡해? 그러니까 우산 가지고 가. If it were to rain, what would you do? So take an umbrella with you.

In this example the speaker is aware that the chance of rain is very small, but urges their listener to bring an umbrella anyway just to be prepared.

새로운 일을 시작하면서 혹시 잘못되기라도 하면 어떡하나 두려움도 많았어요. While starting my new job I was nervous about what it would be like were it to not go well.

In this example the speaker is talking about a past event, that when they started their job they were worried about not doing well, though they were obviously of the thought that the chance of not doing well in the first place was very small.

On the opposite hand, when used in the positive manner, this grammar point expresses a very unlikely event that you do not expect to happen but still hope for. In this instance -기라도 하면 is paired with the phrase 얼마나 좋을까(좋겠다).

For example:

너를 만나는 것은 바라지도 않아. 그냥 지나가다가 잠깐 얼굴을 보기라도 하면 좋겠어. I wouldn’t go as far as to wish to meet you. How wonderful would it be were I to even just see your face in passing.

This example is pretty straight forward--the speaker is obviously missing someone they cannot meet up with or see, so they wish to see their face for even just a moment, but by using -기라도 하면 they are indirectly saying they know there is almost no chance of it happening.

중간 시험을 잘 보기라도 하면 얼마나 좋을까... If I were to do well on my midterms how great would that be...

This sentence is considering “positive” in that the result (doing well on exams) would be a really good thing, however the speaker is indirectly saying that the chance of doing well on exams is very low, for whatever reason, and the likely outcome will be negative.

So in the end this grammar point can be very useful for expressing many different feelings, as long as you take care to keep in mind that whatever you’re talking about is something that only has a very small chance of occurring. If you’re going to go with a more general statement, use an alternative like 만약 -으면 instead. :)

That’s it for this lesson! See you next time~

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Intermediate II Lesson 3: -다 보면 -게 될 거예요, doing something continuously

This grammar pattern is used when giving someone advice, and implies that the speaker is offering personal advice--something either they have experienced for themselves or otherwise observed. The meaning of this grammar pattern is that if someone does something over and over again, eventually that someone will achieve their desired results, whatever it may be.

There are two ways this grammar point can be used.

[verb stem]다 보면 [verb stem]게 될 거예요 or [verb stem]다 보면 [adjective]아/어질 거예요

Let’s look at a few examples.

A: 이 문법은 어려워서 잘 못 쓰겠어요... B: 처음에는 어렵지만 자꾸 연습하다 보면 잘 쓰게 될 거예요. A: I can’t use this grammar well because it’s difficult... B: It’s difficult at first but if you practice it continuously you’ll be able to use it well.

A: 한국 문화에 대해서 많이 알고 싶어요. B: 한국 친구들을 많이 만나다 보면 한국 문화도 알게 될 거예요. A: I want to know more about Korean culture. B: If you meet [your] Korean friends a lot, you’ll learn Korean culture as well.

A: 한국 사람하고 이야기할 때 너무 빨라서 알아듣는 것이 힘들어요. B: 한국 드라마나 영화를 많이 보다 보면 잘 알아듣게 될 거예요. A: When speaking with Koreans it’s hard for me to understand because they speak so fast. B: You’ll be able to better understand if you watch a lot of Korean dramas or movies.

A: 발음이 안 좋아서 걱정이에요. B: 책을 큰 소리로 계속 읽다 보면 발음이 좋아질 거예요. A: I’m worried my pronunciation is bad. B: If you read books aloud in a loud voice, you’ll get better at pronunciation.

A: 요즘 기운이 없어요. B: 몸에 좋은 음식을 먹고 규칙적으로 운동을 하다 보면 기운이 날 거예요. A: I feel listless these days. B: Eating healthy foods and exercising regularly will make you feel better.

Easy right? :)

다 보니 vs 다 보면: pay particular attention and care to how questions are formed, so you know which grammar point to use in response!

For example:

어떻게 해서 한국어를 잘하게 됐어요? How did you become fluent in Korean?

This question specifically asks for the personal experience of the other person, therefore -다 보니 should be used instance.

어떻게 하면 한국어를 잘할 수 있을까요? How can I speak Korean well?

This question asks for more general advice, not specifically what the other person did, so -다 보면  should be used in this instance.

You can read up more about -도 보니 -게 됐다 by clicking here.

Note: while this grammar point is used in the future tense, as it is meant to refer to an action done continually will result in a future action/result, there is a variant that is written in the present tense. However, using this grammar point in the present tense implies that the statement is common knowledge that most other people would agree with, and not personal advice of the speaker.

A: 어떻게 그렇게 한글을 빨리 칠 수 있어요? B: 친구랑 메신저로 계속 대화하다 보면 금방 잘 치게 돼요. A: How can you type hangul that fast? B: If you keep talking to your friends via messenger soon you’ll be good at typing.

In this instance, since “type a lot and and you’ll get good at typing” is something generally everyone would agree with, the present tense is used here instead of the future tense.

That’s it for today! :)

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Hi! In the lesson about -어/아 and -게됐어요 can you explain a little further about the last part mentioned? About adding -고 instead of -어/아? I didn't really understand that part. Could you also explain more about -져서? thanks! I love your blog by the way!

Hi anon!

There’s really not too much more I can say about that part, if I am honest. The rule for that grammar point is pretty straight forward. Simply, when using the -게 되다 pattern after 듣다, 보다, and 읽다, you should substitute -고 for -아/어서 in the preceding clause of the sentence.

eg: 게시판에 있는 광고를 보고 그 동아리에 대해 알게 됐어요.I learned about that club because I saw an advertisement on the bulletin board.

This sentence uses the verb 보다 in the first clause, so -고 is used instead of -아/어서. That’s just the way the rule is. :) Make sure to take note of it for those three verbs!

The -져서 used in some examples in that particular lesson is a beginner level grammar point (아/어지다, used only with adjectives and means “to become” or “to get”) that I’ve not gotten around to making a beginner post for yet. But grammar not yet introduced on this blog is used in higher level posts because intermediate and up learners would know them already, and it’s kind of impossible to make higher level grammar posts without using grammar lower level learners haven’t seen yet. And it isn’t feasible for me to explain grammar points like that within the posts they appear in, because 1) the people the lesson is geared for already know it and 2) it would derail the post.

Hope that helps. :D

(the lesson this posts references can be found by clicking here)

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Intermediate I Lesson 4: -은/는 편이다

The Korean word 편 as a noun means “side”. For example it can be seen used in such instances as 오른편 (the right side) or 왼편 (the left side). It can also be used to describe taking sides in an argument, or debate, as well as for factions in games and the like.

But by combining 편 with -은/는, we are able to use it to describe approximations of different verbs and adjectives. Let’s take a look at an example and the implications of this grammar point.

Without the grammar point:

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 쳐요. Ken plays tennis well.

With the grammar point:

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 치는 편이에요. Ken plays tennis pretty well.

Now I know what you’re thinking--Soo, what the heck is the difference here? Based on these translations the sentences mean the same thing!

And this would be where most people get confused!

In Korean, using the -은/는 편이다 grammar point when describing something implies that you think that the fact or observation is close to or on a certain side instead of talking about it as a definite, sure thing. So if we go back to our example sentences:

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 쳐요. Not using the grammar point, this sentence’s implication is that Ken is a great tennis player. He plays tennis extremely well and it’s a definite, observable thing.

켄 씨는 테니스를 잘 치는 편이에요. If we use the grammar point instead, this sentence implies that the speaker perceives Ken to be on the better side of being able to play tennis, but not that he’s definitely a great player.

Still confused? Have a look at this graphic:

So on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is the worst, completely unable to play tennis and 100 being the best, a great tennis player, Ken who is described as “잘 치는 편이에요” is somewhere between 50% and 100% on the sliding scale of good-at-tennis-ness.

Got it? Good. :)

-은/는 편이다 is used with verbs, adjectives, 있다/없다, and 이다/아니다. -은 is added to adjective stems ending in a consonant. -ㄴ is added to adjective stems ending in a vowel. -는 is added to all verb stems. -는 is also added to 있다/없다. -ㄴ is used with 이다/아니다.

Let’s look at a couple more examples:

비비안: 수키 씨 한국어 실력은 어때요? 수키: 말하기는 좀 힘들지만 읽고 쓰는 것은 잘하는 편이에요. Vivian: Suki, how’s your Korean speaking ability? Suki: Well speaking is a little difficult but reading and writing are really good.

한설: 왜 이렇게 학교에 일찍 왔어요? 신행: 제가 아침에 일찍 일어나는 편이어서 그냥 일찍 왔어요. Hansol: Why did you come to school this early? Shinhaeng: Because I got up pretty early I just came [to school] early.

벤: 비비안 씨 성격은 어때요? 찬미: 비비안 씨 성격이 밝은 편이에요. Ben: What’s Vivian’s personality like? Chanmi: Vivian’s personality is somewhat bright.

레오: 새로 이사 간 집이 어때요? 켄: 깨끗하고 조용해요. 그런데 방값은 좀 비싼 편이에요... Leo: How’s the new house you moved into? Ken: It’s clean and quiet. However the room rental fee is kind of expensive...

벤: 그 영화가 재미있었어요? 비비안: 괜찮았어요. 재미있는 편이었어요. Ben: Was that movie interesting? Vivian: It was okay. Pretty fun.

In the above examples you can see that all the instances where the grammar point is used is when the speaker is expressing their thought or opinion on the topic at hand. This is because you cannot use this grammar point when the situation or fact being discussed is CLEAR and DEFINITE to everyone. In other words, if the fact is either 0% or 100% on the scale in the graphic posted up above, then you cannot use 은/는 편이다. For example, a Korean person born and raised in Korea with Korean as their native language would simply be good at speaking Korean (한국어를 잘해요  -  O) as opposed to being just somewhat good/alright (한국어를 잘하는 편이에요 -  X).

Another important thing to note is when using -는 편이다 with a verb, an adverb like 자주, 많이, 잘, 안/못, etc must be paired with the verb.

저는 매운 음식을 잘 먹는 편이에요. I eat spicy food pretty well.

Also be careful when using this grammar point in the past tense. Both -은/는 편이었다 and -은 편이다 can be used when expressing something in the past, but -은/는 편이었다 is used when explaining a general situation in the past, and -은 편이다 is used when explaining some event or action completed at a point in the past. (-은 편이다 being the past tense form of -는 편이다 for verbs)

-은/는 편이었다

어렸을 때 저는 키가 작은 편이었어요. When I was a kid, I was on the short side.

-은 편이다

A: 어제 시험 잘 봤어? B: 잘 본 편이야. 별로 어럽지 않았어. A: You do well on the test yesterday? B: I did pretty good. It wasn’t even hard.

As far as irregular verbs/adjectives go with this grammar point, the standard rules apply, notably:

If the word stem ends in ㄹ, the ㄹ is dropped. eg: 멀다 becomes 먼 not 멀은

If the word stem ends in ㅂ, the ㅂ is dropped, 우 is added and then the word is conjugated. eg: 춥다 becomes 추운 using this grammar point.

More info about irregular verbs and adjective rules can be found by clicking here!

That’s all for today. :)

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Beginners Lesson 4: -을 때, when or while (doing something)

Using this grammar point you will be able to express your thoughts and actions in a specific point of time in Korean. This grammar point is two fold, and we’ll break it down to look at both parts of the grammar point in today’s post.

First, let’s talk about 때. When 때 is combined with certain nouns, it expresses a set time, or block of time. Most often you’ll see 때 used with time indicators like 저녁 or 아침, but it can also be used with words like 방학, 휴가, 고등학교, etc.

Using 때 combined with a noun if fairly simple. 때 follows the noun that the block of time is meant to indicate. For example:

오늘 저녁 때 뭐 해요? What will you do during dinner time today?

이번 여름방학 때 어디로 갈 거예요? Where will you go during this summer vacation?

선생님들은 회의 때 시험에 대해 얘기했어요. During the meeting, the teachers talked about the test.

In this way, you can see using 때 plus a noun is fairly straight forward. This brings us to the second part of the lesson: combining 때 with -을.

By using -을 때, this enables you to use 때 with verbs, adjectives, and 있다/없다, thereby not limited yourself to strictly nouns any longer. This will allow you to form more complex sentences. For example, compare the following two phrases:

저녁 때 During dinner time

빵을 먹을 때 While I eat bread

In the former example you are referring only to dinner time itself, as a time of day. It can be assumed you’re eating based on context clues or you might already be done, but in the latter example, you can specifically say what it was you are doing while eating.

-을 때 is used with verbs, adjectives, and 있다/없다. -을 때 is used with word stems ending in a consonant. -ㄹ 때 is used with word stems ending in a vowel.

공부하다: 공부하 + ㄹ 때 →  공부할 때 (while studying) 받다: 받 + 을때 →  받을 때 (when receiving)

저는 공부할 때 문법만 공부해요. When I study, I only study grammar.

돈을 받을 때 행복해요. When I receive money, I am happy.

Now technically, using -을 with 때 would indicate a future tense, but that’s not strictly the case with this grammar point. -을 때 can also be used to just reference general time (not past, present, or future specifically), as I have indicated above with the English translations of the example sentences.

On the opposite side, -을 때 can be used with the past tense if you want to indicate something happened in the past, however there are separate implications of using the past tense form of -을 때 compared to general tense -을 때, that we will look at in it’s own lesson later on.

As far as sentence particles go, normally the time marker -에 is used following 때, however it can be omitted with no change to the sentence. Additionally, you can use other sentence particles following 때 to make even more complex sentences. Such as using -를 to form subject phrases, or -마다, -부터, or -만. We’ll look at making these more complex sentences in a future lesson.

Keep in mind there are irregular conjugation rules that apply to this grammar point, most notably ㄹ, ㄷ, and ㅂ irregulars:

The stems of all words ending in ㄹ are followed by -때 and not -을 때, because ㄹ irregular verbs/adjectives are treated as if they end in a vowel.

If a ㄷ irregular verb is followed by a vowel, the ㄷ is changed to ㄹ instead and -을 때 is added.

ㅂ irregular adjectives have the final ㅂ dropped and replaced with 우, to which -ㄹ 때 is added.

For an in depth look at the seven different types of irregular Korean verbs and adjective rules please see my guide linked above. :)

Note: Although -을 때 and 언제 can be both be translated as “when” in English, they have different meanings/functions in Korean. The function of -을 때 is to connect a block of time an action occurs with another clause, whereas 언제 functions only as an interrogative like “when?” or “what time?”.

That’s all for this lesson! :)

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Hey everyone! :) Just popping in to let you know that I've been going through an intense round of job interviews (yay! potential employment!) and that I should be able to update with some more lessons starting next monday (april 17th!) when my schedule frees up again, theoretically. So don't worry I've not forgotten about the blog or anything, just busy!

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Intermediate I Lesson 3: 으려면, if you intend to

-으려면 is a shortened form of “-으려고 하면” and it holds the same meaning as “if you intend to” or “if you want to”. This grammar point is used frequently when giving or requesting advice about an intended action. It’s usually paired with -아/어야 하다, -으세요, -이/가 필요하다, or -으면 되다.

-으려면 is used with verbs and attaches directly to the verb stem. -으려면 is used with verb stems ending in a consonant. -려면 is used with verb stems ending in a vowel.

Let’s look at some examples.

학생: 김 선생님 지금 계세요? 다른 선생님: 지금 안 계세요. 김 선생님을 만나려면 3시 이후에 오세요. Student: Is Kim teacher here now? Other teacher: She’s not here right now. If you want to meet Kim teacher, please come back after 3 o’clock.

레오: 미국에 여행 가고 싶어요. 켄: 미국에 가려면 비자가 필요해요. Leo: I want to go on a trip to America. Ken: If you intend on going to America you need a visa.

학생: 책을 빌리려면 어떻게 해야 해요? 선생님: 학생증을 가지고 도서관에 가면 돼요. Student: If I intend to borrow a book, what do I have to do? Teacher: Bring your student ID with you and go to the library.

벤: 건강해지려면 어떻게 해야 해요? 찬미: 많이 걸으세요. 그러면 건강해져요. Ben: If I want to get healthy, what do I have to do? Chanmi: Walk a lot. If you do that, your health will improve.

Now you’ll notice that in the above examples that “want to” is an acceptable translation for this grammar point. But we already know that “to want to do” something in Korean is -고 싶다. Paired with -면 (if), you can use -고 싶으면 to say “if you want to--”.

의사가 되려면 공부를 많이 해야 돼요. If you want to become a doctor, you have to study a lot.

의사가 되고 싶으면 공부를 많이 해야 돼요. If you want to become a doctor, you have to study a lot.

So you can see that these two grammar points can be used almost interchangeably.

However, there is a difference that exists. When you use -으려면, the 려 of the construction implies that an effort needs to be made to complete the desired action. You really need to make an effort to study a lot when you want to be a doctor, so using -으려면 in this case makes a lot of sense. But if you just wanted to go to the park, no effort beyond simply going to the park needs to be made so -고 싶으면 makes more sense in that situation, and cannot be used interchangeably with -으려면.

That’s all for this lesson. :) See you next time!