#beginner grammar

[japaneseschooltokyo]

Japanese Basic Grammar Guide I - Coto Japanese Academy

Learn Japanese from scratch! Starting from basic Japanese grammar. Learn the most basic Japanese sentence patterns from the article

[studiousbees]

I’m ______ing — -고 있다, -아/어 있다, -는 중이다

ㅈIn English, we use the progressive tense very commonly, and it’s just as useful in Korean. The progressive tense is used any time you want to indicate that an action or state is ongoing. For example:

I’m going to the store.

He is eating an apple.

Of course, it can be used in more than just the present tense. We also have past progressive:

I was doing my homework.

He was reading a book.

And we have future progressive as well:

I will be cooking dinner.

They will be taking a test.

So how do we make these kinds of sentences in Korean? There are a few simple ways.

Simple present tense

Unlike in English, simple present tense in Korean can sometimes be read with a progressive meaning. Simply conjugate your verb in whatever formality level you see fit in the present tense, and you’re done! For example:

A: 뭐 해? (What are you doing?)

B: 난 학교에 가. (I’m going to school.)

In this short dialogue, we have two verbs conjugated in low-formality 해체/반말 in the simple present tense, but we can read them as progressive.

A: 뭘 먹어요? (What are you eating?)

B: 사과를 먹어요. (I’m eating an apple.)

Again, we have simple present tense, but in mid-formality 해요체.

Simple present tense as progressive is commonly used when, as seen above, someone asks what someone else is doing.

-고 있다

-고 있다 is the most commonly used way to form progressive sentences to indicate that an action is ongoing. Simply add -고 있다 to the root of the verb and conjugate 있다 as normal. 

PAST: 

그림을 그리고 있었어요. (I was drawing a picture.)

수빈이는 뭘 읽고 있었어요? (What was Subin reading?)

PRESENT:

아기는 울고 있어요. (The baby is crying.)

세원 씨는 일하고 있어요? (Is Sewon working?)

FUTURE:

다음 주 이 때쯤 전 부산으로 운전하고 있을 거예요. (This time next week, I will be driving to Busan.)

수원 씨는 2년 후에 선생님으로 일하고 있을 거예요. (In two years, Suwon will be working as a teacher.)

-아/어 있다

-아/어 있다 is used to indicate that a state is ongoing. Rather than someone or something actively doing something, that person or thing is continuously existing in a particular state.  

PAST

맨 뒷자리에 앉아 있었어요. (I was sitting in the far back seat.)

한 시간 안에 소주 5병을 다 마셔버린 수훈 씨는 밤 내내 엄청 취해 있었어요. (Suhun, who had drunk five bottles of soju within an hour, was extremely drunk all night.

PRESENT

친구는 거기서 서 있어요. (My friend is standing there.)

이웃사람이 이사가서 저 집은 비어 있어요. (My neighbors moved, so that house is empty.)

FUTURE

성수기니까 호텔들이 다 가득 차 있을 거예요. (Because it’s peak season, all the hotels will be packed full.)

10월말까지 저 산촌은 눈으로 덮여 있을 거예요. (That mountain village will be covered by snow by the end of October.)

-는 중이다

This grammatical form literally means “to be in the middle of” something. Simply attach it to the root of your action verb of choice!

PAST

어머니께서 전화하셨을 때 저는 청소하는 중이었어요. (When mother called, I was in the middle of cleaning.)

승진 씨가 저한테 숙제 좀 도와달라고 부탁했는데 저는 이미 다른 친구 만나러 가는 중이었어요. (Seungjin asked me for help with homework, but I was already on my way to meet another friend.)

PRESENT

저는 집에 가는 중이에요. (I am going home [I am in the middle of going home].)

수빈 씨는 숙제를 하는 중이에요. (Subin is in the middle of doing her homework.)

FUTURE

11시니 찬웅이는 오는 중일 거야. (It’s 11, so Chanwoong will be [in the middle of] coming.)

그때쯤 그 사람은 점심을 먹는 중일 거예요. (About that time, that person will be eating lunch.)

As always, thanks for reading, and happy studying~

[studiousbees]

When... -(으)ㄹ 때

Hello, all! Thank you for your patience with my crazy posting schedule lately. I’m back with another grammar post, this time about -(으)ㄹ 때. Thanks to @keepitshortlikeme for asking about this form :)

Function

-(으)ㄹ 때’s function is pretty simple! You can use it when you want to talk about something that happens (or happened) at a particular point in time. For example, you could use it in sentences like, “When I eat fried chicken I am happy” or “When I was young, I played soccer often.”

Usage

This one’s pretty easy to use :) For present tense, just attach -을 때 to an action or descriptive verb root ending with a consonant (excluding ㄹ), or -ㄹ 때 to a root ending with ㄹ or a vowel. You can also use this grammar to talk about things that happened in the past by attaching -을 때 to a verb root that has been conjugated to the past tense.

Note that this is really just the noun modifier ending -(으)ㄹ used with the noun 때! 때 itself is a noun that indicates a point in time, but together with this noun modifier ending, it is most naturally translated as “when”.

PRESENT TENSE:

Action verbs:

밥 먹을 때마다 행복해요. (I am happy every time I eat.)

매일 출근할 때마다 카페에 들렀다가 회사에 가요. (Every day when I go to work I drop by a cafe and go to the office.)

친구들하고 놀 때는 시간이 너무 빨리 가는 것 같아요. (It seems that time goes by too quickly when I hang out with my friends.)

Descriptive verbs:

기분이 좋을 때 노래를 부르는 걸 좋아해요. (I like singing when I’m in a good mood.)

미세먼지가 심할 때는 집에 있는 게 나아요. (When the pollution is severe, it’s better to stay at home.)

아플 때는 많이 쉬는 게 좋아요. (It’s good to rest a lot when you are sick.)

PAST TENSE:

Action verbs:

그 사람을 처음 만났을 때는 첫인상이 안 좋았어요. (When I met that person for the first time, my first impression wasn’t good.)

진수 씨가 결혼했을 때 진수 씨의 가족들이 많이 울었어요. (When Jinsu got married, his family members cried a lot.)

경하 씨한테 전화했을 때 경하 씨는 전화를 안 받았어요. (Kyeongha did not answer the phone when I called her.)

Descriptive verbs:

어렸을 때 축구를 자주 했어요. (When I was young I played soccer often.)

살면서 가장 슬펐을 때는 강아지가 죽었을 때였어요. (The saddest time in my life was when my puppy died.)

          --We have both a descriptive verb and an action verb here!

Happy studying~

[studiousbees]

I ______ed — Simple past tense Korean conjugation

Hello again! It feels like it’s been a while since I wrote a grammar post. I was trying to think of something that would be not too hard or time-consuming (grad school devours my free time!) and that would be helpful to a large number of people. I looked through my list of Korean grammar posts and realized that I hadn’t even yet done a post on the simple past tense! Let’s jump right on in.

Function

The simple past tense in Korean functions fairly exactly the same as in English—that is, you can use it to express actions that occurred and completed at a point in the past. Some easy examples might be sentences like, “I ate lunch” or “He went to school.”

Usage

So, how do we form the simple past tense? In general, there are two main past tense markers, -았- and -었- which come after the verb root but before the sentence ending (and before sentence connectors as well, but I’ll save those for a different post). If you are not familiar with sentence endings, please read up on the three most common types, 하십시오체, 해요체, and 해체! 

Deciding which past tense marker to use, -았- or -었- depends on final vowel of the root, just as we saw with 해요체 and 해체 conjugations. That is, roots with the final vowel 아 or 오 will take -았- and all others will take -었-. The same rules (and rule breakers!) that we first encountered in the 해요체 post will also apply here. I’ll give examples of all of them below but if you find yourself unable to remember them, please take a moment to refresh your memory before moving on. Also, please note that I will use 해요체 for all of my examples, but you could just as easily use 하십시오체 or 해체 in its please.

As previously mentioned, if the final vowel of the verb root is 아 or 오 use -았-, and if it’s anything else, use -었- before the sentence ending. For example:

먹다 - 다 -> 먹 + -어요 = 먹었어요

민호 씨는 초콜릿을 안 먹었어요. (Minho did not eat chocolate.)

좁다 - 다 -> 좁 + -아요 = 좁았어요

방이 정말 좁았어요. (The room was really narrow.)

NOTE: With past tense and 해요체 together, the sentence will always end with -어요! This is because the final vowel of the root influences the closest influencible element—in this case the past tense marker—resulting in the sentence ending’s vowel choice not changing from the default -어요.

And now let’s check out some verbs and other little things that don’t follow the basic rule shown above:

Similar to what we saw in the 해요체 post, if the root ends with either 아 or 어, instead of doubling the vowel, the two vowels simply overlap since they are the same. When written out, we see it as the initial consonant of the last syllable of the root having moved to replace the ㅇ at the start of the past tense marker.

가다 - 다 -> 가 + -아요 = 갔어요 (NOT 가았어요)

저는 학교에 갔어요. (I went to school.)

서다 - 다 -> 서 + -어요 = 섰어요 (NOT 서었어요)

언니는 문 앞에 섰어요. (My older sister stood in front of the door.)

하다 is a bit of a special case. Similar to how 하다’s 아 turns to 애 in 해요체, the simple past tense of 하다 also changes the vowel.

오늘 뭘 했어요? (What did you do today?)

어제 만난 사람이 정말 착했어요. (The person I met yesterday was really nice.)

NOTE: In writing, you might sometimes see 하다’s past tense as “하였다.” 

되다 is also a little different. Following the normal rule will give you 되었어요, which actually isn’t too uncommon in writing. However, in speaking, you will usually hear (and want to say) 됐어요.

되다 - 다 -> 되 + -어요 = 돼요

수미 씨는 의사가 됐어요. (Sumi became a doctor.)

모든 일이 잘 됐어요. (Everything turned out fine [lit: became well].)

Yet another special case is 이다. We know that in present tense 해요체 it has two different forms that it appears in: -이에요 when attached to a noun that ends with a consonant and -예요 when the noun ends with a vowel. Similarly, you must watch out for whether the noun ends with a vowel or consonant when conjugating in the simple past tense. When attached to a noun ending with a consonant 이다 becomes -이었어요. It becomes -였어요 when attached to a noun ending with a vowel.

공책이었어요. (It was a notebook.)

실수였어요. (It was a mistake.)

Other special cases occur with roots ending in the vowels 이, 우, and 오. In these cases, the final vowel merges with the 어 in -었- (or the 아 in -았- in the case of roots ending with 오) to make a compound vowel sound. Sometimes you will see them written out in non-compounded format, similar to 됐어요/되었어요, but that’s generally for writing and not done in normal speech.

마시다 - 다 -> 마시 + -었어요 = 마셨어요

물을 많이 마셨어요. (I drank a lot of water.)

춤을 추다 - 다 = 춤을 추 + -었어요 = 춤을 췄어요

미나 씨는 춤을 췄어요. (Mina danced.)

오다 - 다 -> 오 + -았어요 = 왔어요

비가 많이 왔어요. (It rained a lot.)

NOTE: When learning about present tense 해요체, we learned that the honorific infix -(으)시- is an exception to the above rule. However, that is not the case in simple past. In this case, -(으)시- conjugates just like the 시 in 마시다 above, as -(으)셨어요.

좋아하다 - 다 -> 좋아하 + 시 + -었어요 = 좋아하셨어요

우리 엄마는 꽃을 좋아하셨어요. (My mom liked flowers.)

앉다 - 다 -> 앉 + 시 + -었어요 = 앉으셨어요

할머니께서 의자에 앉으셨어요. (Grandma sat on the chair.)

Knowing how to use the past tense in Korean will make it a lot easier for you to hold good conversations with others. Make sure you practice until you get it down!

Happy studying, everyone~

[studiousbees]

The many faces of -(으)로

-(으)로 is a very useful particle that can be attached to nouns (both normal nouns and nouns created using noun modifier endings) for a variety of usages. Especially at the beginning, it can be a bit hard or confusing to differentiate these different meanings. Let’s take a look at some of the most common usages of -(으)로!

Please note that -으로 is used when the preceding noun ends with a consonant except ㄹ, and -로 is used when the noun ends with a vowel or ㄹ.

Also, please note that there is another usage of -으로 that, when used with an adjective ending with -적, creates adverbs. However, I want to keep this post focused on -(으)로 on its own and write a separate post for adverb formation.

By means of

You can use -(으)로 to express using something for a purpose. In this case, we can think of the particle as meaning “by (means of)” or “using.”

버스로 갔어요. (I went by bus.)

연필로 쓰세요. (Write using a pencil.)

Toward

Another usage of -(으)로 is indicating the direction in which someone or something is moving. Please be careful not to confuse it with the destination particle -에! While they can at times occur in the same position, -(으)로 places more emphasis on the direction of movement or the actual process of going rather than the destination. As they do not mean the same thing, they are not interchangeable. 

이쪽으로 오세요. (Come this way.)

어디로 가는 거예요? (Where are you going?)

Selection

When choosing between two or more things, you can use -(으)로 to indicate your choice or selection.

그것으로 살게요. (I’ll buy that one.)

민지 씨가 추천해준 식당으로 할까요? (Should we go to/choose the restaurant that Minji recommended?)

하얀색이면 너무 쉽게 더러워질 거예요. 검은색으로 하겠어요. (If it’s white it will get dirty too easily. I’ll choose black.) 

Change

When you want to express that something turned into or became something else, you can use -(으)로. When used this way, there is a feeling of emphasis on the difference between the start and the end result. 

말썽꾸러기였던 정원 씨는 진지한 사람으로 변했어요. (Jeongwon, who was a troublemaker, became a serious person.)

보수적인 윤혁 씨는 개방적인 친구들하고 놀다 보니까 개방적인 사람으로 됐어요. (Conservative Yunhyeok became more liberal through hanging out with his liberal friends.)

(Acting) as

The last usage of -(으)로 I will cover here is used to indicate the position from which someone is speaking or doing an action.

그 웹사이트에 회원으로 가입했어요. (I registered for that website [as a member].)

선생님으로 일하는 게 가끔은 어려워요. (Sometimes working as a teacher is hard.)

-(으)로 is a very common and useful particle. Make sure you practice all of its usages so you can recognize and use them all productively!

As always, happy studying~

[studiousbees]

High formality conjugation (하십시오체)

Here’s a post for the beginners! Korean verb conjugation is different than English verb conjugation, and the form you must use varies depending on who you’re talking to and the social formality of the situation, among other factors. While this form isn’t the one that learners can expect to use the most, it is (IMO) the simplest to conjugate. Let’s dive in~

NOTE: I will not cover or use any irregular verbs in this post! I’ll save those for another post since I don’t want to potentially confuse someone seeing this information for the first time. Also, I will focus on the present tense, again to keep things as simple as possible.

Function

하십시오체 is a high-formality low-closeness conjugation that is often used for things like making presentations, news reports,  and some working environments. It puts a fair bit of distance between the speaker and the listener, making it suitable for those kinds of situations. If you want to know a bit more about the workings of social formality and closeness in Korean conjugation, you can check out this post and skip down to the “Formality levels” section (and I highly recommend you do so, as it’s very important in Korean society and thus, in the Korean language!). If you use this form outside of the proper context, you can sound cold and terse, so be careful!

Since this is a high formality structure, you should use 저 to refer to yourself and refer to others by their name or title. “나” (informal “I”) and “너” (informal “you”) would sound very out of place!

Usage

The conjugation of 하십시오체 changes depending on if your sentence is declarative (statement), interrogative (question), imperative (command), or propositive (suggestion).

Declarative (statement): -습니다 (consonant-ending) / -ㅂ니다 (vowel-ending)

If you want to make a simple statement, you can used -습니다 and -ㅂ니다. If the root of your action or descriptive verb ends with a consonant, use -습니다. If it ends with a vowel, use -ㅂ니다.

CONSONANT-ENDING

먹다 - 다 -> 먹 + 습니다 = 먹습니다 

저는 사과를 먹습니다. (I eat apples/I am eating apples. [Korea’s simple present tense is often used with a progressive meaning.])

넓다 - 다 -> 넓 + 습니다 = 넓습니다

이 방은 넓습니다. (This room is wide.)

읽다 - 다 -> 읽 + 습니다 = 읽습니다

언니는 책을 읽습니다. (My older sister reads books/My older sister is reading a book.)

VOWEL-ENDING

가다 - 다 -> 가 + ㅂ니다 = 갑니다

그는 학교에 갑니다. (He goes to school/He is going to school.)

춤을 추다 - 다 -> 춤을 추 +ㅂ니다 = 춥니다

제 친구는 춤을 춥니다. (My friend dances/My friend is dancing.)

착하다 - 다 -> 착하 + ㅂ니다 = 착합니다

저 아이는 착합니다. (That child is nice.)

Interrogative (question): -습니까 (consonant-ending) / -ㅂ니까 (vowel-ending)

If you want to make high-formality questions, this is how you do it! The interrogative endings are similar to the declarative endings. Make sure you use -습니까 for consonant-ending verb roots and -ㅂ니까 if the root ends in a vowel!

CONSONANT-ENDING

찾다 - 다 -> 찾 + 습니까 = 찾습니까

무엇을 찾습니까? (What are you looking for?)

입다 - 다 -> 입 + 습니까 = 입습니까

오늘 무엇을 입습니까? (What are you wearing today?)

좁다 - 다 -> 좁 + 습니까 = 좁습니까

교실이 좁습니까? (Is the classroom narrow?)

VOWEL-ENDING

타다 - 다 -> 타 + ㅂ니까 = 탑니까

자전거를 매일 탑니까? (Do you ride your bike every day?)

보다 - 다 -> 보 + ㅂ니까 = 봅니까

어떤 영화를 봅니까? (What kind of movie are you watching?

하다 - 다 -> 하 + ㅂ니까 = 합니까

오늘 뭘 합니까? (What are you doing today?)

Imperative (command): -으십시오 (consonant-ending) / -십시오 (vowel-ending)

Same thing as above with the declarative and interrogative forms! Just add the proper ending to the root depending on if the root ends with a consonant or a vowel.

CONSONANT-ENDING

신다 - 다 -> 신 + -으십시오 = 신으십시오

실내화를 신으십시오. (Please wear your indoor shoes.)

닫다 - 다 -> 닫 + -으십시오 = 닫으십시오

문을 닫으십시오. (Please close the door.)

접다 - 다 -> 접 + -으십시오 = 접으십시오

종이를 반으로 접으십시오. (Please fold the paper in half.)

VOWEL-ENDING

보내다 - 다 -> 보내 + -십시오 = 보내십시오

편지를 보내십시오. (Please send the letter.)

싸다 - 다 -> 싸 + -십시오 = 싸십시오

짐을 싸십시오. (Please pack the luggage.)

운전하다 - 다 -> 운전하 + -십시오 = 운전하십시오

운전하십시오. (Please drive.)

Propositive (suggestion): -읍시다 (consonant-ending) / -ㅂ시다 (vowel-ending)

Got the hang of it now? -읍시다 for consonant-ending roots and -ㅂ시다 for vowel-ending roots!

CONSONANT-ENDING

잡다 - 다 -> 잡 + -읍시다 = 잡읍시다.

날짜를 잡읍시다. (Let’s set a date. <-- In Korean, you can use the verb 잡다 [to catch, grab] for things like setting appointments and dates.)

뽑다 - 다 -> 뽑 + -읍시다 = 뽑읍시다.

하나를 뽑읍시다. (Let’s pick one. <-- 뽑다 means “pick” in the sense of picking or drawing one out of a group.)

씻다 - 다 -> 씻 + -읍시다 = 씻읍시다.

얼른 씻읍시다. (Let’s wash up quickly.)

VOWEL-ENDING

자다 - 다 -> 자 + -ㅂ시다 = 잡시다

잠을 잡시다. (Let’s sleep.)

보내다 - 다 -> 보내 + -ㅂ시다 = 보냅시다

시간을 재미있게 보냅시다. (Let’s have a good time [Lit. Let’s spend time funly].)

초대하다 - 다 -> 초대하 + -ㅂ시다 = 초대합시다

민호 씨를 초대합시다. (Let’s invite Minho.)

Feel free to ask any questions you might have. Happy studying, everyone~