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Personal experience and tip:

(This is mostly about my experience learning Korean, but some parts apply to other languages too!)

If you're scared to try and communicate online in Korean— DO IT!!

~는 것(을/이) — Making a verb into a subject/object

안녕하세요~ Since I've done nothing of substance during my winter break so far, I thought I'd take the chance to review ~는 것(을/이) with you all and teach you if you're not familiar with this grammar point yet. 그럼 우리는 같이 배울까요?

~는 것(을/이) is for making a verb into a noun/subject/object of a sentence.

For instance, you can change “저는 읽어요” (I read) to “저는 읽는 것을 좋아해요”(I like reading).

In the first sentence, “read” is the verb; in the second, “like” is the verb. "Read" has been turned into the object of the verb "like."

Form

~는 것 is attached directly to the verb stem (the verb you’re making into the noun/object of the sentence):

(To see) 보다 ➡️ 보는 것 (To go) 가다 ➡️ 가는 것 (To hear/listen) 듣다 ➡️ 듣는 것 (To walk) 걷다 ➡️ 걷는 것

The only irregular are ㄹ* verbs, for which you drop the ㄹ in the verb stem and conjugate as normal like other verbs:

(To live) 살다 ➡️ 사는 것 (To open) 열다 ➡️ 여는 것 (To make) 만들다 ➡️ 만드는 것

Easy-peasy, 그죠?

Now that you know how to conjugate the verb, in sentence form, either an object marker (을/를) or a subject marker (이/가) must be attached to 것.

Note that you’d only ever use 을 or 이 because 것 ends in a consonant. 를/가 are for words ending in vowels.

~는 것을 versus ~는 것이

When to use which was actually the most confusing part for me learning this grammar point, lol, but this is how my 선생님 explained it:

Use ~는 것이 when the verb that follows is an adjective (descriptive).

드라마를 보는 것이 재미있어요. Watching drama is fun. 단어를 외우는 것이 어려워요. Memorizing vocabulary is difficult.

*Something being fun or difficult is descriptive.

Verb examples: 어려워요 / 쉬워요 / 좋아요 / 싫어요 / 재미있어요 / 맛있어요.

Use ~는 것을 when the verb that follows is a verb (action).

저는 청소하는 것을 좋아해요. I like cleaning. 설거지하는 것을 싫어해요. I don’t like doing the dishes.

*Liking or not liking something is an action.

Verb examples: 좋아해요 / 싫어해요 / 먹어요 / 읽어요 / 들어요.

Of course, all these examples are pretty basic. They're all in present tense, 요 form, but this grammar point can be used in many more ways, such as in questions, different levels of formality, and different verb tenses/forms. Generally speaking, the conjugation rules will be the same.

For instance, look here:

제가 말하는 것을 듣고 있어요? Are you listening to what I am saying?

Same concept, but a bit different in sentence format (it uses the present progressive form (~ing) and is a question, but the same rules apply when changing 말하다 to 말하는 것을.)

And, yes, this rule of when to use the object marker (을/를) or subject marker (이/가) applies beyond this specific grammar point:

문법이 쉬어요. The grammar is easy. 한국어를 좋아해요. I like Korean.

Lastly, ~는 것이 can be shortened to ~는 게 and ~는 것을 to ~는 거 in speech and writing.

*ㄹ is pronounced “리을“ if you are speaking about the hangul letter.

If you want to give it a go in this post's notes, go for it! It can be any random sentence, just for the sake of practice. Of course, you can always send me an ask or message me directly if you want to practice Korean. I'm a bit slow on replying these days since it is my winter break, but I always reply eventually! Let's keep studying together~ 화이팅!

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Side Dishes in Korea

Why do we get served so many each meal?

1. Background Information

One of the most appealing things about eating out in Korea is the unlimited free refill on the side dishes, known as banchan.

This practice is deeply rooted in Korean history and character as a nation

2. Kimchi

There are hundreds of different types of kimchi, but the signature cabbage banchan is offered at pretty much every restaurant.

Koreans have for generations been storing vegetables in pots to ferment so that they will have food available for the winter.

3. Common Banchans

Other than kimchi, there are bean sprouts, cucumber vegetables, and sesame leaves pickled in soy sauce.

Some of the more luxurious Korean restaurant sever egg rolls, tteokbooki, and ganjang gejang.

4. Banchans At Restaurant

Eating at a Korean restaurant is always an exercise in how to maneuver all the dishes to actually fit on the table.

It is not uncommon to receive 3 or more different banchan dishes alongside the main course that you order.

5. Homemade Banchans

During a kimchi-preparation event called kimjang, a large amout of kimchi is laid out for all members of the family work on.

This practice is less common these days, but parents still like to prepare kimchi and distribute it to their children as a show of affection.

6. Why Are Banchan Unlimited?

One reason is that white rice was much more expensive than kimchi and banchan during difficult times in the Korean economy.

It was too expensive for restaurants to give refills of rice, but in order to make sure you were full, they offered you a second helping of banchan.

7. How Is Banchan Served?

In order to reduce operating costs, some restaurants have suggested limiting or removing the unlimited banchan options, which many Korean people weren’t happy about.

To meet in the middle, many Korean restaurants these days have adopted a self-service system in which you can eat as much as you like, but you have to approach the food station and fill your own bowls.

👂Korean Listening Tips: Improve Listening Skills

Tip Number One: listen to material that is on your level / listen to the right material

Listening to korean dramas as a beginner is usually not the best idea to effectively improve your listening skills. Youtube videos are the better option, because Korean used in youtube videos is actually used in real life. On the other hand, dramas are scripted and not as natural.

Korean dramas also have a lot of niche vocabulary. For example, if you watch a drama about hospitals words like “blood pressure” or organ names or anything else like that will appear often. That’s one of the reasons dramas can be hard to understand.

Lingq app is a good place to find stories that you can read and listen to at the same time. Podcasts are also very good for listening practice.

Music doesn’t count in my opinion. If you started studying like a month or a few weeks ago maybe, but at that point I think you are much too new to practice listening in the way I mention in this post. You should keep learning more vocabulary & grammar before attempting active listening. Of course listening to the language is good to help familiarize yourself with the sounds, but don’t expect to understand more than a word or two here or there at your very beginner level.

Tip Number Two: don’t be aftaid of subtitles

I am against using ONLY English subtitles (or subtitles in other languages besides Koresn) whilst practicing listening in Korean. Try using Korean subtitles while you watch youtube videos and while you watch your favorite Korean dramas. For very beginners, using subs in your native language could be a chance to understand more and get familiarized with how fast Korean is and the different sounds. I suggest watching once with Eng subs & again with Korean subs

Tip Number Three: read more

Reading and listening are one in the same - they both have to do with taking in context and interpreting what that context means. In other words, reading will improve your listening skills and vice versa. You should read and listen to improve your overall comprehension of the Korean language.

As with listening materials, try to find things that are on your level to read. Maybe reading Harry Potter books in Korean as a beginner aren’t the best for this unfortunately. Lingq & Naver Blogs are good places to find things to read. You can also go to wattpad and find some rather interesting stories in Korean. You can read webtoons as well.

Tip Number Four: take it slow

Nothing wrong with changing the speed of a video or a drama to understand it better. Koreans do speak rather fast and slowing down your audio can help a bit. I would say listen to it normally once and then again slower and then again normally. Or you could start slow and then go back to normal audio. Listening to things more than once is a good thing too. You’ll catch things that you didn’t the first time around.

Tip Number Five: change your mindset

Don’t aim to understand every single word and grammar you hear. If you can just get the gist of what is said - you’re doing great. Trying to focus on every word as it is said actually is what causes you to not be able to keep up with whatever audio you’re listening to.

A good tip also is to look at the mouth of the person while they are speaking - if their mouth is visible at least. You can also do this in real life conversations or just with online videos. This actually can really help you understand better although It may seem weird.

Another tip for understanding dramas would be alternating subtitles between your native language and Korean. For example, I watched Squid Game with my family in English subs, but went back to study on my own and watched with just Korean subs. So If you watch one episode with Korean/English subs first and then rewatch and switch it can help alot

📢[STORYTIME]

One of my goals was to understand Korean dramas - this was the first few months of starting Korean. I remember telling one of my friends that was studying with me at the time and she said “It’s gonna be a long time before you can do that”. And wow she was right. It’s like 5 years later and It’s still hard for me to understand Korean dramas😂 She stopped studying years ago, but here I am still chugging along.

I was watching this drama called “내일” or “tomorrow” on Netflix with just Korean subtitles. I could get the gist of a lot of things but there were also entire scenes (like 5 or so minutes at a time) 😬where I had no clue what was happening. I’ve been studying this drama as practice and I went through and broke down those scenese I didn’t understand🫢

But to be fair this drama is about grim reapers and death and I don’t know the vocabulary that well in that area😂 so I’ve learned a lot just from Episode 1. I have just moved to the 2nd episode and there are like 16 currently and more being added I think😳 I want to study the whole thing but I don’t know If I’ll stick to it that long lol

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I highly recommend putting your phone on korean! I know a lot of new words and i read faster thanks to it!

Even if you're a beginner, You just have to know how to read the alphabet! (I put mine on korean when I was on level 2 of tmmik so believe me)

Since we use our phones daily we know where everything is despite on what language it's written (we memorized the place where the post button is, etc) so even if you don't know that many words yet you'll have no problem unless you read a long paragraph or something! And if you're a little more advanced than beginner beginner then you'll have almost no problem!

Plus you read a lot of words in Korean per day whether you like it or not

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Lesson 5: Batchim (빋침)

If you haven’t learn 한글, which is lesson 2 then do that first then come back to this lesson.

Batchim: Is a grammatical feature. It’s a consonant placed at the bottom and pronounced at the end in a Korean syllable block.

Batchim (받침) mean support or prop because it supports other letters from below. You can’t distinguish which one is a 받침 or not with rominized Korean. You can see a big difference when you compare Korean language.

Rules:

ㅇ:

If a syllable ends in ㅇ → Rule:ㅇ makes an “ng” sound → Example: 사랑 (sa-rang)

If a syllable ends in ㅎ and is followed by ㅇ → Rule: ㅎ is silent → Example: 맗이 (ma-ni)

If 받침 is followed by ㅇ → Rule: 받침 is carried over to replace the silent ㅇ → Example: 먹어요 becomes into → 머거요 (meo-geo-yo)

ㅌ:

If syllable ends in ㅌ and is followed by 이 → Rule: Makes 치 (Chi) sound → Example: 같이 → 가치 (Ka-chi)

ㄷ:

If syllable ends in ㄷ and is followed by 이 → Rule: Makes 지 (Ji) → Example: 귿이 → 구치 (Gu-chi)

ㄹ:

If syllable ends in ㄹ → Rule: If followed by a constant: makes a L sound. If followed by: ㅇ: Make (kind of) r sound → Examples: 살다 (sal-da) & 살아요 (Sa-ra-yo) (kind of a rolled r sound but shorter and tighter)

Rule: Some consonant rules

Combination: ㄴ + ㄹ → Rule: Makes ㄹ + ㄹ sound → Example: 운래 → 월래 (wol-lae)

Combination: ㄹ + ㄱ → Rule: Make just ㄱ sound & it ㄹ + ㄱ + ㄷ, then makes a ㄱ + ㄸ sound → Examples: 닭 → 닥 (dak) & 읽다 → 익따 (ik-dda)

Combinations: ㅅ + ㄷ → Rule: Makes ㄸ sound → Example: 없다 → 업따 (eop-dda)

Congrats you just finished learning about 빋침. I know 빋침 is confusing so if you have any question please feel free to contact me. Next lesson is going to be about diphthongs.