Learn Korean , Learn 한굴 by Hwal-wal

#Unit_Lesson 26: Korean Grammar (By Parts)

Sentence Construction According to Type

Basic Statements

If you want to make a simple statement to give basic facts, you can use either of the two sentence structures:

1. Subject - Verb

These are very simple sentences. They are used when a sentence hasn't got an object because it's simply not needed. For example, you can say "I ate" or "I ran" and they'd both be correct sentences. Also, there are some verbs that will never have an object. Verbs like "sleep" or "die" are examples of these.

When making a simple Subject-Verb sentence in Korean, it's just like English. You tag the verb right after the subject.

Hangeul: 캐럴이와요

Literal English: Carol comes

Romanization: [Carol-i wa-yo]

Translation: Carol comes.

2. Subject-Object-Verb

The Subject-Object-Verb type of structure is one of the most common types in Korean. You can do a lot with this structure once you fully understand it. Not everyone can wrap their head around it easily though, because it's one of the biggest differences between English and Korean.

In Korean, the verb will come at the sentence's end. In English, however, it comes in the middle or at the start of the sentence. Let's fully illustrate this with an example:

Hangeul: 에릭이 사과를 먹어요

Literal English: Eric apple eats

Romanization: [Eric-i sa-gwa-leul muk-uh-yo]

Translation: Eric eats an apple.

If we literally translated each word in that sentence, it would be Eric apple eats. But in Korean, it's the grammatically correct way to say Eric eats an apple.

Descriptive Statements

A common mistake when building descriptive statements in Korean is that people try to say "to be + adjective". The Korean word for "to be" is 이다 [ida]. In Korean, it would be wrong to structure it as "(Subject) + (to be) 이다 + (adjective)" In English, it would be correct to do this, as you can see in the following sentences:

I am nice.

She was hungry earlier.

He is a bad person.

You have the conjugated form of the "to be" verb (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) linked to a describing word, or adjective. In Korean, however, if you want to make a descriptive statement, you use the Subject-Descriptive Verb structure.

This is just like the Subject-Verb structure, except that we use the Korean counterpart of an adjective or a describing word. Descriptive verbs are like adjectives and verbs in one. Cool, right? Now you don't have to put the "to be" verb, but simply conjugate the descriptive verb. Again, it's easier to understand that with an example:

Hangeul: 나쁜사람이에요

Literal English: Bad Person-ieyo

Romanization: [na-ppeun sa-lam-ieyo]

Translation: I am a bad person.

In this case, the word "person" is conjugated by putting the 이에요 [ieyo] at the end of it. By doing this, we understand that the sentence is saying "I am a bad person". Without the 이에요, all it means is "The bad person".

Verb Conjugation and Tenses

The Existence Verb: To Be or Not To Be, That Is The Question

Since you're familiar with the structure for sentences with descriptive verbs, we'll discuss a little more about how to conjugate the basic existence verb. The Korean word for "to be" is 이다 [ida] and "not to be" is 아니다 [anida]

A) "Tobe" 이다 is conjugated twice.

When the word you're conjugating closes with a consonant, attach 이에요 [ieyo] to the end. Just like earlier:

Hangeul:나쁜 사람이에요

Literal English: Bad Person-ieyo

Romanization: [na-ppeun sa-lam-ieyo]

Translation: I am a bad person.

If the word has a vowel at the end, you'll use "예요 ye-yo." For example:

Hangeul:저는 여자예요

Literal English: I girl+yeyo

Romanization: [jeo-neunyeo-jay-yeyo]

Translation: I am a girl.

B) "Not to be", or 아니다 is only conjugated once: (Noun) + 이/가 아니에요 [-i an-ieyo] . For example:

Hangeul: 저는 고등학생이 아니에요

Literal English: I highschool student-i am not-anieyo

Romanization: [jeo-neun go-deung-hak-saeng-i an-ieyo]

Translation: I am not a high school student.

Verb Tenses

Most Korean verbs are denoted in their base form by the symbol 다 at the end. For example, the verb "to buy" is written as 사다 [sa-da]. In English, these change as the tense changes. If the verb was done in the past, it becomes bought. If it's being done now, it becomes buying. Korean uses tenses too. Read on to learn how to conjugate according to tense.

1) Present Tense: Verbs being done now.

Watch the syllable directly before 다. With verbs that haveㅏ[a] or ㅗ[o] in the syllable, follow it with 아요 [ayo].

팔다 [pal-da] "to sell" becomes 팔아요 [par-a-yo] "selling"

사다 [sa-da] "to buy" becomes 사요 [sa-yo] "buying" *

*(you don't need a second ㅏ because of the one that's already there)

Otherwise, add 어요 [oyo]

먹다 [meuk-da] "to eat" becomes 먹어요 [meo-geo-yo] "eating"

그리다 [geu-ri-da] "to draw" becomes 그려요 [geur-yeo-yo] "drawing"

2) Past Tense: Verbs done in the past

When the action described by the verb has already taken place, you'll want to use the same 아/어요 conjugation, but instead of only 요 at the end, include ㅆ어요 as well.

먹다 [meuk-da] "to eat" becomes 먹었어요 [meu-geo-sseo-yo] "ate"

사다 [sa-da] "to buy" becomes 샀어요 [sa-sseo-yo] "bought"

Future tenses are slightly more complicated, as well as irregular verbs. Get these basics mastered first, and build your vocabulary before moving on to future tense.