Learn Korean with us!🇰🇷

#1 Basic words

Welcome to the first lesson of Korean with me ! Hope you will enjoy it !

First, Korean language follows a different rhythmic structure than English. Where English tends to be strongly inflected and stressed, Korean is the opposite. Try to give every syllable of a Korean word the same amount of stress as every other: it's not an-NYEONG-ha-se-yo, or AN-nyeong-ha-se-yo, but an-nyong-has-se-yo. One common exception is the last syllable of the vowel, which is often elongated and given a rising inflection: kam-sa-ham-ni-daaAA!

1. Hello/Goodbye – 안녕하세요 – An-nyeong-ha-se-yo

An obvious one : this is almost certainly the most common phrase anyone in Korea will use. There are dozens of variations to account for slightly different situations and levels of respect, and it can all get really complicated. The simple solution is just to say it really fast and slur all the syllables together. Everyone will understand you, and you'll sound like a real local. In that way you can also use this for both hello and goodbye.

Typical situation: Absolutely any meeting, greeting, arriving, departing, entering a store..

2. Nice to meet you – 반갑습니다 – Ban-gap-sum-ni-da

The most pleasant of pleasantries : Best served poured over a two-handed handshake. If you learn and master this then your Korean level will match the English level of most Korean schoolkids, whose favorite pastime will be to shout "Nice to meet you!" whenever they see you.

3. Thank you – 감사합니다 – Kam-sa-ham-ni-da

This is probably the bare minimum for making any attempt at Korean. Use it exactly as you would its English equivalent.

4. Excuse me/just a moment – 잠시만요 – Jam-shi-man-yo

Literally, "little time stop", use this to get people's attention, ask them to move out of the way, or tell them to wait.

5. I'm sorry -죄송합니다/미안합니다 – Chway-seong-ham-ni-da/Mi-an-ham-ni-da

6. Please – 주세요 – Ju-se-yo

Korea's workhorse word: slap it on the end of any verb stem to make it a polite request. Long before you're doing that, though, you'll be asking people in shops to give you things.

7. This one/This thing – 이것 – i-geot

Use together with pointing to indicate something nearby.
[i-geot : Silent t]

8. Where is the (something) – 어디예요 – o-di-ye-yo

Unless you never leave home, you're going to need this at some point, at the very least to find the bathroom. You can also use it to find stuff in the supermarket, or in the early hours locate somewhere to sleep off all that soju and galbi.

9. Right/Left/Straight – 오른/왼/직진 – O-reun/wen/jik-jin

10. How much is it? – 얼마예요 – ol-ma-ye-yo

Shopping phrase : Fortunately, in Korea, you can probably get by with just this and very few numbers, When you ask "how much?" they'll just reach for the calculator and punch in the amount to show you.

11.I can't speak Korean well – 한국말 잘 못해요 – Han-guk-mal jal mot-hae-yo

XOXO guys ❤️