LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

~적/적으로/적이다

충동 - impulse/shock
충동적 - impulsive
충동적으로 - impulsively

저는 자주 옷을 충동적으로 사요 - I often buy clothes impulsively

민주 - democracy
민주적 - democratic
민주적으로 - democratically

Any examples I can make using "민주적으로" require me to use words that you haven't learned before. Forgive me:

미국은 대통령을 민주적으로 선출해요 = America elects its president democratically

Adding 이다
Adding '이다' to the end of ~적 turns the word into an adjective that can predicate a sentence or describe an upcoming noun. The translation of these adjectives are usually are the same (in English) as without adding '이다." For example:

문화 - culture
문화적 - cultural
문화적이다 - cultural

캐나다와 미국은 문화적인 차이가 있다 - Canada and the US have a cultural difference
(차이 - difference)

경제 - economics
경제적 - economical
경제적이다 - economical

미국은 경제적인 결정을 했어요 - The US made an economical decision

역사 - history
역사적 - historical
역사적이다 - historical

저 학교는 역사적인 건물이에요 - That school is a historical building

과학 - science
과학적 - scientific
과학적이다 - scientific

이것은 과학적인 문제예요 - This is a scientific problem

충동 - impulsive
충동적 - impulsive
충동적이다 - impulsive

저는 너무 충동적이에요 - I'm too impulsive
Notice that when a word ending in ~적이다 is used to predicate a sentence, 이다 is conjugated as if it were actually 이다.

민주 - democracy
민주적 - democratic
민주적이다 - democratic

미국은 민주적인 나라예요 - The US is a democratic nation

A question that always comes up here is – What is the difference between using ~적이다 and just using ~적? For example, what is the difference between these two:

경제적 - economical
경제적이다 - economical

The difference between these is that ~적 is a noun, whereas ~적이다 is an adjective. Sometimes however, nouns can technically be used to sound like adjectives. For example:

That is a big bag

'Big' describes the type of bag it is. Big is clearly an adjective which is telling us about the type of bag that it is (that it is big). "Book" is clearly a noun.

However, in the following example:

That is a book bag

In this example, 'book' acts as a descriptive word because it describes the type of bag it is (that it is a book bag).

This is usually the only time that ~적 (with nothing following it) is used in Korean. That is, when it is actually a noun, but acting as a descriptive word within a sentence. Because it is usually used as this type of descriptive word, you don't really need to worry much about the difference between ~적 and ~적이다. Just be aware that ~적이다 is more commonly used, and how they are used within a sentence. That is, when using "~적이다," 이다 should be conjugated, and when using "~적" nothing needs to be conjugated because it is a noun. For example:

미국은 민주적인 나라예요 - The US is a democratic nation
북한에는 민주적 정부가 없습니다 - There is not a democratic government in North Korea

At this point, I don't want you to spend too much time dwelling over when you need to use ~적 vs. 적이다 . The purpose of this lesson was to introduce you to what ~적(이다/으로) can do to a word and how it can be used. I've created four more examples of ~적 vs. ~적이다 that I would like to show you, but please don't worry about these too much. If anything, just try to understand the use of ~적(이다) in these sentences:

경제적 문제가 있다 - There is a financial problem
경제적인 문제가 있다 - There is a financial problem

캐나다와 미국은 문화적 차이가 있다 - Canada and the US have a cultural difference
캐나다와 미국은 문화적인 차이가 있다 - Canada and the US have a cultural difference

나는 개인적 문제로 회사를 그만두었다 - I quit the company due to personal reasons (problems)
나는 개인적인 문제로 회사를 그만두었다 - I quit the company due to personal reasons (problems)
(그만두다 - to quit a job or school)

이 건물은 역사적 건물이다 - This building is a historical building
이 건물은 역사적인 건물이다 - This building is a historical building

In all cases above, I would rather use the ~적인 form to describe the upcoming noun. The native Korean speaker says the same thing. However, she also says that the first example of each (the examples just using ~적 instead of ~적인) are also acceptable. In my opinion, the use of ~적인 instead of ~적 is more common in speaking and in printed sources. However, you are more likely to see ~적 in print sources compared to hearing it in spoken Korean. (i.e. ~적이다 is more common than ~적 in all cases. However, when compared only to itself, you are more likely to find ~적 in print than in speech).