LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

이렇다, 그렇다 AND 저렇다 AS PREDICATING WORDS

그렇다 + ~기 때문에
그렇기 때문에 - "It is like that, so..." (Therefore)

그렇다 + ~(으)면
그러면 - "If it is like that..."

그렇다 + ~지만
그렇지만 - "Even though it is like that"

그렇다 + ~았/었으면 좋겠다
그랬으면 좋겠다 - "It would be nice if it is like that"

그렇다 + ~ㄹ/을까?
그럴까? - "Do you think it is like that?"

그렇다 + ~ㄴ/은데
그런데 - "It is like that... so..."

그렇다 + ~구나
그렇구나 - "Oh! It is like that"

그렇다 + ~네(요)
그러네 - "Oh! It is like that"

그렇다 + ~지/죠
그렇죠 - Sure, yep, it is like that

At this point, I hope you can understand how 이렇다, 그렇다 and 저렇다 can be used, and their general meanings. In addition, I hope you can understand how color words can be used in sentences. Just below, I will continue the discussion of the use of ~의 and how it is used on words where ~적 is commonly attached.

I have had some people ask me about the difference between using "의" on a word to describe a noun (like 흰색의 차) and using "적" on a word to describe a noun. The grammar below is a little bit advanced, but this is the lesson that it belongs in (as I am already discussing the purpose of "~의" attached to nouns or adverbs to describe an upcoming noun). It might be good to glimpse over this, and then come back to it later when you have a better understanding of Korean grammar.

As you will recall, "적" can be added to words to change them into a type of adjective as well. As I mentioned, the addition of "적" to a noun causes the word to change a little bit. It's hard to say exactly how the word changes, because it is a little bit different for every word. The examples that are given in the lesson are:

경제 - economy/economics
경제적 - economical

역사 - history
역사적 - historical

과학 - science
과학적 - scientific

충동 - impulse/shock
충동적 - impulsive

문화 - culture
문화적 - cultural

개인 - individual/personal
개인적 - individual

Some other examples that you might want to jot down, but not memorize at this point because they are quite advanced:

열정 - passion
열정적 - passionate

체계 - system
체계적 - systematic

획일 - standardization
획일적 - standardized

세계 - world
세계적 - global

Before I start, I want to first mention that the "의" that we are talking about here is not the possessive particle that is discussed in previous lesson. Rather, it is a particle that is added to a word that is inherently not an adjective, but allows it to describe an upcoming noun (like an adjective).

Most of the time, adding "적" literally changes the translation of the word. As you can see in the list above, the word changes when "적" is added. For example, from "passion" to "passionate". However, when just "의" is added to the word, the translation would not change – and using "noun+의" only makes sense if that word (the original word) can actually act as an adjective (without being an adjective) to begin with.

The easiest examples to start with are ones that work with "적" but not with "의". For example:

열정 means "passion." I can say things like:
과학에 대한 학생의 열정은 놀라워요 - The student's passion for science is surprising

"적" can be added to mean "passionate". For example:
그는 열정적인 사람이다 - He is a passionate man

However, simply adding "의" to the noun (열정) does not change it from "passion" to "passionate". The meaning still stays as "passion". Using this in a sentence would yield:
그는 열정의 사람이다 - He is a passion man – which doesn't make sense

In the same way "과학" means "science"
과학적 means "scientific"
과학의 still means "science"

I can use "과학적" to describe a noun that would be natural being described by "scientific". For example:

과학적인 증거 - scientific proof

However, "과학의 증거" literally translates to "science proof" which wouldn't sound right.

Now, just like everything in life, there are some exceptions. Specifically, the word "개인" (without the use of "적" or "의" actually means personal. Therefore, just like how the word "대부분(의)" (most) isn't actually an adjective but feels like an adjective, "개인의" can be placed before a noun to describe it.
"개인적" also works, as it also means "personal."

My advice is to learn words with "적" as separate words. Don't try to think of words with "적" as a noun followed by a grammatical principle, but try to think of them as their own words with their own translation. From what I can see – there are some words where the "-적" version of the word is the same as the non-적 version of the word. In these cases, it appears that both "의" and "적" can be used.