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العربية Jump to: Vocabulary ~는 것: Modifying Nouns with Verbs Vocabulary Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use. You will
probably be able to understand most of the grammar in these example sentences, but some of the sentences might use grammar from later lessons. Use these sentences to give yourself a feel for how each word can be used. A PDF file neatly presenting these words and extra information can be found here. Nouns: Notes: The word “아주머니” is commonly used as well 아줌마 and 아주머니 are commonly used to refer to an older woman that you don’t know the name of, or even do know the name of but aren’t close enough to call her by her name. This also
extends to older women who work in a restaurant. The age that you could call a female an “아줌마” is ambiguous, but I would say that somewhere between late-thirties to mid-sixties would be appropriate. Any younger, and you would probably be offending a younger woman by thinking she is too old. Any older, and you are better off calling the woman “할머니.” Common Usages: Examples: 물건 = thing, item, goods Common Usages: Examples: 복도 = hall, hallway The pronunciation of this word is closer to “복또” Common Usages: Examples: 목적 = purpose, aim, goal The pronunciation of this word is closer to “목쩍” Common Usages: Examples: 목적지= destination The pronunciation of this word is closer to “목쩍찌” Notes: As you know, “목적” translates to “goal.” 지 is a common
Hanja character (地) that refers to land or a place. Together, “목적지” literally refers to the “goal” place or “the place one is headed towards.” This is easier translated to just “destination.” Common Usages: Examples: 국가 = nation, country The pronunciation of this word is closer to “국까” Common Usages: Examples: 동네 = neighborhood Examples: This word appears in my Korean Sign
Explanation Video 5. 학비 = tuition The pronunciation of this word is closer to “학삐” Common Usages: Examples: 무기 = weapon Examples: 정답 = right/correct answer Notes: This word is commonly yelled by Korean people if somebody asks a question to a large group. The group is usually students, but they could also be contestants on a game show or some quiz show on TV. It is common for the person who knows the correct
answer to raise his/her hand and yell “정답!” Common Usages: Examples: 청소년 = youth Examples: 일본에서 성인들은 미국 청소년보다 만화책을 더 많이 읽어요 이 동네에서 축구를 잘 하는 청소년들이 많아요 지역 = a certain area or region Notes: 지역 and 구역 are often confused. 지역 is more about the area of a city or country. Like 경기도 지역 (the area of 경기 province) or something like that. 구역 is more about the area of any other place, like a specific designated
area of a building or park or something like that (for example, 견인구역 = tow away zone) Common Usages: Examples: 우리가 사는 지역이 조금 위험해요 = The area we live in is a little bit dangerous 경기 = match or game Common Usages: Examples: 제가 생각한 대로 태권도 올림픽 경기에서 대한민국 선수는 일본 선수를 이겼어요 =
As I thought, the Korean athlete beat the Japanese athlete in the Taekwondo match 점수 = grade, score Common Usages: Examples: 선수 =
player (in sports) Notes: In English, we call athletes who play game-like sports “players.” For example, a basketball “player.” However, other athletes are not called “players,” for example, it would be unnatural to call a swimmer a “swimming player.” In Korean, the word 선수 is used to refer to any athlete of any sport. Common Usages: Examples: 선수가 공을 골대에 넣자마자 관중들은 환호하기 시작했어요 제가 생각한 대로 태권도 올림픽 경기에서 대한민국 선수는 일본 선수를 이겼어요 목숨 = life The pronunciation of this word is closer to “목쑴” Notes: This word translates to “life” but is usually used when one ‘loses,’ ‘saves,’ or ‘dedicates’ a life. Common Usages: Examples: 모기 = mosquito Common Usages: Example: 허리 = waist Notes: Although this typically translates to “waist,” Korean people often say “허리(가) 아프다” when their lower-back is sore. For example, if somebody came home after a hard day of work with lots of standing around and/or physical labor, he/she would say “아우! 허리 아파!” In English, it would be unnatural to say “Ahh! My waist hurts!” It would be more natural to say “My back hurts.” Common Usages: Examples: 달 = moon Notes: When talking about the moons of other planets, the word “위성” (which typically translates to “satellite”) is used. Common Usages: Examples: 오늘 달이 왠지 아주 커 보여요 = For some reason the moon looks big tonight 인사 = greeting Common Usages: Examples: 소금 = salt Notes: When Korean people put “salt” on the road, they refer to it as “염화칼슘” (Calcium Chloride) Common Usages: Example: 담배 = tobacco, cigarettes Common Usages: Examples: 환자 = patients Common Usages: Examples: 의사가 환자에게 열이 다 내렸냐고 물어봤어요 환자분이 느끼는 고통은 부작용 중 하나 일 뿐이에요 옷걸이 = hanger The pronunciation of this word is closer to “옫꺼리” Common Usages: Examples: 국제 = international The pronunciation of this word is closer to “국쩨” Common Usages: Example: 일반 = usual, normal, typical Notes: This word is usually placed before a noun to describe it as something that is “normal” or “not special.” For example: 일반 사람 = most people (typical people – the people who are typical) Common Usages: Examples: 사이 = space, gap Notes: If you place 사이 after nouns, it represents the space between them. For example: 저는 차 두 대 사이에서 서 있어요 = I am standing between two cars It is also used to indicate that the relationship “between” people: This word appears in my Korean Sign Explanation Video 5. 밖 = the outside of something The pronunciation of this word is closer to “박” Notes: 밖 can be placed after a noun to mean “outside” of that noun. For example: It can also be used on its own to refer to “outside” in general. For example: Common Usages: Examples: Verbs: The pronunciation of this word is closer to “깍따” Notes: As you can see, there are many possible translations for this word. It generally refers to the action of “cutting” something. In English, depending on what you cut, the word might change. Common Usages: Examples: 알아보다 = to recognize, to try to know Notes: This word can be used to indicate that one recognizes (or does not recognize) something, usually because of a change in appearance. When used like this, “알아보다” is formed by combining the meanings of the words “알다” (to know) and “보다” (to see). For example: 머리를 깎아서 못 알아봤어요 = I couldn’t recognize you because you cut your hair It can also be formed by combining “알다” (to know) with the grammatical principle ~아/어보다 (to try to), which is introduced in Lesson 32. When used like this, the translation is closer to “to try to know,” and is often used when somebody looks into something new. For example: 저는 캐나다 숙소를 알아봐야 돼요 = I need to look into places to stay in Canada 극복하다 = to overcome The pronunciation of this word is closer to “극뽀카다” Common Usages: Examples: 맞추다 = to adjust, fix, set The pronunciation of this word is closer to “맏추다” Common Usages: Examples: 합격하다= to pass, to get accepted The pronunciation of this word is closer to “합껴카다” Common Usages: Examples: 결정하다 = to decide The
pronunciation of this word is closer to “결쩡하다” Common Usages: Examples: 이혼하다 = to get a divorce The noun form of this word (“이혼”) translates to “a divorce” Common Usages: Examples: 물어보다 = to ask The formal version of this word (when asking a question to somebody who deserves high respect) is 여쭈다 (often combined with ~아/어보다 to say “여쭤보다”) Notes: The original word for “to ask” is 묻다, but it is much more commonly used as “물어보다,” which puts a spin on the meaning of the word to “to try to ask about” (the grammar of adding ~아/어보다 to a verb is introduced in Lesson 32). I asked a Korean person once why the word “묻다” isn’t commonly used. When 묻다 is used, most conjugations would change “묻” to “물” as per the ㄷ irregular. For example: 묻다 + ~아/어요 = 물어요 The word for “bite” in Korean is 물다. When 물다 is conjugated, most of the results are similar to the conjugations of “묻다.” For example: 물다 + ~아/어요 = 물어요 To prevent confusion between “묻다” (to ask) and “물다” (to bite), Korean people often use “물어보다” to mean “to ask.” Whether or not this is the actual reason why 물어보다 is used instead of 묻다, I can’t be sure – but I’ve always remembered this explanation. Common Usages: Examples: 피우다 = to smoke, to light a fire of some sort Common Usages: Examples: 불다 = to blow Common Usages: Examples: 계속하다 = to continue The pronunciation of this word is closer to “계소카다” Notes: “계속” is used as an adverb that means “always” or “continually/continuously” Examples: 건물을 지나가서 오른 쪽으로 가지 말고 계속 직진하세요 우리가 계속 얘기하다가 선생님의 말씀을 못 들었어요 제가 가자고 했지만 애기는 가고 싶지 않은 듯이 계속 자고 일어나지 않았어요 우리 집 옆에 살고 있는 사람이 계속 노래하는 것이 싫어요 제가 학생들에게 뛰지 말라고 했지만 학생들이 계속 했어요 다치다 = to injure, to hurt Common Usages: Examples: 답하다 = to answer, to respond The pronunciation of this word is closer to “다파다” Notes: When answering a letter or e-mail, the word “답장하다” is more commonly used. Common Usages: Examples: Adjectives: Common Usages: Examples: 깨끗하다 = to be clean The pronunciation of this word is closer to “깨끄타다” The adverb form of this verb can be 깨끗하게 or 깨끗이, which both translate to “cleanly” Common
Usages: Examples: 나는 엄마를 도와 정리를 했다. 거실을 깨끗하게 정리하고 엄마한테 진심으로 감사하다는 말을 전했다 = I helped mom clean-up/organize. We cleanly organized the living room, and then said ‘thank you’ to my mom from the bottom of my heart 남다= to be remaining, to be left over The pronunciation of this word is closer to “남따” Notes: This word is often used in the present tense, the past tense or with ~아/어 있다 attached. Each has a very similar meaning. For example: 두 개 남아요 = Two are left Common Usages: Examples: 맑다 = to be clear, clean, pure The pronunciation of this word is closer to “막따” Common Usages: Idiom: 윗물이 맑아야 아랫물이 맑다 = Only if one’s master is honest, can the servants be honest Examples: Adverbs and Other words: Notes: The word 공짜(로) is very similar to 무료(로). 무료 is quite easy to remember if you know the Hanja characters: 無(무): nothing, without When used as an adverb, ~로 is often attached to 무료. For example: 캐나다 사람들은 병원에서 치료를 무료로 받을 수 있어요 = Canadian people can receive treatment at hospitals free of charge It is often placed before a noun, acting like an adjective that describes the upcoming noun. When used like this, ~로 is usually not used. For example: 캐나다 사람들은 병원에서 무료 치료를 받을 수 있어요 = Canadian people can receive free treatment at hospitals 영업 시간 = business hours The pronunciation of this word is closer to “영업 씨간” Notes: Although “영업” is a word by itself (which is one meaning of the word “business”), for a beginner of Korean the most common place you will see this word is as “영업 시간,” which refers to the time that a business is in operation during the day. You would most likely see this written on a sign outside of a store/restaurant or any type of business to indicate their hours. Examples: For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool. There are 800 vocabulary entries in Unit 2. All entries are linked to an audio file. Introduction Okay, it is time to kick it up a notch. Most of what you learned in Unit 1 was taught simply to be a foundation to what you will learn here in Unit 2 (and later in Units 3, 4, 5 etc…). Of course, the content you learned in Unit 1 was very important (foundations are important) but here in Unit 2 it will be slightly different. When learning
Korean, you eventually reach a point where the only thing you are learning is other ways to end sentences. There are hundreds upon hundreds of different things that you can add to the end of sentences (to end them or to connect them to other sentences) to give a sentence a different meaning. I’m not going to lie: most of what you will learn from here on out (aside from vocabulary) will be these sentence enders/connectors. I am talking, of course, of ~는 것. Understanding this concept will literally make your ability to create sentences increase dramatically. Lets get started. This lesson is long. Very long. Please read the entire lesson to fully understand everything. If something is confusing, it will more than likely be resolved later in the lesson. . . ~는 것: Modifying Nouns with Verbs Adjectives (in Korean and in English) get placed before nouns to describe them. You learned this a long time ago in Lesson 4. You learned that when you want to use an adjective to describe a noun, you must add ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of the adjective. For example: 예쁘다 = 예쁜 To describe nouns in the following way: Pretty girl: 예쁜 여자 Simple enough. But, what you don’t know is that verbs can also describe nouns in this same way. It is the exact same premise with adjectives, but it is very difficult for English speakers to understand. This same thing (verbs describing nouns) is also done in English, but is done differently than in Korean. As you know, In English and Korean, when an adjective describes a noun, the adjective comes before the noun: However, In English, when a verb describes a noun, the verb comes after the noun. For example: The girl who
walks The word “who” was added in all three examples, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be “who” in English. For example: The girl that walks In those three examples, “that” was added, and each example essentially has the same meaning as when “who” was written instead. You don’t need to worry about if it should be “who/that” or whatever because you are not learning English – you are learning Korean. The point I am trying to get at here is that verbs can also describe nouns. In English, verbs are placed after the nouns to describe them. The next sentence is the most important sentence of the entire lesson: In Korean, verbs are placed before nouns to describe them – very similar to how it is done with adjectives. How is this done? Like this:? 걷다 여자 Are those correct? Haha. No. Not by a long shot. When you adjust adjectives to describe nouns, you know that you should add ~ㄴ/은 to the stem of the word. 걷다 = 걷는 These are all verbs that can now be placed before a noun to describe it: 걷는 여자 = the girl who walks Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking “Okay, that is great, but when would I ever say ‘the girl who walks’ in a sentence?” That is a good question. Really, you would never (or very rarely) say something like that in a sentence – but understanding that sentence is the foundation for understanding everything else about ~는 것. Remember, in regular sentences (in English and Korean), it is very rare to just use the present tense conjugation. For example, are these natural?: 여자는 걷는다 = The girl walks Are those natural? Yes, they are natural, but who would ever just say “the girl walks.” Usually in every day sentences, you would add more information or conjugate the sentence in other tense: 여자는 학교에 걸었어요 = The girl walked to school You can use the same information to describe the noun (the girl): The girl who walked to school Lets stick to the one in the present tense for now: The girl walks: 여자는 걷는다 The girl walks fast: 여자는 빨리 걷는다 Okay, so what’s the point? When would I ever want to say “The girl who walks fast”? The thing is, now that you have made the noun “the girl who walks fast” (“빨리 걷는 여자”) you can now place that noun in sentences that: – end in an adjective You have been doing the exact same things with adjectives since Lesson 4. 예쁜 여자 = Pretty girl The three sentences above include a noun that is being described by an adjective. 빨리 걷는 여자 = The girl who walks fast The three sentences above include a noun that is being described by a verb. Those sentences may not be that common in either English or Korean, but that is the basis of this entire lesson. It is important to realize that entire clauses (including clauses that include complex grammatical principles within them) can be put before this ~는 것 form. These clauses can also include subjects within them. Typically, the subject within a clause that is used to describe an upcoming noun has the simple subject marker “~이/가” attached to it. Just like when a noun is being described by an adjective, once you have a noun that is being described by a verb (or by an entire clause), you can put it wherever you want in the sentence. Below are many more examples: 제가 만나고 있는 사람은 예뻐요 = The person I am meeting is pretty Actually, I feel like this is getting a little bit too complicated. I want to break this down one more time. This sentence should be simple to you: 친구는 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to school If you want to describe that school, you could do so with adjectives: 큰 학교 = big school … or verbs: Then, it is simply a matter of putting those nouns into sentences: 친구는 큰 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the big school 친구는 제가 자주 가는 학교에 가고 있어요 = My friend is going to the school that I go to often Incredibly complicated at first, incredibly simple once you get the hang of it. The only problem is that it is difficult for English speakers to get used to because we describe a noun with a verb after the noun. Many more examples: 과학을 좋아하는 여자 = the/a girl that likes science 제가 보고 있는 시험 = The exam I am writing 제가 사귀고 있는 여자 = The girl who I am going out with 엄마가 요리하는 음식 = The food that my mother cooks 공부하지 않는 학생들 = students who do not study 제가 공원에 가는 날 = the day(s) I go to the park 이 동네에서 축구를 잘 하는 청소년들 = kids who are good at playing soccer in this neighborhood Actually, Korean people have the same problem with this concept when translating to English. If you meet a Korean person who can’t speak English well, they will always say sentences like this in their ‘Korean style.’ Instead of saying: “girls that like science,” they say: Instead of saying “the exam I am writing,” they say: Instead of saying “the girl I am going out with,” they say: Instead of saying “the food my mother cooks,” they say: Anyways, enough of what Korean people say. It is hard to translate the definition of this concept directly in English, but it sometimes translates to ‘who,’ ‘when,’ or ‘that.’ These words however don’t need to be in the sentence in English, as you will see in the following examples. Each of the following pairs of sentences have the same meaning in English: My friend is going to the school I go to often The exam I am writing is difficult The girl I am going out with went to the US The food my mother cooks is always delicious Students that do not study are not smart I am always happy on the days I go to the park “That” can be used in most situations. If the noun you are using is a person, “who” can be exchanged for “that.” If the noun you are using is a time, “when” can be exchanged for “that.” I’m going to say this one more time. Read it a few times to make sure you understand it completely (it is complicated). The noun that you create by describing it with a verb can be placed anywhere that other nouns can be placed! Lets describe one more noun and see where it can be placed: 내가 가르치는 학생들 = the students that I teach Placed as the subject of a sentence: Before 이다: Placed in any clause within a sentence: .. okay, I think you get it. I’ve made a bunch of YouTube videos that break down the grammar and vocabulary in various Korean street signs. ~는 것 comes up in the following videos: So far in this lesson you have learned how to describe nouns using verbs in the present tense: The place I go But what about the past tense? The place I went Or the future tense? The place I will go Lets talk about those now. ~는 것 Past Tense (~ㄴ/은 것) You can also describe nouns with verbs in the past tense to make nouns like: The place I went To do this, instead of adding ~는 to the stem of a verb, you must add ~ㄴ/은. You must add ~은 to stems ending in a consonant (먹다 = 먹은), and ~ㄴ should be added directly to stems ending in a vowel (가다 = 간): 제가 간 곳 = The place I went The general idea is the same as the present tense; the verb is simply conjugated into the past. More examples: 엄마가 요리한 음식은 너무 맛있어요 = The food my mom cooked is
delicious I talk about how ~ㄴ/은 is used to describe an upcoming noun in this Korean Sign Explanation video. ~는 것 Future Tense (~ㄹ/을 것) You can also describe nouns with verbs in the future tense to make nouns like: The place I will go To do this, instead of adding ~는 to the stem of a verb, you must add ~ㄹ/을. You must add ~을 to stems ending in a consonant (먹다 = 먹을) and ~ㄹ should be added directly to stems ending in a vowel (가다 = 갈): 내가 갈 곳 = The place I will go Many more examples: 제가 갈 곳은 제주도예요 = The place I will go is Jeju-do In Lesson 9, you learned how to create a future tense conjugation by attaching ~ㄹ/을 것이다 to words. For example, in Lesson 9, you saw this sentence: 저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 = I will eat rice If you look closely, the grammar being used in this type of sentence is the same as the grammar that I am presenting in this lesson. If you look at the two examples below: 저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요 = I will eat rice In both of the sentences above, the ~을 attached to the verb is performing the same function – in that it is describing the upcoming noun. Remember, “것” is a noun, and in the first sentence above, “것” is being described by the word before it (먹다). For example, look how “것” is being described in the first example:: 밥을 먹을 것 = A thing that will eat rice In theory, the full sentence (저는 밥을 먹을 것이에요) could translate to “I am a thing that will eat rice.” However, it would never be translated like that because when ~ㄹ/을 것이다 is used at the end of a sentence, it is usually done to create the future tense conjugation that would translate to “one will do…” This isn’t imperative to your understanding, but it is good to recognize that ~ㄹ/을 has the same function in both of these types of sentences – which is describing the noun in-front of it. There are many instances of a Korean grammatical principle having different English translations depending on the type of sentence it is used in. There might be one thing in Korean that represents many meanings in English, and there might be one thing in English that represents many meanings in Korean. Try to step out of the “English box” and understand that two vastly different languages will have very little similarities. …Anyways… …. All of this brings me to the last point of this lesson: So What’s the Point?: ~는 것 The name for everything you learned in this lesson is “~는 것” (or ~ㄴ 것 for past tense and ~ㄹ 것 for future tense). So far, I have shown you many examples of other nouns in place of “것”: 제가 먹는 음식 = The food I eat 제가 가르치는 학생 = the student I teach 제가 가는 날에 = the day I go Question: Answer: (This answer is ridiculously important) Question: Answer: You know this already: 저는 사과를 원해요 = I want apples But what if you wanted to say the following: The structure is actually identical in the two sentences: I want apples In both cases, I will put the thing that you want in brackets: I want (apples) In Korean: 저는
(apples)를 원해요 The first one is easy, you already know: 저는 사과를 원해요 But the second one? How would I say this in Korean?: 저는 (my friend to bring apples)를 원하다 How can you say “my friend brings apples” in Korean? 친구는 사과를 가져와요 = My friend brings apples But! You need to change that sentence to a noun. THIS is the situation when you will need to change clauses/sentences to nouns. Lets change that sentence into a noun: 친구가 사과를 가져오는 것 This is very hard to translate into English. 것 means “thing.” The rest of it is an adjective describing that “thing.” If I had to translate it, I would say “the thing of my friend bringing apples.”.. but, again, it cannot really be translated. So, if we look at our sentences again: I want (apples) Apples = 사과 저는 (apples)를 원해요 저는 (사과)를 원해요 저는 사과를 원해요 = I want apples Wow, complicated. I like movies. But what if you wanted to say “I like making movies,” or Again, I will put the things that you like in brackets: I like (movies) Movies: 영화 Into noun form?: 영화 저는 (movies)를 좋아해요 저는 (영화)를 좋아해요 저는 영화를 좋아해요 = I like movies I didn’t realize this when I first learned this grammar concept. In almost every sentence you will ever say, you need to put this concept into use – whether you realize it or not. Think about it, how often do you simply say “I want to eat food”? You usually make it more complex by saying: 나는 그 사람이 먹고 있는 것을 먹고 싶어 = I want to eat what that person is eating Etc… Or, if you wanted to talk about what your dream is. Before this lesson, you could have said this: 나의 꿈은 선생님이다 … … but that translates to “My dream is teacher”…. Is that natural? My dream is teacher? Instead, it would sound more natural if you said: 나의 꿈은 선생님이 되는 것이다 = My dream is becoming a teacher Below are many more examples of a verb (with a clause before it) describing a noun being used in sentences. The following sentences specifically use the vocabulary that is introduced at the beginning of this lesson. In addition, these sentences are slightly more complex than the simple sentences I have used to describe the ~는 것 concept up until this point. 우리 학교의 목적은 국제고등학교가 되는 것이다 = Our school’s goal is becoming an international school ————————- Just one more quick note specifically about translating from English to Korean or vice-versa. Translations are often ambiguous from English to Korean, so you don’t need to worry about this too much. When you use ~는 것 to describe an upcoming noun, the translation is often “who,” “that,” or “where.” For example: 걷는 여자 내가 간 곳 This type of translation is also appropriate when describing a “thing.” For example: 내가 먹는 것은 밥이야 내가 가장 원하는 것은 차야 However, when using ~는 것 to change a clause into a noun so that you can do something with that noun in a sentence, the translation of “to” or “~ing” is usually more appropriate. For example: 저는 친구가 사과를 가져오는 것을 원해요 나의 꿈은 선생님이 되는 것이다 저는 영화를 보는 것을 좋아해요 In terms of Korean grammar, the purpose of ~는 것 in all of these types of sentences (i.e. whether it is being used to describe a noun or used to turn a clause into a noun) is the same. However, in English these look like entirely different sentences. Again, translations are often confusing and ambiguous. You don’t necessarily need to worry about the different types of English translations. What is more important is that you understand the Korean grammar presented here. ————————- That’s it for this lesson, but in the next 3 – 4 lessons I will be going deeper and deeper into the ~는 것 grammar concept. This first lesson should give you a good first step. There
are 1200 example sentences in Unit 2. Okay, I got it! Take me to the next lesson! Or,
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