Lesson 1: Basic Korean Sentences

[ Vocabulary ]

The vocabulary is separated into nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs for the
purpose of simplicity.

Click on the English word to see information and examples of that word in use (you
probably won’t be able to understand the grammar within the sentences at this
point, but it is good to see as you progress through your learning).

Nouns:
PLAY 한국 = Korea

Common Usages:
한국 사람 = Korean person
한국어 = Korean language (For Korean people, Korean language class is called “국어
(수업)”)
한국인 = Korean person
한국 역사 = Korean history (in school, Korean history class is usually called “한국사
(수업)”)
한국 문화 = Korean culture
한국 경제 = Korean economy
한국 전쟁 = the Korean War
한국주식시장 = Korean stock market
한국어능력시험 = Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK)

Notes: The formal name of the country is 대한민국

Examples
저는 7 년 동안 한국에서 살았어요 = I lived in Korea for seven years
저는 내년에 한국에 갈 거예요 = I will go to Korea next year
저의 어머니는 올해 한국에 올 것입니다 = My mom will come to Korea this year
저는 한국어를 한국에서 배웠어요 = I learned Korean in Korea
고등학교는 한국에서 어려워요 = High school is difficult in Korea
그 집은 한국에서 지어졌어요 = that house was built in Korea
저는 한국에서 살고 있어요 = I live in Korea

도시 = city

이름 = name

저 = I, me (formal)

나 = I, me (informal)

남자 = man

여자 = woman

이 = this

그 = that

저 = that (when something is far away)

것 = thing

이것 = this (thing)

그것 = that (thing)

저것 = that (thing)

의자 = chair

탁자 = table

선생님 = teacher

침대 = bed

집 = house

차 = car

사람 = person

책 = book

컴퓨터 = computer

나무 = tree/wood

소파 = sofa

중국 = China

일본 = Japan

문 = door

의사 = doctor

학생 = student

Adverbs and Other words:

이다 = to be

네 = yes

아니 = no

[ Greeting Words ]

Throughout my lessons, I will only use grammar and vocabulary that you have learned
from a previous lesson. In Unit 0, I taught you how to write words in Korean.
Above, you can see the first set of words you should study to get you started. I
have not yet taught you how to use those words or how conjugate them.
The words for “hello,” “thank you,” “how are you,” and “please” are actually quite
difficult in Korean. There is actually grammar within the words themselves. At this
stage, I would simply memorize these “greeting words” as one unit, and you can
worry about the grammar within them later when it becomes relevant. The words are:

PLAY 안녕하세요 = hello

감사하다 and 고맙다 are the two words that are commonly used to say “thank you.”
However, they are rarely used in those forms and are almost always conjugated. They
can be conjugated in a variety of ways, which will be introduced in Lesson 5 and
Lesson 6. The most common ways to conjugate these words are:

감사합니다
감사해요

고마워
고맙습니다
고마워요

The way to say “how are you?” in Korean is:

잘 지내세요? = How are you?

Although this is the most literal way to ask “how are you?” in Korean, it is not as
common as the English expression. Korean people love food, and common way to greet
somebody is to ask them if they have eaten. The idea of asking questions in Korean
is taught in Lesson 21.

The way to say “please” in Korean is:

제발 = Please

It is, of course, important for you to memorize these expressions in Korean, but
you need to know that there is a reason why they are said that way. For now, don’t
worry about why they are said that way, and simply memorize them. We will get back
to them in later lessons when they become important.

[ Sentence Word Order ]

Korean has a sentence structure that is hard to grasp initially for English
speakers. For our purposes in Lesson 1, the words in Korean sentences are written
in the following order:

Subject – Object – Verb (for example: I hamburger eat)

Or
Subject – Adjective (for example: I beautiful)

I am going to quickly explain what a “subject” and “object” mean, as your ability
to understand later concepts depends on your understanding of this.
The subject refers to person/thing/noun/whatever that is acting. The subject does
the action of the verb. For example, the subject in each sentence below is
underlined:

I went to the park

I will go to the park
My mom loves me
He loves me
The dog ran fast
The clouds cleared up

In English, the subject always comes before the verb.

The object refers to whatever the verb is acting on. For example, the object in
each sentence below is underlined

My mom loves me
The dog bit the mailman
He ate rice
Students studied Korean

In English, the object always comes after the verb. However, a sentence with a verb
does not require an object. For example:

I slept
I ate
He died

Sometimes there is no object because it has simply been omitted from the sentence.
For example, “I ate” or “I ate rice” are both correct sentences. Other verbs, by
their nature, cannot act on an object. For example, you cannot place an object
after the verbs “to sleep” or “to go:”

I sleep you
I go you

Subjects are also present in sentences with adjectives. However, there is no object
in a sentence with an adjective. The subjects are underlined in the following
adjective-sentences below:

School is boring
I am boring
The movie was funny
The building is big
My girlfriend is pretty
The food is delicious

Verbs and adjectives are placed at the end of a sentence. Actually, every Korean
sentence and clause must end in one of the following:

– A verb
– An adjective, or
– 이다

I talk about the meaning of 이다 later in this lesson. It is neither a verb nor an
adjective, but it behaves like them. Every verb, every adjective and 이다 end in
“다,” and these are the only words in Korean that can be conjugated.

Korean also has a formality system built into the language. That is, the way one
speaks to an older person who deserves high respect would be different than the way
one speaks to a friend. There are many ways words in a sentence can change
depending on the formality of the situation, but the two most common, basic and
important things to be aware of are:

1) There are two ways to say “I” or “me” in Korean:

나, used in informal situations, and

저, used in formal situations.

2) There are many ways to conjugate a word. As we saw above, the word 고맙다 can be
conjugated many different ways. It is important to know which conjugation to use in
which situation. This is taught in Lesson 6. Until Lesson 6, I make no distinction
of formality and the focus is more on sentence structure than conjugations. Until
then, you will see both 나 and 저 arbitrarily used. Don’t worry about why one is
used over the other until Lesson 6, when formalities will be explained.

Okay, now that you know all of that, we can talk about making Korean sentences.

[ Korean Particles (~는/은 and ~를/을) ]

Most words in a Korean sentence have a particle (a fancy word to say ‘something’)
attached to them. These particles indicate the role of each word in a sentence –
that is, specifically which word is the subject or object. Note that there is
absolutely no way of translating these particles to English, as we do not use
anything like them.
The following are the particles you should know for this lesson:

는 or 은 (Subject)
This is placed after a word to indicate that it is the subject of a sentence.
Use 는 when the last letter of the last syllable of the subject is a vowel. For
example:
나 = 나는
저 = 저는

Use 은 when the last letter of the last syllable of the subject is a consonant. For
example:
집 = 집은
책 = 책은

를 or 을 (Object)
This is placed after a word to indicate that is the object of a sentence.
Use 를 when the last letter of the last syllable is a vowel. For example:
나 = 나를
저 = 저를

Use 을 when the last letter of the last syllable is a consonant. For example:
집 = 집을
책 = 책을

We can now make sentences using the Korean sentence structure and the Korean
particles.

1) I speak Korean = I 는 Korean 을 speak

는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
을 is attached to “Korean” (the object)

2) I like you = I 는 you 를 like

는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
를 is attached to “you” (the object)

3) I wrote a letter = I 는 letter 을 wrote

는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
을 is attached to “letter” (the object)

4) I opened the door = I 는 door 을 opened

는 is attached to “I” (the subject)
을 is attached to “the door” (the object)

5) My mom will make pasta = My mom 은 pasta 를 will make

은 is attached to “my mom” (the subject)
를 is attached to “pasta” (the object)

The same could be done for sentences with adjectives. However, remember that
sentences with adjectives will not have an object:

1) My girlfriend is pretty: My girlfriend 은 is pretty

“은” is attached to “my girlfriend” (the subject)

2) The movie was scary = The movie 는 was scary

“는” is attached to “the movie” (the subject)

We will now switch our focus to using actual Korean words to create sentences
ending in 이다.

[ To be: 이다 ]

Let’s start building sentences in Korean. In this lesson, we will start by making
simple sentences using the word 이다. The translation for “이다” is “to be.”
English speakers often don’t realize how difficult the word “to be” is. Depending
on who is being referred to, the word “to be” could be any of the underlined words
below:

I am a man
He is a man
They are men
I was a man
They were men

In each of those sentences, a different word (is, am, are, was, were) is used
depending on the subject and tense of the sentence. I can’t imagine how difficult
this would be for an English learner. In Korean, the 이다 is used to represent all
of those “to be” words.

As mentioned earlier, 이다 can be conjugated. In that way, 이다 is similar to verbs

and adjectives, but the rules for 이다 are often (but not always) different. I will
teach you how 이다 differs from verbs and adjectives as it becomes important in
later lessons. For example, in Lesson 52 you will learn that the process for
quoting a sentence with 이다 is different than with verbs and adjectives.

Like adjectives, 이다 can not act on an object. Only verbs can act on objects. For
example:

I eat hamburgers (eat is a verb, the object is a hamburger)

She meets my friend (meet is a verb, the object is my friend)
They study Korean (study is a verb, the object is Korean)
We listen to music (listen is a verb, the object is music)
All of those sentences (can) have objects because the verb is the predicate of the
sentence. However, in sentences that are predicated by adjectives, there will not
be an object

I am pretty
She is beautiful
They are hungry
We are smart

Look at those four sentences. When we use adjectives in English, we must also use
“to be” words like am, is and are. In other words, we cannot make sentences like
this:

I pretty
She beautiful
They hungry
We smart

Unlike in English, 이다 is not used in these types of sentences. That is, we do not
use 이다 to indicate that something “is” an adjective. The structure of sentences
predicated by adjectives is discussed in Lesson 3.

So, 이다 is not used in these types of sentences:

I am pretty
She is beautiful
They are hungry
We are smart

However, 이다 is used in these types of sentences:

I am a man
He is a man
They are men
I was a man
They were men

이다 is used to indicate that a noun is a noun. The basic structure for a sentence
predicated by “이다” is:

[noun 은/는] [another noun][이다]

For example:
I 는 man 이다 = I am a man

Now substitute the words for “man” and “I,” which are:

나 = I
남자 = man

The Korean sentence would look like this:

나는 남자이다 = I am a man

Notice that 이다 is attached directly to the second noun. Verbs and adjectives are
not attached to nouns like this, but 이다 is. It would be incorrect to include a
space between the second noun and 이다. For example, this would be incorrect:
나는 남자 이다

Although it might look and feel like “남자” is an object in that sentence, it is
not. 이다, like adjectives and unlike verbs cannot act on an object. It would be
incorrect to include the object particle on the second noun. For example, this
would be incorrect:

나는 남자를 이다

Other examples of 이다 in use:

나는 여자이다 = I am a woman
(PLAY 나는 여자야 / 저는 여자예요)

나는 선생님이다 = I am a teacher
(PLAY 나는 선생님이야 / 저는 선생님이에요)

나는 사람이다 = I am a person
(PLAY 나는 사람이야 / 저는 사람이에요)

나는 ______이다 = I am a _______
(나는 _______ 이야 / 저는 _____이에요)

You can substitute any noun into the blank space to make these sentences.

The words “this” and “that” are often used as the subject of these types of
sentences. Let’s now look at how we can apply 이것, 그것 and 저것 to sentences with
이다.

[ This and That (이/그/저) ]

You can see in the vocabulary above that the word for “this” is 이 in Korean.
We use 이 in Korean when we are talking about something that is within touching
distance (For example: this pen – i.e. the one I am holding). Just like in English
“이” (this) is placed before the noun it is describing. For example:

이 사람 = This person
이 남자 = This man
이 여자 = This woman
이 차 = This car
이 탁자 = This table
이 의자 = This chair

Unfortunately, there are two words for “that”: 그 and 저. Early learners of Korean
are always confused with the difference between “그” and “저.”

We use 그 when we are talking about something from a previous sentence or from
previous context, regardless of if you could see it or not. Providing examples
would be too difficult right now because you do not know any Korean sentences.
However, if I were to say: “I don’t like that man [when your friend mentioned him
in a previous sentence].” The word “that” in that sentence would be how “그” is
used.

We use 저 when we are talking about something that we can see, but cannot touch
because it is too far away.

We can place “그” or “저” before a noun to describe “this” or “that” thing just
like we did with “이.”

이 사람 = This person
그 사람 = That person
저 사람 = That person

이 남자 = This man
그 남자 = That man
저 남자 = That man

이 여자 = This woman
그 여자 = That woman
저 여자 = That woman

이 의자 = This chair
그 의자 = That chair
저 의자 = That chair

이 탁자 = This table
그 탁자 = That table
저 탁자 = That table

Again, although the English translations of “그” and “저” are the same, it is
important to remember that they are not the same word in Korean.

One of the most common words in Korean is “것” meaning “thing.” When 이, 그 or 저
are placed before “것,” the result is a compound word. Therefore, when placing “것”
after 이, 그 or 저, there should not be a space between the two. In other words, the
following are words in and within themselves, and not two separate words:

이것 = this thing
그것 = that thing
저것 = that thing

We see this same phenomenon happen with other common words that you learn in future
lessons. You don’t need to worry about this now, but we see this same thing happen
with the word 곳 (meaning “place”) and 때 (meaning “time”).

With these words, the word “thing” isn’t necessary in the English translation. Let
me explain.

I’ll use “that” as an example, but the same idea can be applied to the word “this.”

“That” can be placed before a noun to describe it. As we saw earlier:

That person
That man
That woman

However, it can also be a noun itself. For example:

I like that
In this type of English sentence, “that” is referring to some thing that you like.
It is a noun. It is a thing.

Therefore, the sentence could just as easily be said as:

I like that thing

I don’t like to use grammatical jargon in my lessons, but if you know what these
words mean, it could be helpful. In both English and Korean, “that” can be a
determiner (as in, “I like that man”), and it can also be a pronoun (as in “I like
that”). When used as a determiner in Korean, you should place 그 before a noun.
When used as a pronoun in Korean, the word 그것 is used.

In this same respect, while “이, 그 and 저” translate to “this, that and that”
respectively, and are placed before nouns to indicate “this noun, that noun and
that noun,” “이것, 그것 and 저것” are nouns (they are pronouns). Therefore, they do
not need to be followed by the redundant word “thing,” although their meanings
would be exactly the same:

I like this
I like this thing

I like that
I like that thing

We can now use these nouns as subjects or objects in a sentence. We will look at
how they can be used with “이다” next.

Using This/That with 이다

Remember, 이다 translates to “to be” and is conjugated as “am/is/are” in English.

Now that we know how to use 이, 그 and 저 (and 이것, 그것 and 저것), we can now make
sentences like this:

That person is a doctor

We can start by putting those words into the Korean structure:

That person 는 doctor is

And then changing the English words to the appropriate Korean words:

그 사람은 + 의사 + 이다
그 사람은 의사이다
PLAY(그 사람은 의사야 / 그 사람은 의사예요)

More examples:
그 사람은 선생님이다 = That person is a teacher
(PLAY 그 사람은 선생님이야 / 그 사람은 선생님이에요)

이것은 탁자이다 = This (thing) is a table

(PLAY 이것은 탁자야 / 이것은 탁자예요)

저것은 침대이다 = That (thing) is a bed

(PLAY 저것은 침대야 / 저것은 침대예요)
그 사람은 남자이다 = That person is a man
(PLAY 그 사람은 남자야 / 그 사람은 남자예요)

그 사람은 여자이다 = That person is a woman

(PLAY 그 사람은 여자야 / 그 사람은 여자예요)

그것은 차이다 = That (thing) is a car

(PLAY 그것은 차야 / 그것은 차예요)

이것은 나무이다 = This (thing) is a tree

(PLAY 이것은 나무야 / 이것은 나무예요)

Wow! That was an extremely difficult lesson.

Before you move on, make sure you understand the simple Korean sentence structure
presented in this first lesson. Also, remember that the sentences not in
parentheses are technically incorrect (or very very uncommon) because they have not
been conjugated.