Lesson 11 Using -seyo
Making requests more polite
The polite honorific -seyo can be used to make requests more polite, -seyo is used when the verb stem ends in in a vowel, and -useyo is used when the verb stem ends in a consonant.
Examples of these are:-
mashi- becomes mashiseyo
ha- becomes haseyo
kidari- becomes kidariseyo
iss- becomes issuseyo
anj- becomes anjuseyo
If you want to request someone to wait for you, you would say kidariseyo (Please wait !!).
The use of -seyo means that you have a special respect for the person, for example if you say hansongsaengnim-i hakkyo-e kaseyo ,you are saying Mr Han is going to school. ( But you are also showing special respect for him ).
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What you want to do ?
Koreans use -ko ship'oyo which literally means want to, and this can be added to a verb stem.
For example you may say, cho-nun mok-ko ship'oyo which means I want to eat, notice that when it is used, the -ko is utilised by being added to the end of the verb stem.
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Making Suggestions
When making suggestions, Koreans use -(u)pshida ( literally means lets do), as you may have guessed, -pshida is attached onto verb stems ending in a vowel, and -upshida is attached to verbstems ending in a consonant.
Here are some examples:-
Umryosu mashipshida ( Lets have a drink )
Lesson 10 Numbers and Counting
In Korean there are two sets of numbers which are used when counting, the first set are known as pure Korean numbers, and the other are Sino-korean which is based on the chinese numerals.
The use of these numbers depends on the context in which it is used, for example the pure korean numbers are used when counting hours, and the sino korean when used to count minutes.
kong 0
il 1 shibil 11 ishibil 21
i 2 shibi 12 ishibi 22
sam 3 shipsam 13 ishipsam 23
sa 4 shipsa 14 ishipsa 24
o 5 shibo 15
yuk 6 shimnyuk 16
ch'il 7 shipch'il 17
p'al 8 shipp'al 18
ku 9 shibku 19 ishipku 29
ship 10 iship 20 samship 30
saship 40
kuship 90
paek 100
ch'on 1000
man 10,000
Lesson 9 - Using Negative Copula's
Negative Copula
In Korean, when you are trying to say something is not something else, we use the negative copula anieyo. For instance, When saying 'A is not B', we would say :-
cho-nun songsaengnim-i anieyo ( I am not a teacher ).
hanguk hakkwa-ga anieyo ( Not the Korean department ).
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Answering questions with Yes and No in Korean
This is a tricky aspect of the Korean language, it is quite different to how we would speak in English.
For example: -
Question in English = "Do you like Korea ?"
Answer in English = "Yes I do like it" or "No i dont"
Answer in Korean = "No, I do like it" or "Yes i dont"
As you can see...it can be confusing at first, so you will need to think carefully.
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Where is it?
When asking where something is in Korean, you would say (X-subject) odieyo?
However, it is also possible to say (X-subject) odi issoyo?
When answering a Where is question, you must always use issoyo as a verb such that:-
hakkyo-ga kogi issoyo ( the school is over there ).
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Using Korean sentences with but....
We have previously seen that shillye hamnida and the equivalent shillye-jiman mean "Excuse me,but" or "I'm Sorry, but...." .
There are lots of verbs where you may attach -jiman onto, here are a few of them:-
ka- ( go ) ka-jiman ( goes, but .......)
ha- ( do ) ha-jiman ( does,but......)
sa- ( buy ) sa-jiman ( buys,but.....)
iss- ( is/are, have ) it-jiman ( has,but....)
mashi- ( drink ) mashi-jiman ( drinks,but.....)
mok- ( eat ) mok-jiman ( eats, but.......)
anj- (sit ) anj-jiman ( sits, but.....)
Note that for the word iss-jiman the double ss is re-written to itjiman
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Using polite requests
In Korean, the word chom is used to mean "please", however do not mistake it to mean the same as the English word for please for all occurances. For instance, when you use chom in a request immediately before the verb at the end of the sentence, it takes on the effect of please.
It is most frequently using in relation to chu- when making requests, for example
Han songsaengnim chom pakkwo-juseyo( Can I speak to Mr Han ), or you might use it in Soju chom chuseyo ( Please give me the Soju ). As you can see, chom may be used to soften up requests by making it more polite.
Lesson 8 - More on Grammar
-hamnida and -jiman
In Korean, it is possible to add polite endings to verbs, for example, shillye hamnida (excuse me), which is comprised of the verb stem shille ha-, and the verb ending hamnida (note this is the formal style).
There is also the verb and stem, shillye-jiman (I'm sorry but....) which is a abbreviation of the verb and stem shillye ha-jiman , containing the ending -jiman which means but.
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Asking a person
In Korean, there is a special verb which may be used in the event where you want to ask someone if they are someone.....for example "Are you Mr Han".
We would use -iseyo, and simply add this to the end of a phrase.
Han songsaengnim-iseyo? ( Are you Mr Han?)
Hangungmal songsaengnim-iseyo? (Are you the Korean Teacher?)
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Subjects and topics of Korean sentences
In Korean, we attach -i to the end of nouns which end with consonants, or attach -ga to the end of nouns which end in a vowel. By doing this, it is possible to give emphasis, on subjects in sentences.
For example, songsaenim-i ( teacher ) or maekju-ga (beer) give emphasis on each of these subjects in a sentence.
For a sentence , "The man kissed the dog", the subject in this case would be The man.
On the other hand, when a subject is mentioned for the first time, the subject particle is used, but later on in a conversation, this is switched back to the topic particle.
The topic particle, is similar to that of the english "As for", and is best used in order to compare two things.
For example, as for me ( na-nun ), I love shopping
as for mum (ma-nun), she hates it.
Lesson 8 - More on Grammar
-hamnida and -jiman
In Korean, it is possible to add polite endings to verbs, for example, shillye hamnida (excuse me), which is comprised of the verb stem shille ha-, and the verb ending hamnida (note this is the formal style).
There is also the verb and stem, shillye-jiman (I'm sorry but....) which is a abbreviation of the verb and stem shillye ha-jiman , containing the ending -jiman which means but.
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Asking a person
In Korean, there is a special verb which may be used in the event where you want to ask someone if they are someone.....for example "Are you Mr Han".
We would use -iseyo, and simply add this to the end of a phrase.
Han songsaengnim-iseyo? ( Are you Mr Han?)
Hangungmal songsaengnim-iseyo? (Are you the Korean Teacher?)
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Subjects and topics of Korean sentences
In Korean, we attach -i to the end of nouns which end with consonants, or attach -ga to the end of nouns which end in a vowel. By doing this, it is possible to give emphasis, on subjects in sentences.
For example, songsaenim-i ( teacher ) or maekju-ga (beer) give emphasis on each of these subjects in a sentence.
For a sentence , "The man kissed the dog", the subject in this case would be The man.
On the other hand, when a subject is mentioned for the first time, the subject particle is used, but later on in a conversation, this is switched back to the topic particle.
The topic particle, is similar to that of the english "As for", and is best used in order to compare two things.
For example, as for me ( na-nun ), I love shopping
as for mum (ma-nun), she hates it.
Lesson 7 - Korean Names and Topics
In Korean, when you want to address men politely, one would use the word songsaegnim attached to their surname or full name, this literally means teacher.
For example, one would say Yoo Songsaegnim or with the full name Yoo SangHyun Songsaegnim.
It is not possible to a Korean persons first name, such like SangHyun Songsaegnim. For that same reason, when you use the ssi, you cannot say Yoo-ssi, or Yoo SangHyun-ssi, but would rather say SangHyun-ssi.
Addressing Korean women, in Korea women do not take their husbands surname when they get married.
For example if Mrs Han is married to Mr Kim, then she may referred to as Kim songsaengnim-puin (Kim mr-wife), or she maybe reffered to in a similar English terminology such as Misesu Han(Mrs Han).
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Using Copula to describe "this is that"
In Korean, if you want to describe A is B , you will have to use special verbs called copula. In Korea, this copula is present at the end of a sentence, and behaves a little differently to ordinary verbs.
If you want to say A is B(like "This is a Korean book"):-
A B-ieyo (or B-eyo)
this Korean book-ieyo
It is obvious that you would use -eyo when B ends in a vowel, but -ieyo when B ends on a consonant.
songsaengnim-ieyo (is teacher)
soju-eyo (is soju)
IMPORTANT to note that in Korean the copula is only used to describe when this "is equivalent to".
It cant be used to say "is located in"(is underneath", "is near") nor can it be used to say "is a certain way" (i.e "is red", "is happy").
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Describing how things are
Korean possess words which mean "is a certain way".
Ottaeyo means is how?, as in:
songsaengnim ottaeyo? ( How is teacher ? or What is teacher like? )
saob ottaeyo? (How is business? or What is business like?)
Kuraeyo literally means "it is like that", and may be used as a statement such as "it's like that", "thats right", "it is".
On the other hand it may be used as a question Kuraeyo? meaning "is it like that?", "really?" or "is that so?".
Korean has a special particle, used in attachment to place emphasis on what is being talked about.
by adding -un or nun, it makes As for Business or As for me.
-nun is attached to a noun, whereas -un is attached to a vowel. EG soju-nun (as for soju), Songsaengnim-un (as for teacher).
Lesson 6 - Asking for things
There Are / There is
The Korean verb which means either "there are" and "there is" is issoyo ( 있 어요 )
They are dependent on the context in which you use them, and on what you are talking about. The stem of the verb is iss- with the inclusion of o and the polite particle -yo, thus forming the ending -oyo. However in the case where the verb stem ends in vowel, we use -a or -o, such as -ayo.
Vowel stem - yo
Consonant stem - ayo if the last vowel ends with -a or -o
Consonant Stem - oyo
In context the oppposite of iss- is ops- which literally means "there isnt" or "there arent".
Uses of the verbs
chogi issoyo means "it exist over there", or "its over there"
Issoyo on its own can mean "I have/he has"
Opsoyo means "I dont have" or "I havent got"
In a shop
When addressing a shop keeper or waiters, Koreans use ajossi literally meaning uncle, but is used as a general word when addressing someone in a shop.
However if it were to be used in a formal way, it is only for the referral of a man,
For females the word ajumma meaning aunt is used, for people over 35-ish, and for younger woman agassi is used for young women.
In Korean, we use a particle which comes after a noun that it relates to, such as na-do (me-too).
In English, it is the opposite, we would say 'with-me', whereas Korean is 'me-with'.
Using 'and'
In Korean, the word for and is -hago, this is a particle so when it is to be used it must be attached to a noun. For example, when you say 'burger and chips', in Korean it would be 'burger-hago chips. The word hago becomes part of burger.
The particle hago can also mean with such as, Doojin-hago shinae-e kayo meaning 'I am going to town with Doojin'.
Ordering with numbers
When asking for 'one' item we say 'hana' which is said after you have selected the meal you wish to order. For example we would say, soju hana chuseyo meaning "soju one give me please".
The word chuseyo utilises the polite word stem -yo, attached to chu-, which means "give me please"