Love South Korea

Location particles 에, 에서, 서.

Info from: Elementary Korean - Second Edition

I’m back, ready to kick some Korean grammar ass…ignments!

This is kind of a long post, but most of it is examples so it’s faster to read than it looks, and you can always do one part and come back. But lets get this show on the road.  

Lets get conjugating! If you have been looking up words, you might have noticed that all verbs end in either 하다 or 다. This is the lexical form, you do not use this form in your sentences. The way Korean verbs are conjugated depends on the last vowel of your verb. Technically there are only two different ways to do it but I like to think of it as three, because하다 is kinda it’s own thing. 

If the last vowel in your verb isㅏ an or ㅗ an you put 아요 after it and you have a basic conjugation of your verb, ready to go into your sentence.  

Easy, no? I’ll show you! 

앉다 -> 앉아요                                                             저 여기 앉아요. To sit -> Sit                                                                   I sit here 좋다 -> 좋아요                                                             이 케이크 좋아요. To be good -> Good                                                     This cake is good.

Now, that’s good and simple, but when ㅏ or ㅗ isn’t just the last vowel but the last letter something funny happens; the Koreans become space efficient and instead of making a new block, they squeeze the vowels together. They will probably be able to understand you if you do it wrong, but I’m confident you’ll get the hang of it.  

보다 -> 보아요 -> 봐요                                                   저 이것 봐요.  To see -> See (wrong) -> See (right)                             I see this. 가다 -> 가아다 -> 가요                                                   저 거기 가요. To go/walk -> Go/walk (wrong) -> Go/walk (right)          I walk there. 

As you might have guessed that leaves just about every other vowel in the alphabet. Same rules apply, so lets just do  it!

넓다 -> 넓어요                                                               그것 넓어요.  To be wide -> Wide                                                        That thing is wide. 웃다 -> 웃어요                                                               저 웃어요.   To smile -> Smile                                                           I smile. 

This time the squeezed letters are ㅓ and ㅜ, and then it’s same procedure again. 

배우다 -> 배우어요 -> 배워요                                       저 한국어 배워요.  To learn -> Learn (wrong) -> Learn (right)                     I learn Korean. 서다 -> 서어다 -> 서요                                                   저 여기 서요. To stand -> Stand (wrong) -> Stand (right)                    I stand here.

Last one ladies and gents, you’re free after this. Now I know, I said that when ㅏ meets ㅏ it just disappears, but when it’s in 하다 it somehow morphs into an ㅐand becomes 해요. This is fixed, in the simple form 하다 always becomes 해요 -  just for the fun of it I’ll make a quick example.  

행복하다 -> 행복해요                                                   저 오늘 행복해요.  To be happy -> Happy                                                   I am happy today.

This was regular verbs, of course there are irregular verbs too, perhaps i will get around to making a post on them, but it will not be in the near future unless I get requests asking otherwise.