Korean Language Blog

A lot of people know about areas like 남대문, 인사동, and 용산 (http://blogs.transparent.com/korean?s=nigh+market) within the Seoul area, but did you know that there are lots of other shopping venues within Seoul?

For example, 명동 is a shopping district that is famous for its expensive retail shops. The Lotte Department Store (롯데백화점) is one of the biggest department stores in the 명동 region. Not only that, 명동 is a financial center, with international companies like Citibank and HSBC, and domestic companies like SK (에스케이). In addition, 명동 is a political hotspot. The Chinese Embassy and UNESCO Hall are all located here, and if you come on the right day, you may be able to see a political demonstration taking place. Here’s a video that shows you some outdoor and indoor shops:

There’s also an underground shopping mall called COEX Mall (코엑스몰). My favorite place is the Kimchi Museum (김치박물관) which features different varieties of 김치, the history behind each variety, and how to make it. COEX Mall is also the place where young people flock to see computer game tounaments. In addition to hundreds of shops, there is a large aquarium, a cinema complex, and a bookstore. Here’s a video showing some of the shops in COEX Mall :

경동 시장 is a large, herbal/tranditional medicine market. There are outdoor vendors selling medicinal items, and indoor clinics with herbal specialists.

So far, we’ve explored ways to express ideas in formal Korean. Today we’ll learn a little about informal Korean.

Just as a reminder, informal Korean should not be used with an elder or superior. In written communication, informal Korean is mostly used with friends through chatting and email, but remember no informal Korean with bosses and strangers!

In many cases, leaving off the ending can render an expression informal.

For example, the standard polite of the verb 가다 (to go) is 가요. To make this informal, drop 요, which leaves you with just 가.

With adjectives like 춥다 (cold), the same rule applies. Drop the 요. So 추워요 in the informal becomes 추워.

Let’s say you want to say things in the informal past tense.

살았어요 is the past tense of 살다 (to live). To form the informal past tense, drop the 요, so that it becomes 살았어.

For 하다 verbs like 공부하다 (to study), the standard polite present tense form will be 공부해요. To form the informal, drop the 요 so that it becomes 공부해.

The basic rule to form the informal is to take the standard polite of the verb or adjective and leave off the 요. There will be times when more steps will be required to form the informal, but we’ll explore that when we get there. For now, I have listed a few more examples of this basic concept:

듣다 (to hear, to listen) : 들어요 (standard polite, present) : 들어 (informal, present) :

들었어요 (standard polite past) : 들었어 (informal, past)

다르다 (to be different) : 달라요 : 달라 : 달랐어요 : 달랐어

짓다 (to build) : 지어요 : 지어 : 지었어요 : 지었어

크다 (big) : 커요 : 커 : 컸어요 : 컸어

There are several ways to say “but” and “however” in Korean.

One way is to use 그렇지만 :

호동은 한국인입니다. 그렇지만 한국어를 못 합니다.

Hodong is a Korean person. However/but he can’t speak Korean.

호동 = Hodong. 은 = topic marking particle. 한국 = Korea. 인 = person. 입니다 = is.

그렇지만 = but/however. 한국 = Korean. 어 = language. 를 = object marking particle. 못 합니다 = can’t.

One thing to note is that 그렇지만 is pronounced as 그렇치만 by Korean speakers.

하지만 can also mean “but” or “however” :

유지니는 밥을 많이 먹어요. 하지만 살이 찌지 않아요.

Yujin eats a lot (literally eats a lot of rice) but/however she doesn’t gain weight.

유지니 = Yujin. 는 = topic marking particle. 밥 = rice. 을 = object marking particle. 많이 = a lot. 먹어요 = eat.

하지만 = but/however. 살 = weight (literally means “flesh”). 이 = subject marking particle. 찌지 않아요 = doesn’t gain/doesn’t get fat.

하지만 is used in more informal situations.

그러나 can also be used to mean “but/however” :

어제 열심히 공부했습니다. 그러나 아직도 시험에 떨어졌습니다.

I studied hard yesterday, but I still failed the test.

어제 = yesterday.  열심히 = hard. 공부했습니다 = studied.

그러나 = but/however. 아직도 = still. 시험 = test. 에 = locative particle. 떨어졌습니다 = failed.

그러나 is used often in written speech and is more formal than 하지만.