Archive for 'Grammar'
Expressing Events in the Future Posted by Ginny on Jun 11, 2010
To express probability, you can use the construction ~(으)ㄹ 거예요 : 다음 주에 시험이 있을 거예요 = Next week, there will probably be a test. (다음 = next. 주 = week. 에 = particle. 시험 = test. 이 = particle. 있을 거예요 = will probably be) The construction ~(으)ㄹ 거예요 doesn’t just express probability, it…
Vowel Contracting Verbs Posted by Ginny on May 8, 2010
There are some verbs that have vowel contracts when they are conjugated in the standard polite form. For example, 오다 (to come)is conjugated as 와요 in the standard polite form. There are lots of verbs that contain 오다 : 따라오다 – to follow along 들어오다 – to come in 데려오다 – to bring someone along And these…
The Progressive Posted by Ginny on Apr 29, 2010
In English, the present progressive is expressed by adding -ing. In Korean, the gerund is expressed by the construction ~고 있다. 변호사들이 서류를 준비하고 있어요 = The lawyers are preparing the documents (변호사 = lawyer. 들 = plural marker. 이 = subject marker. 서류 = document. 를 = object marker. 준비하고 있어요 = preparing) The…
Giving/Denying/Asking Permission Posted by Ginny on Apr 23, 2010
To ask for permission use a verb + 도 + 되다 with a rising intonation : 여기 앉아도 돼요? = Can I sit here? or Am I allowed to sit here? (여기 = here. 앉아 = sit. 도 돼요 = can I/am I allowed.) The verb used here was 앉다 or “to sit”. Since 앉다 uses an…
Should/Have To/Must Posted by Ginny on Apr 20, 2010
~어/아야 되다 can be used to express should/must/have : 도와야 돼요 = I have to/should/must help (verb is 돕다 = to help. This is a irregular ㅂ ending verb so it’ll change to 도와. 되다 will change to 돼요.) You can also use ~어/아야 하다 to express should/must/have : 우리 서둘러야 해요 = We must/should/have to hurry (우리 =…
Don’t Want To/Don’t like to/Hate… Posted by Ginny on Apr 14, 2010
In the previous post, we talked about expressing our desires. In this post, we’ll be talking about the opposite. 울고 싶지 않아요 = I don’t want to cry. As you can see in the example above, the grammatical construction for “don’t want to…” is ~고 싶지 않아요. The verb “to cry” is 울다, so to…
Expressing Desire Posted by Ginny on Apr 11, 2010
When expressing desire in the first person, use the construction ~고 싶다. 김치를 먹고 싶어요 = I want to eat kimchee. (김치 = kimchee. 를 = object marking particle. 먹고 싶어요 = want to eat) In the third person, use the construction ~고 싶어하다. 민지는 여행가고 싶어해요 = Minji wants to travel. (민지 = Minji. 는 =…