How to say “it is” in Korean Posted by Soo on Sep 22, 2014 in Uncategorized
Usually after you learned greeting in Korean, the next step would be asking something “what is (it)/뭐예요/meo ae yo.”
Through this question, you will memorize many kinds of words because you need to answer. I usually teach loan words first, so my students can get used to Korean sound value. For instance:
- it is a TV/티비예요/ti bi ae yo/
- it is a computer/컴퓨터예요/ceom pue ter ae yo
- it is a monitor/모니터예요/mo ni ter ae yo
Grammar point for 예요/이에요
Noun + 예요 is Noun to be: TV예요/it is TV.
You need to use 이에요 when there is ending consonant: it is a cup/컵이에요/cup e ae yo. “ㅂ” is ending consonant in cup/컵. So, you need to use 이에요 instead of 예요.
Let’s learn one more thing here: job/career is 직업/jic eop. 직업이 뭐예요?/what is your job/ jic eop e meo ae yo/.
경찰이에요/(I) am a police officer/kyung chal e ae yo/
회사원이에요/(I) am a company man/hae sa won e ae yo/
선생님이에요/(I) am a teacher/seon saeng nim e ae yo/
Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.