Sentences Using “But/However” Posted by Ginny on Mar 16, 2010
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…
Traditional Korean Weddings Posted by Ginny on Mar 13, 2010
Not all Korean families choose to have a traditional wedding ceremony. However the families that do decide to have a traditional wedding ceremony have a special service called 폐백. The groom (신랑) and the bride (신부) perform a deep bow to the groom’s family. There will be some kind of rice wine, normally a variety…
Using “And” Posted by Ginny on Mar 10, 2010
There are a couple of ways to conjoin nouns and sentences in Korean. One of the ways you can conjoin nouns is to use 과 or 와. 물과 밥만 필요해요 = I only need water and rice. (물 = water. 과 = and. 밥 = rice. 만 = only. 필요해요 = need) In the sentence…
르 Ending Words Posted by Ginny on Mar 7, 2010
For today’s lesson, we’ll explore 르 ending words. For some 르 ending words like 빠르다 (to be fast) the standard polite ending in the present tense will be 빨라요. To form this ending, drop the 다, add a ㄹ to the bottom of 빠 and add 라요. Try doing this with 모르다 (to not know) in…
The First Birthday Posted by Ginny on Mar 4, 2010
In Korea, certain birthdays are considered important milestones in a person’s life. One of the biggest birthday celebrations is called 돌. 돌 is a baby’s first birthday. This first birthday is important because it marks the likelihood of a child surviving into adulthood. Although it’s hardly the case today, infant mortality rates in Korea used to be high. As…
The Future Tense Posted by Ginny on Feb 28, 2010
We’ll be taking about the future tense today. Let’s look at the first sentence: 공부할 겁니다 = I will study. The construction ~을/를 겁니다 is what makes this future tense. 지금 먹을 겁니다 = I will eat now. This is the same construction as before, but slightly different. Here 을 겁니다 was used. When the…
Korean Paintings Posted by Ginny on Feb 25, 2010
The 조선 era (1392-1910) produced Korea’s finest painters. Let’s take a look at some of the most famous traditional Korean paintings and painters. This painting is called 인왕제색도 (仁王霽色圖) or “After the rain at Mt. Inwang”. The painter’s name is 정선. His paintings focus on capturing the majesty of the natural landscape, and are characterized by…