First, a few basics on Hangul (Don't worry!

You will be reading in Hangul perfectly

extremely soon!). Hangul is an alphabet, just like the Roman alphabet English speakers
use. The only two differences are Hangul blocks syllables, and there are no lowercase or
capitalize letters in Hangul. The letter is always written the same, no matter when it is
used.

Characters will be stacked into squares to form each syllable. For example ㅎ, ㅏ, and ㄴ
are three separate characters. But, as they would form one syllable, they would be written
한 instead of ㅎ ㅏ ㄴ.

ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ= 한
want another example?

ㄱ+ㅡ+ㄹ=글
We then combine syllables to form words, just as we do in English.

한 + 글 = 한글
Recognize that word? That's right! It's Hangul . It consists of han (한) and gul (글). Two
syllables. Six characters. As you begin to learn all the different characters, you will see
how to construct the syllables properly depending on which character you are using. Just
keep this one thing in mind. Every Korean word, syllable, anything...begins with a
consonant. A vowel will always follow it, either positioned to the right of it, or below it.
With each vowel, I will tell you where it should be positioned. Also, there will be 2,3, or
rarely 4 characters in a syllable. 한 is one way of stacking, having the vowel to the right
of the first consonant, with the third character under those two. 글 is the other main way
of stacking, where the vowel falls below the first consonant, with the third character
below the second. A third character will always fall on the bottom. You will never have
three characters in a row on the top. I cannot even type an example for you to see, it just
can't be done. Below is a table of the characters you will see.

ㅏ ㅓ
ㅣ ㅔ
ㅝ ㅘ
ㅢ ㅛ
ㅂ ㅈ
ㅁ ㄴ
ㅋ ㅌ
ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ
ㅐ ㅑ ㅕ
ㅞ ㅙ ㅟ
ㅠ ㅖ ㅒ
ㄷ ㄱ ㅅ
ㅇ ㄹ ㅎ
ㅊ ㅍ

Learn Hangul - 한글
For now, I think it's time to begin! Why not start with the characters that make up Hangul
.

The first character is

It has a couple variations. Generally, it is like an "h" sound. If it is at the beginning of a

word, it will sound like an "h". There will be more on this one in Lesson 2. Next comes...

This is a vowel, and it is an "a" sound, as in father. It pretty much never varies and
always has the same sound. Quite a simple character. This vowel will always be placed to
the right of the first consonant. It does not fall below the consonant.

is a character that usually sounds like an "n". It only has one irregular form, which is in
Lesson 2.

So far, we have a "h" sound, an "a" sound, and a "n" sound. Or, we have ㅎ, ㅏ, and ㄴ.
Together, these form the first half of Hangul, 한.

Now let's break down the second syllable.

This is a light "g" or "k" sound. Don't push the air too hard or try and make this sound too
heavy, it is a light sound. Don't emphasize the character. Especially at the end of a word,
this character is very light. At the end of a word, it is almost as if you don't say the
character.

This a little harder to explain. I think the best way to say it is, it sounds like the "oo" part
in "good".

Let me phrase this another way...

It is like a short 'u', said in the back of the mouth. It is almost like a grunt! Be sure you
don't actually grunt though when you say it :)

This vowel will always be placed below the first consonant. It does not fall to the right of
the consonant.
ㄹ

This character might be the most complicated character you run into! But I'll be honest,
you will have it down along with all the other characters before the week is over! Think
of it as either a light "l" sound, or a rolling "r" sound, depending on where it is. If it falls
between two vowels, it will most likely be a rolling "r" sound. If it is at the end of a
syllable, it will usually be a light "l" sound. It does not come at the beginning of a
syllable of any Korean word, but will be used at the beginning for borrowed words, like
loanwords. If that is the case, treat it as it needs to be in order to say the loanword
properly. This character is covered very well in Elementary Korean.

That's it! You now have learned 6 characters. You can now write

한글
and you can! You can write both in Hangul, and the word Hangul.

Now, do you remember what each of those characters is like? Let's provide a little
practice. Read these words to yourself, and try to not refer to the section above. You may
if you need to, but try first!

See Answers.

Learn Hangul - Common Characters

So, you feel like you are beginning to see how Korean and Hangul are? Are you ready for
more?

This is a common character. It will have a light "b" or "p" sound. 바 pa 밥 bap. 반 ban.
At the end of a word, it will have a very light, almost unheard sound.
ㅁ

This is a very easy character. It sounds just like an "m" sound. As simple as that. What do
you think 마 would sound like? If you said ma, that's right!

I think you are ready for a very commonly used character. It has two sounds. One sound,
is no sound! It makes no sound at all when it is the first consonant in the syllable. It is as
simple as that. It is more like a place holder since all Korean syllables must start with a
consonant. When it falls at the end of a syllable, it sounds like a light "ng" sound in
"running". It is that ng sound in the back of your throat, but do not emphasis the "g" part
of it. So the two sounds? No sound at the beginning of a syllable, "ng" sound at the end.
Simple.

Let's learn two more, and then have a little practice.

This is an "o" sound. It is hard to explain, but try this. Say the letter O. Make it really
really long and say it slow. Notice where your mouth starts to close in? This sound is the
sound before that. The beginning of the O sound.

Let's look at this in a different way...

Shape your mouth as if you were to say the 'o' in 'go'. Now make a sound like aw, as in
awe, pawl, bawl, and law.

This vowel will always be placed to the right of the first consonant, never underneath.

This is another "o" sound. They sound very similar. The best I can do is say this may be
more like the other side of saying O, as with the experiment before. The part toward the
end in O is more like this.

Or, think of it this way. ㅗ is like the 'o' in go, row, bow, and low.

They are very similar. Some people will be able to hear the difference if they have a good
ear. Many non native speakers have the problem hearing the difference though at first.

So, for those who cannot hear the difference, When spelling and learning Korean, try to
think of these are learning to spell. In English you can't always know how to spell a word,
you must learn it properly. It is the same way in Korean. When words with an O sound
comes up, just learn how it is spelled and leave it at that because they sound so similar.
This vowel will always appear underneath the first consonant, never to the right of it.

Let's try a few more practice words to read. So far we have covered (in order): ㅎ, ㅏ, ㄴ,
ㄱ, ㅡ, ㄹ, ㅂ, ㅁ, ㅇ, ㅓ, ㅗ

남안

만방

See Answers.

Go back and review the characters you have learned now. Here is a list of them. If you
know what has been said about each so far, move on! ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅇ, ㄴ, ㅏ, ㅎ, ㅗ, ㅓ, ㄱ,
ㄹ, ㅡ.

This one is easy. it is the "ou" part in you. Simple as that. "oo" in boot. This vowel
always falls below the first consonant, never to the right. *Notice a pattern with
placement of vowels? One vowel consisting of a horizontal line will be placed
underneath the consonant, while vowels consisting of a vertical line will be placed to the
right. Don't believe me? Go back and check!*

This character is easy as well. It is the "ee" sound in meet. An example using it would be
미. That sounds just like saying "me" in English. You can guess where it is placed...Go
ahead and try! This vowel is placed to the right of the first consonant, never underneath.
ㅐ

This vowel sounds like ea in bear. The vowels are all easy if you just memorize them,
and do not ever sound irregular (When could they?!?). This vowel always appears to the
right of the first consonant, never underneath .

This one is pretty similar to the one above. It sounds like the e in yes. The e in met. This
vowel always appears to the right of the first consonant, never underneath.

Learn Hangul - More On Vowels

You have now covered all the basic vowels. There are two more things you can learn
about vowels, and then you know all vowels and everything about them. And these next
two things are simple.

You will see vowels like ㅠ, ㅑ,ㅛ,ㅕ,ㅖ ,ㅒ etc. Notice how instead of one short line,
there are two? This means that before the vowel sound, there is a y like sound. I will give
two examples.

This sounds like saying "you" in English.

This sounds like saying Ya in English. All the teenagers should know it from the song
Hey Ya! by Outkast. It played all the time.

All other vowels follow the same pattern.

Next, you will see vowels combined to form a new vowel sound, such as ㅘ, ㅝ, ㅢ, ㅟ.
You just run the vowels together into one sound. The vowel on the left (long horizontal
line) comes first. Here are a couple examples.

This sounds like wa in water.

This sounds just like the French oui. It is more or less like wee.

ㅢ
I have chosen to include this one for a special reason. It works just like the others, except
if it comes after a consonant, you only hear ㅣ and not the other part. It is just how it
sounds when spoken. At the beginning of a syllable, you do run the two together
however.

Speaking of mixing these with consonants. Let's just take a look at a couple and it will
explain itself on how to write them.

The first consonant is written in the top left. Any consonant that comes after the vowel
sound comes at the bottom.

You are now a master at vowels. You also know a few of the consonants in Korean as
well. Let's finish up the rest of the consonants.

Learn Hangul - More Consonants

This is a consonant that sounds like an s in English. It is a very light s and isn't stressed or
anything. Also, before the Korean vowel ㅣ, like 시, it is usually pronounced like an sh,
or for this example, shee. At the end of a word or before a syllable that begins with a
vowel or consonant other than ㅅ, it ends with a light d sound. You will find many
consonants sound like a light d sound if they are at the end of a word.

Speaking of light d sounds, here it is. This is a light d or t sound. 맏 sounds like mat, with
a very light t sound at the end. So does 맛 however. See what I mean by ㅅ sounding like
a light d sound at the end? 맛 is not mas. It is mat.

This is a light j sound in between vowels. At the beginning of the word, it is often heard
as a "ch" sound instead. At the end of a word, it sounds just like an ㅅ and a ㄷ.
Are you excited? There are only four more consonants left, and you know Hangul! But
first, let's make sure we know what we have covered so far. We have covered A LOT!
Better put, we have covered ㅂ,ㅈ,ㄷ,ㄱ,ㅅ,ㅛ,ㅕ,ㅑ,ㅐ,ㅔ,ㅁ,ㄴ,ㅇ,ㄹ,ㅎ,ㅗ,ㅓ,ㅏ,ㅣ,
ㅠ,ㅜ,ㅡ. That is actually in order of the keyboard. ^-^

줘요

자다

식당

밥을

불고기

나무

어디

먹어요

어디 가?

하나

공원

안녕하세요!

Also, let's try one of these on for size. Most likely you won't understand it, but you can
try and pronounce it!

한국말을 알아요? 한국말을 사랑해!

See Answers.

Learn Hangul - Aspirated Consonants

Here are the final four! These four are aspirated sounds. If you don't know what that
means, they basically are said with more of a puff of air. Also, try to see if you can catch
something in common with all of these in relationship to their similar consonant sounds.
ㅋ

this is like kha. It is similar to the ㄱ sound, except is said with more air. More towards a
K sound.

This is a t sound, much like ㄷ, except said with more air to it!

This is a cha sound. Always. It is similar to the ㅈ sound, except said with more air to it.
Always a cha sound, never a j sound ( ㅈ sounds like a j between vowels,ㅊ sounds like a
cha between vowels.)

This is the last consonant, and last character you will learn in Hangul! It has an airy P
sound to it. Similar to ㅂ but with more air.

Did you catch what is in common in them all? They all look very similar to the other
consonants that sound similar! The only thing is, each contains an extra little line
somewhere. The only one that doesn't fit perfectly with this is ㅍ and ㅂ. Look at them
and compare them.

ㅊ-ㅈ
ㅌ-ㄷ
ㅋ-ㄱ
ㅍ-ㅂ
If you are lucky enough to own Rosetta Stone Korean Level 1 then you will easily be
able to hear the differences between the similar characters. It is often difficult at first but
eventually you will be able to hear the subtle differences.

Learn Hangul - List Of Characters

Here is a list of all the characters. Vowels are written first, followed by consonants.

ㅓ
ㅗ

ㅅ
ㅁ

One more note, you will see some consonants doubled up. You can consider these
seperate characters if you wish, or just think of them as being stronger with more voice to
them. These are ㅃ,ㅉ,ㄸ,ㄲ,ㅆ.

Let's practice one more time.

어디 있어요?

거기 있어요!

뭐 먹어요?

밥을 먹어요.

한국말을 재미 있어요?

네! 한국말을 참 재미 있어요!

슬퍼요 :(

배가 고파요.

Then you're ready for Lesson 2! This lesson will cover all the Hangul irregularities. Once
you know the characters and the times they are irregular, you can read any Hangul and
read it perfectly. Korean is more simple when it comes to reading than English is.
Sometimes in English you can read it 5 times and still not know how to say the word
correctly. This is not the case with Korean. So, enough talk. Let's get started.

The first irregular pattern has already been mentioned in Lesson One.

ㄱ, ㅂ, ㄷ
These three characters are your three main basic consonants. At the end of a word or
before a consonant, many other characters will be simplified to sound just like these.
Here is what I mean:

ㅋ, ㄲ
both of these characters will sound like ㄱ before another consonant or at the end of a
word. But for this example, that isn't so much of a difference. How about this one
though?

ㅈ, ㅅ, ㅆ,ㅉ, ㅊ
Now, all of these will sound like ㄷ before another consonant or at the end of a word.
That makes more of a difference. Even though ㅅ gives an s sound normally, it will
sound like a d or t if it occurs before another consonant or at the end of a word. If it
occurs before a vowel, it will sound like an s.

ㅃㅍ
These will sound like ㅂ. See a pattern? ㅂ, ㅃ, and ㅍ are all made by closing your lips.
Notice the pattern in the two sets above? One includes characters that are made in the
back of the throat, while the other includes characters that are made with the tongue
behind the teeth on the roof of the mouth. If you remember this pattern, you should not
forget which characters end with a ㄱ, ㅂ, or ㄷ sound. Now, how about some real
examples.

맛 mat
맛은 mas-un
앞 ap
앞에 ap-e (with more air on the p)
꽃 Goht
꽃이 Gohch-ee
Keep in mind, if a syllable begins with the Hangul character ㅇ following these rules, we
treat it as if the syllable begins with a vowel (since it is unheard). So, a better way to put
it would be if the character comes before another consonant sound or at the end of a
word, then it will be reduced to one of the three basic consonants. This is the first
irregular to keep in mind. After the second irregularity, there will be some time to
practice a little bit before continuing.

The second Irregularity

The second irregularity involves changing the sound of a few characters if it comes
before certain other characters. The main thing to watch for is the second character. There
are two of them and they are both consonants. They are

ㅁ, ㄴ
These two characters are known as nasal sounds. Basically, the reason for this irregularity
is it makes the words flow better. If ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ any of the "throat" sounds occur before
one of these two consonants, it will change to an "ng" sound, as if it was the consonant
ㅇ. Notice why it changes to that? That is a throat sound as well, and let's the word flow
better. In writing it will keep the original spelling, but when spoken it will reflect the
change.

ㅂ, ㅃ, ㅍ any of the sounds made by closing your lips will change to the ㅁ sound
before either of these two consonants. Notice how saying 함니다 flows a lot better than
saying 합니다? It just flows better, as with the above case. ㅁ is also made by closing the
lips.

The last cases are all the sounds made by placing the tip of the tongue on the roof of the
mouth. ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ, ㄷ, ㄸ get the picture? These will change to the ㄴ sound
before an ㅁ or an ㄴ. ㄴ is also made with the tongue in a similar position. here are
some examples.

합니다 - This is pronounced hamnida, as opposed to hapnida.

학년 - this is pronounced hang-nyon, as opposed to hak-nyon
먹네 - This is pronounced mong-ne, as opposed to mok-ne
있는 - This is pronounced ee-nun, as opposed to eet-nun (notice the t at the end? That
would be the case following irregularity rule number one, but because it comes before ㄴ,
it sounds like an ㄴ).
These two rules are the main two irregularities you will run into. Most other irregularities
are much smaller, and not as common. They tend to be specific to a single character, and
not a group of characters.

The next irregularity deals with the character

ㄹ This character has a few irregular forms that you will see. I personally believe if you
know irregular forms above this, you will be able to pronounce most anything reasonably
well.

If ㄹ is between vowel sounds, it will sound like a rolling "r" like in spanish or japanese.
If this makes it difficult for you like that, just think of it sounding like a quick d or t
sound. It is not the long rolling "r" sound you hear in spanish, just a short one click of the
tongue.

At the end of a syllable before a consonant ( excluding ㅇ then it will usually sound like
a light "l" sound. Both of these were mentioned in the previous lesson.

Irregularities deal with when is falls next to certain characters. It will only begin a word if
it is a loanword, in which case it will sound like the loanword. But it sometimes (rarely)
will be the first consonant after another syllable ending in a consonant, such as 정로.
When this is the case, it will sound like ㄴ. 정로 is pronounced chongno.

The second irregularity is if it is at the end/beginning of a syllable, and the other

consonant it lies next to (end/beginning, whichever the ㄹ is not) is a ㄹ or an ㄴ. If it is
an ㄹ, then it will be an "l" sound, like usual. But, if it is next to an ㄴ, as in 일년, it will
still make an "l" sound. 일년 is pronounced eel-lyon, not eel-nyon. Try saying it both
ways, you will see that eel-lyon flows a lot better.

ㅌ This character has one irregular form. It is simple as well. If ㅌ comes before 이, it is
pronounced as if it were ㅊ, meaning with a "ch" sound. 같이 is pronounced ga-chee, not
gat-ee.

ㅎ This is the final irregular form you will learn. Whenever this falls next to
(end/beginning syllable combination) a sound such as ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅈ, or ㅂ, you will usually
not hear the ㅎ sound and the ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅈ, or ㅂ sound will sound more like ㅋ,ㅌ,ㅊ,or ㅍ
with more air. Some words in this situation are 놓다, 좋다, 괜찮다.

Korean verbs are extremely important. Verbs in Korean sentences are the most important
part of the sentence. In fact, it is the only part you need for the sentence to be complete.
Korean, unlike English, does not mention the subject of the sentence if it can be assumed
from context. For example, in English, one might ask "Are you hungry?" In Korean, if
someone could just ask "Hungry?" and people knew who they were referring to, then it is
perfectly fine to leave off the "you." You may hear this in English as well, but it is not
considered grammatically correct. It is considered grammatically correct in Korean!

So, to sum up that paragraph, the verb is the only needed part in a Korean sentence.
Everything else is extra.

Now I know you are eager to start learning verbs and looking them up in the dictionaries,
but we must cover one important piece of grammar first. Korean verbs can take many
different forms, depending on who you are talking to. Korean still has social status
literally integrated into the language itself. The verb "to be" when speaking to an older
person or teacher will be slightly different than "to be" when speaking to your best friend.
Most Korean verbs have the same root, regardless of who you are talking to, but you will
change the ending of the verb depending on who you are speaking with.

먹다 is the dictionary form of the verb "to eat." The dictionary form consists of the verb
root, 먹 in this example, and the 다 ending. Go ahead, look up a few of your favorite
verbs here or even better, grab yourself a copy of Declan's Korean Flashcards (contains
over 3600 words with audio, arranged in vocabulary sets) to start building a strong
foundation of Korean verbs. You will see all forms they list end in 다. If you remove the
다 ending, you will be left with the verb root. The verb root of 먹다 is 먹. The verb root
by itself has no meaning. You must remove the 다 ending and replace it with a different
ending depending on what you want to say and who you want to say it to.

In my mind, I see three different, very distinct endings for speaking and writing. Formal
, Polite , and Casual .

Formal Ending ㅂ니다 / 습니다

Polite Ending 어요 / 아요
Casual Ending 어/아

For now, we will focus on the two most common styles of verbs you will use, polite and
casual. As you can see above, there are also two different endings for both polite and
casual speech. The way you decide which ending to choose is based on the verb root. If
the last vowel in the verb root is ㅗ or ㅏ then you choose the 아요 (polite) or 아
(casual) ending. If the last vowel in the verb root is anything other than ㅗ or ㅏ, then
you choose the 어요 (polite) or 어 (casual) ending. Look at the following chart of
commonly used verbs and compare the verb root to the ending to get a better
understanding of this. I will refer to the Formal ending section next.

English Verb Root Dictionary Form Polite Ending Casual Ending Formal Ending
To Have 있 있다 있어요 있어 있습니다
To Be Good 좋 좋다 좋아요 좋아 좋습니다
To Go 가 가다 가요 가 갑니다
To Not Have 없 없다 없어요 없어 없습니다
To Do 하 하다 해요 해 합니다

Let's look at a couple. 있다 means "to have." 있 is the verb root. The last vowel in 있 is
ㅣ. Since this is not ㅗ or ㅏ then we know to choose the 어요/어 endings depending on
whether we will need to be polite or if it is casual speech.

없다 (~업다) has a verb root of 없. The final vowel in this root is ㅓ, so we need to
choose the 어요/어 endings.

If you look at 좋다, this has a verb root of 좋 with a final vowel of ㅗ. So, since that is
ㅗ or ㅏ, it must take the 아요/아 ending. Understand the general pattern?

Irregular Verb Patterns

Now, as you can see in the chart, there will be some situations that do not follow this
exactly. 가다 means "to go". If you remove the 다 to get the verb root you are left with
가. Following this pattern, you would add 아요/아 to the verb root, and get something
like 가아요. The real way is just 가요. It has been shortened because otherwise we just
say two of the same vowel in a row. Since that is a waste of time and breath, it is simply
가요 or 가.

The final verb is the chart above is 하다. This is a very common verb in any language.
This one verb is irregular all on it's own. It doesn't follow a pattern, and you just need to
memorize the case. It shouldn't be too hard because you will see this all over the place. 하
다 has a root of 하. The polite form is 해요 and the casual form is 해. Just take a few
minutes right now to memorize this and then you will never have to worry about it again.

Done? Ok, let's move on. Below is a table of irregular verbs that follow a pattern. Briefly
look over the table and then continue on.

English Verb Root Dictionary Form Polite Ending Casual Ending

To Drink 마시 마시다 마셔요 마셔
To Meet 만나 만나다 만나요 만나
To Come 오 오다 와요 와
To Be Busy 바쁘 바쁘다 바빠요 바빠
To Not Know 모르 모르다 몰라요 몰라
To Be Hot 덥 덥다 더워요 더워

The first one is "To Drink" or 마시다. If we remove the dictionary 다 ending, we are left
with 마시. Following normal patterns for the polite form, we would have 마시어요. To
make it easier and sound better, the real polite form is 마셔요. Any verb root that ends in
ㅣ will naturally take the 어요/어 endings, and we shorten ㅣ+ 어 to ㅕ. Other verb
examples that take this pattern are 가르치다 - 가르쳐요, 기다리다 - 기다려요, 치다 -
쳐요.

Next we meet 만나다 (get it?). This one should be easy. We already went over it with 가
다. Since the verb root ends in 아, we shorten 만나아요 to 만나요. Also, keep in mind
this pattern works with verb roots that end in ㅓ as well.

If it ends in ㅓ it would naturally take the 어요 ending. This would be a double vowel
sound so we just shorten it the same way. Other verb examples that take this pattern are
가다 - 가요, 사다 - 사요, 서다 - 서요.

Next, we come to 오다 (ok, I will really stop now, I promise!). The verb root is 오. This
would naturally take the 아요 ending, making 오아요. Wouldn't it be much easier to
combine the ㅗ and the ㅏ into ㅘ? It sure sounds better and smoother. That is exactly
what we do. Whenever a verb root ends in ㅗ, it will naturally take the 아요 ending and
because all of you will know this lesson, you will naturally combine the ㅗ and the 아요
to 와요. Other verb examples that take this pattern are 갔다오다 - 갔다와요, 나오다 -
나와요.

Next, we have 바쁘다. The verb root is 바쁘. Following normal verb patterns we would
figure the polite form would be 바쁘아요. Try and say that. Now, try and say 바빠요.
That is the correct way. When a verb root ends in ㅡ, we drop the ㅡ, look at the last
vowel in the root that is left (not including the ㅡ) and add the appropriate ending. For
this example, the last vowel would be ㅏ. So, when we drop the ㅡ and add the 아요
ending, we get 바빠요. Other verb examples that follow this pattern are 나쁘다 - 나빠
요, 예쁘다 - 예뻐요,쓰다 - 써요.

The next verb is 모르다. The verb root is 모르. You might be thinking, that ends in ㅡ so
wouldn't it follow the above irregular pattern, and become 모라요? Indeed, it would,
except Koreans have decided if a verb root ends in 르 (not just ㅡ), then we will double
up the ㄹ by adding a second ㄹ to the end of the syllable before the 르. And then we
drop the ㅡ. 몰라요. We added a ㄹ to 모 and got 몰. We dropped the ㅡ and got 라요.
Together, we have 몰라요. Other verb examples using this pattern are 자르다 - 잘라요,
부르다 - 불러요, 빠르다 - 빨라요.

The final verb in the verb chart above is 덥다. You should definitely be good with verb
roots by now and instantly know it is 덥. Now, with this irregular pattern, you must
remember two things. Often, when a verb root ends in ㅂ, you should drop the ㅂ and
add 우. After that, you move to the second step. If it ends in 우, when we pick a style
such as polite style, it should naturally take the 어요 ending. This is another pattern
where we combine two characters to make it smoother. 우 and ㅓ combine into 워. We
get 더워요 in the end. Other verb examples that follow this pattern are 어렵다 - 어려워
요, 즐겁다 - 즐거워요.

Now you should know the verb patterns you will run into. You can take a verb out of a
dictionary such as Declan's Korean Dictionary, find the root, and put it in either casual
language or polite language. But you may still be wondering what exactly that means! Is
polite language simply the same thing as if you were to be polite in English?

Similar, yes...but not the same. If you want to think of it as the same, then you should just
remember to be polite to everyone in Korea or when speaking Korean. Here is the thing,
since Korean is still a language with social status still built into the actual language, you
must be polite with your speech or you will be considered very rude. You should use the
polite style with anyone older than you, above you, new to you. A teacher, a parent, a
stranger, pretty much everyone except your closest friends! You may use casual
language when speaking to someone younger than yourself, your close friends, and your
brothers and sisters. Any other time would be considered rude. So, based on this, choose
which to use wisely. If you are talking to an adult and they are using casual verbs, that is
because you are younger. This does not mean you should use the same verbs when
speaking to them. You should be polite. This means that each of you will add different
endings to the verbs.

Now that you can take a verb from the dictionary, find the root, make it into a casual or
polite verb, and actually know whether it should be a casual or polite verb, you are ready
to actually use some.

Remember how in Korean verbs can be used all alone and the sentence will be
grammatically correct? Let's see some examples. If we were to say 먹어요, what exactly
are we saying? We know it is a polite way, and it means "to eat" (don't worry if you
haven't memorized the verbs yet. You will be sent to the homework page shortly to do
some memorization). But do we know what we are saying when we say 먹어요 to
someone? Well, it depends :). You could be saying "I'm eating." Or, you could be saying
"you're eating". You could be saying "eat." If someone said "What do you want to do?"
You could reply 먹어요. In Korean you can use the verbs in a much more general
manner than in English. Later we will see how to add words such as "I" or "You" if
necessary to clear up the meaning of a sentence.

Another example could be 좋다. This means To Be Good. If someone asks you how is
something, you can say 좋아요! Like, "Are my new shoes ok? Do you like them? How
are they?" "좋아요!". Or, if you are having a casual conversation about something with
your friend, and they say something and in English you would just give the reply "Good!"
or something, you can just say 좋아!(remember, it's a conversation with your friend).
This whole concept about the verbs being so general is hard to learn at first. Just try your
best! Casual verbs can have even more meanings than other forms! If you say 가 you
could be saying I'm going, you're going, someone's going, let's go, are we going?, etc. A
lot of Korean is about what can be assumed. If it can be assumed, there is no need to say
it in the language. One of the most recommended Korean language products, Rosetta
Stone Korean Level 1, makes learning this part a breeze. This wraps up the intro to
Korean verbs! It's time for you to memorize a few, and to go back and make sure you
know the patterns covered on this page. There will definitely be more to come on verbs
later

Beginners Lesson Four is all about those verbs in Korean that are just plain weird.
Irregular verbs in Korean are actually not too bad though! In Beginners Lesson Three,
you were introduced to Korean verbs and the irregular verb patterns . The verbs on this
page are different. These verbs are commonly used verbs, but either have more than one
meaning, are used weird, etc. instead of being irregular patterns . You will see what I
mean, right now!

Verb - Polite Style 이다

The first irregular verb that I need to cover here is definitely what many books and
courses will call the copula . Basically, it is the verb of equality. Equality? What is
that?!? In English, we may say "It is a book." "It" is equal to "book". It is pretty much the
verb "to be." If you look in a dictionary, you will see

이다
The verb root is 이. This verb will follow it's own pattern however. It doesn't fit any
pattern and just needs to be learned. The polite form will be 이에요 if it comes after a
consonant, or 예요 if it comes after a vowel. You will also see it spelled 에요 after a
vowel. When spoken, it will sound more like 에요 after a vowel. Let's practice with a
sentence. We will use the same sentence as the example in English. Book in Korean is

책
Since 책 ends in a consonant, we should use the polite ending 이에요. With most normal
verbs, there is a space between the verb and any other words, but the copula is a special
case. There is no space in between the two words. Also, in Korean sentence structure is
different. I feel the best way for you to understand it and get used to it is just to see it.
The verb falls at the end of the sentence always . Other words fall before the verb. So,
since our verb of "to be" is 이에요, that will fall at the end. There is no space between 이
에요 and the word it is describing, so, our sentence comes out to be

책이에요
As you see, this is like "book-to be". The structure is different, but you will get used to it
as you see more and more of it. 책이에요 means "It is a book." Let's see a couple more
examples. Remember, you don't need to remember every noun you see yet. Memorize
what you find on the homework page.

연필
연필 means pencil. It ends in ㄹ which is also a consonant. If we combine this with the
polite ending and keep the correct word order, we get 연필이에요, meaning "It is a
pencil."

차
차 means car. It ends in ㅏ which is a vowel. Because it ends in a vowel, the correct
spelling of 이다 would be 예요. The sentence would be 차예요, meaning "It is a car."

Do you understand it a little better now? If so, then let's look at this, and then there will
be some practice problems.

Verb - Casual Style 이다

Many resources choose to teach you mostly one style first, usually polite style, and then
much later return to teach you the other commonly used style. I feel it is best to teach you
them both from the start, because they both are very important if you plan on learning
Korean well. If we put off one, you will not be as strong with it. If we teach both, you
will learn at a slower pace at first, but will learn faster later on and the whole time you
will be learning more efficiently. So, here it is!

이다 has two polite forms, depending on whether it follows a consonant or vowel, and so
does the casual form.

If 이다 follows a consonant, it is spelled 이야.

If 이다 follows a vowel, it is spelled 야.

Lets use the same three examples as above so that you may compare the two forms. The
first one used the word 책, or book, in the example. The polite style was 책이에요. Since
책 ends in ㄱ, a consonant, the casual style form should be 이야. If we put this with 책,
we get 책이야. 책이야 and 책이에요 mean the exact same thing! The only difference is
who we are speaking with. As previous lessons covered, if we speak with someone older
or a teacher or anyone who deserves more respect, we would use the polite form 책이에
요. If we are speaking with our close friends, we can just use 책이야. That is the only
difference! It is something you will get used to as you learn Korean.
The second example sentence was 연필이에요, meaning "It is a pencil." This ends in ㄹ,
a consonant, so we will add 이야 to this one as well. 연필이야 is correct. 연필이야 and
연필이에요 also mean the same thing, and are only different because of who we may be
speaking to.

차예요 was the final example sentence. 차 ends in a vowel, so we only add 야 instead of
이야. When we form the new sentence, we get 차야. As you can guess, this is equal to 차
예요.

I think you probably understand this pretty well by now and are ready to take on anything
like this! Here are a few practice problems. If you can get these, then you know the
irregular verb 이다 and are one step closer to knowing Korean!

How do you say, "It is a ____"?

기차
펜
사람
것
치약
전화

This also works for people and their names, as in "It's Joe" or if you were referring to
yourself. In the next lesson we will see how to specify who we are referring to.

앤나
마이클

See Answers Here

Verb - 있다

있다 - Root is 있, Polite style is 있어요, Casual style is 있어. Meaning - To have or To

be (location).

있다 is a special verb because it has a couple of different meanings. I feel it is a verb

worth mentioning because it is an extremely common verb. Let's look at the two
meanings you will see.

To Have

This is a very common verb in all languages. "I have chicken." "I have a car." "Do you
have a car?" All of these deal with possesion of something. So does 있다. We could say
차 있어요 to mean "I have a car" or "she has a car". Remember, in Korean the subject
may be left out if it can be assumed. If it cannot be, it will be added in, which you will
learn soon. This is a fairly simple verb when looking at it from this position, and is easy
to understand with this meaning alone. 연필 있어요 could mean "I have a pencil." In
written Korean, you can turn this statement into a question asking "Do you have a
pencil?" by simply adding a question mark on the end. 연필 있어요? In spoken Korean,
it is the tone of your voice that determines this. Nothing else in the sentence changes.

To Be (Location)

있다 can also mean To Be, when used for location. For example, using the same
sentence, 연필 있어요? could also mean "Is there a pencil?" For this sentence as it is, it
pretty much means the same thing. You are wanting a pencil and are asking if there is one
or if they have one or whichever. Later, you will see the difference easier as we learn
how to make our sentences longer and more complex. If we said "(In the room) 연필 있
어요?" then we can automatically assume it is talking about location. If we say "(Anna)
연필 있어요?" Then we can automatically assume we are talking about possession.

Try the following practice problems. They should not be difficult, but should help you to
see more examples of the use of 있다.

Anna 차 있어요?
At-Home 의자 있어요?
2 Blocks away 있어요.

See Answers Here

I think this is the perfect place to stop for now. Also, if you would review and memorize
this section on the homework page, it will be of great help to you! It will contain a few
basic nouns that I will use often in examples and problems. Once the word has appeared
on a homework page, I will not always include the English word next to it. You may
always go back and look at anything you need to, and may print whatever you need :)
(Homework pages especially!)

Study/Print the Homework Page

Verb - 하다

하다 - root is 하, Polite style is 해요, casual style is 해. Meaning - To Do.

하다 has an irregular spelling when used as you learned in Lesson Three. Keep in mind it
is 해요 and not 하요. This verb is not as irregular as with 있다 and 이다, but I would
still like to briefly talk about it.

하다 is a verb you will soon know perfectly, as you will see it forms many other verbs.
What I mean by this is, many Korean verbs are simply formed by taking a word and
simply adding 하다 on the end of it. The verb "To Make a Phone Call" is made by
sticking the word for "phone" and the verb 하다 (To Do) together. Phone is 전화. The
verb "To Make a Phone Call" is 전화하다.

Shower is 샤워. "To Shower" is simply 샤워하다.

Homework is 숙제. "To Do Homework" is 숙제하다.

This is why you will see this verb a lot. Many verbs are formed using it. When you
conjugate them, it is done the same as 하다. 전화해요, 숙제해요, etc. You will have no
problem with 하다

Particles - Endings attached to words to specify what significance the word has in the
sentence. The particle is attached to the end of the word, without a space in between the
word and the particle.

Subject Particle

One of the first and most common particles you will run into is the subject particle. In
English, one of the most basic parts of a sentence is the subject. It is a required part in
English, but is not required in Korean. The subject tells us who or what is doing the
action.

As you learned in Lesson Three, 먹다 means To Eat. You also learned that you could say
먹어요 to mean "I'm eating." Up until now though, we haven't learned how to specify
who or what is the subject if we need to for clarification.

The subject particle has two forms. 이 and 가. 이 comes after a word ending in a
consonant, and 가 comes after a word ending in a vowel.

For example, let's say Eunji is eating. 은지 ends in a vowel, so we attach 가 and get 은지
가. 은지가 means Eunji, as the subject of the sentence. The 가 is what makes Eunji the
subject. Then, we can simply add the verb 먹다 in the proper present tense form, and we
have our sentence. 은지가 먹어요 in the polite form, 은지가 먹어 or simply 은지 먹
어. Eunji is eating. As you will notice, when speaking in the casual form, particles are
commonly left off.
In Lesson Four, we learned the irregular verb 있다. 있다 can mean To Be, as in location.
There is a pencil. From Lesson Four, you should have memorized 연필 means pencil. 연
필이 means pencil, as the subject. 연필이 있어요 means "There is a pencil (there, as in
location)." 연필이에요 means "It is a pencil." Be sure to keep 이다 and 있다 separate
when it comes to the verb To Be.

Say "There is (a) _____" by filling in the blank with the words below, using the correct
subject particle.

책
연필
책상
개
고양이
텔레비전
우유

See Answers Here

Object Particle

Another very common particle is the object particle. This states which word in the
sentence is the object of the sentence, or the word receiving the action. It has two forms
as well. 을 after a word ending in a consonant, and 를 after a word ending in a vowel.

In Lesson Three you were asked to learn the verb 마시다, To Drink. You should be able
to say "I drink" or "I'm drinking" but you haven't been able to specify what it is you are
drinking. You specify this using an object particle. 우유 means milk. If you attach the
proper object particle to it, you get 우유를 . You can then say 우유를 마셔요. In Lesson
Four you learned 물 means water. Now you should know that 물을 마셔요 means "I'm
drinking water." or "I drink water." Now, try these sentences.

앤나가 물을 마셔요.

남이 빵을 먹어요.

친구가 가요.

See Answers Here

Location Particle

You know the verb 가다 from Lesson Three, so you know how to say you're going or
someone is going, but knowing how to say where it is you are going is very important!
This is very simple! 에. It takes the same form no matter what word it comes after. 집에
가요. You should know this! "I'm going home." 학교에 가요. If I told you 학교 was
school, you would know this too :) .

One other location particle that I want to tell you about right now is 에서. When you add
the 서 on the end, it then turns into a place where the action is happening. 학교에서
doesn't mean "to school" anymore. It means the action is happening at school . 앤나가
집에서 먹어요 means "Anna is eating at home." 학교에서 공부해요 means "I am
studying at school."

Topic Particle

The topic particle may be the most common particle you will run into. It also has two
forms. 는 after a vowel, and 은 after a consonant. Keep in mind it will replace the
subject or object particle if it is attached to a word that would otherwise have a subject or
object particle attached, but it will fall after any other particle. It is also one of the most
difficult particles to learn when you begin to study Korean. I will keep it simple, and you
will do just fine. It does exactly what it is called. It sets the word or words before it as the
topic of the sentence...what the sentence is all about. You can take any part of a sentence
and make it the topic, except for the verb of course. Say you have a simple sentence
saying "Joe is eating bread at his house." You can make Joe the topic, meaning the
sentence is about Joe, and we are saying what he is doing and where. If we like, we may
decide bread should be the topic, in which case the rest of the sentence will tell us who
and where is eating the bread. Or, if we are talking about "at home", we may want to
make "at home" the topic. In this case, we are saying what is going on at home. Joe is
eating bread.

Often when you begin to learn Korean, you will be confused about when to use the
subject particle vs. the object particle. As you learned above, 은지가 먹어요 means
Eunji is eating. But...은지는 먹어요 also would mean Eunji is eating. In one case, Eunji
is simply the subject of the sentence. In the second case, Eunji is the topic of the
sentence. Very similar. Honestly, it usually won't make much of a difference. Both are
right :) . Now for a few examples in Korean.

나는 집에 가요. 나 still means "I". This sentence simply says "I am going home." But if
it helps you understand the topic particle better, think of it as "Speaking about me, going
home." Another example could be 학교에서는 앤나가 수학을 공부해요. This sentence
is a little longer, but if you knew all the nouns and verbs, you could understand it just fine
:) . 수학 is math. 학교 is school. 공부하다 is to study. This sentence says "Speaking
about what is going on at school, Anna is studying math."
This is why my lessons are so grammar heavy at first. If you know the grammar, you can
understand any sentence with the use of a dictionary. If you do not know the grammar
your chances of understanding the sentence are much smaller, and a dictionary won't help
much. I will begin to introduce larger amounts of vocabulary words, but I just ask that
you stick through the grammar until then :) . I promise it will be worth it.

This is a great place to take a break in this lesson. If you memorize the first section on the
homework page tonight, then I say you've learned plenty for the day. You can always
come back and study some more, or go ahead if you like! Keep your own pace, but this is
simply where I will put a stopping point.

Study/Print the homework page

로 / 으로

The particle 로 is commonly used to mean "by means of." It will fall after a noun, and
take the form 로 after vowels and a word that ends in the consonant ㄹ, but will take the
form 으로 if it falls after any other consonant.

차로 가요 means To go by car. You are expressing which means of transportation you

will be using. 기차로 갑시다 is a sentence saying Let's Go by train. It is not only used
for means of transportation though. It can be used for anything to mean "by means of." 연
필로 쓰세요 means Please write with a pencil, or please write by means of a pencil.

까지

까지 is a particle you stick onto nominals of place or time. It means "All the way up to."
As in, I'm going all the way to China, 중국까지 가요. I'm going (as far as) China. You
can use it to say a destination you will go to, and meaning thats how far you will go. It is
found in the question 어디까지 갈까요? How far should we go?

If you have completed lessons 1-5, you are now ready to start learning household terms.
It is mainly a bunch of vocabulary words...I know, that doesn't sound fun, but it's part of
the language! One of the hardest things about learning any language is just building a
large enough vocabulary.

Luckily for you, this lesson will be full of items commonly found around the house. You
will see them frequently, so whenever you do, think of the Korean word, not the English
word. This is the best way to learn all the household terms. Plus, you will begin to build
the foundation of your vocabulary with common items and tasks. You will get used to the
structure of sentences and the language, and can practice while you walk around at home!
It'll be a breeze :)

Household Term Nouns

Korean English
집 House
아파트 Apartment
기숙사 Dormitory
방 Room
침대 Bed
베개 Pillow
담요 Blanket
자명종 Alarm Clock
거울 Mirror
화장실 Bathroom
변기 Toilet
샤워실 Shower
수건 Towel
치약 Toothpaste
칫솔 Toothbrush
비누 Soap
샴푸 Shampoo
부엌 Kitchen
오븐 Oven
냉장고 Refrigerator
식탁 Dinner Table
의자 Chair
접시 Plate
컵 Cup
램프 Lamp
창문 Window
소파 Sofa
텔레비전 Television
책장 Bookcase
전화기 Telephone
컴퓨터 Computer

Household Term Verbs

Here is a list of common household verbs to go along with the household terms. To form
the casual style, drop the 요 at the end.

Korean Polite Style English

하다 해요 To Do
일어나다 일어나요 To Get Up
자다 자요 To Sleep
있다 있어요 To Have (Lesson 4)
없다 없어요 To Not Have (Lesson 4)
읽다 읽어요 To Read
보다 봐요 To See / Watch
청소하다 청소해요 To Clean
놀다 놀아요 To Play
운동하다 운동해요 To Exercise
쓰다 써요 To Write
먹다 먹어요 To Eat
마시다 마셔요 To Drink
가다 가요 To Go
입다 입어요 To Put On Clothes
신다 신어요 To Put On Shoes
벗다 벗어요 To Take Off Clothes / Shoes
숙제하다 숙제해요 To Do Homework
공부하다 공부해요 To Study

Total, that will give you 19 household verbs and 31 household nouns, 50 household terms
total! I recommend memorizing the lists over the next few days. Once you have them
memorized, remember to remember the Korean household term for the object or task you
are doing whenever you do it! This will help you retain the vocabulary much faster than
continuously returning to the list or a dictionary. This is a good idea to try with any word
in the language, not just household terms. Keep that in mind for future lessons!
Household Terms does not have to be the only easy lesson!

A Korean Paragraph Using Household Terms

Now this can be your real first lesson diving into real Korean and real sentences. It will
be based using the vocabulary above, and we will examine some sentences and then have
some practice ones. First, read through the following paragraph. Try your best to
understand it, even if there are a couple of words you do not know yet :) You will be
amazed at what you can accomplish by now if you have done the previous lessons and
learned some household terms. It will all be in present tense since that is the only tense
that has been discussed so far. Be sure to read it outloud to yourself at least once!

7 시에 일어나요. 운동하고 샤워해요. 샴푸하고 비누 없어요. 나는 8 시에 먹어요.

학교에 가요. 학교에서 공부해요. 3 시 집에 와요, 그리고 숙제해요. 4 시에 청소하
고 놀아요! 6 시 반에 저녁 먹어요 (밥과 김치와 불고기!). 저녁 후에 텔레비전을 봐
요. 그리고 책을 읽어요. 9 시 자요.

알아요? I bet you did! Now that you have read it, let me cover a couple things that you
may have picked up. First off, this is a general account of what could happen in a day
using the household terms, but all in the present tense. numbers were used to help you
pick up on this. As you may have noticed, 시 means hour. 3 시 means 3:00. 반 means
half. It is used when you say 3:30. 3 시 반. 3 hours and half! 분 is used like 시, but
means minutes (it is not needed when you use 반). 3 시 26 분에 means at 3:26. if you see
하고 attached to a noun, it will either mean "and" or it will mean "with". In these cases, it
means "and". 불고기하고 밥 would mean bulgogi and rice. Yet wait, you see another
thing used for and when I listed the foods. When using to attach nouns, you can also use
와 and 과. 와 comes after a word that ends in a vowel, while 과 after a noun that ends in
a consonant. It will have the same meaning as 하고. There were a few 그리고 in there.
That means "and" as well! When connecting sentences that is. One final thing, if you see
two or three things that all seem like verbs but don't seem to have the exact same end on
the word as you would've thought (운동하고 샤워해요) You would think it would be 운
동해요. But, this is one last way to use "and". When listing verbs, you can add 고 to the
stem of the verb. Only the final verb in the list will be conjugated otherwise.

Now read that paragraph again (or maybe twice!) now that you understand those couple
things.

Now continue to read an English translation...

At 7:00 I get up. I exercise and shower. There is no shampoo and soap :( . At 8:00 I eat. I
go to school. At school I study. I come home at 3:00, and I do homework. At 4:00 I clean
and play! At 6:30 I eat dinner (rice and kimchi and bulgogi!). After dinner, I watch tv,
and read a book. at 9:00 I sleep.

Korean Practice Using Household Terms

한국말 책을 읽어요.
내 책이 어디 있어요?
여기 있어요!
뭐 해요?
텔레비전을 봐요.
집을 청소해요.
숙제해요.
뭘 먹어요? (무엇 = 뭐 무엇을 = 뭘)
밥하고 김치하고 불고기를 먹어요. 그리고 물을 마셔요.
샴푸와 비누가 어디 있어요?
샴푸는 여기 있어요. 그리고 비누는 거기 있어요.
어디까지 가요?
학교까지 가요.
어디 공부해요?
학교에서 공부해요.
차로 가요?
아니오. 기차로 가요.

See Answers

Where are you going?

Where (as in how far) are you going?
I am going home.
I am going as far as school.
What are you eating?
What are you drinking?
I am eating rice and kimchi.
I am drinking milk.
What are you doing?
I'm sleeping.
I'm exercising and playing.
I'm exercising. And I'm playing.
Where is the toothpaste?
I don't know. Anna knows.
Where is my house?
I don't know.
Where is my pillow.
It's (right) here.
It's over there.

Lesson Seven is a vocabulary lesson on body parts. It also includes an intro to basic
Korean numbers. It will be the second major vocabulary lesson you will learn.

This will be a shorter lesson, simply containing some common vocabulary words based
on the body, and the first 10 numbers in Korean. It is provided for you to help you
increase your vocabulary with common words.

Body Parts

Korean English
인체 Body
머리 Head, Hair
얼굴 Face
눈 Eye
눈썹 Eyebrow
코 Nose
귀 Ear
입 Mouth
뺨 Cheek
입술 Lips
턱 Chin
목 Neck
어깨 Shoulders
가슴 Chest
배 Stomach
등 Back
팔 Arm
손 Hand
손가락 Fingers
허리 Waist
엉덩이 Buttocks
다리 Legs
발 Foot
발가락 Toes
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That basic list of common body parts should be enough to get you more familiar with the
language, building your vocabulary. Now whenever you think of a body part, be sure to
think of the Korean body part term!

Pure Korean Numbers

First, I will tell you right off there are two sets of Korean numbers you will run into.
There are Pure-Korean numbers, which come straight from the Korean language, and
there are Sino-Korean numbers, which are taken from Chinese. Both sets of numbers are
commonly used, and you will learn when to use which kind.

For now, you will be introduced to the Pure-Korean numbers. Pure-Korean numbers are
used to count physical, tangible objects (excluding money) and the hour (but not
minutes).
You will learn time in the future. It is more difficult as it is composed of both number
systems.

Pure-Korean numbers only go through 99. Sino-Korean numbers can go as large as you
like them to.

Here are the first 10 Pure-Korean numbers.

Korean Number
하나 1
둘 2
셋 3
넷 4
다섯 5
여섯 6
일곱 7
여덟 (여덜) 8
아홉 9
열 10

To form the numbers 11-99, you will simply follow a pattern.

열 + 하나 (10 + 1) 열하나 = 11
열 + 다섯 (10 + 5) 열다섯 = 15

But in order to continue this pattern, you need to learn the word for 20, 30, 40, and so on.

Korean Number
열 10
스물 20
서른 30
마흔 40
쉰 50
예순 60
일흔 70
여든 80
아흔 90

The pattern is the same as it was for the teens.

25 - 스물 + 다섯 = 스물다섯
31 - 서른 + 하나 = 서른하나
46 - 마흔 + 여섯 = 마흔여섯
55 - 쉰 + 다섯 = 쉰다섯
69 - 예순 + 아홉 = 예순아홉
78 - 일흔 + 여덟 = 일흔여덟
82 - 여든 + 둘 = 여든둘
99 - 아흔 + 아홉 = 아흔아홉

There are two last things to keep in mind with numbers. The first four, 하나, 둘, 셋, 넷
change when they come before a noun or something you are changing. They will change
to 한, 두, 세 , 네 respectively.

한시 - 1:00
두 병 - 2 bottles
네 마리 - 3 animals
세 장 - 3 pieces of paper

This occurs in all cases where the number ends in one of these.

아흔한 마리 - 91 animals
마흔네 명 - 43 people

Secondly, when 셋 or 넷 come before the sounds ㄷ or ㅈ, they may be pronounced 석

and 넉 respectively...instead of 세 and 네. This may not always happen however.

Practice

Use the body part terms above and the Pure-Korean numbers for this practice.

몇 - How Many

귀가 두 개 있어요.
눈이 두 개 있어요.
손가락이 열 개 있어요.
발가락 몇 개 있어요?
발가락이 열 개 있어요.
코가 몇 개 있어요?
코가 한 개 있어요.
팔 몇 개 있어요?
팔이 두 개 있어요.

How many eyebrows do you have?

How many legs do you have?
How many fingers do you have?
How many hands do you have?
How many feet do you have?

Verb Tenses
As we all know, there are three normal verb tenses; past, present, and future. Korean has
them as well! So far, you have been working using a normal present tense form of verbs.
These use the 어요/아요 ending.

I will briefly review the present tense. Then you will learn about another form for the
present tense, followed by past and future.

Present Tense

The present tense is just as you have learned. You take the dictionary form of a verb,
drop the 다, add the appropriate ending.

먹다 - 먹 + 어요 = 먹어요
마시다 - 마시 + 어요 - 마시어요 - 마셔요.

This tense is used to represent what happens in the present. I eat. I drink. It is a general
term for the present.

Currently Happening

There is a form you have not learned yet that is very common dealing with the present
tense. Although you can say 먹어요 to mean you are eating, as in 밥을 먹어요...there is
a more specific way to say you are currently eating rice. As you speak, it is happening.
The pattern is:

~고 있어요.

It is quite simple. You take the verb from the dictionary form, drop the 다 and you are
left with the stem. You add 고 있어요 to the verb stem and that is all! This will form a
present tense of the verb of something that is currently happening. To form the casual
style, you would just add 고 있어.

밥을 먹고 있어요 - I'm eating rice (as we speak)

우유를 마시고 있어요 - I'm drinking milk (as we speak)
반바지를 입고 있어요 - I'm wearing shorts (as we speak).

It is commonly used :) I'm currently eating... I'm currently wearing this...I'm currently
reading.

There will be practice at the end of all the tenses. Otherwise, you already know what the
sentences say! :)
Past Tense

Past tense is another easy verb tense. Here is the basic pattern.

1.Take the dictionary form, drop the 다

2.Add the ending 어 or 아, which makes it the casual form (everything but the 요 at the
end)
3. Add ㅆ under the last syllable
4. Add 어요 on the end.

먹다
먹 + 어 - 먹어
먹어 + ㅆ - 먹었
먹었 + 어요 = 먹었어요.

마시다
마시 + 어 - 마셔
마셔 + ㅆ - 마셨
마셨 + 어요 = 마셨어요

가다
가+아-가
가+ㅆ-갔
갔 + 어요 = 갔어요

밥을 먹었어요 - I ate rice.

텔레비전을 봤어요 - I watched tv.
학교에 갔어요 - he went to school.
뭐 했어요? - What did you do?

If you wish to say something you 'currently' were doing something in the past (say you
were saying something happened while you were doing something..'currently' isn't
exactly the word, because it's not current..but it was current)...

Then you can use the form from above and make 있어요 past tense - 있었어요.

I think a couple examples would explain better than words :)

밥을 먹고 있었어요 - I was eating rice.

텔레비전을 보고 있었어요 - I was watching tv.

Does that make a little more sense? Just another form you will see and can use when
making sentences and reading them.

Future Tense
There are a couple different forms of the future tense you will see. None match up
exactly to what we see the future tense in English as, but they are simple and easy to
understand.

Probable Future

One common future tense is the probable future tense. It can be used to mean "I probably
will eat." "I probably will go to school tommorrow." This is probably the most similar (in
my opinion) to our English future tense. If you just intend to say Will go, will eat...this
future tense may be your best bet.

The basic formation of this future tense is as follows:

Take the verb base, 먹 for our example using 먹다.

Attach (으)ㄹ 거에요 to the verb base. If the base ends in a consonant, you attach 을 거
에요. If it ends in a vowel, you attach ㄹ 거에요.

난 먹을 거에요 - I will probably eat.

난 갈 거에요 - I will probably go.
비가 올 거에요 - It will probably rain.

*One thing to keep in mind. Remember back to when you learned some irregular verb
cases? 듣다 being one. It appears as 듣다 in the dictionary form, and 들어요 when
conjugated? Well, when using this for these few special verbs, use the ㄹ ending on the
base and not the ㄷ. 들을 거에요 Will listen.

Also, remember how some verbs pick up a ㅂ and sometimes not? Example - 춥다...well,
in this case, it will not take the ㅂ, but will pick up an 우. 추울 거에요 Will probably be
cold.*

Past Probable

You can also use this form with a past tense verb, to mean 'must have' or 'probably have'.
The example with 먹다 would be 먹었을 거에요. Notice the past tense ending is
attached to the verb base, not the 거에요 verb part. 먹었을 거에요 would mean 'must
have eaten.' 'Probably ate.'

Intentional Future

The other form of the future tense you will see often will use 겠. The meaning is similar
to the above future tense, but varies slightly. This form is more of the meaning "I intend
to, I'm positive it will happen, etc." Here is how it is formed.

Take your verb base (whatever is before 다 in the dictionary form, no exceptions. 듣다
does not change to 들 as above. 듣겠어요.)
Attach 겠 to that base. Then simply add your 어 or 어요 ending you normally would use.
Note the ending is always 어요 and never 아요, even for verbs such as 자다. 먹겠어요
means I intend to eat. 비가 오겠어요 means I'm sure it will rain. See how it is a little
different from the previous future tense? This form has more certainty.

Practice

Now that you know the three tenses, you should practice them. Try not to look above for
the following!

먹겠어요.
먹었어요.
학교에 갈 거에요.
앤나가 한국말 공부했을 거에요.
자겠어요.
어제 모자를 썼어요.
내일 모자를 사겠어요.
어디 있어요?
어디 있었어요?
뭐 해요?
뭐 했어요?
뭐 할 거에요?

What were you doing?

Where did you go?
Where will you probably go?
What do you intend to eat?
I intend (certainty) to eat rice.
I will probably eat kimchi.
I am eating bulgogi (now).
I was eating bulgogi.
Did you drink beer?
Do you intend to drink beer?
No. I intend to drink water

Lesson Nine is the third lesson on vocabulary. The focus is on clothes for this lesson.
After the vocabulary lists, there will be a brief reading, followed by practice exercises.

The following lesson will be a grammar lesson on adjectives and colors. This will be
done based on this set of vocabulary (plus the adjectives and colors). You will then be
able to describe your clothing in more detail.

Nouns

Korean English
옷 Clothes
셔츠 Shirt
와이셔츠 White Dress Shirt
바지 Pants
반바지 Shorts
청바지 Jeans
신발 Shoes
구두 Dress Shoes
운동화 Sneakers
양말 Socks
치마 Skirt
코트 Coat
재킷 Jacket
모자 Hat
안경 Glasses
반지 Ring
귀걸이 Earrings
목걸리 Necklace
장갑 Gloves
원피스 Dress
양복 Suit
넥타이 Necktie
파자마 Pajamas
브라 Bra
팬티 Underwear(Male and Female)
티셔츠 Teeshirt
한복 Hanbok, Traditional Clothing

You may have noticed many of these terms are taken from the English language. Just
makes it easier to remember :)

Korean Colors
These are a little more complicated than color words in English, but you should be able to
handle them!

There are a few ways to deal with color words in Korean, and I will teach you the most
basic, common way.

First off, colors can come in a couple forms. There is the word that means just the color.
There are color verbs.

For now, you will learn the most basic uses of color words and these should let you use
colors just fine in an easy to understand way.

색 means color. Knowing this will allow you to make more sense and understand the rest
of this color lesson easily.

I will refer to the chart below throughout the lesson. You may refer to it any time you
wish until you learn the colors properly.

색 Color Adjective / Noun Modifier

파란색 Blue 파란
검정색 Black 까만
하얀색 White 하얀
빨간색 Red 빨간
노란색 Yellow 노란
초록색 Green 초록색
주황색 Orange 주황색
보라색 Purple 보라색
핑크색 / 분홍색 Pink 핑크색 / 분홍색
은색 Silver 은색
금색 Gold 금색
갈색 Light Brown 갈색
밤색 Brown 밤색
회색 Gray 회색

Let's look at the color blue. 파란색. You can think of this as "blue color". 파란 is the
part that lets us know it is blue instead of orange, and 색 tells us it is a color we are
talking about (you will see when 색 should be included and when it shouldn't be in a
minute).
If you are naming colors, then you should put 색 at the end of the color word. From the
table above, when naming colors use the actual color name form (the words on the left).

If you are using them as an adjective, such as "The blue car is big." 파란 차가 커요 (크
다 - To Be Big). Here...we are just saying that the car is blue, but that isn't the topic of
our sentence or anything like that. It is just an adjective or noun modifier describing the
car. If that is the case, then you should use the form that is on the right side of the table.
Some of the words will have a shortened form, without the 색. Other colors you can't
really shorten like that, however. So you would just say 핑크색 차가 커요.

If you do wish to make a sentence stating that something is a certain color, you should
use the verb 이다 - To Be. This way it is very easy. You can just take the word for the
color, 파란색, 핑크색..whatever the word is...and attach the verb, 파란색이에요. 차가
파란색이에요 means the car is blue. It is very simple this way.

However, you may see other versions of the word. For example, you may see it written as
a verb itself, such as 노래요, stating something is yellow. 하얘요 would be white.

What do you think 까매요 is? If you said...color #2 in the chart above, then that's right!
They are fairly easy to recognize when you read them, but it may be harder to use them
this way yourself because they aren't written exactly the same way when they are
combined with 아요 or 어요. A few other examples are 파래요 and 빨개요.

For now, just be aware that these forms do exist. If you see a version of one of the colors
similar to these, chances are the sentence states something is that color.

Modals is a grammatical term that is pretty much unknown

to everyone except grammar teachers.

You know what they are though.

Have you ever wanted to say 'I can go,' 'I should go,' 'I want to go,' 'I need to go,' or 'I
may go' ?

If so, you've wanted to know how to use modals! Modals are simply combining verbs
such as may, want, need, can and should with another verb.

That is all there is to it! See, modals are not so bad, but everyone uses them in
conversation.

Now you can go out, speak Korean, use modals, and communicate well!
Oh, right. You still want to know how to use them in Korean. Well, here we go!

To Want
To Need, To Have To
Can, Be Able To
May, Have Permission
Random Practice

To Want

There are two things to consider when thinking about the verb 'to want'.

• To want a noun.
• To want to do something (verb).

Since we are talking about modals, or conditions of verbs, we are going to cover the
second one in depth.

To want a noun

Alright. I will mention the first as well! The verb is:

원하다 - To want (a noun).

You use 원하다 when you say something like 'I want an apple.' 사과를 원해요. 'I want a
car' 차를 원해요. 'I want a house' 집을 원해요.

To want (to do)

What if you want to say 'I want to go'? Would you say 가다 원해요? At first, you may
think so. Unfortunately, we cannot simply take the infinitive for 'to go', 가다, and stick it
before 'to want'.

There is another pattern you must use. The verb 'to want' becomes ~ 고 십다.

Now, take that infinitive, 가다, and drop the 다. This gives you the verb base, or simply
가 in this case. Now all you have to do is add the new verb! 가고 싶다.

When you say it in a sentence, 싶다 will change just like any other verbs. It becomes 싶
어요.

Simple enough? Let's just add one more thing...

~고 싶다 is only used when talking in first person (about yourself). This simply means
you use ~고 싶다 if you are talking about something you (yourself) want.
If you are talking about something someone else wants to do, the verb is ~고 싶어하다.

엄마는 가고 싶어해요.

Practice

가고 싶어요.

가고 싶어해요.

사과를 원해요.

책을 원해요.

책을 읽고 싶어해요.

자고 싶어요.

먹고 싶어요.

엄마가 물을 마시고 싶어해요.

앤나가 먹고 싶어해요.

밥을 원해요.

See Answers

-----Sidebar--------

Remember, if you don't already know lots of vocabulary, you can greatly benefit from the
Vocabulary E-Zine. It will build your vocabulary gradually yet steadily, giving you great
knowledge on Korean words.

--------------------

Have to, Need to

I have to do homework. Many of you may need to say this statement, even if sometimes
you pass up homework for a good time. ;-)

I have to work. This statement may fit you better.

Whether we want to do something or not, sometimes we just do not have a choice! If this
is the case....
~야 되다 will come in handy.

Let's stick with the example 'to go' to illustrate this.

가다 - 가야 돼요

You simply drop the 요 from the polite form of the verb and add the ending. Note how
되다 becomes 돼요. 되 + 어요 = 돼요. However, you will still see it written both ways.

A couple more examples should make this pattern clear.

숙제를 해야 돼요. - I have to do homework.

일을 해야 돼요. - I have to work.

Notice how all we did was take the verb to do, 해요, drop the 요, and add the ending? 해
야 돼요.

You just need to remember which part of the verb to use. In 'to want' we drop the 다
from the dictionary form and use that (the verb stem). In this case, we drop the from
polite form and attach the ending to that (the casual form of the verb).

Practice

가야 돼요.

학교에 가야 돼요.

먹어야 돼요.

밥을 먹어야 돼요.

마셔야 돼요.

물을 마셔야 돼요.

See Answers

Can, Be Able To

Moving right along.

If you need to say you can do something, you can go, you can eat, you use the following
pattern.

Take the verb stem (drop the from the dictionary form) and add ~ (으)ㄹ수 있어요.
Let me explain that a little better.

First, get the verb stem. 가다 - 가. 먹다 - 먹. Now, add the appropriate ending.

If the verb stem ends in a vowel, like 가, all you do is add ㄹ수 있어요.

갈수 있어요 - I can go.

However, if it ends in a consonant, you cannot add another consonant to the verb stem
because there is already one there! If this is the case, you add 을수 있어요.

먹을수 있어요. - I can eat.

That's really all there is to it! Just remember the ending is ~(으)ㄹ수 있어요.

Note: Oh, and one more thing! If the verb ends in the consonant ㄹ, you don't have to add
either ㄹ or 을. Simply jump to the 수 있어요. Otherwise, the ㄹ becomes redundant.

놀수 있어요.

Conditions:

• Verb ends in vowel - add ㄹ수 있어요

• Verb ends in ㄹ - add 수 있어요
• Verb ends in any other consonant - add 을수 있어요

Practice

일을 할수 있어요.

숙제를 할수 있어요.

와인을 마실수 있어요.

술을 마실수 있어요.

배울수 있어요.

See Answers

May, Have Permission

If you have permission to do something, you would use the verb 'may'.

I may go. (I have permission to go).

I may play. (I have permission to play).
This is pretty simple in Korean.

The ending is ~도 되다

You attach the ending to the casual form of the verb (drop the from the polite form).

가도 돼요 - I may go.
놀아도 돼요 - I may play.

Nothing fancy here.

Use the following practice to get used to this pattern.

Practice

자도 돼요.

먹어도 돼요.

마셔도 돼요.

와인을 마셔도 돼요.

놀아도 돼요.

See Answers

Some Real Practice

So, you understand them when separated. Do you think you can recognize what they all
mean when random?

학교에 가야 돼요.

놀고 싶어요.

새 컴픁처를 원해요.

앤나가 운동하고 싶어해요.

수영할수 있어요.

술을 마셔도 돼요.

읽을수 있어요.
수필을 써야 돼요.

영화를 보고 싶어요.

Adjectives - How To Modify

A Noun
Have you ever noticed a word in a sentence that you almost recognized? Perhaps it
looked very similar to a verb you had seen before.

Note: You may need to change the encoding for this page - I do. Right click - encoding -
Korean

Making The Distinction Between Verb And Adjective

What is an adjective? As of now, I have been calling all 'verb style' words verbs.

However, it is now time to make the distinction between true verbs and adjectives.

Both come at the end of a sentence. Both may take the normal endings you have learned.

An adjective is a word that describes something. Words such as 'to be cold' 'to be clean',
and 'to be busy' are all adjectives, because they describe something. Adjectives usually
begin with 'to be' in English.

Other words, such as 'to run', 'to swim', and 'to write', are all true verbs. They are actions.

Yet, they both take the same 아요 / 어요 / 해요 endings. We use them almost exactly
alike.

There will be many cases when you will need to know whether or not the 'word' you are
dealing with is an adjective or a verb. I am going to introduce you to one right now, so
hold on!

How To Use An Adjective To Modify A Noun

What exactly do I mean by that?

Well, you can say 'The car is blue' and you can also say 'It is a blue car'. These two
sentences mean the exact same thing, except the word 'blue' is used two different ways.

In the first sentence, the whole sentence is based on describing the car, the color in
particular.
In the second sentence, the writer may not necessarily be putting the emphasis on the
color. The color could just be there to provide additional information. What if I were to
say 'A blue car just drove across the street.'

Am I focusing on the fact that a blue car just drove across the street, or is the color of the
car simply extra details?

As of now, you have been using the first form of the sentence. Let's look at the following
sentence.

The weather is good.

You would probably say 날씨가 좋아요, correct?

What if you wanted to say 'Warm weather is good.'

This gets you into a situation in which you need to use another form of the adjective. You
need to modify the noun - weather. It is not enough to say 날씨가 좋아요. 그리고 날씨
가 따뜻해요. which means 'The weather is good, and the weather is warm.'

It doesn't quite mean the same thing.

Instead, you would say 따뜻한 날씨가 좋아요. This means 'Warm weather is good.'

How To Move An Adjective Before The Noun

So now you understand exactly what we want to accomplish. Let's learn how to do it.

The structure for this is based off adding ㄴ or 은 to a verb stem.

To know the verb stem, simply drop the 다 from the dictionary form.따뜻하다 is the
verb for 'to be warm'. After you drop 다, you are left with 따뜻하. Because it ends in a
vowel (ㅏ), you should add the ㄴ ending.

따뜻한

Let's look at an example in which we will add the 은 ending.

Good cars are expensive.

While this may not necessarily be entirely true in every case, it provides a good example
to demonstrate this point ;-)

We want to modify the noun 'cars' to specify only 'good cars'. We don't care about 'bad
cars' or 'yellow cars', because we are talking about 'good cars'.
좋다 - to be good

If we drop the 다, we are left with 좋. Since 좋 ends in a consonant (ㅎ), you should add
the 은 ending. You get 좋은.

좋은 차는 비싸요.

좋은 차 means 'good cars'.

Be careful, don't confuse adding the topic particle 는/은 to the end of a noun with this
new ending we attach to the word modifying the noun. They are two separate things.

For a review on topic particles, visit the Korean Particles page

How To Do This With Irregular Adjectives

As you have learned by now, there are usually some kind of irregular verb / adjective.

Irregular ㅂ Ending

For example, the adjective 춥다 is conjugated as 추워요 in the present tense.

Somewhere, we lost the ㅂ and gained a 우, right?

In these adjectives that drop the ㅂ, you will do the same when moving the adjective
before the noun. You will also include the 우.

추운 날씨

Instead of adding the 어요 ending to 추우 as you would in the present tense (추우어요
contracts to 추워요), you simply add the vowel ending form, ㄴ. This results in 추운.

Irregular ㄹ Endings

Another irregular ending is when an adjective ends in ㄹ. Often, the ㄹ is dropped in

some forms. An example is 멀다. In the present tense, you cannot notice any change. It
stays 멀어요. However, before ㄴ, ㅂ, and ㅅ, the ㄹ is usually omitted.

It can be a little confusing to think of it like that, because you might think 멀 is the base,
and so we would add 은, rather than ㄴ. However, try your best to realize that we are
truly adding ㄴ, and the only reason the 으 part is usually added is simply because we
need the extra vowel if it follows a consonant.

Or, if this is easier, simply remember that when moving an adjective before the noun,
adjectives that end in ㄹ will drop the ㄹ :-)
멀다 - to be far

In this case, we have 멀. Let's drop the ㄹ and get 머. Now, simply add the proper ending
먼. You could say 먼 집, meaning 'the house that is far away'.

있다 and 없다

You will occasionally run into a time where 있다 and 없다 will be used. One common
adjective would be

재미 있다- to be interesting

재미 있다 is an adjective, because it describes something as interesting. However, it

ends in 있다, which usually comes with special endings.

With 있다 and 없다 endings, you will add 는 instead of 은 /ㄴ.

The interesting car would be

재미있는 차

Remember, this is pronounced 재미인는, because when ㅅ is followed by ㄴ, it sounds

like ㄴ. For a review on irregular pronunciation, visit the Hangul Irregularities page

Practice Moving Adjectives

Now that you know how to move them, try practicing some!

춥다

덥다

좋다

나쁘다

따뜻하다

재미없다

맛있다

깨끗하다

어렵다
쉽다