LEARN KOREA!

LESSON 1- hangul alphabet system

Vowels : "a" "yo" Consonants : "g" or "k" "b" or "p" " g' " or " k' " "ya" "oo" or "u" "eo" "yoo" or "yu" "yeo" "eu" "o" "i"

"n" "s" " d' "

"d" or "t" " p' "

" r " or " l " " ch " "h"

"m" " ch' "

Note that " ' " means the letter is aspirated, i.e a sharp sound.

+ h + g

+ a + u

= n = k

han

guk

pronounced HanGuk meaning Korea

LESSON 2 Double Vowels ()

eir weou yeir wei ere yere wa

where

wo

weo

LESSON 3 Use of Consonants () and Vowels ()

Vowels in the korean languages may be attached to the left, right or beneath each other in order to form a word, the following are examples of their use : -

 = ka = kya = pa = pyo = chu = meo = neo = ti = yo = tu

= keo = ki = peo = chi = cho = mo =i = ko =o = too

= kyeo = ko = pu = cheo = ma = na = ya = tya = to = ku

When constructing a word, you must add a mixture of consonants and vowels, beginning with the consonant at the beginning of the word. In some cases, there is no need to use a consonant at the beginning in which case (null character) is used.

+ + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + +

= = = = = = = = =

A Rum Kam Kkoong Ot Eop Kkot Han Guk

More on constructing words

A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "vertical vowel" is written with the consonant on the left and the vowel on the right += n + a = na A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "horizontal vowel" is written with the consonant on top and the vowel underneath: += m + o = mo If a syllable has a consonant, vowel, and consonant, the final consonant, called patch'im (meaning "supporting floor" in Korean) goes to the bottom -- or floor -- of that syllable. ++= m + a + n = man
LESSON 4 GRAMMER

Korean Names In general, Korean names consist of 3 syllables. The first part is the Surname ( such as Kim, Lee and Pak ), it is the followed by a two-syllable first

name. In Korean, the surname always comes first which is opposite of Western Names such as Doojin Pak instead of the Korean method of Pak Doojin. When you are referring to someone who you know well, then you may be able to refer to them directly, such as using their first name. However when youare introduced to someone to whom you are not familiar with, or am meeting for the first time, then you would add -ssi to the end of the name. An example of this would be Doojin-ssi Making Polite Sentences With verb stems which end in vowels such a ka-, ha- and sa- , it is possible to make these into polite sentences by adding -yo to the end of the words, such as Kayo ( which means "to go", or "I go" or "he goes" ). Verbs in the polite style can be used as statements, questions, suggestions or commands, and may be further emphasised by the tone of your voice. For example, Chal Chinaessoyo may be both expressed as a question by asking how someone is, or can be a question stating that you are fine. Another example is the more common Annyong Haseyo.

LESSON 5 Sentence Structure and order

Korean Sentence Structure and Word order In Korean the structure of sentence differ to English sentences, for example the phrase Chal Chinaessooyoliterally means "Well have you been getting on?" which is the opposite from English. In general the structure of the Korean sentences is broken down as subject - object - verb "Jon the ball kicked" "To Go" in order to do sentences There are a few words that you may add to the end of verb stems at the end of sentences, these include -yo which makes sentences polite, and -ro which means "in order to". In some cases the verb stems may in effect end in consonants in which case -uro is utilised. The order of the sentences for an example sentence of "in order to buy bread I am goin to the shops" is restructured as "bread buy-in order-to the shops go" In Korean unlike English, the subject of the sentences is optional like "I", then the "in order section" is next, which is then followed by "the place you are going".

(In English) (in Korean)

I I (optional)

go to the shops bread buy - in-order to

in-order -to buy bread shops to go

The Konglish for this sentence in Korean would be na-do ppang sa-ro kayo (I-do bread buy-in order-to go).

* The construction can only be used in verbs involving 'going' and 'coming' and cannot be used with other verbs at the end of sentences.
Lesson 6 - Asking for things

There Are / There is The Korean verb which means either "there are" and "there is" is issoyo ( ) They are dependent on the context in which you use them, and on what you are talking about. The stem of the verb is iss- with the inclusion of o and the polite particle -yo, thus forming the ending oyo. However in the case where the verb stem ends in vowel, we use -a or -o, such as -ayo.

Vowel stem Consonant stem Consonant Stem

- yo - ayo - oyo if the last vowel ends with -a or -o

In context the oppposite of iss- is ops- which literally means "there isnt" or "there arent". Uses of the verbs chogi issoyo means "it exist over there", or "its over there" Issoyo on its own can mean "I have/he has" Opsoyo means "I dont have" or "I havent got" In a shop When addressing a shop keeper or waiters, Koreans use ajossi literally meaning uncle, but is used as a general word when addressing someone in a shop. However if it were to be used in a formal way, it is only for the referral of a man, For females the word ajumma meaning aunt is used, for people over 35-ish, and for younger womanagassi is used for young women. In Korean, we use a particle which comes after a noun that it relates to, such as na-do (me-too). In English, it is the opposite, we would say 'with-me', whereas Korean is 'me-with'. Using 'and' In Korean, the word for and is -hago, this is a particle so when it is to be used it must be attached to a noun. For example, when you say 'burger and chips', in Korean it would be 'burger-hago chips. The wordhago becomes part of burger. The particle hago can also mean with such as, Doojin-hago shinae-e kayo meaning 'I am going to town with Doojin'.

Ordering with numbers When asking for 'one' item we say 'hana' which is said after you have selected the meal you wish to order. For example we would say, soju hana chuseyo meaning "soju one give me please". The word chuseyo utilises the polite word stem -yo, attached to chu-, which means "give me please"
Lesson 7 - Korean Names and Topics

In Korean, when you want to address men politely, one would use the word songsaegnim attached to their surname or full name, this literally means teacher. For example, one would say Yoo Songsaegnim or with the full name Yoo SangHyun Songsaegnim. It is not possible to a Korean persons first name, such like SangHyun Songsaegnim. For that same reason, when you use the ssi, you cannot say Yoo-ssi, or Yoo SangHyun-ssi, but would rather say SangHyun-ssi. Addressing Korean women, in Korea women do not take their husbands surname when they get married. For example if Mrs Han is married to Mr Kim, then she may referred to as Kim songsaengnimpuin (Kim mr-wife), or she maybe reffered to in a similar English terminology such as Misesu Han(Mrs Han).

Using Copula to describe "this is that"

In Korean, if you want to describe A is B , you will have to use special verbs called copula. In Korea, this copula is present at the end of a sentence, and behaves a little differently to ordinary verbs. If you want to say A is B(like "This is a Korean book"):A B-ieyo (or B-eyo) this Korean book-ieyo It is obvious that you would use -eyo when B ends in a vowel, but -ieyo when B ends on a consonant. songsaengnim-ieyo (is teacher) soju-eyo (is soju) IMPORTANT to note that in Korean the copula is only used to describe when this "is equivalent to". It cant be used to say "is located in"(is underneath", "is near") nor can it be used to say "is a certain way" (i.e "is red", "is happy").

Describing how things are

Korean possess words which mean "is a certain way". Ottaeyo means is how?, as in: songsaengnim ottaeyo? ( How is teacher ? or What is teacher like? ) saob ottaeyo? (How is business? or What is business like?) Kuraeyo literally means "it is like that", and may be used as a statement such as "it's like that", "thats right", "it is". On the other hand it may be used as a question Kuraeyo? meaning "is it like that?", "really?" or "is that so?". Korean has a special particle, used in attachment to place emphasis on what is being talked about. by adding -un or nun, it makes As for Business or As for me. -nun is attached to a noun, whereas -un is attached to a vowel. EG soju-nun (as for soju), Songsaengnim-un (as for teacher).
Lesson 8 - More on Grammar

-hamnida and -jiman

In Korean, it is possible to add polite endings to verbs, for example, shillye hamnida (excuse me), which is comprised of the verb stem shille ha-, and the verb ending hamnida (note this is the formal style). There is also the verb and stem, shillye-jiman (I'm sorry but....) which is a abbreviation of the verb and stem shillye ha-jiman , containing the ending -jiman which means but.

Asking a person
In Korean, there is a special verb which may be used in the event where you want to ask someone if they are someone.....for example "Are you Mr Han".

We would use -iseyo, and simply add this to the end of a phrase. Han songsaengnim-iseyo? ( Are you Mr Han?) Hangungmal songsaengnim-iseyo? (Are you the Korean Teacher?)

Subjects and topics of Korean sentences

In Korean, we attach -i to the end of nouns which end with consonants, or attach -ga to the end of nouns which end in a vowel. By doing this, it is possible to give emphasis, on subjects in sentences. For example, songsaenim-i ( teacher ) or maekju-ga (beer) give emphasis on each of these subjects in a sentence. For a sentence , "The man kissed the dog", the subject in this case would be The man. On the other hand, when a subject is mentioned for the first time, the subject particle is used, but later on in a conversation, this is switched back to the topic particle. The topic particle, is similar to that of the english "As for", and is best used in order to compare two things. For example, as for me ( na-nun ), I love shopping as for mum (ma-nun), she hates it.
Lesson 9 - Using Negative Copula's

Negative Copula
In Korean, when you are trying to say something is not something else, we use the negative copula anieyo. For instance, When saying 'A is not B', we would say :cho-nun songsaengnim-i anieyo ( I am not a teacher ). hanguk hakkwa-ga anieyo ( Not the Korean department ).

Answering questions with Yes and No in Korean

This is a tricky aspect of the Korean language, it is quite different to how we would speak in English. For example: Question in English = "Do you like Korea ?" Answer in English = "Yes I do like it" or "No i dont" Answer in Korean = "No, I do like it" or "Yes i dont" As you can see...it can be confusing at first, so you will need to think carefully.

Where is it?
When asking where something is in Korean, you would say (X-subject) odieyo? However, it is also possible to say (X-subject) odi issoyo? When answering a Where is question, you must always use issoyo as a verb such that:hakkyo-ga kogi issoyo ( the school is over there ).

Using Korean sentences with but....

We have previously seen that shillye hamnida and the equivalent shillye-jiman mean "Excuse me,but" or "I'm Sorry, but...." . There are lots of verbs where you may attach -jiman onto, here are a few of them:ka- ( go ) ka-jiman ( goes, but .......) ha- ( do ) ha-jiman ( does,but......) sa- ( buy ) sa-jiman ( buys,but.....) iss- ( is/are, have ) it-jiman ( has,but....) mashi- ( drink ) mashi-jiman ( drinks,but.....) mok- ( eat ) mok-jiman ( eats, but.......) anj- (sit ) anj-jiman ( sits, but.....) Note that for the word iss-jiman the double ss is re-written to itjiman

Using polite requests

In Korean, the word chom is used to mean "please", however do not mistake it to mean the same as the English word for please for all occurances. For instance, when you use chom in a request immediately before the verb at the end of the sentence, it takes on the effect of please. It is most frequently using in relation to chu- when making requests, for example Han songsaengnim chom pakkwo-juseyo( Can I speak to Mr Han ), or you might use it in Soju chom chuseyo ( Please give me the Soju ). As you can see, chom may be used to soften up requests by making it more polite.
Lesson 10 Numbers and Counting

In Korean there are two sets of numbers which are used when counting, the first set are known as pure Korean numbers, and the other are Sino-korean which is based on the chinese numerals. The use of these numbers depends on the context in which it is used, for example the pure korean numbers are used when counting hours, and the sino korean when used to count minutes. kong il i sam sa o yuk ch'il p'al ku ship saship kuship paek ch'on man 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 40 90 100 1000 10,000

shibil shibi shipsam shipsa shibo shimnyuk shipch'il shipp'al shibku iship

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

ishibil ishibi ishipsam ishipsa

21 22 23 24

ishipku samship

29 30