Learning Korean (한국어 배우기) [COMPLETE]

Unit 1.3 - Korean Verbs/Adj

Vocab

Verbs
To eat ~ 먹다 (meok-da)
To go ~ 가다 (ga-da)
To meet ~ 만나다 (maan-na-da)
To close ~ 닫다 (daat-da)
To open ~ 열다 (yeol-da)
To want ~ 원하다 (won-ha-da) < read won english way
To make ~ 만들다 (maan-deul-da)
To do ~ 하다 (ha-da)
To speak ~ 말하다 (maal-ha-da)
To understand ~ 이해하다 (ee-he-ha-da)

Adjectives
Big ~ 크다 (keu-da)
Small ~ 작다
To be new ~ 새롭다 (se-lop-da)
Get old (not age) ~ 낡다 (naalk-da)
Expensive ~ 비싸다 (bee-ssa-da)
Cheap ~ 싸다 (ssa-da)
Fat ~ 뚱뚱하다 (ddoong-ddoong-ha-da)

Adverbs
Very ~ 아주 (a-joo) / 매우 (me-oo)
Too (often used as very) ~ 너무 (neo-moo)

There are a few things you need to know about Korean verbs and adjectives:

I said this before but I'm going to say it again.
Every Korean sentence must end in either a verb or an adjective (this includes 이다 and 있다). Every Korean verb and adjective ends with the syllable '다.' 100% of the time, the last syllable in a verb or adjective must be '다.'

Verbs ending in 하다 are amazing, because you can simply eliminate the '하다' to make the noun form of that verb/adjective. It is confusing to English speakers because we don't realize that words can have a verb/adjective form AND a noun form.

For example:
행복하다 = happy
행복 = happiness

성공하다 = succeed (seong-gong)
성공 = success

말하다 = speak
말 = speech/words

Korean Verbs

Review. If you want to say "I eat food" you should know how to use the particles 는/은 and 를/을:

I eat food
I는 food를 eat

To make a sentence, you simply need to substitute the English words with Korean words:

나는 + 음식을 + 먹다
나는 음식을 먹다 = I eat food

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*Note - Although the structure of the sentences presented in this lesson is perfect, the verbs are not conjugated, and thus, not perfect. Therefore, these sample sentences aren't used in a normal conversation.

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Examples:

나는 케이크를 만들다 = I make a cake
(나는 케이크를 만들어 / 저는 케이크를 만들어요)

나는 배를 원하다 = I want a pear
(나는 배를 원해 / 저는 배를 원해요)

나는 한국어를 말하다 = I speak Korean
(나는 한국어를 말해 / 저는 한국어를 말해요)

Remember that sentences with verbs don't necessarily need to have an object in them:

나는 이해하다 = I understand
(나는 이해해 / 저는 이해해요)

Some verbs by default can't act on an object. Words like: sleep, go, etc. You can't say something like "I slept home" or "I went restaurant".You can use nouns in sentences with those verbs, but only with the use of other particles With the use of other particles you can say things like:

I slept at home.
I went to the restaurant.

Korean Adjectives

Korean adjectives, just like Korean verbs, are placed at the end of a sentence. The main difference between verbs and adjectives is that an adjective can't act on an object. Notice, in the sentences below that there is no object being acted on.

나는 아름답다 = I am beautiful
(나는 아름다워 / 저는 아름다워요)

저 사람은 작다 = that person is small
(저 사람은 작아 / 저 사람은 작아요)

Adjectives are very easy to use. Just put them into the sentence with your subject.

Notice that in all examples above, the words "am/is/are/etc." are used. In English, these words need to be used when using an adjective:

I am fat
He is fat
They are fat

Remember, the translation for "am/is/are" to Korean is "이다." However, you do not use "이다" when writing a sentence like this in Korean. Within the meaning of Korean adjective is "is/am/are." Early learners are always confused by this. The confusion stems from the fact that it is done differently in English and Korean. Please, from here on, abandon what you know of grammar based on English - it will only hold you back.

Continue - Unit 1.3 (2)