My Househusband: Ikaw Na!

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Rod (Ryan Agoncillo) gets a threat of demotion brought about by a planned merger at the bank where he works. Prodded by ego and pride, he decides to call it quits, but would not tell his wife Mia (Judy Ann Santos) until he comes up with an acceptable solution, which does not happen. She eventually accepts a job offer and becomes the bread winner of the family. He, on the other hand, becomes the de facto “househusband”, enduring gossips, intrigues, and intrusive neighbour Aida (Eugene Domingo), the kept woman of a dirty old man, along the way.

People might find this movie boring, thus the lag in good box office returns. Devoid of any fantasy element, this is probably the only film in the festival that hits closest to home. The trailer suggests that it is a slapstick comedy, or as my brother would say, “Ano yun, Looney Tunes?” watching a sequence where Ryan hurriedly exits a grocery store after a whistle and gesture of authority from Juday, not to mention the “Macho Man” soundtrack that makes everything seem corny. Do not be fooled. This movie is really a family drama with a lot of funny bits, and by “funny” we mean the good kind of funny and not the slapstick one where the characters do something stupid while “funny” sound effects play in the background.

Shake Rattle & Roll 13

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TAMAWO: A family of four relocates to the province. Isay (Maricar Reyes) is blind but takes good care of the baby and her family. Her husband Allan (Zanjoe Marudo) is short-tempered, directing all his frustrations to his illegitimate son Bikbok (Bugoy Cariño). Their simple everyday dilemma becomes complicated as their paths cross with the Tamawo, supernatural creatures inhabiting the nearby waterfall/cave, who accuse them of stealing something that belongs to them.

It must be pretty exhausting for Maricar to be hysterical and yelling ad nauseam all throughout the shooting. That is all she ever does here, because her character is blind. Not that it is annoying or anything, you could understand her helplessness, but as mentioned, it must have been physically and emotionally draining for her. Bugoy is good and gets rid of some unnecessary nuances this time. This kid has a bright future in acting. Zanjoe is okay, some moments of brilliance here and there but not always. Celia Rodriguez temporarily leaves behind her socialite “kontrabida” image by playing the role of the barrio’s “manghihilot” and plays good support without hogging the spotlight from the lead players.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

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A magnitude 7+ earthquake ravages the city leaving serious damage to life, property, and relationships in its wake. As if the lives of the members of the Montes clan are not already screwed up enough to begin with. Leading the pack is Mariel (Maricel Soriano), the TV network executive who eats bitter gourd daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Needless to say, she is a frigid bitch. Her husband Gary (Gabby Concepcion) left her for a younger woman, way younger in the form of Charlotte (Carla Abellana), who is not at all a mistress since the marriage has been annulled for a decade already, but of course that is irrelevant if you are the ex-wife/boss from hell whom everyone would love to push off the escalator if only there were no security cameras installed in the office. Eunice (Eula Caballero) thinks her mother is too strict, and like any other teenager, rebels, albeit just a little. At least she is not emo. Jacob (Jericho Rosales) is ex-wife’s younger brother who seems equally married to his job as he is to his wife Lori (Lovi Poe), an ex-lead vocalist who left her dreams to pursue wifedom, and yes, she is having withdrawal symptoms. The family patriarch (Ronaldo Valdez) is married to a much younger Agnes (Agot Isidro) and they have Selene (Solenn Heussaff) as their daughter, who insists working for her intolerable half-sister because she wants to learn from the “best”. She thinks her boyfriend Vincent (Paulo Avelino) is too clingy, so she sets her eyes on personal trainer slash matrona magnet Derek (Dennis Trillo), totally oblivious to the fact that he is doing mommy too.

Segunda Mano

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A quick indication of a failed horror movie is when it is marketed as such in the trailer but everyone in the audience is laughing come first day of screening. If Bulong was the peg then they should have made it clear from the very beginning. People do not like getting ripped off, and that is exactly how some people in the CR felt after the closing credits, unless you have another interpretation for, “Moneyback! Nagbayad ako para matakot, hindi para tumawa!”

So, where does Segunda Mano go wrong?

1. They reveal who the ghost is right away. No, you don’t have to guess. They show it to you right there and then, around five minutes through the opening credits. And then they toss in another ghost to confuse you, but it does not work.

日本語 - Week 10 (Contemporary Japanese Vol. 1)

The book I am using is Contemporary Japanese Vol. 1 by Eriko Sato from the Tuttle Language Library. Volume 1 of the book has 61 lessons. Target end date is March 20, 2012.

MONDAY: Lesson Twenty Three – デパアトにいきまえんか

Today we do suggestions. There are two ways. The first one is by adding the suffix ~ませんか which would give the meaning of “How about ---“. In short, a suggestion. 食べませんか would roughly translate to How about we eat? The other one, the suffix ~ましょう means “Let’s!” It also is a suggestion but more of an invitation as opposed to the other one which is more like a question. 食べましょう means Let’s eat! How do you decline? Remember ちょっと? It means “a little”. Use that. It would automatically mean to the other person that the idea is a bit off for you.

TUESDAY: Lesson Twenty Four – カラオケバーにはよく行きますか

Adverbs of frequency were the grammar lesson for today. We have a total of four. For the positive ones we have often よく and sometimes ときどき . For the negative ones we have seldom あまり and never ぜんぜん . Here is the catch. For the two negative adverbs, we have to use the negative form of the verb, which would really be a source of confusion for English speakers. For that, when you want to say that you never go to university, you have to say 大学にぜんぜん行きません instead of大学にぜんぜん行きます which they consider to be ungrammatical. Your brain might then translate the grammatically correct sentence as “I never don’t go to university”.

WEDNESDAY: Twenty Four – カラオケバーにはよく行きますか

We use でも after one sentence to introduce a contrasting statement that follows. In that case, it seems to be the equivalent of the English but/however. The second grammar point is about particle combinations. The particle ~に could combine with either ~もor ~は. However, both ~が and ~を could not. Why? I don’t know. The book says so.

THURSDAY: Lesson Twenty Five –大学には何で来ますか

Today we have proportional frequency to discuss! We only have two so stay with me on this one. The first one means always and it is written as いつも while the other one means usually and is written as たいてい. How do you use them? The same way you use the adverbs of frequency. They usually come in second place in terms of word order, meaning they follow whatever the subject is. I don’t know if it could be more flexible than that. I am guessing that as long as it comes before the verb, it would be fine. But don’t take my word for it. Last, we have a filler that denotes sequence in a series of events. If you are telling a story and you would like to say next, say それから before saying the next sentence.

FRIDAY: Lesson Twenty Five –大学には何で来ますか

We go back to particles as the last lesson for this week. We have three! ~間 is one of the new Kanji of the day presented in the video. This is added as a suffix to a period of time (minutes, hours, take your pick!) to mean how long. In short, duration. 2時 is two o’clock but 2時間 means two hours. See the difference? ~ぐらい means approximately and usually follows phrases formed with the first suffix we discussed for today. Almost two hours would be 2時間ぐらい. The last one means by/with/in/at and is represented by the suffix ~で. In Japanese is 日本語で, in the room is へやで, with chopsticks is はしで.

                                                                                                                                                  

For next week I would be covering lesson twenty six until the first half of lesson twenty eight. We can do this guys! The goal is to pass the N5 examination of the JLPT in December 2012! =)

中文 - Week 10 (New Practical Chinese Reader 1)

The book I am using is New Practical Chinese Reader 1 by the Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Volume 1 of the book has 14 lessons. Target end date is April 13, 2012.

MONDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

Today we discuss your whereabouts! To ask where someone is, you have to use the question word where 在哪儿. Just put the name of the person in front (or personal pronoun if you like). Where are you would be 你在哪儿？This is usually a follow up question for Is ---- in? I mean, when you go to someone’s house and you want to know if he is there, or when you call someone on the phone. You ask: --- 在吗？Back to the first topic, you could use that construction with places as well if you want to ask where it is located. Where is the dorm would be 宿舍在哪儿？

TUESDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

What if you have no idea? How do you say so? Easy, just say I don’t know which would be 我不知道. Before that you could apologize for not knowing (as if it’s your fault, duh) just for politeness’ sake. You may want to begin with 对不起 which is one of the several ways of saying Sorry in Mandarin.

WEDNESDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

Okay, so after asking where a place is, you might want to know how to get there. If you are in a building, this comes in handy. First, let us discuss 在. This is a high frequency “verb” in Mandarin which expresses location. If you hear it, expect to hear a place, or something. Well, I guess we beginners think of it that way. It is then followed by the location. If you are in a building, floor would be 层. Number would be 号 which could be the room number. In English we say second floor room number 200. In Mandarin they say 二层二OO. No, they don’t say two hundred. They just say the numerals one after the other. Don’t complain, they are all single syllables anyway. Easier too! You know how difficult larger numbers could be.

THURSDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

You arrived late because you got lost. It happens. Apologize! You already know how. And then state the obvious: I arrived late, which would be 我来晚了. The teacher knows you arrived late. The class knows you arrived late. You know you arrived late. But you know, just apologize and say so. In English we also do that with “Sorry, I arrived late!”

FRIDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

There isn’t much to discuss about grammar this week, which is what makes me love this book more, hahaha! It’s all about question words. In English they always come first. In Mandarin they have the tendency to come in last, but that really depends on the word they are replacing. This means that their appearance would greatly depend on that. Tip? Say the declarative sentence, or what it would seem to be, and then replace the person/time/location/adjective/whatever with the corresponding interrogative pronoun. In English if you ask “Who am I?” In Mandarin it would be “I am who?” because the declarative sentence would be “I am ---“ so you just replace that.

For next week I will be covering lesson six. We are making progress! The goal is to pass the lowest level of the HSK in September 2012! =)

한국어 - WEEK 10 Korean 1 (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

The book I am using is 한국어1 which is the Korean for Foreigners course book of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. The book has 35 chapters. Target end date is February 3, 2012.

월요일: Chapter Twenty One – 주말에 뭐 할 거에요?

How do we express duration in Korean? As in “from this time to that time?” Again, we make use of particles, and the tandem from... to is represented by 부터...까지. This is usually used after time particles such as hours, days, etc. Examples! From 9 PM to 10 PM would be 9시부터10시까지. From Monday to Saturday would be 얼요일부터토요일까지.

화요일: Chapter Twenty One –주말에 뭐 할 거에요?

How do you say nothing and nobody? They are 아무것도 and아무도, respectively. The only thing that differs between the two is 것 which means thing, which makes it easier to remember.

수요일: Chapter Twenty One –주말에 뭐 할 거에요?

There’s a catch about nothing and nobody. You have to use them with negative verbs only. This causes confusion because in English, it gives you a contrasting statement. For example, No one is in the classroom would be 교실에 아무도 없어요. If you translate this literally, it would mean “Nobody is not in the classroom” which means that someone is there! Well, in Korean, that’s not the case. Take note of this and make sure you master it. Try forgetting English for a while. Another example: I didn’t eat anything would be 아무것도 먹지 않았어요 which you might translate word per word as “I did not eat nothing”.

목요일: Chapter Twenty Two – 어떻게 가요?

Transportation! First stop, some common modes of transportation. Airplane is 비행기, bus is 버스, taxi is 택시, metro is 지하철, car is 차, and train is 기차. Just add the particle ~(으)로 to mean that you are using the said mode of transport and then add the verb of motion, whether that is to come 오다 or to go 가다. When I went to Korea last June, I went there by plane. Thus, I could say 저기에비행기로갔어요.

금요일: Chapter Twenty Two – 어떻게 가요?

We’ve learned how to say “from...to” when it comes to time. What if you want to specify a place, instead? “to” does not change. In this case only from is changed to ~에서 which means “from place to place” would be에서...까지. Let’s use an example that would summarize this week’s lessons. From Monday to Friday I go from house to university by bus. Ready? Take note of the particles: 월요일부터금요일까지집에서대학교까지버스로가요.

For next week I would be covering lesson 1/3 of lesson twenty two, lesson twenty three, and 1/3 of lesson 24. We can do this, guys! AJA! The goal is to pass the lowest level of TOPIK in April 2012! =)

中文 - Week 9 (New Practical Chinese Reader 1)

The book I am using is New Practical Chinese Reader 1 by the Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Volume 1 of the book has 14 lessons. Target end date is April 13, 2012.

MONDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

Since the new words are discussed in the video anyway, let’s just focus on Chinese characters here! Our first two characters for this week have the same pronunciation but differ in tone. The first one is 二 and it means two while the other one is 儿 and it means son. Looking at the pictographs they once were, 二 is kind of easy to memorize. Wait, it IS easy to memorize. The original pictograph is that of a pair of chopsticks! The second one however is kind of difficult because of its weirdness. The pictograph is supposed to be that of an infant. The traditional character does look like a baby with a hole on the head, which does not paint a very nice picture in my imagination. The simplified character looks like a pair of legs with the “head” totally disappearing. And so I am once again weirded out. As mentioned, it means “son”.

TUESDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

Our first character for the day 子 also means son. How many characters for son do they need! Seriously. This one, however, seems to be more like a common component to form other words. If you review some of our previous lessons you will find this as a part of a very popular set phrase that would most likely be the first you’ll ever learn when you pick up a Mandarin book! Anyway, this one does look like an infant and is thus, easier to memorize, at least for me. The second character 井 means well, as in that hole on the ground from where Sadako comes out to give you a seven day ultimatum. You don’t know who Sadako is? Were you living under a rock during the last decade? Again, I think this one is more of a component character used to lend its pronunciation rather than a widely used standalone Chinese character.

WEDNESDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

These two are also used a lot in combination with other characters. The first one is quite common if you love watching DVDs or HBO with East Asian subtitles. 文 Means written language and when coupled with 中 , is mostly seen in subtitle choices for Chinese 中文. The second one 见 means to see and is often used with another character to form the set phrase for “good bye” or in a literal sense, “see you again”.

THURSDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

Let’s take the easy one first. 四 means four and is easy to memorize because it is high frequency. Translation: because you have no choice. Haha. Let’s not dwell on this one for long. Let’s move to the next one, 且 which is used with other characters to form new words. It means and. I think this one mainly contributes its pronunciation to other words like 小姐 which means Miss, which I heard has a bad connotation when used in the southern parts of China because its meaning slightly changes. Is this true?

FRIDAY: Lesson Five – 餐厅在哪儿

Make sure to dedicate enough effort to know this next character by heart! 我 is very high frequency specially for us beginners. As you know, we often run out of issues to talk about so we just talk about ourselves! So expect to use a lot of I, I, I, I, I!  青, on the other hand, means blue-green when by itself but as we’ve already learned in previous lessons, this is used with another character to mean please 请 .

For next week I will still be covering lesson five. We are making progress! The goal is to pass the lowest level of the HSK in September 2012! =)

日本語 - Week 9 (Contemporary Japanese Vol. 1)

The book I am using is Contemporary Japanese Vol. 1 by Eriko Sato from the Tuttle Language Library. Volume 1 of the book has 61 lessons. Target end date is March 20, 2012.

MONDAY: Lesson Twenty One – An Overview of Japanese Verb Conjugation

And so we’ve reached that part where we have to conjugate Japanese verbs. How scary. It’s inevitable though, and better to deal with it now than regret it later. Basically there are two types of verbs in Japanese: the –ru verb and the –u verb. It’s really strange because there are Japanee verbs ending in –ru but are actually –u verbs. Come to think of it, all of them are –ru verbs because they technically end in –u!!! Don’t you agree? But rules are rules, so let’s go down to business. It’s the same concept, get rid of the ending, which means throwing either –ru or –u out of the window. What’s left would be what they call the “root form”. There is another one called the “stem form” which is almost always the root form + -i. Sometimes when the “root form” ends in –e, it would also be the “stem form” like the case in TABERU. Get rid of the –ru and that leaves you with TABE- which is both the root form and the stem form of this verb.Let’s have a different example: SHINU, a –u verb which means “to die”. Harsh. The root form would be SHIN- once you get rid of the –u but the stem form should be SHIN-I- so you add an –i.

TUESDAY: Lesson Twenty One – An Overview of Japanese Verb Conjugation

What do you do with the root form and the stem form then? Well, the dictionary form of the verb, which means that version of the verb with the –ru and –u still attached are actually the plain present affirmative form. What the hell does that mean? That means you could use it as is to people you are close to. If you are just talking to your sister or your friend and there is no need to be polite, just use it. 私は　行く means “I go” but if you want to mean the same thing but you are talking to someone that you have to respect, you have to use the stem form (the one ending in either –e or –i) and –masu to be polite. So to a superior you would say私は　行きます. Okay. What about the root form? You add –nai or –anai to the root form for the plain present negative. If you are telling your sister that you are not going, there is no need to be so polite so instead of saying行きません (the negative of行きます) you could just say 行かない which is the opposite of行く. I know it’s hard. Information overload. Let’s try to summarize. If there is no need to be polite, go vs. don’t go would be: 行くvs.　行かない. If you are talking to your boss, go vs. don’t go would be: 行きますvs.　行きません.

WEDNESDAY: Twenty Two – 今日はクラスに行きますか

Let’s focus on the three verbs of movement for now. 行く is to go and it is regular. Rejoice! Affirmative conjugations are 行く and 行きます. Negative conjugations are 行かない and 行きません.　くる is to come and it is irregular. Boo! Affirmative conjugations are くる andきます. Negative conjugations are こない andきません.　 帰る is to return and it is regular. Yahoo! Affirmative conjugations are 帰る and帰ります. Negative conjugations are 帰らない and帰りません.

THURSDAY: Lesson Twenty Two –今日はクラスに行きますか

Friends, I’d like to introduce you to the verb わかる which means “to know/to understand”. Say hi. Hi, わかる! Hmmmkay… You only have to know two of its forms: わかります (I understand!) and わかりません (I don’t understand!). You know what particle to add if you want to turn that into a question. That’s so basic, hello! Most of the time they also use the past tense of the affirmative so you might also hear: わかりました. It’s the same verb, just in the past tense. We don’t know how to conjugate verbs in the past tense yet but what I’ve observed is that the ~す sound becomes ~した. Last grammar point for the day, the particle ~に which is attached to targets as in target location, target time, target person (indirect object). This is very useful when used with the verbs of movement. 日本に　行く means I am going to Japan.

FRIDAY: Lesson Twenty Three – デパアトにいきまえんか

The particle ~や is attached to whatever the product is to mean a store or a shop selling that product. Our best example would be 本や which means bookstore. どこ、ここ、そこ、and あそこ mean where, here, there, and over there respectively. See the common suffix? That’s what I find cool about Japanese, hehe! If you review our demonstrative pronouns, you are bound to see similarities.

                                                                                                                                                  

For next week I would be covering the second half of lesson twenty three until lesson twenty five. We can do this guys! The goal is to pass the N5 examination of the JLPT in December 2012! =)

한국어 - WEEK 9 Korean 1 (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

The book I am using is 한국어1 which is the Korean for Foreigners course book of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. The book has 35 chapters. Target end date is February 3, 2012.

MONDAY: Chapter Nineteen – 파티에 같이 가요

We can’t avoid this so it is better to talk about it now. How do you say dates in Korean? Since they use two systems, it could get very confusing in choosing which is which. For years, they use Sino Korean numbers and the counter 년 so that 1996 would be 천 구백 구십 육 년. You just plug the counter at the very end. As you can see, telling the year is like saying one thousand nine hundred ninety six instead of the common nineteen ninety six in English. You’ll get used to it. For months, you also use Sino Korean, just one to twelve this time, no biggie, and plug in the counter 월. If you have noticed, this is the first syllable of the word for Monday. Wonder why? Nah, that’s easy. Go figure it out yourself. There are two mutations: June is 유월 instead of 육월 and October is 시월 instead of 십월. If you listen closely, they are just avoiding some consonant clashes. For everything else, just mash up the Sino Korean number and the month counter. Week is 주 and since we don’t have special names for those, all you have to remember are: 지난주 (last week), 이번주 (this week), and 다음주 (next week). Those prefixes come in handy so you might want to memorize them now.

TUESDAY: Chapter Nineteen – 파티에 같이 가요

To say “before” or “after” a certain time period, you add 전에 and 후에 respectively as suffixes. You are, of course, familiar with ~에 as it is an all-around particle for location and time. It has a similar function here. So just try to remember the first syllables for each for those are the real clues. Before 9 o’clock is 9시전에 while after 9 o’clock is 9시후에. Just two particles to memorize so do it fast! This is very useful when talking about events in the past or planning for the future! You could also use those two after nouns, like after class would be 수업후에, for example!

WEDNESDAY: Chapter Twenty – 힌국어 공부가어때요?

What if you have to say BUT? In Korean you could say the sentence, and then say 그렇지만 and then go on with the catch. This is for beginners. Fine, I know we are indeed, beginners but we could do better than that! You could attach ~지만 to the verb stem and then state the contrasting statement. That way you will have a compound sentence! Sounds cool! And our best example would be: Korean is interesting but difficult. You could say: 한국어가재미있지만어려워요. If you decide to split them into two sentences, the BUT becomes HOWEVER, and the sentence would look like: 한국어가재미있어요. 그렇지만, 어려워요.

THURSDAY: Chapter Twenty –힌국어 공부가어때요?

Now we make comparisons! We’re progressing, how cool. How do you say that two things are similar? Do you remember ~하고 which you attach to nouns when you want to enumerate more than one? In short, to mean AND? You use this to join the two being compared, and then use either verb which both mean “to be similar to” which are 같다 and 비슷하다. For example: Korean is similar to Japanese. 한국어하고일본어는비슷해요 or한국어하고일본어는같아요.

FRIDAY: Chapter Twenty –힌국어 공부가어때요?

What if they are different? Same same, you just change the verb. The verb which means “to be different from” is 다르다. Korean is different from Japanese. 한국어하고일본어는딜라요. Wow. That was short.

For next week I would be covering lesson twenty one and 2/3 of lesson twenty three. We can do this guys! AJA! The goal is to pass the lowest level of TOPIK in April 2012! =)

한국어 - WEEK 8 Korean 1 (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

The book I am using is 한국어1 which is the Korean for Foreigners course book of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. The book has 35 chapters. Target end date is February 3, 2012.

Earthlings, I have decided to register for intensive elementary Korean classes at the Korean Cultural Center here in Manila. This, however, is not yet sure because the tuition is free and you only pay for the course materials, so imagine how many people would be showing up for the first day of registration. I will advise you if I get in. It starts in January, I think. If I do get it, expect the daily briefs here to be longer, which would mean that they would no longer be briefs, hahaha, because I would be including insights I get from class (Monday to Thursday 6 PM to 8 PM). That means only the Friday entry would be short, lol.

MONDAY: Chapter Seventeen –여기 순두부 둘 주세요

I feel bad for not discussing honorific words but I think I’ll leave that for later when my level is much more advanced. I am more focused now on how to function well while on vacation. I don’t think I’m making sense. Anyway, we only have one grammar point left for this chapter and that is the particle they use to mean only and is attached as a suffix ~만. If you could remember ~도 which means also you would notice that the two are opposites. You use the former if you want to emphasize just one thing and that it does not come accompanied. Alone. Solo. The only one. Let’s say you want to say: I only study Korean! This means that you are not studying any other subject or language aside from it. Use the particle. 한국어만공부합니다. What if you say한국어도공부합니다? That would mean that you are also studying Korean in addition to something else.

TUESDAY: Chapter Eighteen – 무슨 일을 하고 싶어요?

We only have two grammar points for this lesson, and we have three days. Haha. What to do on the third day? I don’t know. Whatever. Let’s discuss the first one. It is the ever reliable “to want” which in Korean is a bit complicated. You do it like this: verb stem + ~고 싶습니다/싶어요. What does this mean? It means you have to start loving the stem + ~고 construction because this won’t be the last time you would be using it. If you’ve studied Japanese before, this is their version of the Japanese stem + て. Examples! I want to go to Korea would be 한국에 가고싶어요. Let’s combine it with another verb ending. Remember stem + (으)러 가다/오다/다니다? You use this to express intention. What if you want to say I want to go to Korea to study Korean. You have to combine them. Pay attention: 한국에한국어를배우러가고싶어요. Notice the verb stems and endings? Look closely.

WEDNESDAY: Chapter Eighteen – 무슨 일을 하고 싶어요?

We have another verb construction for today which deals with “becoming” as in what you would like to become in the future or what becomes of ice when it melts under the sun. You form “to become” by attaching the subject particle 이/가 to the noun and then add ~되다 which of course you have to conjugate (“conjugate” sounds scary, eh? Sorry, can’t think of a better term). “Ice became water” (because it melted!) would be 얼음이 물이 되었어요. This one is in the past tense.

THURSDAY: Chapter Eighteen – 무슨 일을 하고 싶어요?

What if you combine it with another verb construction we learned the other day which is “to want”? It gets a bit complicated but if you analyze it well, you’ll be able to see how it is formed. “What would you want to be in the future?” is a common question for kids at school, in Korean the question is: 나중에 무엇이 되고 싶습니다? Here you added the verb construction for “to want” and attached it to the stem of the verb construction for “to become”. I know it is hard and this is one perhaps the most difficult part of learning Korean. They have a lot of verb endings to mean a lot of things. It does take time getting used to them. Be patient and diligent. You’ll eventually get the hang of it.

FRIDAY: Chapter Nineteen – 파티에 같이 가요

We’ve reached a new lesson which deals mostly about time constructions. So expect this to be filled with expressions such as “every day/week/month”, “after this, before that” and of course, the days of the week! Let’s do the days of the week now so we could use them next week in the video!!!

월요일 = Monday           화요일 = Tuesday           수요일 = Wednesday

목요일 = Thursday          금요일 = Friday             토요일 = Saturday          일요일 = Sunday

What’s common? ~일 because it means “day” if I am not mistaken.

For next week I would be covering 2/3 of lesson nineteen and lesson twenty. We can do this guys! AJA! The goal is to pass the lowest level of TOPIK in April 2012! =)