한국어 - WEEK 11 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 Two – 어떻게 가요?

Our last grammar point for this lesson is about irregular verbs ending in ~ㄷ which becomes ~ㄹ if followed by a vowel, meaning the conjugation is in the polite for, not formal. The best example would be to walk 걷다 which in formal form is 겁습니다 but written and pronounced as 걸어요 in the polite form. A similar verb is to hear 듣다.

화요일: Chapter Twenty Three  – 여기가 명동이에요

The grammar lesson for today was a rather lengthy tutorial on the verb stem + 고 construction which is used to link sentences. There are three instances. The first is when the two sentences are of a sequence, meaning there is one subject doing two or more activities one right after the other. I eat and then I go home would be 밥을먹고집에 갑니다. You could separate those two sentences by using 그리고 in between. A second instance would be when there are two different subjects. The two sentences need not be in sequence. All you have to do is indicate the different subjects. I am going to school and father is going to the restaurant: 저는 학교에가고아버지는 식당에 갑니다. The third example is a special construction for transportation used to go somewhere. I go to school by bus: 저는 버스를타고갑니다.

수요일: Chapter Twenty Three  – 여기가 명동이에요

Possessive article! The Koreans attach ~의 to denote possession, almost similar to the English ‘s. They also tend to drop this in colloquial speech which results in juxtaposition. For example, father’s umbrella would be 아버지의우산 which becomes아버지우산 if you drop the particle.

목요일: Chapter Twenty Three  – 여기가 명동이에요

The verb 같다 is used to say that something and something are alike: something와/과 something 같아요. If you just want to say that something is like something, for example, I am like Superman would be 저는 Superman 같아요! In this case you don’t use any particle before the verb anymore.

금요일: Chapter Twenty Four  – 어떻게 가요?

We have a useful grammar point today about turning verbs into adjectives! You just add an “n” sound at the end of the verb stem. For example, to be different is 다르다, if we want to say different as in the adjective, we say 다른. To be good is 좋다 and good is 좋은.

For next week I would be covering 2/3 of lesson twenty four and lesson 25. We can do this, guys! AJA! The goal is to pass the lowest level of TOPIK in April 2012! =)