한국어 - WEEK 15 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 next week, February 25, 2012! Thanks a lot to everyone who watched and learned with me. I already have the second book at hand, around 40 chapters but since I am a bit busy lately I could no longer commit to making videos about it. Hope everyone understands! :)

월요일: Chapter Thirty One  – 어디에서샀어요?

Verbs could also be used as adverbs. Surprise! Yes, this time you add the 게 ending and you have an instant adverb. It is a bit weird but I am getting the hang of it. Example? Let us say you were able to buy a book for 50% less its tag price, we could say that you bought a book inexpensively, because you got a discount. In Korean you could say 책이사게샀어요. You might have noticed that Koreans also like using 이렇게 and 그렇게 in their sentences. Those are also adverbs meaning like this and like that, respectively.

화요일: Chapter Thirty One  – 어디에서샀어요?

A verb could also function as a noun. Surprise! What the. These verbs are very hardworking! The book says that adding 기 to the stem of the verb turns it into a noun, or a gerund, specifically. That way you could talk about your activities in a different manner. Let’s say, for example: studying Korean = 한국어공부하기. Just add a subject particle to the activity and you are ready to talk about it. To say that studying Korean is easy would be한국어공부하기가쉬워요, while studying Korean is difficult would be 한국어공부하기어려워요.

수요일: Chapter Thirty Two  – 동대문으로갈까요?

To solicit someone’s opinion about an activity you would like to do, you use the ending (으)ㄹ까요 and be reminded that this is an indirect suggestion and you are really taking the other person’s opinion into consideration. Just add that ending to that stem and you are done. Should we go to Korea? 한국에갈까요?

목요일: Chapter Thirty Two –동대문으로갈까요?

This one is a bit complicated so bear with me here. How do you say “before” or “after” an activity? Let us start with “before”. Remember how to turn verbs into nouns? Do that and then add 전에 after it, so that before eating would be 먹기전에. What about after an activity? This time you turn the verb into a past noun modifier, remember them from the previous lessons? Just add the ending (으)ㄴ and then add 후에 right after that. So let us go back to the earlier example, after eating would be먹은후에.

금요일: Chapter Thirty Three  – 어디에서샀어요?

Comparisons! In Korean the formula is quite weird. First, mention the thing that is the point of reference, let us say a book = 책 and then you add 보다 and then finish it off with your verb. Just always remember that the particle of comparison is attached to the one being compared to, as opposed to the subject. Saying Today is cold compared to yesterday would be 오늘이어제보다추웠어요. If you translate that word per word it would sound like “Today yesterday compared cold”.

For next week I would be covering lessons thirty three to thirty five. We can do this, guys! AJA! The goal is to pass the lowest level of TOPIK in April 2012! =)