Korean Lessons for Foreigners patrick@snu.ac.

kr
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Korean lessons: Day 4 (2011. 6. 16.)

1. ‘이~’, ‘그~’, ‘저~’ 의 쓰임, The Usage of this and that, here and there

- 이, 그, and 저 are demonstrative modifiers for nouns.

+thing +person +place

this 이 이것 이 사람 여기
that, over there 저 저것 저 사람 저기
that 그 그것 그 사람 거기
Question word 무엇(what) 누구 (who) 어디(where)

- When the referent (an object or a person) is close to the speaker, it is referred to as 이~. When it is
closer to the listener than to the speaker, it is referred to as 그~. If it is rather distant from both parties,
it is referred to 저~. The only thing that is different from the case in English would be that what is
referred to with 저~ should be in the sight of the speaker.

이것이 무엇이에요? 그것은 한국 책이에요.

저것은 무엇이에요? 저것은 미국 신문이에요.

그것은 무엇이에요? 이것은 일본 잡지이에요.

이 사람은 누구이에요? 그 사람은 내 친구이에요.

저 사람은 누구이에요? 저 사람은 내 동생이에요.

그 사람은 어디 가요? 이 사람은 학교에 가요.

여기는 어디이에요? 여기는 학교이에요.

저기는 어디이에요? 저기는 우리 집이에요.

거기는 어디이에요? 여기는 미국이에요.

2. Nominal predicates: "~이에요"

- If there is no such thing as the English verb "to be", how are we going to say such sentences as "I am a
student"? Many languages lack the verb like "to be," which can be used both in nominal predicates and
adjectival predicates. ("I am a student" and "I am tall".)

- In order to relate two nouns (i.e., the subject and the nominal complement), such languages use so-
called 'copula'. In Korean, that copula is "~이다". "~이다" is of course the base form, which still has
to be conjugated to be used in actual sentences. Hence, "학생이다" ("to be a student"); "구름이다"
("to be clouds").
Korean Lessons for Foreigners patrick@snu.ac.kr
011.9876.1130

-
1) Usage of the present-tense suffix ~요 and ~세요

(1) Mid-polite suffix: ~아/어요

- Verbs and adjectives that we practiced with for ~요 suffix have something in common: they all have
the stem ending in vowel without any 받침(final consonant) followed. Those whose stems end
otherwise, should take either -아요 or -어요. The last vowel of the stem decides which of the two to
take.

Once again, the vowel harmony principle ('yang with yang; yin with yin') applies:
If the stem has a yang vowel at the last syllable, use -아요;
If the stem has a yin or neutral vowel at the last syllable, use -어요.

작다 작 + ~아요 → 작아요
to be small "It's small." or "He/She is small."

오다 오 + ~아요 → (오아요) → 와요
to come "Come!" or "I come" or "He/She comes."

괜찮다[괜찬타] 괜찮 + ~아요 → 괜찮아요 [괜차나요]

to be alright "It's OK."

주다 주 + ~어요 → (주어요) → 줘요
to give "Give (me, etc.)!" or "I give."

먹다 먹 + ~어요 → 먹어요
to eat "Eat!" or "I eat." or "He/She eats."

읽다 읽 + ~어요 → 읽어요 [일거요]

to read "Read!" or "I read." or "He/She reads."

가다 → 가요 is a contraction [가 + ~아요 → (아요) → 가요], so are the many others.

- ~하다 verbs and adjectives are rather peculiar. For them, ~여요 is assumed instead of ~아요. This
may sound quite difficult, but ~하다 words are in fact easier. All the ~하다 stems with no exception
appear as ~해요.

일하다 → 일해요
to work

공부하다 → 공부해요
to study

착하다 → 착해요
to be nice (person)

(2) High-polite suffix: ~(으)세요

Korean Lessons for Foreigners patrick@snu.ac.kr
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- If the stem ends without a final consonant, use ~세요;

If the stem ends with a final consonant, use ~으세요.

가다 가 + 세요 → 가세요

웃다 웃 + 으세요 → 웃으세요
to laugh

안녕하다 안녕하 + 세요 → 안녕하세요

괜찮다 괜찮 + 으세요 → 괜찮으세요

(3) Names
- Finally, we arrive the detail structure of "안녕하세요. 000(name)이에요." Since personal names are
the same as nouns, we use the nominal-predicate copula, ~이다. In order to make it into a real
sentence, we need to add either ~아요 or ~어요 in place of the base-form making ~다 after ~이~. For
이 is a neutral vowel, ~어요 is added. ~이어요 had gone through a certain phonological change in
modern Korean speakers' speech, and ended in ~이에요.

오영균 이다 →오영균 이 + ~어요 → 오영균이에요 "I am Oh Young Kyun."

학생: 학생이에요 "I am / You are a student" or "He/She is a student"

기차: 기차이에요 "It's a train."

- There are two forms to spell this ~이에요: ~예요 and ~이에요.
As far as we are concerned, just ~이에요 suffice.