Korean FoundationThere are a few things you should know before you begin studying Korean. These will help jumpstart your learning experience.

First, Korean is not as difficult to read as you may think! Hangulis the Korean alphabet. If you have not learned Hangul yet, you will soon realize it is much easier to learn than you think, being one of the easiest alphabets in the world to read. Not to mention that Korea has one of the highest literacy rates in the world because of it! Korean characters are not just a bunch of random symbols you must memorize like Chinese characters. You just put the pieces of the alphabet together to form words.

Korean sentences are S-O-V sentences, while English uses a S-V-O sentence structure. Don't let grammar frustrate you, it's fairly simple! In English, we generally state the Subject (person or thing doing the action), followed by the Verb (the action word), followed by the Object (the person or thing receiving the action). An example would be Michael (subject) eats (verb) cake (object).

Korean uses the S-O-V sentence pattern, or Subject-Object-Verb. Our example sentence would be something like 'Michael (subject) cake (object) eats (verb)' in Korean. It is a different word order, but you will get used to it fairly quickly.

You should always end your Korean sentences with a verb. It is not possible to end a Korean sentence with anything other than a verb. The verb is the absolutely most important word in Korean. Without the verb, there can be no sentence.

However, a verb can stand alone. What I mean by this is you can have a grammatically correct sentence that is only one word - the verb. 'Eats.' would not be a sentence in English. In Korean, it would be correct.

When the subject (person or thing doing the action) of the sentence is understood from the conversation, the subject can be completely left out of the sentence. For example, instead of saying 'I ate.' you could simply say 'ate.' as long as the listener knows who ate. The word 'I' is often left out of Korean sentences.

The final and one of the more important building blocks of Korean is the fact that social status is built directly into the language itself. What I mean by this

is depending on who you are speaking with, words may change. Not all words - and there are only a few that change drastically. Most of the change is in the verb conjugation (more on this in Lesson Two).

For example, is the word 'to eat'. When speaking with a friend, you would say . When you speak with someone older than you, such as a teacher or parent, you would say . The difference is very easy to get used to (usually it is simply adding/dropping the final on the verb).

For now, just realize that depending on who you are speaking with, words (mainly verbs) will change (usually by picking up/dropping on the end). In English we say 'please' and use the tone of our voice a lot when we need to be more respectful. In Korean, it is directly built into the words itself, such as adding on .

Once you begin learning words and sentences, this will become more clear to you. Don't let it frustrate you for now or confuse you! Learning a new language takes time, but can be extremely fun, not to mention beneficial and lucrative! The longer you study it, the more clear the basic foundations will become. Soon you will be able to fully understand these foundations. Grammar does not have to be your enemy! With some knowledge about basic grammar, you will be able to create Korean sentences much faster. This makes grammar a very good thing ;-)For now, just keep these Korean foundations in mind as you begin your studies.Enjoy learning Korean!

First VocabularyWhenever you begin to learn a new language, there are a few vocabulary words you should learn first. Why? Well, for several reasons.You will use certain vocabulary in nearly every conversation. Words like 'yes' and 'no' are very important in every language, so they should be learned right from the beginning.Also, right away you will be able to start saying some words in Korean. So let's get started.Sidenote: Recall that words vary depending on who you are talking to (polite or casual). We will cover this in depth as we continue through the lessons. For now, note that casual is most used with close family and friends - polite is used in most other cases.Korean English yes no hello * goodbye * goodbye* thank you* thank you it's alright / your welcome I'm sorry excuse me really? is that so? what yes (casual) no (casual) hi (casual) bye (casual)

Korean English yes no hello * goodbye * goodbye* thank you* thank you it's alright / your welcome I'm sorry excuse me really? is that so? what yes (casual) no (casual) hi (casual) bye (casual)

Similar to other languages, Korean has multiple ways of saying the same thing. Let's look at a couple of these based on our new words.GoodbyeThe first is goodbye. When you say goodbye in Korean, you have two choices for words. and . How do you know which one to use? It all depends on what the person you are saying goodbye to is doing, staying or leaving.If the other person you are parting with is going - maybe they were at your house and are leaving, or at a store and leaving - things like that - then you use . It literally translates into 'Peacefully go'. Soon you will learn that is the verb for 'to go'. Once you can remember that, this becomes easy to remember.If they are staying - perhaps you were at their house, and you are the one leaving, while they are staying where they are - you should use . This literally means 'Peacefully stay'. So if you remember the literal translations of these two, you should be able to know which one to use pretty easily.When you are both leaving, such as you met and are both going off your own ways, you would use .Thank YouThe next case is and . Here, you really don't have much to remember other than the two words. They both mean 'thank you' and you can use either one whenever you want to. They mean the same thing.If you like to know everything that you can...the difference is in theorigin of the word. is of Chinese origin, while is pure-Korean.As you learn Korean, you will learn that there certain words that are Chinese and

others that are pure-Korean. We call the words that originated from Chinese 'sino-Korean' words and the ones that are straight from Korea 'pure-Korean'.Korean has a borrowed writing system known as Hanja that stems from Chinese (Hangul, the native Korean alphabet, is now the most common, but Hanja is still used within some writings). Because of this, there are many Korean words that also have roots in Chinese and are very similar. While knowing the origin does not affect your speaking and language abilities, it does make you moreknowledgeable about the language you are speaking :-)

Click here to take the quiz! If you receive greater than an 80% on the quiz, you're ready for the next lesson! Don't look at the lesson during the quiz as it will not provide an accurate result of how much you understand.

Essential VocabularyTo get started with your journey through Korean, you will need to know quite a few verbs.Before you learn how to conjugate verbs, you need to know a few verbs! It's time to learn some. Afterwards, move on to the section talking about verbs. It will be much easier to learn what to do with the verbs if you already know some, so let's just push past this introductory vocabulary so that we can dive in and learn how to use all these words we are learning. The following lessons will be much easier if you have some vocabulary down though, so let's get to it.In the table below, you can see the Korean dictionary form, followed by the English meaning.I recommend that you only learn the dictionary form and theEnglish meaning for now. Come back at the end of the lesson, and go over the polite and formal columns.Note that the casual style is not listed below. Simply drop the from the polite style to get the casual style (Except for - this is covered in the next section).Also, a few verbs are not written in the formal form. Those verbs are different in the formal style, which you will learn in a future lesson.Dictionary Meaning Polite Style Formal Style to eat - to do to be / to drink to go to meet to see to come to sleep - to get up to sit to learn to play to exist or have to not exist or have to read to write

to know or understand

to not know or understand

to like to love

Dictionary Meaning Polite Style Formal Style to eat - to do to be / to drink to go to meet to see to come to sleep - to get up to sit to learn to play to exist or have to not exist or have to read to write

to know or understand

to not know or understand

to like to love

Now that you know some verbs, let's move on to see what we can do with them.

Greetings VocabularyConversation One - Common PhrasesKorean English my girl friend girlfriend first Nice to meet you

We meet, so I am pleased (similar to above)

Conversation Two - Get A Better Feel For The StructureKorean English how to spend time ? How have you been? (past tense) ? How are you? (present tense) well where home, house ah I, me also See you later

Korean English how to spend time ? How have you been? (past tense) ? How are you? (present tense) well where home, house ah I, me also See you later

Greetings ConversationMost people are interested in learning basic conversation as quickly as possible.Now that you have spent a little time getting to know the basic structure of the language, let's look at some greeting conversations. However, do note that there are a few simple expressions which you have not learned yet. They are mentioned in the vocabulary section for this lesson. Many of the following lines are phrases used when greeting. There is also some basic grammar which you will learn in the next section.These are just example conversations to let you dip your feet into the waters of Korean conversation. Do not get discouraged! I go overevery word and every phrase after each conversation, so you will know exactly what is going on.So let's look at a few conversations and get a feel for Korean. Let's get started.

: .: . : , .: , . .: .Explained...This conversation shows a few expressions commonly used when greeting someone new, as well as how to introduce someone.It starts off with Russell (of course!) speaking with a girl named Sami.They both say to each other, meaning 'hello'.Russell then introduces his girlfriend named Anna. is with the topic particle attached. Together, this means 'What I am about to say has to do with Anna...' or something along those lines. It sets Anna as the topic of the sentence as you will learn in the Subject-Object-Topic lesson if you have not covered that lesson already.The rest of the sentence reads . After reading the vocabulary section for this conversation, this sentence should make sense. is 'my' and is 'girlfriend'. Girlfriend is followed by the verb ending , meaning 'to be'. simply means 'to be my girlfriend', or more similar to English, 'is my girlfriend'.Sami says , - the equivilant of saying 'Ah, hello'. A very common phrase

follows. . This is commonly used when meeting someone new, and is similar to 'We meet for the first time'. means 'first'.Anna replies with another common phrase used when meeting someone. . This literally means 'We're meeting, so I am pleased' or 'We meet, therefore I am pleased'. If you break it down, is the verb for 'to meet', as you learned in the first vocabulary lesson. Here it takes on an ending you haven't learned yet - . It is similar to adding 'therefore' or 'so'. Don't worry about it for now. Instead, just memorize this phrase. means 'to be pleased' in the formal style of speech.As you may have noticed, a couple of these phrases were in the formal style of speech. Usually when meeting someone for the first time, you would be using the formal style of speech. The common phrases associated with meeting someone new, such as and , are almost certainly written in the formal style of speech. The phrases themselves point out that it is the first time meeting, thus the formal style of speech should be used.

: ! . : ! . ?: . ? : .: ! . !: , . .Explained...This is a basic conversation between two people, who are both using the polite style of speech. They introduce themselves, and then move into the conversation. While two people who are introducing themselves rarely jump into conversation acting like friends, Subi and Nuri have done so, simply to give you practice in Korean conversations ;-)The conversation begins with Nuri () saying hello and stating her name. When you state your name, you usually say your name, followed by the verb , 'to be'. Note that took the form here, because ends in a vowel.Subi then responds with hello and her own name. She then asks ? This is a common way to say 'How have you been?' is the 'how', whereas literally means 'spent time'. Another common form of this phrase is ? This is simply the present tense, and is similar to saying 'How are you?' The two are very similar.Nuri responds saying . means 'well'. This is simply a way of saying 'I've been fine,' 'Things are well', etc. It is just a usual response to the question (unless

things are NOT well, and you want to be brutally honest. In that case, you could say or . means 'cannot', which negates the fact of being well).Nuri then asks ? You should have certainly learned the verb , or 'to go', and was included in the vocabulary section for this conversation lesson. For now, just note that the attached to is a location particle - you will learn these very soon. You attach it onto the end of a location (or onto 'where' when the location is unknown). You can probably guess that Nuri is asking 'Where are you going?'Subi responds with , or 'I'm going home'. means 'home' or 'house', and it also has the location particle attached.Nuri then follows with 'Ah! Me too. See you later!The final line reads 'Yes, see you later. Goodbye.'These final couple of lines have a couple of things that can be useful in conversation. ! is not an actual word. Rather, it is a sound. In English, people say 'ah, oh, eh, huh, agh' and many other types of sounds while communicating. This is just one in Korean. Same idea :-) is a way of saying 'me too'. You should know that means 'I' or 'me', and means 'also'. For now, simply remember is 'me too'.Finally, note that Subi said to say 'goodbye'. You have learned that and both mean 'goodbye'. Because Nuri is also leaving (she was also going home), the correct choice is .This probably broke the conversation up more than was necessary, but I wanted to be sure you understood how everything linked together and the conversation flowed, since I want you to reallyunderstand the structure of conversations. In the future, conversations may or may not have a long explanation, depending on the difficulty of the conversation and words chosen.Don't worry, you should always be able to understand the conversations. If they need explanations, I will provide them.

Congratulations! You have just gone through the first two of many conversations for Korean. You can take what you learned here, and apply it to your own Korean communication as you see necessary. These greeting conversations are just grounds to get you started with your own communication - nobody ever said you would be sticking to these two conversations every time you greet someone!If that was the case, the world would be a very boring place. However, you can take the expressions, change them as necessary and introduce them into your own life.Your next conversation lesson will focus on topics learned in the Subject, Object, and Topics Particles lesson. Be sure to learn the lesson first and then move to the next conversation lesson and practice.

Essential Verbs INTRONow let's learn what to do with the verbs we just learned...While we may be tempted to make sentences and learn other words we can use in a sentence besides the verb, let's hold off for just one more lesson :-) This lesson will only cover verbs, but Lesson Three will introduce other words we can use in Korean.It won't take long, I promise! But it will be well worth it.

When we learn new Korean verbs, they will most likely be in something known as dictionary form. All this really means is that the verb is not ready to be used in a sentence yet. We must do something to it to fit the sentence. For example, in English, we use the infinitive in the dictionary. What is an infinitive you ask? 'To Run' or 'To Eat' or 'To See' are all infinitives. They contain the word 'to' plus the verb. We cannot use the verb as it is in English though, right? 'Michael to eat cake' is not correct. We must make 'to eat' eats. This is called conjugation.Let's start with the verbs you learned. Notice any similarities between all of these verbs?That's right! They all end in . is a sure sign it is in dictionary form. So what can we do with a verb that is in dictionary form? Well, we can conjugate it, or change it a little bit in order to make it fit our sentence (like changing 'to eat' to 'eats').Try this. Drop the off of every verb. Now we are left with the verb stem. becomes . becomes . becomes . Get the idea? If we take the dictionary form and drop the , the result is the verb stem.We can do a lot with the verb stem. All verb conjugation begins with the verb stem.All verb conjugation begins with the verb stem.How we conjugate depends on who we are speaking with. Remember in the previous lesson on foundations the part about social status? Verb conjugation is slightly different depending on who we are speaking with - whether it is a friend, someone older, or the general public (such as announcements, news,etc).

There are three styles of speech - polite, casual, and formal.

Polite style of speech is the most common. It is used when we are speaking to someone older, someone we do not know, or someone whom we should simply be polite to. Examples are our teacher, boss, coworkers, parents, grandparents...you get the idea.

Casual style of speech is something we use with our friends and people younger than ourselves. We would use it when talking to little children, our own children, friends at school, friends in general, etc. We only use it with people we are close to.Formal style of speech is less common in every day communication. Chances are we will not use it as often as the other ones, but we will hear it a lot. It is used on the news, general announcements, in business meetings, things like that. Whenever the occasion is formal, we would use it. You may not consider the news or announcements on the subway formal - if that is the case, just remember it is used on those as well. It is generally used when the relationship is nothing more than business - no personal connection. It may also be used when someone wants to be extra polite.

In the next few sections of this lesson, we will learn how to use each and every style of speech listed above. We start off with the polite style, which is incredibly common in Korea. Next, we will cover the casual style, which will be extremely easy once we know the polite style. Finally, we finish with the formal style of speech.

Polite Essential VerbsWelcome to your first real lesson on Korean grammar. Don't let the word grammar stop you from diving in and learning Korean to the best of your ability. We will break down grammar in such a way that anyone can understand it without being an expert on languages.This section may seem daunting at first, because it does contain a fair amount of material. However, the material is generally pretty easy. We recommend learning a couple pieces a day until you make it through this lesson.We have provided review sections throughout this lesson on the polite style of speech for your benefit. These make good places to take a break. Doing so will allow you to cover this section in four short study sessions - not bad considering how challenging and tedious verb conjugations can be in other languages.Use the following links to jump to the different parts. Be sure to take a break in between parts.Part OnePart TwoPart ThreePart Four

In this section we will learn how to conjugate in the Polite style of speech. We will use

the verbs from the vocabulary list located at the beginning of this lesson in our examples.Knowing how to conjugate in the polite style of speech is one of the most useful things to know how to do when studying Korean, and knowing how will make all future lessons on verbs much easier.

Recall from the introduction that there are three styles of speech used in Korean. They are: Polite, Casual, and Formal. In this lesson, we will cover the polite style of speech.Polite Style of Speech: We use the polite style of speech when we wish to be polite. This can be when speaking with people we do not know well, friends, teachers, or anyone else we wish to be polite with. It is the most common form of speech in Korean, and it is acceptable in nearly all situations (although there may be a better choice such as the casual or formal style of speech).

In general, we will conjugate verbs into the polite style of speech by following the steps below:

1. Drop from the end of the dictionary form. (Ex: > )2. Add either or depending on the verb. (Ex: > )

These are the most basic steps we will follow when conjugating verbs into the polite style of speech. However, in some cases, we must add an additional step between step 1 and step 2 above, or modify step 2slightly.Verb Stem: We will refer to the result from step 1 as the verb stem. For example, in , is the verb stem. In , is the verb stem. In , is the verb stem. vs. - More on Step 2Before we learn any additional steps that might be needed, let us be sure we can follow the above two steps correctly. Step 1 is straight forward and never changes (we simply drop ).In step 2, we add either or to the end of the verb. We base this on the last vowel sound in the verb stem. If the last vowel is or , then we add . If it is any other vowel, then we add . has a verb stem of . The last vowel in is . Therefore we add . + = . has a verb stem of . The last vowel in is . Therefore we add . + = . has a verb stem of . The last vowel in is . Therefore we add . +

= .With this in mind, you should be able to conjugate some of the verbs correctly into the polite style of speech without any further instruction. If you look back at the verb vocabulary for this lesson, you should find 7 verbs (out of 21 total) that were conjugated using only what we have discussed so far.However, our goal is to be fluent in Korean and be able to speak and use the language well. For this reason, let's move on to find out when the above two steps are not enough.

In Korean, there are additional steps taken not to make things more difficult, but to make them easier. Keep this in mind as we cover the rest of this section, as it will make the material easier.Let's look at one simple case where we change the above steps. Consider the verb . has a verb stem of . The final vowel in is , so naturally we will add . + = .If we say , it will probably sound more like . The in and from will blend together into a single sound.Because of this, we simple write . is the correct conjugation of in the polite style of speech. It is easier to say than , especially when talking at a normal speed.Verb Stems Ending With Based on our discussion above, you have already learned one special case for conjugation.If the verb stem ends in , then we simply add instead of . This is because the two sounds blend together, and it is easier to simply add . has a verb stem of . ends in , so we add . The result is. has a verb stem of . ends in so we add . The result is . has a verb stem of . ends in so we add . The result is .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to go to meet to sleep to get up to buy

Note that the verb stem is an exception to this rule. It is unique and has it's own special rule.

Verb Stems Ending With A similar case is for verbs ending with . Consider . has a verb stem of . ends in . Following the original steps, we add , and the result is .Speaking at a normal speed as we did with the situation with , the and sounds blend together.Recall that one of the vowel characters we introduced in the section on Hangul was . is simple a mixture of and and sounds like the two blend together.So for verbs ending in , we combine the and sounds and use instead. This is because it is easier and more natural to say than it is to say . has a verb stem of . ends in . We combine the and (from ) into and add . The result is . has a verb stem of . ends in . We combine the and (from ) into and add . The result is . has a verb stem of . ends in . We combine the and (from ) into and add . The result is .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to come to come out to see

Verb Stems Ending With This situation is nearly identical to the situation with verb stems ending in .Consider the verb . The verb stem is . Following the basic steps, we should add . The result is .Again, the and sounds blend together easily to form . Therefore we will use in the conjugation instead. has a verb stem of . ends with , so we combine with (from ) and add . The result is . has a verb stem of . ends with , so we combine and (from ) and add . The result is .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to learn to smoke

Quick Review:Verb stems that end in simple add . For example, conjugates to . conjugates to . is an exception.Verb stems that end in combine with the from . becomes and becomes .

Verb stems that end in combine with the from . becomes and becomes .Take a look at the original verb vocabulary list at the beginning of this lesson and see if you understand any more verbs. So far we have learned how to conjugate 14 of the verbs.End Part One

Verb Stems Ending With This situation is the final case where we blend two sounds together. It follows similar logic to verb stems ending with and verb stems ending with .Consider . has a verb stem of . Since the last vowel in is , we add . The result .When we say at a faster pace, the and sounds blend together to form . It is much easier to say than in it to say . Therefore we will conjugate by using in place of . has a verb stem of . ends with , so we combine and (from ), add , and the result is . has a verb stem of . ends with , so we combine and (from ), add , and the result is . has a verb stem of . ends with , so we combine and (from ), add , and the result is .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to drink to teach to strike to attend

Verb Stems Ending With Consider . has a verb stem of . If we follow the original steps, the result is . However, this is a little bit difficult to say, and often when spoken fast it simply comes out as .For this reason, when a verb stem ending with is followed by a vowel sound, we simply drop the and then add the appropriate ending. has a verb stem of . When followed by a vowel sound ( and both begin with vowel sounds), we drop the . Since no final vowel is left, we will add . The result is . Note that the starting in is no longer needed as a place holder (since all syllables must start with a consonant). has a verb stem of . When followed by a vowel sound ( and both begin with vowel sounds), we drop the . The result is . Since the last vowel in is , we add . The result is . Note that the starting in is no

longer needed as a place holder (since all syllables must start with a consonant).Dictionary Form Conjugation English to write to be bad to be busy

Note that this rule does not apply to verb stems ending in . See the next situation.Verb Stems Ending With Verb stems ending with are some of the harder conjugations we will encounter. However, these conjugations are pretty simple once you know what to do.It is true that verb stems ending in also end in , but we must do more than drop from the verb stem.When followed by vowel sound, we first drop as in the previous situation. However, we will also "double up" the at the end.Consider . has a verb stem of . ends in , so first we drop . The result is . Second, we "double up" the by adding another onto the end of the second to last syllable - in this case . The result is . Note that we now have two . Now we conjugate following the basic rules. Add . The final form is . has a verb stem of . First we drop the . The result is . Next we "double up" the to obtain . Now we add to arrive at th final form. The correct conjugation is .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to not know to be full (stomach) to be quick

While this conjugation is harder than any of the other conjugations we have seen so far, it is not that bad. We really only have two additional steps rather than one. First we drop the . Then we double up the remaining .When thought of in this way, it is far easier to conjugate verb stems that end in than the simplest conjugations in European languages (just think, each verb has several conjugations depending on who the verb applies to. I am, he is, they are is a simple example from English).

Quick Review:Verb stems that end in combine with the from to form . We then add to the result. For example, conjugates to .Verb stems that end in drop the before vowel sounds (as in the case with polite style conjugations). We then add the appropriate ending. conjugates to .

Verb stems that end in change before vowel sounds as well. First we drop the , and then we double up the . conjugates to.Plus our previous situations...Verb stems that end in simple add . For example, conjugates to . conjugates to . is an exception.Verb stems that end in combine with the from . becomes and becomes .Verb stems that end in combine with the from . becomes and becomes .End Part Two

Verb Stems Ending With or This situation is easy. Rather than adding or , we simply add . Under the normal steps, we would add since the last vowel in the verb stem is not or . But it is harder to say after the or sound, so we simply drop the sound.Consider . has a verb stem of . Since the verb stem ends in , we add and we are done. The conjugation is . has a verb stem of . Since the verb stem ends in , we add and we are done. The conjugation is .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to tie to send

Verb Stems Ending With There are three situations left, and while they are easy to use, these situations are harder to know when to use. This is because they do not always apply, so we must memorize which verbs follow these rules.There are some verb stems that end in , but the changes to before a consonant sound. For example, consider the verb stem which is one of these special verbs. When we add to form the dictionary form, we change the to , or to . This is because begins with a consonant sound. Thus the dictionary form is , although the verb stem can be thought of as .Another example is . The verb stem is , but the dictionary form is because begins with a consonant.If we know a verb is one of these special cases, then we can simply take the verb stem (the version with ) and add the appropriate ending. is conjugated as . is conjugated as .Unfortunately we cannot always look at the dictionary form and know if it is one of these special verbs. For example, conjugates as , not .When you learn verbs, you will need to learn if it is one of these special verbs as well.

Verb Stems Ending With Certain verb stems ending with is the only other situation where we have two additional steps (as the case with verb stems ending in ). Unfortunately, we must also memorize which verb stems ending in follow this rule.When a verb stem ending with is followed by a vowel sound, we first drop , and then we add . Lastly, we add the appropriate ending . has a verb stem of . ends in . When conjugating into the present polite style of speech, it will be followed by a vowel sound (). So first we drop to obtain . Now we add to obtain . Now we conjugate by adding . The result is (note that we use the rule about combining and as seen earlier in this section). has a verb stem of . ends in . When conjugating in the present polite style of speech, it will be followed by a vowel sound (). First we drop to obtain . Now we add to obtain . Finish conjugating by adding . The result is (again note that we use the rule about combining and as seen earlier).Dictionary Form Conjugation English to be cold to broil to be near

But again, not all verb stems ending in follow this rule. For example, ends in , but the conjugation is simply andnot . We must learn which verb stems follow this rule as we encounter new verbs.Verb Stems Ending With There are some verbs that have a verb stem ending in in some situations and drop the in other situations.For example, consider the verb , which is one of these special verbs. is easy to conjugate into the polite style of speech, because it conjugates as . The verb stem ends with (instead of being ) before the dictionary ending and in the polite style of speech. However, there are situations, such as the formal style of speech, where there is no in the verb stem. is another one of these verbs. The verb base is sometimes and sometimes . We must learn when to use each.Luckily, all verbs that fit into this category use in the same situations as the others. For example, any time we conjugate into the formal style of speech, verbs in this category will drop the . Any time we conjugate into the polite style of speech, all verbs in this category will not drop .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to play to live to know

Dictionary Form Conjugation English to play to live to know

Final Review:Verb stems that end in or will simply add to complete the polite style of speech conjugation. conjugates as .Some verb stems may end in before a consonant sound, or have the change to before vowel sounds. For these verbs, the will change to and we will conjugate following the normal steps from there. conjugates as . We must memorize which verbs are in this category.Some verb stems may end in before certain endings such as , but end in before other endings. conjugates as in the polite style of speech. We must memorize which verbs are in this category.Some verb stems end in in some cases and drop the in other cases. In the polite style of speech, these verb stems keep the . That is, they do not drop . conjugates as .Plus our previous situations...Verb stems that end in combine with the from to form . We then add to the result. For example, conjugates to .Verb stems that end in drop the before vowel sounds (as in the case with polite style conjugations). We then add the appropriate ending. conjugates to .Verb stems that end in change before vowel sounds as well. First we drop the , and then we double up the . conjugates to.Verb stems that end in simple add . For example, conjugates to . conjugates to . is an exception.Verb stems that end in combine with the from . becomes and becomes .Verb stems that end in combine with the from . becomes and becomes .End Part Three

So far, we have discussed categories of verbs and certain rules that apply to conjugations of those verbs.Now we will briefly discuss two unique verbs that have unique conjugations that do not follow any of the rules above. There are only two, and these verbs get used so often that it will be difficult for you to forget how to conjugate these verbs.To Do - The first irregular verb is . It is very easy to conjugate.

We take the verb stem, , and change the to . Now we simply add . The result is . That's it for in the present tense.Just remember, instead of , we use instead. It will not take long before you know this by heart, because appears all the time.Also note that there are many verbs that end in . is one example. Some Koreans consider this to be (studies, studying) + (to do). Thus is simply a phrase with the verb . Thus the conjugation of is like usual. We get . However, there are some situations where we cannot break a word into two parts, such as . We cannot break this into and .So instead, we just remember that any time we see on the end of a verb, we will conjugate it as in the polite style of speech. This will happen regardless of whether or not the verb is part of a phrase or part of another verb such as . would still be conjugated as .Dictionary Form Conjugation English to do to study (to do studies)

To Be - The most common verb of all is , or "to be". identifiessomething.First, is always directly attached to the noun being identified.For example, is the word for house. would be "(it) is a house". is the word for boy. would be "(I) am a boy". There is no space or pause between the noun and the verb .In the polite style of speech, we conjugate as either or . If the noun is attached to ends in a consonant, we attach . If the noun is attached to ends in a vowel, we attach .Consider our examples above. ends in a consonant, so we attach . Thus means "(it) is a house" using the polite style of speech. ends in a vowel, so we attach . Thus means "(I) am a boy" in the polite style of speech.Noun Polite Verb Korean Sentence English Sentence . It is a car. . It is a bag. . It is a computer. . It is bread.

Note: Some Koreans will attach to verbs ending in vowels instead of . For example, we could say instead of . It seems that about half of Koreans use and the other half uses . Luckily the two are very similar and will sound similar as well when spoken.For this reason, we may use both and on this site. Realize that these two

mean the same thing.End Part Four

In this section we have covered a wide range of conjugations in the polite style of speech. This was our first lesson in Korean grammar, and while it had a lot of material, most of the situations are used tomake speaking easier.Knowing how to conjugate in the polite style of speech is a HUGE benefit. Korean verbs are the most important part of a sentence, and the polite style of speech is almost always acceptable. Furthermore, knowing how to conjugate in the polite style of speech will let us know how to conjugate in the casual style of speech extremely easily as seen in the next section.

Click here to take the quiz! If you receive greater than an 80% on the quiz, you're ready for the next lesson! Don't look at the lesson during the quiz as it will not provide an accurate result of how much you understand.

Casual Essential VerbsIn this section we will learn how to conjugate verbs using the casual style of speech. If you know how to conjugate in the polite style of speech (see previous section), then this section will be extremely easy. I promise.

Recall from the introduction that there are three styles of speech used in Korean. They are: Polite, Casual, and Formal. In this lesson, we will cover the casual style of speech.Casual Style of Speech: We use the casual style of speech when talking with close friends, children younger than ourselves, and in other similar situations where we may be informal. It is becoming more common in daily speech between Koreans. While it is not used as often as the polite style of speech, it is still commonly used around the home and with friends.It is difficult to know when two people are close enough to begin using the casual style of speech. Generally, one person begins using it after they get to know someone. This generally displays the desire to be good friends with the listener. If the feeling is mutual, then the listener will begin using the casual style of speech with you as well.

For example, I may be introduced to by a friend of mine. and I use the polite style of speech for several conversations, but then I decide that I would like to be better friends with . I may choose to start using the casual style of speech. If feels the same, then she may begin using the casual style of speech in return. If she does not, then I should probably return to using the polite style of speech so that I do not appear rude. This is generally how two people begin using the casual style of speech.When speaking with children younger than us, we can start using the casual style of speech right away, even if we do not know them well.

The casual style of speech is formed by taking the polite style of speech conjugation and removing from the end. That is all there is to it! The ending is the polite ending. When we want to be polite, we add to whatever we are saying. Thus when speaking casually with friends, we simply do not include .For example, conjugates to in the polite style of speech. We simply say in the casual style of speech. conjugates to in the polite style of speech. We say in the casual style of speech. conjugates as in the polite style of speech. We say in the casual style of speech. conjugates as in the polite style of speech. We say in the casual style of speech.As you can see, it is extremely easy to conjugate in the casual style of speech once we know the polite style of speech. We do not have to learn anything new.

So there has to be one catch. is irregular in the casual style of speech, just as it is in the polite style of speech.In the polite style of speech, we conjugate as or depending on whether or not it follows a vowel.In the casual style of speech, we conjugate as or depending on whether or not it follows a vowel.If is attached to a noun ending in a consonant, we conjugate as . If is attached to a noun ending in a vowel, then we conjugate as . ends in a consonant, so we say . ends in a vowel, so we say .Noun Casual Verb Korean Sentence English Sentence . It is a car. . It is a bag. . It is a computer. . It is bread.

Noun Casual Verb Korean Sentence English Sentence . It is a car. . It is a bag. . It is a computer. . It is bread.

In this section we first learned when to use the casual style of speech. We then learned how to conjugate verbs using the casual style of speech. We learned it is extremely easy once we know the polite style of speech. Finally, we learned that is irregular in the casual style of speech and how to conjugate it appropriately.

Formal Essential VerbsThe formal style of speech has different endings than polite and casual style of speech. It isn't anything too difficult though.Depending on whether the verb stem ends in a consonant or a vowel, you should choose one of the following verb endings. will follow verb stems that end in a vowel. You can simply attach the to the final syllable (where the vowel is).For example, look at the verb (to go). The verb stem is . Because this ends in a vowel (), you should add . The final result is . Remember from the Hangul lessons that when is followed by , the sounds like . Since in the formal style of speech is always followed by , you should remember that it should be pronounced , but is spelled . will follow verb stems that end in a consonant. Let's look at . The verb stem is . Because this ends in a consonant, you should add . is in the formal style of speech (pronounced ).There is a list of examples below the next section.

As you learned in the previous section on the polite and casual styles, there are nine rules to follow when conjugating in those forms.Only three are important here - rules 7-9.Verb stems that end in (rule 7) is the first. In the polite and casual styles of speech, you change the to and add the ending... - dictionary form - verb stem

- change to - add (and combine with )In the formal style of speech, you do not change to . You simply add the ending , because the verb stem ends in a consonant.Verb stems that end in (rule 8) are usually written with the in the polite and casual styles of speech. Remember, rule 8 says that you should change the final to when it is placed before a consonant (excluding ).For example, means 'to listen' in the polite style of speech. When you write it in dictionary form, it is , because the dictionary ending begins with a consonant.For formal speech, you will use the instead of the , and add the ending. would be the correct way to write this verb in the formal style.Verbs that either keep or lose the final (rule 9) is the final situation to consider...In the section on polite styles of speech, you learned that there will be some verbs that have a final included in some forms, and does not include the in other forms...The is included in the dictionary form and the polite/casual conjugation forms...For example, means 'to open'. It has an ending, and, as you can see, the is included in dictionary form.When conjugating into the polite style, it keeps the and reads . The casual style would be .The stayed in both forms.However, the formal style drops the . When you conjugate these kinds of verbs into the formal style of speech, you drop the completely and then add the correct ending, which will always be (because it will always follow a vowel). would be written as in the formal style of speech. Notice how we dropped the , and added the ending .

Remember! Do not get the verbs that change to confused with the verbs that either keep or lose the final .When you look at the dictionary form, verbs that change to will appear with a on the end ( in ), whereas verbs that keep or lose the final will have an in dictionary form ( in ). This is one way to know which form of verb you are dealing with. Keep this in mind so you know which rules to follow and which endings to use.

Dictionary Form Conjugation English to do to be to eat to go to see to write to open (rule 9) to listen (rule 8) to be hot (rule 7) to be cold (rule 7) to know (rule 9)

Dictionary Form Conjugation English to do to be to eat to go to see to write to open (rule 9) to listen (rule 8) to be hot (rule 7) to be cold (rule 7) to know (rule 9)

The formal style is the only style of speech that requires you to change the ending depending on what kind of sentence you are saying. Both the polite and casual styles of speech can use the same endings you learned in the previous section ( and ), and the listener decides what kind of sentence it is (statement, question, etc) by the tone of the speakers voice. A question usually results in a tone increase at the end of the sentence.In the formal style of speech, you use the or endings if you are saying a statement. If you need to say a question instead, you would use or . The only thing that changes is the at the end of the formal ending changes to when the sentence becomes a question. There will usually be the same tone increase at the end of the sentence as well.If I were to say 'Bread .' I could be saying 'I eat bread.' If the sentence said 'Bread ?' instead, it would mean 'Do you eat bread?' Note how the only thing that changed is the to (along with punctuation in writing and tone of voice in speech).In Korean, bread is . This sentence would be ' ?'See, it isn't too difficult once you start learning it!

Dictionary Form Conjugation English ? to do ? to be ? to eat ? to go ? to see ? to write ? to open (rule 9) ? to listen (rule 8) ? to be hot (rule 7) ? to be cold (rule 7) ? to know (rule 9)

Dictionary Form Conjugation English ? to do ? to be ? to eat ? to go ? to see ? to write ? to open (rule 9) ? to listen (rule 8) ? to be hot (rule 7) ? to be cold (rule 7) ? to know (rule 9)

Another common form you will hear in the formal style is the / ending. It is used when people suggest things, such as 'Let's go.' When this is done in the formal style, the ending is used after stems ending in a vowel, and after stems ending in consonants.Let's use the verb , 'to go'. Like always, drop the and you are left with the verb stem. Here, that is . For the formal style, you go directly to adding the ending. Simply add to and you have , or 'Let's go'.Keep in mind that in speech the will sound like a 'p' here, rather than an 'm' sound. In both the statement and question formal endings, is followed by making it sound like instead of .Rules 7-9 Applied To Formal SuggestionsFormal suggestions will use the following forms for verbs matching rules 7-9.Rule 7 Verbs, or verbs ending in , will change the to and add the appropriate ending. The appropriate ending will always be when making formal suggestions. would have a stem of , change the to , resulting in . You would then follow the normal rules for making a formal suggestion, resulting in .Rule 8 Verbs, or verbs that change to , will use the form of the verb and the appropriate ending, which is . would have a stem of (using the instead of the ), which ends in a consonant. Adding the consonant ending completes this one. .Rule 9 Verbs, or verbs that either keep or drop the , will drop the for formal suggestions and add . would have a stem of and drop the . All that is left is , which takes the ending for vowels, or . is correct.* Please note that not all words make sense in this form. Descriptive verbs (also known as adjectives in the future adjectives lesson) will not make sense in this form. Generally you will never hear the words marked with an * in this form, but I have included them to continue using the same set of words to demonstrate how to write different types of words in each form.To say something along the lines of 'Let's be cold' (for whatever reason), you would need to change the sentence around, which is not covered in this lesson.Dictionary Form Conjugation English to do to eat to go to see to write to open (rule 9) to listen (rule 8) to be hot (rule 7) to be cold (rule 7) to know (rule 9)

Dictionary Form Conjugation English to do to eat to go to see to write to open (rule 9) to listen (rule 8) to be hot (rule 7) to be cold (rule 7) to know (rule 9)

When you need to ask someone to do something, you would use the ending . Since this is in the formal style, it is the most polite and respectful way of asking someone to do something, so it should be used when talking to someone older than you, above you (boss, teacher), etc.Let's continue to use . If you ask someone to go, it would be .Let's take it one step further though. Since you would be using the formal style of speech, chances are you want to be extra careful and show extra respect when asking someone to do something. Asking your boss for a raise is a very delicate thing. Asking a teacher to give you another chance on a test is very important. You would show great respect and be extra polite in these situations...To do this, you should not only use the formal style of speech, but you should add in , which is called 'the honorific marker'. Basically, adding in shows more respect and is even more polite. When combined with the formal style of speech, it packs a bang! For this reason, nearly every time the formal style is used in asking something, will be there as well.When you add it in, it follows directly after the verb stem. In this case, it would be . Basically the ending will become .After a consonant stem, it will be . There will be a chart below with many examples.There will be another lesson that dives further into the use of the honorific marker, , but for now just realize that it will almost always be included when asking something in the formal style of speech. It adds politeness to what is being said, and shows more respect to the listener.Rules 7-9 Applied For Formal CommandsThe three rules will take the following forms when using formal commands (the ending).Rule 7 Verbs, meaning verbs that end in , will change the to before adding the appropriate ending. The appropriate ending in this case will be , because it is following a verb ending in a vowel (these verbs will always end in ).

would be . (see * note below verb list)Rule 8 Verbs, or verbs that change the to a before consonant endings, will use the form and add . would drop the --> changes to --> add appropriate ending (which is because the stem ends in a consonant) --> .Also, Rule 9 Verbs (that is, verbs that keep or drop the depending on the situation) will drop the when used with this form. would be written as when using the formal command form.* Please note that not all words make sense in this form. Descriptive verbs (also known as adjectives in the future adjectives lesson) will not make sense in this form. Generally you will never hear the words marked with an * in this form, but I have included them to continue using the same set of words to demonstrate how to write different types of words in each form.For example, to ask someone to be cold (for whatever reason), you would need to change the sentence around, which is not covered in this lesson.

Dictionary Form Conjugation English to do to eat to go to see to write to open (rule 9) to listen (rule 8) to be hot (rule 7) to be cold (rule 7) to know (rule 9)

To review formal endings, use the following charts. Once you know the meanings of each of the following, you should be able to study the chart below until you remember them (At first I too got them all mixed up! A little bit of memorizing will fix that problem in no time.)After Vowel After Consonant Usage Statements Questions Suggestions RequestsUsage Rule 7 Verbs Rule 8 Verbs Rule 9 Verbs

StatementsKeeps the - no change

Uses the ending drops the

QuestionsKeeps the - no change

Uses the ending drops the

SuggestionsChange to - add

Uses the - add

drops the

Requests changes to , add

Uses the , add

drops the

After Vowel After Consonant Usage Statements Questions Suggestions RequestsUsage Rule 7 Verbs Rule 8 Verbs Rule 9 Verbs

StatementsKeeps the - no change

Uses the ending drops the

QuestionsKeeps the - no change

Uses the ending drops the

SuggestionsChange to - add

Uses the - add

drops the

Requests changes to , add

Uses the , add

drops the

SOT VocabularyNow that you have learned some verbs, it's time to start learning some other basic words to put in the sentence. In this lesson, you will learn how to add these words in as the subject, object, or topic of the sentence.Before you begin learning what to do with these words, learn the words :-) It will make the lesson a lot easier, and then you will already know the words so you can get started writing sentences!Korean English I / me I / me (polite) motherI / me mom father dad parents our friend person

Note: changes to before the subject particle (), and changes to before the subject particle () - remember this when you learn about the subject particle in the next section.Korean English food meal rice bulgogi (beef) galbi (ribs) water milk cola juice coffeeKorean English bag clock / watch newspaper magazine book desk chair umbrella television movie music telephone car

Korean English food meal rice bulgogi (beef) galbi (ribs) water milk cola juice coffeeKorean English bag clock / watch newspaper magazine book desk chair umbrella television movie music telephone car

I know this list may seem random..and it is! But it will get you started with some of the basic nouns and words that people use. You can use many of these along with the verbs you already know to make sentences.Remember, after we get through these grammar lessons, head towards the vocabulary sections. There you will find much more vocabulary. The vocabulary you are learning now as part of the grammar lessons is just to get you started. Once you complete these lessons and arrive in the vocabulary lessons, your Korean will really shine through!But please wait! Don't rush over there yet. It may be tempting, but I promise you will be much more successful if you push through these essential grammar lessons first. It won't be long! I promise. The grammar lessons will also be building your vocabulary as well, so don't feel lost :-)So let's go on to the next section of this lesson. It's time to learn how to use some of these words you just learned in a sentence or two.

SOT Conversation VocabularyConversation One - What Are You Eating?Korean English + and (to connect sentences) to buy to make bought (past tense)

Korean English + and (to connect sentences) to buy to make bought (past tense)

Conversation Two - Asking About SiblingsKorean English Korea America China Korean (person) American (person) Chinese (person) younger sibling younger sister younger brother older sister (male speaking) older sister (female speaking) older brother (male speaking) older brother (female speaking)

SOT ConversationThis conversation lesson will give you more practice using the particles. I will include a few short conversations and phrases that include proper particles, allowing you to see how they can properly be used.

: ?: . , ?: . .: , . ?: . .This is a conversation that takes place between three different people, although the first person only has one line. The majority of the conversation is between (Sung-ji) and (Mee-yon), while (Min-ji) simply starts the conversation off. This is just a minor fact with little impact on the conversation, but I included several people to try to give you more practice with names and dialogue. I always got confused following dialogues between multiple people in foreign languages, so I am going to introduce this to you early on. starts off the conversation by asking ? This consists of, as well as . You have seen in first vocabulary, but not the form . is simply + object particle. It is a short and more common form of writing it, rather than writing or

the even longer form ( is shortened to ). and both mean 'what' with the object particle attached.Now, the topic particle is coming back! You were briefly introduced to it in the previous conversation lesson, but now you have learned about the topic particle, so expect to see a lot more of it! These three particles you just learned (subject-object-topic) are going to show up over and over again. replies saying she is eating . She does so by attaching the topic particle to , setting herself as the topic of the sentence. She then says and attaches the object particle to . This is because is the object of the verb, eating. In this case, it is what is being eaten. finished off the sentence with the verb .She then directs the same question towards , a third girl in the conversation. sets herself as the topic of the new sentence using the same method used - . She uses the same sentence structure for the rest of the sentence as well, except saying instead of . However, she goes on to provide more detail by saying . was a new word for this lesson and means 'and' when you are connecting two complete sentences together. The rest of the sentence is the same structure used for eating - now it covers drinking. simply means 'drinking water'.Note that takes the object particle ending because ends in a consonant. took the ending because it ended in a vowel.All together, says 'I am eating galbi. And I am drinking water.' then follows up by saying 'Ah, I like galbi.' Same sentence structure as before - simply a different verb. The last thing she says is ' ?'. You learned in the greetings conversation lesson that meant 'how'. The vocabulary section for this lesson taught you is 'to make'. is asking 'how do you make it?'Notice how does not need to repeat in this second sentence. This is because it is understood she is talking about from the previous sentence. This happens a lot in Korean. You could fully write it out if necessary, by saying ' ?' responds by saying she doesn't know (). The second sentence simply says , or 'I bought (it)'. You have not learned past tense yet, but I wanted to introduce it to you in case you come across it sooner than expected. The double attached to the verb stem is a good sign the verb is in past tense.

: ! .: . . .: ! . ?

: . . ?: , . .In this conversation, Anna and Subi ( and ) both say hello and exchange names using the same method as the previous conversations have done.Next, says she is Korean. She sets herself as the topic of the conversation using , followed by . is Korea and is person. As you may have noticed from the vocabulary section of this lesson, a Korean is simply . An American is simply . A Chinese person is simply . All you do is state the country followed by . Be sure to include the proper verb at the end of the sentence - in this case it was . replies with her own nationality, 'Ah, I am American.' She then says ? is 'younger sibling', and you should know from the verbs vocabulary. She is asking if has a younger sibling.Note: and never go with a word and the object particle. and will be with words that have the subject particle or the topic particle. They will not be with words with an attached object particle, even though you may think '' or 'sibling' is the object of the verb 'to have'. says no, she doesn't have one. Note how did not need to repeat in the sentence, because it was understood. She asks the same question. Note how she called referred to Anna by her name, rather than saying 'you'. Since they just met in this conversation, the word 'you' is too informal. 'You' is usually used between friends and when speaking to someone younger than yourself. then directs the question back to .Anna replies saying that she does have a younger sibling. She also adds that she 'also' has an older sister. The word is attached to to mean 'also'. It replaces the standard particles (subject particle, object particle). See the section below for more information about siblings and using them in your own conversations.

For your own conversations, feel free to use the other sibling vocabulary provided with the vocabulary lesson. Let me offer a little explanation...Did you notice how there were two different terms for most words?Older sister can be either or . Older brother can be either or . This is because it varies depending on who is speaking. If the speaker is a male, then his older sister is called . If the speaker is female, then her older sister is called . If the speaker is male, then his older brother is called , and if the speaker is a female, then her older brother is called .It's just something to get used to, but it's easy. Also note that friends and acquaintances may call each other by these terms on occasion. While I was in South Korea, all the little boys called me , even though I am not related to them.

Also realize that Koreans generally call each other by these terms rather than by name. In English, I rarely call my older sister 'sister' or anything similar to that. I call her Elizabeth, because that is her name. In South Korea, they do not really use the actual name, but instead use the term for the relationship.On a final note, , , and are used by both females and males.

Three Important ParticlesSo, by now you should have a general idea on conjugating verbs in the present tense in the polite, casual, and formal styles of speech. However, you may be wondering where to go from there...often times a sentence will need more to it than a verb - otherwise our language would be very boring!In this lesson, I will cover three common particles used in Korean -Subject Particle, Object Particle, and Topic Particle.

A particle in Korean is a word/character/syllable that you attach to the end of a word. They identify what the purpose of that word is. They are attached directly onto the end of the word, without a space (in writing) or pause (in speech) between the particle and the word.At first it is a little confusing because we do not have these types of particles in English. We know what the purpose of the word is based on the location of the word in the sentence.For example, let's look at the sentence 'Humans eat chickens.' Since English has a S-V-O sentence structure, we easily know what the purpose of all words are. Humans are the subject (S) of the sentence. eat is the verb (V) of the sentence. Chicken is the object (O) of the sentence. If the grammar words confuse you...The subject is the person or thing doing the action. Humans are doing the eating. The object is who or what is receiving the action. In this case, it is the chickens who are being eaten. They are the object of the verb 'to eat'.Now say we switch the order up a little. 'Chickens eat humans.' This is clearly a different sentence with a whole new meaning! Now, chickens are the subject of this sentence. They are the ones doing the eating, while humans are being eaten (not a pleasant thing)!Well, in Korean this will never happen. We will always understand who is doing the action and who is receiving the action because ofparticles. Because of particles, you can place the words in the sentence in whichever order you want to, as long as the verb is at the end of the sentence. No matter what order you place the other words in the sentence, it will be understood.

Do keep in mind, however, that the order usually is S-O-V, but it will still be grammatically correct if you place the object before the subject.Let's learn some particles...

One of the first and most common particles you will run into is thesubject particle. In English, one of the most basic parts of a sentence is the subject. The subject is a required part in English, but is not required in Korean. The subject tells us who or what is doing the action.Let's learn with the verb 'to eat'. In the previous lesson on verbs, you learn that 'to eat' is .Often, the subject is not included in the sentence, but only if the subject of the sentence is understood. Usually when the subject is 'you' or 'I' it is commonly understood who the subject is (based on the context of the conversation, who is talking, etc). However, if you need to specify who the subject of the sentence is for clarification, you can say who it is, and attach the subject particle to identify that specific person or thing as the subject.Remember how with many of the verb endings there was a form that came after a word ending in a vowel and another came after words ending in a consonant? This is the same thing.After a word that ends in a vowel, the subject particle is used. After a word that ends in a consonant, the subject particle is used.

You will begin to notice that the particles and endings you attach often have two endings depending on how the previous word ends - consonant or vowel. This is because it makes it easier to say in speech and flow better. Begin to notice how when the word ends in a vowel, it is followed by a consonant sound first, rather than directly placing another vowel after it. When the word ends in a consonant, it is usually followed directly by a vowel sound, rather than placing two consonant sounds together. Speech becomes smooth and flowsmuch better this way.

For example, let's say 'Eunji eats'. ends in a vowel, so we attach and get as the 'word-particle' combination. means Eunji is subject of the sentence. The is what makes the subject. Then, we can simply add the verb in the proper present tense form, and we have our sentence. 'Eunji eats' is .in the polite present tense.In the casual style, the sentence would be ., although in the casual style of speech the particles are occasionally left off - . In very casual writing online with your friends, particles are usually left off. In speech - both polite and

casual (although less often in the polite style) - particles are often left off.In the formal style, it would be . Which style you choose depends solely on who you are talking to. Refer to the previous lesson for a review on verbs and endings.

Let's look at another example. Let's say 'Anna sleeps'Do you recall how to say 'to sleep'? If you thought , then correct! In Korean, Anna would be written as . This sentence should be fairly simple. - polite style - casual style - formal styleNot to bad? Let's try one more example...

How about 'Russell drinks'. Try and figure it out on your own before you look ahead!Did you really try? It just takes a second ;-)Ok, here we go. is 'Russell' in Korean. You should know is 'to drink' in Korean and how to conjugate it correctly from the previous lesson on verbs... - polite - casual - formalDid you remember to add the ending instead of this time? Remember... comes after a consonant sound ( in this case) and comes after vowel sounds.

Are you getting the hang of it yet? Hopefully! It isn't too difficult. All you need to do is remember this: When you need to say something is the subject of a sentence, add onto the end of the subject if it ends in a consonant, and if it ends in a vowel. If you just learn the basics and build a strong foundation in order without rushing through anything, you will soon find that you know a lot of Korean and it wasn't even that difficult to learn!Just go slow and steady - it will be the best way to learn Korean.

Now you may be thinking...the sentences above are dreadfully boring! 'Russell drinks.' Drinks what? 'Eunji eats.' Eats what? We need to be able to specify these kinds of things in order to provide details in sentences and make them slightly interesting. You can do that with the object particle.The object particle specifies which word in the sentence is the objectof the sentence. The object of the sentence is the person or thing receiving the action. For example, if the verb is 'to eat' (action is eating), then the person or thing receiving the action is

what is being eaten.In English, the object is usually the word that follows the verb.Now, how to do it...The object particle has two forms. comes after a word ending in a vowel. comes after a word ending in a consonant.Here are a few examples...'Anna drinks water' Well...you can start with the first part, 'Anna drinks'. We covered this in the previous section on the subject particle. . Now, we need to add in the object of the sentence, or water. Where should we put it? .... Think so? Hmm...guess again! The previous audio file and Korean text was incorrect.Remember that Korean is S-O-V sentence structure, or subject-object-verb. The verb always comes at the end of the sentence. Let's just cross that out. The correct way would be . Note how we used as the object particle because ends in a consonant. This sentence means Anna is the subject, water is the object, and then there is the verb 'to drink'. In English, 'Anna is drinking water' or 'Anna drinks water'. . . .

Let's say 'I read the newspaper'. First, how would you say 'I read'? . Remember from the vocabulary that when you use 'I' with the subject particle it is and NOT . is incorrect. is correct. is the verb for 'to read'.Next, add in the object with the correct particle attached. Since (newspaper) ends in a consonant () you should attach for the object particle. The result is . Now put it in the proper place. . . .Good job! Easy enough?Breaking Up VerbsIf you remember some of the verbs from the previous lesson, you probably noticed that many of them end in , or when conjugated.These verbs can be broken up. Let's look at .These verbs can split right before . This would become and . Using the topic particle, you would write it in the polite style.What you are doing here is making , or 'studies (a noun', the object of the verb

(to do). In the end, you are saying To do studies, with studies being the object. This is the same thing as 'to study'.You will see these verbs written both ways ( and ). It is useful to know how to split them up, however, when you start adding more words to the sentence. There are certain words that you must add directly before , so you would have to use the version, so that you can place the word directly before the verb .Another example would be , or 'to shower'. You can write it as either or .

The final particle for this lesson is the topic particle. The topic particle is actually one of the most difficult particles to understand. New, and even intermediate, Korean students get the topic particle mixed up with the subject particle. Why? They are very similar.The topic particle says what the topic of the sentence will be. The topic of the sentence can actually be any word in the sentence other than the verb. Let me go through a couple English examples...'I am reading a book at home'.Well, which part of the sentence do you want to be the topic? Any of them can work except for the verb, 'reading'.I am reading a book at home.A book I read at home. At home, I read a book.In the first sentence, the topic is 'I'. We are talking all about me. The rest of the sentence merely provides details. reading a book at home.The second sentence is talking about a book. (If that is too vague, replace 'a book' with your favorite book.) The sentence is about that specific book...the rest of the sentence talks about what happens involving that book. I read it at home.The final sentence talks about at home. What do I do at home? I read a book. The sentence is about 'at home'. It isn't focused on the book. It is focused on the home.See why the topic particle is pretty confusing? . .Both of these sentences are correct.In the first one, there is the subject, object, and verb. In the second one, instead of using a subject particle, there is a topic particle. It says 'the topic of this sentence is me' and then goes on to provide details - drinking water.The truth is, everyone has trouble with this at first. So don't worry about it. I will teach

you how to use the topic particle, but only time and practice will allow you to get used to it. You will be understood no matter which one you choose - subject or topic particle - Koreans just generally use one instead of the other depending on certain situations. You will learn when as you continue to learn Korean. Until then, don't worry about it, have fun, and enjoy :-) People can understand you and both are grammatically correct.The Rule For Topic ParticleSo here you go. The topic particle is just like the other two...it comes in two forms. after a word ending in a vowel, and after a word ending in a consonant.One other thing to remember is that the topic particle replaces the subject particle or the object particle. You cannot say to mean 'the water as the object of the verb and topic of the sentence'. It is incorrect. Instead of attaching both the object and topic particle, you only use the topic particle. .Also remember this...the topic particle usually comes at the beginning of the sentence. You will get the idea and hang of it as you see and read more Korean. Like I said, don't worry about it or get stuck on it. It will only slow you down. Keep pushing ahead with Korean and you will understand it soon enough. I promise!An example...'I drink cola.'Here we want to say 'I' is the topic of the sentence, rather than using the subject particle. Either is grammatically correct. . . .Remember, you only change to before the subject particle, not the topic particle. You still attach to because is not the topic of the sentence.

Adjectives VocabularyIf You Need To Describe Something...Use Some Of These Essential AdjectivesAdjectives are words that describe things. In Korean, they are used similarly to verbs. You will learn how to use them in this lesson. But first, let's learn some adjectives!Note that the casual style is not written in the chart. To form the casual style, simply drop the off the end of the polite style.Dictionary Form English Polite Formal to be good to be bad > to be hot to be warm to be cold to be busy to be many to be few to be big to be little to be expensive to be inexpensive to be tasty to not be tasty

to be fun / interesting

to not be fun / interesting

to be enjoyable to be bored / boring to be sorry to be thankful to be pretty

Dictionary Form English Polite Formal to be good to be bad > to be hot to be warm to be cold to be busy to be many to be few to be big to be little to be expensive to be inexpensive to be tasty to not be tasty

to be fun / interesting

to not be fun / interesting

to be enjoyable to be bored / boring to be sorry to be thankful to be pretty

So you have learned all of these adjectives? Come on, don't lie :-) Be sure you go back and spend a day or so learning these adjectives before you advance...what's it worth? It really is only one more day. In the end, going at a slower, steady pace, learning all the words properly will save you time in the end. You will know these words from now on and won't have to go back and re-learn them. So just do it now :-)Now that you are really finished, let's head on over to the next section of this lesson - how to use adjectives properly.

Adjectives ConversationThis conversation deals a lot with the various adjectives. It's fairly simple without too much extra thrown in quite yet. The first few lessons offered an in-depth analysis of the conversations. However, you will not always get an in-depth look at every conversation or piece of Korean text that you read.For this reason, the rest of the conversations will give you the opportunity to find out what is going on in the conversation. Most of the conversation has previously been covered or will be covered in this lesson. If there are aspects that you may not know

at this point, they will be included in notes regarding the conversation. This will allow you to see real conversations that make sense, that you understand, and that give you a chance to practice translating Korean into English. The English translation is also provided at the end of this page, but no peeking!

A. .B., .A. ?B., .A. ?B.. . A.. .B.. .click here to see notesNotes: - weather - today - work - Oh, is that so, I see - a phrase along these lines - in that case - a phrase used to mean 'later' or 'afterwards'click here to see translationEnglish:A. The weather is good (nice) today.B. Yes, it's warm.A. Are you busy today?B. Yes, I have a lot of work.A. Is it interesting / fun?B. No. It's not interesting / funA. Is that so. Well in that case, I will see you later.B. Yes. Bye.

How to use Adjectives ProperlySo far, you should know some verbs and how to use them properly, as well as some other basic words to add to the sentence and how to use those properly.What if you need to describe something? An adjective is a word that describes something. Adjectives are things like 'to be fast', 'to be big', 'to be small', 'to be

green', 'to be cold', 'to be hot', 'to be...' you get the idea. They describe things.In English, adjectives and verbs are completely separate. A verb is needed in every sentence. If you were to describe something, you would say something like 'The bird is blue'. Here, the adjective is 'blue' while the verb is 'is'.In Korean, however, adjectives can be treated like verbs. If you look up an adjective in the dictionary (big, for example) you will see something that appears to be a verb.'To be big' is in Korean. Wait wait wait...I thought was the dictionary ending for verbs! That's right. And adjectives are treated like verbs in Korean. This is good news for you...you already know how to make sentences using adjectives!Let's say 'That person is big' as an example. You should have learned that person is . is a word that means 'that'. Now all you have to do is finish the sentence as you would with a verb. Here, the adjective (treated like a verb) is, or 'to be big'. Your final sentence would be... .In the above sentence, we said 'that person' by saying . We made 'that person' the topic of the sentence by adding the topic particle, (if we made it the subject, it would have been ). Finally, we just conjugated the adjective from by dropping the to get the adjective stem, , and from there you follow the rules for conjugating verbs. Because it ends in a , you drop the , and add the appropriate ending. The results is .Another example sentence could be . A very simple, yet true sentence ;-) It means 'Anna is pretty.'When you break it down, you have , or Anna, set as the subject by the particle , being described using , or 'to be pretty'.

In the Essential Verbs lesson, there was an example using the word. The example was to show what to do if the verb stem ends in , but there was still a verb left in the verb stem after dropping the ( in this case). Well, was actually an adjective! Remember, it means 'to be bad'.There were also a few other adjectives used during that lesson for teaching purposes. However, you should be able to recognize the difference in an adjective and a verb now, because adjectives describe things, whereas verbs denote action.What you will find is often it is the adjectives that have this kind of ending. Many adjectives end in , in which case you will drop the and then add the appropriate ending. Some examples are - , - , and - .Are Adjectives Always Treated Like Verbs?This is a question that you will find yourself running into. As you learn more and more grammar and learn more about verbs, you will wonder if you would always treat

adjectives the same way.In most cases, adjectives are treated the same as verbs. When you conjugate into the present tense, past tense, future tense, in all the different styles (polite, casual, formal), adjectives will be treated the same as verbs.However, there will be other things you can do with verbs and adjectives. These will show up later in these essential grammar lessons. For some of those, adjectives are not treated identical to verbs. This is why you need to know the difference between a verb and an adjective in Korean. Even though they work almost identical in most cases, they will not always be identical.

For example, Adjectives containing cannot break in the middle like verbs. In the previous lessons, you learned you can write as either or . You cannot do this with adjectives. must be written as in the polite form. You cannot write it as .

Note the difference between verbs and adjectives so that when the time comes you will not have to come back and figure it out. Verbs are action words. Adjectives are descriptive words. In Korean, adjectives and verbs both are treated like verbs (conjugation, etc). This means you do not need a verb in the sentence if you have an adjective (unlike English).

Let's Go SomewhereWell, before you suggest going somewhere, you're going to need to know a few places you might want to go!Korean English school college / university home / house noraebang (karaoke room) coffee shop tea house / coffee department store restaurant United States Korea

This is just a short list of various places you can go to help teach you how to use locations in sentences. In the vocabulary sections you will learn many more places

you can go...but be sure to understand this locations lesson first. Once you are ready and wish to expand your vocabulary of places to go, then visit the Places Around Townvocabulary lesson.Korean English front behind next to above, on top below below inside inside (tight) outside

The above are relative locations words. You will learn how to use these in the following lesson.Korean English Polite Formal to be (location)

Remember, is used in two ways. It means 'to exist'. It is usually used to mean 'to have' or 'to be' (when talking about location).For example, you could say 'I have a book.' This uses in Korean. It is like 'A book exists (and I own it)'. A little confusing, because we usually just say 'to have' in English.However, is also used for sentences like 'The book is at school'. In English, we are using the verb 'to be' (is). However, 'to be' can have many different meanings in English (the book is there, I am a teacher, etc). If you stick with the 'to exist' translation, then you avoid the problem. 'The book exists at school.' The meaning is the same, and you don't run into that problem.So you can learn as simply 'to exist', or both 'to have' or 'to be (dealing with location)' depending on the situation. It's up to you how you remember it, just remember it ;-) It's an important verb.Now that you know these vocabulary terms, let's head on over to see what to do with them....

Locations ConversationA. , ?B. .A. .

B. , ?A. . B. ? . !A. !click here to see notesNotes: - an ending commonly attached to names - me also, me too. means also and is attached to nouns. - In the Suwon area. is a city about 20 miles from Seoul. means 'vicinity' or 'that area'? - Really? means 'really' or 'truthfully'. This is a common word, so it would be beneficial to remember it. - together. Irregular pronunciation is like click here to see translationEnglish:A. Russell, where are you going?B. I'm going to school.A. I'm also going to school.B. Ah, where is your school?A. It's in the Suwon area.B. Really? My school is also in the Suwon area. In that case, let's go together!A. Good! (ok!)

Location GrammarSo far you have learned to say some basic sentences and how you would form sentences. You should be able to look up some verbs and some nouns in a dictionary and actually know what to do with them! That is an excellent beginning to building a strong foundation in Korean.The next step in learning Korean is locations. How would you say 'I eat at home' or 'I want to go to the movies'? Whenever you are dealing with locations, you will deal with one of two particles.The location particle will be the most common particle you will use with locations. You use it to say things like 'to the movies', 'to the store', 'at school', 'at home', and things of that nature.The second particle is a variation of the location particle. You use it to say where action is currently happening. When you use this particle, it implies that the action is ongoing there and is dynamic.

The most common form of the location particle is . You simply add onto the place you are talking about.Recall the list of verbs you have learned...Remember the fifth verb down on the list? I'm sure you do! Right beneath ...Yes! The verb is . You should know what this verb is, so let's get started.Say you want to say 'I am going home'. Well, as you just learned, home is in Korean. Knowing this, and what you just learned about the location particle, this should be a fairly easy sentence to construct. .Fairly easy sentence. You can say it in whichever form you need to depending on whom you are talking to...I tend to use the polite style., ...just pick your verb ending!Or, how about 'I am going to school' .? Do you understand?You can use this with what you learned about particles.If you need to specify who is doing the action, you may.'Eunji is going home.' would be ' .' 'Anna is going home.' would be ' .'When you say you are coming from somewhere, you use the particle .'Russell is coming home from school.' would be ' .'Just remember, the normal form is , but when you are saying from somewhere, it becomes .You can also use it with other particles, such as the topic particle and object particle, such as in ' .'The last thing to note is that the most common placement of locations (with the attached location particle) is near the beginning of the sentence just after or shortly after the subject. In the example sentences, the subjects (Russell, Anna, and Eunji) were said beforethe location.It would be grammatically correct if you placed the location first, although it would sound unusual.

Now the situation changes a little bit. Say you want to say 'I am eating at home'. This sentence means that the action is happening at home...the act of eating.You know that the verb you will be using is . You simply want to use that verb and specify that it is actually being done at home.

In this case, you use the dynamic location particle, . It is the exact same particle as you learned above when you say you are coming from somewhere. People will understand which meaning it is depending on the sentence and verbs you use. .'I am learning at school'. .While this is the way to specifically mention the action actually happens there (dynamically), you will also hear used. .You will be understood either way. You will learn the differences better through practice reading Korean. As you begin to read paragraph's and real Korean, you will begin to notice and get used to these subtle differences.

You will get used to the difference in using / and /. You will get used to the difference in using and . You will begin to use the correct one naturally.So don't worry :-)This is one th