Learn Korean

"a"
"ya"
"yo"
"eo"
"oo" or "u" "yoo" or "yu"
"yeo"
"o"
"eu"
"i"
Consonants :
"g" or "k"
"n"
"d" or "t"
"b" or "p"
"s"
" ch "
" g' " or " k' "
" d' "
" p' "
"h"
" r " or " l " "m"
" ch' "
Note that " ' " means the letter is aspirated, i.e a sharp
sound.
+
h
+
A
han
guk
pronounced HanGuk
meaning Korea
eir
yeir
ere yere wa
where wo weo
weo
wei
u
Vowels in the korean languages may be attached

to the left, right or beneath each other in order to
form a word, the following are examples of their
use : -
= ka
= keo
= kyeo
= kya
= ki
= ko
= pa
= peo
= pu
= pyo
= chi
= cheo
= chu
= cho
= ma
= meo
= mo
= na
= neo
=i
= ya
= ti
= ko
= tya
= yo
=o
= to
= tu
= too
= ku
When constructing a word, you must add a mixture

of consonants and vowels, beginning with the
consonant at the beginning of the word. In some
cases, there is no need to use a consonant at the
beginning in which case (null character) is used.
+
+ +
Rum
+ +
Kam
+ +
Kkoong
+ +
Ot
+ + =
Eop
+ +
Kkot
+ +
Han
+ +
Guk
More on constructing words

A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "vertical
vowel" is written with the consonant on the left and the
vowel on the right

+=
n + a = na
A syllable that consists of a consonant and a "horizontal
vowel" is written with the consonant on top and the vowel
underneath:
+=
m + o = mo
If a syllable has a consonant, vowel, and consonant, the
final consonant, called patch'im (meaning "supporting
floor" in Korean) goes to the bottom -- or floor -- of that
syllable.
++=
m + a + n = man
Korean Names
In general, Korean names consist of 3 syllables.
The first part is the Surname ( such as Kim, Lee and Pak ), it is the followed by a
two-syllable first name. In Korean, the surname always comes first which is
opposite of Western Names such as Doojin Pak instead of the Korean method of Pak
Doojin.
When you are referring to someone who you know well, then you may be able to
refer to them directly, such as using their first name. However when youare
introduced to someone to whom you are not familiar with, or am meeting for the
first time, then you would add -ssi to the end of the name. An example of this
would be Doojin-ssi
Making Polite Sentences
With verb stems which end in vowels such a ka-, ha- and sa- , it is possible to make
these into polite sentences by adding -yo to the end of the words, such
as Kayo ( which means "to go", or "I go" or "he goes" ). Verbs in the polite style
can be used as statements, questions, suggestions or commands, and may be

further emphasised by the tone of your voice. For example, Chal
Chinaessoyo may be both expressed as a question by asking how someone is, or
can be a question stating that you are fine. Another example is the more
common Annyong Haseyo.
There Are / There is

The Korean verb which means either "there are" and "there is" is issoyo (
)
They are dependent on the context in which you use them, and on what you are
talking about. The stem of the verb is iss- with the inclusion of o and the polite
particle -yo, thus forming the ending -oyo. However in the case where the verb
stem ends in vowel, we use -a or -o, such as -ayo.
Vowel stem
- yo
Consonant
- ayo
if the last vowel ends with -a or -o
stem
Consonant
- oyo
Stem
In context the oppposite of iss- is ops- which literally means "there isnt" or "there
arent".
Uses of the verbs

chogi issoyo means "it exist over there", or "its over there"
Issoyo on its own can mean "I have/he has"
Opsoyo means "I dont have" or "I havent got"
In a shop
When addressing a shop keeper or waiters, Koreans use ajossi literally meaning
uncle, but is used as a general word when addressing someone in a shop.
However if it were to be used in a formal way, it is only for the referral of a man,
For females the word ajumma meaning aunt is used, for people over 35-ish, and
for younger womanagassi is used for young women.
In Korean, we use a particle which comes after a noun that it relates to, such
as na-do (me-too).
In English, it is the opposite, we would say 'with-me', whereas Korean is 'me-with'.
Using 'and'
In Korean, the word for and is -hago, this is a particle so when it is to be used it
must be attached to a noun. For example, when you say 'burger and chips', in
Korean it would be 'burger-hago chips. The wordhago becomes part of burger.
The particle hago can also mean with such as, Doojin-hago shinae-e
kayo meaning 'I am going to town with Doojin'.
Ordering with numbers
When asking for 'one' item we say 'hana' which is said after you have selected the
meal you wish to order. For example we would say, soju hana chuseyo meaning
"soju one give me please".
The word chuseyo utilises the polite word stem -yo, attached to chu-, which means
"give me please"
Korean Sentence Structure and Word order

In Korean the structure of sentence differ to English sentences, for example the
phrase Chal Chinaessooyoliterally means "Well have you been getting on?" which
is the opposite from English.
In general the structure of the Korean sentences is broken down as subject object - verb
"Jon the ball kicked"
"To Go" in order to do sentences

There are a few words that you may add to the end of verb stems at the end of
sentences, these include -yo which makes sentences polite, and -ro which means
"in order to".
In some cases the verb stems may in effect end in consonants in which case -uro is
utilised.
The order of the sentences for an example sentence of "in order to buy bread I am
goin to the shops" is restructured as "bread buy-in order-to the shops go"
In Korean unlike English, the subject of the sentences is optional like "I", then the
"in order section" is next, which is then followed by "the place you are going".
(In English) I
go to the shops
(in Korean) I (optional) bread buy - in-order to
in-order -to buy bread

shops to go
The Konglish for this sentence in Korean would be na-do ppang sa-ro kayo (I-do
bread buy-in order-to go).
* The construction can only be used in verbs involving 'going' and 'coming' and
cannot be used with other verbs at the end of sentences.
In Korean, when you want to address men politely, one would use the
word songsaegnim attached to their surname or full name, this literally means
teacher.
For example, one would say Yoo Songsaegnim or with the full name Yoo
SangHyun Songsaegnim.
It is not possible to a Korean persons first name, such like SangHyun
Songsaegnim. For that same reason, when you use the ssi, you cannot say Yoossi, or Yoo SangHyun-ssi, but would rather say SangHyun-ssi.
Addressing Korean women, in Korea women do not take their husbands surname
when they get married.
For example if Mrs Han is married to Mr Kim, then she may referred to as Kim
songsaengnim-puin (Kim mr-wife), or she maybe reffered to in a similar English
terminology such as Misesu Han(Mrs Han).
Using Copula to describe "this is that"

In Korean, if you want to describe A is B , you will have to use special verbs called
copula. In Korea, this copula is present at the end of a sentence, and behaves a
little differently to ordinary verbs.
If you want to say A is B(like "This is a Korean book"):A B-ieyo (or B-eyo)
this Korean book-ieyo
It is obvious that you would use -eyo when B ends in a vowel, but -ieyo when B
ends on a consonant.
songsaengnim-ieyo (is teacher)

soju-eyo (is soju)
IMPORTANT to note that in Korean the copula is only used to describe when this "is
equivalent to".
It cant be used to say "is located in"(is underneath", "is near") nor can it be used to
say "is a certain way" (i.e "is red", "is happy").
Negative Copula
In Korean, when you are trying to say something is not something else, we use the
negative copulaanieyo. For instance, When saying 'A is not B', we would say :cho-nun songsaengnim-i anieyo ( I am not a teacher ).
hanguk hakkwa-ga anieyo ( Not the Korean department ).
Answering questions with Yes and No in Korean

This is a tricky aspect of the Korean language, it is quite different to how we would
speak in English.
For example: Question in English = "Do you like Korea ?"
Answer in English = "Yes I do like it" or "No i dont"
Answer in Korean = "No, I do like it" or "Yes i dont"
As you can see...it can be confusing at first, so you will need to think carefully.
Where is it?
When asking where something is in Korean, you would say (X-subject) odieyo?
However, it is also possible to say (X-subject) odi issoyo?
When answering a Where is question, you must always use issoyo as a verb such
that:hakkyo-ga kogi issoyo ( the school is over there ).
Using Korean sentences with but....

We have previously seen that shillye hamnida and the equivalent shillyejiman mean "Excuse me,but" or "I'm Sorry, but...." .
There are lots of verbs where you may attach -jiman onto, here are a few of
them:ka- ( go )
ka-jiman ( goes, but .......)
ha- ( do )
ha-jiman ( does,but......)
sa- ( buy )
sa-jiman ( buys,but.....)
iss- ( is/are, have )
it-jiman ( has,but....)
mashi- ( drink )
mashi-jiman ( drinks,but.....)
mok- ( eat )
mok-jiman ( eats, but.......)
anj- (sit )
anj-jiman ( sits, but.....)
Note that for the word iss-jiman the double ss is re-written to itjiman
Using polite requests

In Korean, the word chom is used to mean "please", however do not mistake it to
mean the same as the English word for please for all occurances. For instance,
when you use chom in a request immediately before the verb at the end of the
sentence, it takes on the effect of please.
It is most frequently using in relation to chu- when making requests, for example
Han songsaengnim chom pakkwo-juseyo( Can I speak to Mr Han ), or you
might use it in Soju chom chuseyo ( Please give me the Soju ). As you can
see, chom may be used to soften up requests by making it more polite.
Making requests more polite

The polite honorific -seyo can be used to make requests more polite, seyo is used when the verb stem ends in in a vowel, and -useyo is used
when the verb stem ends in a consonant.
Examples of these are:mashi- becomes mashiseyo
ha- becomes haseyo
kidari- becomes kidariseyo
iss- becomes issuseyo
anj- becomes anjuseyo
If you want to request someone to wait for you, you would
say kidariseyo (Please wait !!).

The use of -seyo means that you have a special respect for the person, for
example if you sayhansongsaengnim-i hakkyo-e kaseyo ,you are saying Mr
Han is going to school. ( But you are also showing special respect for him ).
What you want to do ?

Koreans use -ko ship'oyo which literally means want to, and this can be
added to a verb stem.
For example you may say, cho-nun mok-ko ship'oyo which means I want to
eat, notice that when it is used, the -ko is utilised by being added to the end
of the verb stem.
Making Suggestions
When making suggestions, Koreans use -(u)pshida ( literally means lets do),
as you may have guessed, -pshida is attached onto verb stems ending in a
vowel, and -upshida is attached to verbstems ending in a consonant.
Here are some examples:Umryosu mashipshida ( Lets have a drink )
Annyeong haseyo Means nice to meet you, good to see you hello and other
translated English phrases. Basically, if youre either meeting someone for the first
time or seeing someone on a regular basis, you can say this phrase.
Jeoneun - This phrase in this context literally means I am. The speaker uses it to
introduce his name, so he says I am Chris. Jeo means I, and neun is a particle that
means is.
This classic sentence structure can be used in a lot of different situations, for example
I am a student. I am sleepy, etc would all use Jeo neun plus iyeoyo or yeyo.
Please also read iyeyo and yeyo.
Shi from Annyeong haseyo Chrisshi In Korean, you will use shi when
addressing someone. You can say this to your supervisor, friend, etc. Always be sure
to use their first name, such as in this instance Chris. You could also say the full
name, for example Chris Kim.
Iyeyo and Yeyo This is part of almost every Korean sentence that is the basic form
of it is. To have a better understanding of what the ending means, in the current
sentence:
Jeoneun Jaemin iyeyo
Actually, you can omit the Jeoneun. The Jeoneun introduces the subject, I, but
you do definitely need the iyeyo. Iyeyo literally means it is, but in this sentence:
Jaemin iyeyo
This also means I am Jaemin. Youre implying the subject is I with Jaemin Iyeyo,
where as with the Jeo neun Jaemin Iyeyo youre specifying the subject is I.
Iyeyo is used for terms that end with a consonant, and yeyo is used for terms that end
with a vowel. You add the i in iyeyo to terms that end with a consonant because
theres literally a vowel missing. Since Chris ends with a vowel, you use yeyo,
where Jaemin ends with a consonant you use iyeyo.

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"a"

"oo" or "u" "yoo" or "yu"

" g' " or " k' "

" d' "

" p' "

" r " or " l " "m"

" ch' "

Vowels in the korean languages may be attached

When constructing a word, you must add a mixture

More on constructing words

vowel on the right

can be used as statements, questions, suggestions or commands, and may be

There Are / There is

Uses of the verbs

Korean Sentence Structure and Word order

"To Go" in order to do sentences

in-order -to buy bread

Using Copula to describe "this is that"

songsaengnim-ieyo (is teacher)

Answering questions with Yes and No in Korean

Using Korean sentences with but....

ka-jiman ( goes, but .......)

iss- ( is/are, have )

mok-jiman ( eats, but.......)

anj-jiman ( sits, but.....)

Using polite requests

Making requests more polite

say kidariseyo (Please wait !!).

What you want to do ?

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